Archives for December 2022

I was staying at The Winter Palace. I had been told that if I could, try to book into the old part of the hotel. My tour had me in The Pavilion, which is the larger space across the grassy garden from the original building, which sits facing The Nile and is next to The Luxor Temple. I failed. In fact, I could not extend my stay for the whole time and had to move up the street to The Steigenberger. Before I ad to make that move I thought I ought to see The Luxor Temple.

My tour had taken me to The Karnak Temple located a mile and a half away, but not Luxor, which is right beside the hotel. The two temples are connected by a paved stone pathway lined with sphinxes. Once a year in ancient times the god in the temple was taken out of his inner sanctum and paraded from one temple to the other on this roadway. The god’s inner temple enclosure is called a naos, which is a stone box with doors on it. The god would be put on a barge like paladin and carried on the shoulders of the priests to the other temple. The ceremony was known as the Festival of Opet. 

This sort of procession was done in any number of towns and temples. A recent exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) displayed a naos that was discovered in the harbor of Alexandria and they had a procession between two temple towns via a canal. Both towns sank during an earthquake.

The tour I had been on was physically and mentally exhausting. My back hurt by the end of most days. The walking was painful, which exhausted me further. This led to a kind of mental dumbness that clouded my ability to think much. 

I knew we had been to the Temple of Karnak on the tour and that was a mile and a half away. I knew the Temple of Luxor was a quick right turn out of the hotel. Yet, my guidebook had the temples mismarked. They showed Luxor far away and Karnak nearby. Unable to figure it out I decided to let my next objective on the West Bank rest for a day or two and instead tour The Temple of Luxor. I read there was a mummy museum and the Luxor Museum nearby as well. Hey, why not go for a triple play?

I decided to start at the far temple, which should be Karnak that I had seen before yet the guidebook confusingly mismarked it. Although I had been in the courtyards and hypostyle hall, there was a lot I had not seen. The outdoor museum was not much visited and there were some real treasures there. A small chapel that had started the whole growth of Thebes (now Luxor) as a major religious center. It also turns out that a lot of these ruins have these fat columned covered areas called hypostyle hallways. Who knew? I had seen pictures and thought there was only one. I learned hypostyle refers to columns with a covered roof.

The Luxor Museum is small but houses some fine examples of Egyptian art. There is an introductory presentation by Omar Sharif and a shot or two of a much younger Zahi Hawass.

The mummy museum shows the steps in mummification and some of the tools used. There’s a mummified baboon in a coffin – kind of creepy.

On to the Temple of Luxor. I have to check my notes because I may have done the above one day and the Temple of Luxor another. In fact, yeah, that’s the ticket. The next day, I turned out of The Winter Palace Hotel early and made it to the temple just as it opened. I was the first in line, but was confused as to where to get a ticket. A group of 30ish aged women and one guy in white caftan and pony tail got in front of me.

You see groups like this from time to time. Some are in yoga “grounding” positions, eyes closed, hands forming a “O” with thumb and fore fingers, absorbing the energy, etc. This group was there, apparently, for an early morning ceremony of some sort.

I wanted to shoot some 360 camera stuff and managed to walk the entire complex as they congregated in one of the center courtyards. It seemed they were having a marriage ceremony, or joy of life ceremony, or induction into the munificence of nature – god knows. A woman, slightly older, was standing in front of another woman and they were going on and on quietly. The other women were standing in concentric 270 degree semi-circles around these two, all with sappy smiley faces. The guy was clearly getting laid and seemed to be hoping for more action soon. As I went past I took a look, and even a video and got a “You Pig, What do you think you are doing?” look from one of the outer circle of women. Doesn’t take much to give up the karma, huh?

After half an hour or so the ceremony was over and the crowd disbursed, In fact, I’m not sure what happened to them, but the head priestess lady went by me with her eyes straight ahead, jaw firmly set, with a “Don’t even think about it” look. She seemed to be rushing to her next appointment and the flighty sappy spirit had left her face, exiting the place tout-suite.

“Hey Lady, Wanna buy a scarab? I give you good price? Maybe, later? Okay?” Yeah, I don’t think she would have even turned if I had said that. But I didn’t.

After touring the temple, which is remarkably like three or four others I had seen I went out and walked down the stone pathway. The sun was still low and it was cool. I walked to the barge displayed halfway down the path. Raucous music was coming from somewhere. Kind of weird to be in a place that had been revered thousands of years before as the sun rose and having a cacophony of music (Islamic rap?).

Now, having the Temple of Karnak and The Temple of Luxor firmly fixed in my brain I went back to confront my guide book. How did they get it wrong?

They hadn’t.

What they had done was display two maps: one of greater Luxor and one of the temple complexes. What they had done was orient the two maps 180 degrees different from each other. Thanks guys.

In my bedraggled mental state I hadn’t caught the change, and hence my confusion.

Next – The Valley of the Queens

Egypt Field Report 

November 29, 2022

Back To the Valley of The Kings

I’ve gotten behind in my reports and am trying to catch up before I forget and Christmas sweeps me away.

From my hotel in Luxor the easiest way to get to The Valley of the Kings is by boat across the Nile and then take a car.

The second you step out of your guarded hotel entrance you are accosted, “Taxi?”, “Horse Carriage?”, “Boat?”

The boat ride should cost 30 EGP (Egyptian Pounds) or about a $1.25. Sometimes they hit you for 100. It’s a quick trip across the Nile and then to a car. The ride to the Valley is 5 minutes. You pass the big statues of the seated pharaohs, called The Collossi of Memnon, hang a right, then left, go straight – you’re there.

