SUNDAY MARCH 11th
LUXOR TEMPLE
After breakfast back at the hotel, I met Alan & Jan again at 9am for a tour of the LUXOR Temple complex. This was close to our hotel so an easy walk. At this time of the day it was already quite busy and without the benefit of a guide we were left to fathom the meaning of the pylons, obelisks, statues, columns, frescos, shrines and hieroglyphs. I have read up about it since though! Luxor temple was dedicated to the god Amun and aplace to celebrate the festival of Ope. Linked to Karnak temple since the 4th Century BC by a long avenue of sphinxes of which only 37 survive today on each side before hitting a wall with the buildings of modern Luxor blocking the way to Karnak. There has been some recent digging (visible from our hotel) to uncover more of the sphinxes.
Luxor temple was mostly built by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty (C1350BC) and added to by Rameses II in the 19th Dynasty. The 2 giant statues which guard the entrance are of him as were the pylons which depict his battle with the Hittites at Qadesh in 1274BC. There were many other statues and a pair of obelisks - only one remains and the rest of the pieces are now in Paris - the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde.
The temple was home to the Gods Mut (wife of Amun) and her son Khonsu - the statue of Amun Ra lived in Karnak and was brought here to join his family during the festival. Inside the entrance is a hall of columns added by Hatshepsut and strangely a Mosque from the 12th century. Further inside is a staus of Tutankhamun and his wife before entering the Hypostyle hall of papyrus columns, leading to another court for Amenophis III. Alexander the Great also added his own shrine to the temple. In the Roman period the temple was used to worship Emperor Constantine (AD 312-337) and an area of hieroglyphic plaster depicting Amenhotep III was smoothed over and replaced with a fresco of the Emperor and his court.
TOMBS OF THE WORKERS
At noon we joined the whole group for a trip back across the river to the west bank and the Tombs of the Workers. This site near to the Valley of the Kings was home to hundreds of skilled craftsmen who designed, dug, plastered and decorated the tombs for the Pharaohs.
These workers tombs date from thegolden age of Egypt between 1500BC and 1000BC also known as the New Kingdom when all the great Pharaohs lived during the 18th, 19th & 20th dynasties. The tomb workers were not slaves but highly skilled and valued employees of the king. They lived and worked in the valley with little time off, but when they did have free time it was used to build their own tombs. The tombs which remain today are mostly in a poor condition, but 2 well preserved tombs remain and are open to the public. The workers saved the best for themselves and decorated their own tombs with incredible images of the afterlife and their hopes for life in eternal paradise. The quality of the artwork and their colours take your breath away. These photos are from the postcards I bought since cameras were not allowed.
the tombs we entered were at the bottom of short but steep steps and small but what they lacked insize they made up for in quality. It's hard to imagine that these tombs are over 3000 years old although little remains of the village of mudbrick houses alongside the tombs.
MEDINET HABU - MORTUARY TEMPLE OF RAMESES III (c. 1184-1153BC)
Our final temple in Luxor was the best and not one which is often visited by the tourists. Built for the 70 day mummification rituals for Rameses III it is a funerary temple dedicated to the achievements of his reign. It's located on the west bank at Medinet Habu and is the biggest standing temple away from the noise of Luxor and with a rocky backdrop it makes for a tranquil and atmospheric location.
Rameses III was the last great pharaoh of Egypt and won many battles against invaders. The entrance walls are unusal in that they follow the Syrian style and surrounded by a mudbrick fortification wall. On the massive pylons are depictions of the king smiting his enemies and the heads of his enemies are used as steps on the upper levels of the entrance. Inside, his victory against the Libyans is shown by several graphic scenes of prisoners having their hands. tongues and 'manhood' removed to count their numbers. Many of the scenes inside show Rameses honouring the gods - primarily Amun. The temple roof is missing but the preservation of the colours and carvings into the stone and plaster are breathtaking. I hope the photos do it justice. I've added a close up of Rameses cartouche.
