Egypt - Day 6

Every day of this trip we experienced some amazing sights. We saw things that were so ancient and of such grand scale that it was hard to believe they could even exist. As our guide, Ibrahim, continually told us, “Don’t say why, just say wow.” So as incredible as the first five days were, Day 6 was probably the best. We started with a 1:00AM wake-up call so we could catch a short flight south up the Nile to Luxor. By the time we arrived in Luxor, collected our bags, and got on the bus, the sun was just coming up over the valley. Where Cairo is a big nasty city, Luxor is lush and green and unpolluted. I told Kristi, “Now I can understand why people have fought over this land for thousands of years.”

From the airport, we headed straight for the Valley of the Kings. You’ll recall that back on Day 3 I posted some commentary about how important the afterlife was to the pharaohs and how the pyramids would be their eternal thrones. Well, the pyramids also really stuck out in this barren landscape, in effect advertising that there were chambers of gold and jewels to be found there. Tomb robbing is not a modern activity and having a gigantic pile of stones marking the treasures made it that much easier and more tempting. So around the 16th century B.C., after having so many tombs emptied of their artifacts, it was suggested that perhaps they should start using underground tombs that could be hidden. However, there was the issue of the pyramid. Without the pyramid, the kings would have no thrones for the afterlife. Fortunately someone noticed that just west of Luxor there is a mountain peak named Al-Qurn (The Horn) that is naturally shaped like a pyramid. Follow the link below and see pictures 375 and 379. The valley below this peak became the graveyard for the pharaohs for the next 500 years. The burial chambers were dug deep into the stone and after the king was entombed the entrance was sealed and covered with rocks so that it blended into the surrounding area. So far 62 tombs have been uncovered at the Valley of the Kings. No one knows for sure how many are here but some think there could be as many as 30 more undiscovered tombs. There are a couple of excavations going on right now (picture 372).

To reduce damage to the tombs, only a limited number of the 62 tombs are open on any given day. Your ticket gets you admission to any three that are open that day. King Tut’s tomb is deemed to be popular enough that it is open everyday but you have to buy an extra ticket for it. Ibrahim told us that it wasn’t worth the extra money as it wasn’t anything special and all the artifacts had been moved to the museum in Cairo.

Some tombs are more extravagant and complex that others. Construction of a king’s tomb started on the day he was crowned and finished on the day he died. So the kings who assumed the throne when they were young and then lived to an old age had the most elaborate burial chambers.. Somewhere in the tomb would be an unfinished chamber, making it easy to tell what was being worked on when the king died. I guess when word of the pharaoh’s death reached the workers, they picked up their tools, walked out, and started on the next tomb.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the tombs so I have no pictures of these. We visited the tombs of Ramses I, Ramses VI, and Ramses IX . You can Google those phrases to find some pictures of how these looked.

After the Valley of the Kings, we headed over to the Temple of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut has the distinction of being one of the few female pharaohs. The fact she was able to pull that off says a lot about her personality and ambition. The story of how she managed to do this is too complicated to summarize here but this web site does a good job of explaining it. The Temple is partly free-standing and partly cut into the base of a mountain.

At this point, we had been on the go since 1:00AM so we checked in to our hotel, had a bite to eat and a little down time. Then later in the afternoon we went to see Karnak. No, not this Carnak but this one. The Temple of Karnak is an amazing complex. For 1500 years, each pharaoh tried to outdo his predecessor by building something more elaborate and pleasing to the gods. If the pyramids are examples of the ancient Egyptians flexing their muscles (“Look at us! We’re so big and so bad that we can stack stones to the heavens.”), then Karnak is where they showed their artistry and creativity. Don’t get me wrong – there are still some big piles of rocks here. But the intricate carvings and attention to detail is incredible. Unfortunately, I got only six pictures before my camera’s battery died. I’ll try to get some pictures from others who were on the trip and post them later. Also I'm having trouble getting all my other pictures uploaded to Picasa. Here is a link to the ones I have so far. I'll post an update when I get the others loaded. http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/EgyptDay6