It wasn’t until I watched a balloon ride YouTube video earlier this year that I understood how close some of these sites are to each other. From a balloon you can see the Collossi, The Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple, the worker’s village, a ruin of one of Rameses II’s temple, etc. etc. etc.

The entry ticket allows you to see three tombs. On the days I went nine regular tombs were open and three that required an extra ticket. If you wanted to see more tombs you needed to buy another entry ticket.

The three requiring an extra ticket are Ramesses V&VI, Seti I, and Tutankhamen.

I was told that various tombs are open on various days, but it seems the reality is they keep a tomb closed for awhile to let it “recover” from tourists.

Seti I is the father of the famous Ramesses II and his tomb is multi roomed and spectacular, but for me the most interesting was that of Ramesses V & VI.

It’s unusual to have two pharaohs buried in the same tomb but that’s what happened. Plus, a little chiseling out of V’s name and replacement by VI.

If you are going to come to Luxor and visit the Valley of the Kings I would recommend Kent Weeks’ book “LUXOR.” It is the only guide you will need. Don’t leave home without it. (Or buy when you get here.) He described every tomb, temple, and ruin in detail.

All the tombs follow a similar theme. Well, most do. It’s the trip of the pharaoh into the afterlife and the trials he must go through to make it. I don’t understand it all – yet. In fact, I’m more like the kid saying, “Jesus rose from the dead? Uh un NO.”

But before we go down the rabbit hole of the afterlife stuff let’s look around at the Valley.

The car drops you off in the parking lot by the ticket office. You get your tickets and take a little tour bus to the gate. A short walk brings you to the center of the action. On your left is the refreshment area, to the right are three tombs, the middle one is King Tut. Just behind it and to the left of Tut is Ramesses V & VI.

Past the refreshment area is Seti I and two or three other tombs. Up the path bending to the right are other tombs. One branch had open tombs; one had closed tombs. 

It’s easy to get confused and overwhelmed. Seti I is unique, but most of the tombs are like Ramesses V & VI. A long descending hall divided into “rooms” that are defined by an inset arch and columns. The rooms describe the passage of the pharaoh as he travels through the night. There’s his spirit called “the ka” and there’s his body called “the ba.” At the midpoint of the passage he meets up with the pharaohs who have gone before him. At another point his ba slips back to join the other pharaohs and his ka goes on. 

Where the ka goes I’m not sure, and when the ba slips back to be with the other pharaohs is sometime in the middle of the night. I gotta wonder when the current dead pharaoh meets up with those who came before I’m thinking he might have some ‘splainin’ to do. Like, “Hey, why did you chisel off my name and put yours there instead?” Does the new dead pharaoh do this cycle every night? if so, what about the other dead pharaohs? would they be in the chariot or whatever too? You’d need to get a bigger chariot for sure. There’s a lot here that doesn’t make sense. But hey, You know what? Ya gotta keep asking questions. I remember asking Bob Brier (Dr. Mummy), “Didn’t anyone ever ask – does this work?” I got a quick, “No. Never.”

The tomb of the two Ramasi ( I made that up! Pretty clever, huh? ) – for me was the most interesting. It is fabulously decorated and repeats the themes you see in all the other tombs, but in better detail.

If you want to understand all this stuff – that is the tomb to study.

Which I intend to do. In the meantime I will continue to stumble forward in my travels and studies.

There’s Bryce Holliwell adventure brewing. He was in the Western Desert on a motorcycle when he stumbled upon the lost Roman legion…

Ah me, so much to do. Adventure awaits. But first Christmas. Gotta get ready for the fat man.

Egypt Field Report for November 27, 2022

The last day with the group was November 27th. They left the next morning.

On the 28th I visited the Temple of Hatshepsut and two tombs located nearby: Pabasa and El Assarif.

I was somewhat disappointed by old Hat. I knew there were reliefs of her trip to the land of Punt, believed to be the Sudan on the southern tip of the Red Sea, African side. On the walls of her temple are bas reliefs of that trip. Given the bright sun and the shallow carving it was hard to see much of anything. I could make out that some of the carvings showed trees, and there were two red humps. Maybe the humps represented hills? I don’t know. She had trees brought back and planted on the access to her temple. There used to be a withered piece of a tree left, but it is now gone.

I knew that somewhere on the temple there was a relief of her boat bringing two obelisks down the Nile. I didn’t find it. My back hurt. It was hot, and what I did see was washed out.

Also, my guidebook misled me. They showed the temple as it looked when there were two other similar temples next to it. If I had to read the fine print I would have known. Of interest to me was the long debris tube that ran from the back of the temple to a place just to the left of the temple. A Polish archaeologist is working on the cliffs behind and this tube, which looks like a line of interconnected 55 gallon drums, is a notable feature of one’s visit. Not mentioned in the guide books!

I then went to the Tomb of Pabasa. It’s at the end of Hatshepsut’s ramp, past the army security post. It is located opposite the entrance to the site. The security guards pulled the car barricade open a bit to let me get to the tomb. When I got there it appeared locked but I descended anyway with my 360 camera filming the descent. Just before I disappeared from view a fellow was yelling and waving and walking rapidly toward the entrance. It turned out he was the keeper of the keys. He let me in. Apparently, few if any people visit this tomb. Too bad because it is most excellent. Especially, after Hatshep. The fellow opened the door and promptly lay down on the right side of the first room. His head resting on a step. When I had filmed everything with the 360, he came to life and took me around to various parts I had not seen. He held the 360 while I took pictures with the iPhone. It should be some “interesting” video.

We then went to the next tomb, El Assasif. It was okay, but not as good as Pabasa. If you go to Hatsehepsut make a point of going to Pabasa.