There are many more temples in and around Luxor and the west bank and I'd like to go back one day and visit them, as well as the new excavations under Gurna, and the tombs in the valley which were closed (Seti I, Ramses II, Hatshepsut) so I've plenty of reasons to go back!
Once we had returned to the east bank in our motorboat, some of us called in to visit the 'week one' Explorers on their cruise ship DOMA which was back from Aswan and moored nearby. We had a tour of their ship and stories of their antics aboard which all sounded fun. I was happy to have chosen the Felucca though. The others went back to the hotel but I stayed with them until 6.30pm then walked alone to the restaurant for our final group dinner before the final week of our tour into the Western Desert.
SUNDAY MARCH 11th
LUXOR TEMPLE
After breakfast back at the hotel, I met Alan & Jan again at 9am for a tour of the LUXOR Temple complex. This was close to our hotel so an easy walk. At this time of the day it was already quite busy and without the benefit of a guide we were left to fathom the meaning of the pylons, obelisks, statues, columns, frescos, shrines and hieroglyphs. I have read up about it since though! Luxor temple was dedicated to the god Amun and aplace to celebrate the festival of Ope. Linked to Karnak temple since the 4th Century BC by a long avenue of sphinxes of which only 37 survive today on each side before hitting a wall with the buildings of modern Luxor blocking the way to Karnak. There has been some recent digging (visible from our hotel) to uncover more of the sphinxes.
Luxor temple was mostly built by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty (C1350BC) and added to by Rameses II in the 19th Dynasty. The 2 giant statues which guard the entrance are of him as were the pylons which depict his battle with the Hittites at Qadesh in 1274BC. There were many other statues and a pair of obelisks - only one remains and the rest of the pieces are now in Paris - the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde.
The temple was home to the Gods Mut (wife of Amun) and her son Khonsu - the statue of Amun Ra lived in Karnak and was brought here to join his family during the festival. Inside the entrance is a hall of columns added by Hatshepsut and strangely a Mosque from the 12th century. Further inside is a staus of Tutankhamun and his wife before entering the Hypostyle hall of papyrus columns, leading to another court for Amenophis III. Alexander the Great also added his own shrine to the temple. In the Roman period the temple was used to worship Emperor Constantine (AD 312-337) and an area of hieroglyphic plaster depicting Amenhotep III was smoothed over and replaced with a fresco of the Emperor and his court.
TOMBS OF THE WORKERS
At noon we joined the whole group for a trip back across the river to the west bank and the Tombs of the Workers. This site near to the Valley of the Kings was home to hundreds of skilled craftsmen who designed, dug, plastered and decorated the tombs for the Pharaohs.
These workers tombs date from thegolden age of Egypt between 1500BC and 1000BC also known as the New Kingdom when all the great Pharaohs lived during the 18th, 19th & 20th dynasties. The tomb workers were not slaves but highly skilled and valued employees of the king. They lived and worked in the valley with little time off, but when they did have free time it was used to build their own tombs. The tombs which remain today are mostly in a poor condition, but 2 well preserved tombs remain and are open to the public. The workers saved the best for themselves and decorated their own tombs with incredible images of the afterlife and their hopes for life in eternal paradise. The quality of the artwork and their colours take your breath away. These photos are from the postcards I bought since cameras were not allowed.
the tombs we entered were at the bottom of short but steep steps and small but what they lacked insize they made up for in quality. It's hard to imagine that these tombs are over 3000 years old although little remains of the village of mudbrick houses alongside the tombs.
MEDINET HABU - MORTUARY TEMPLE OF RAMESES III (c. 1184-1153BC)
Our final temple in Luxor was the best and not one which is often visited by the tourists. Built for the 70 day mummification rituals for Rameses III it is a funerary temple dedicated to the achievements of his reign. It's located on the west bank at Medinet Habu and is the biggest standing temple away from the noise of Luxor and with a rocky backdrop it makes for a tranquil and atmospheric location.
Rameses III was the last great pharaoh of Egypt and won many battles against invaders. The entrance walls are unusal in that they follow the Syrian style and surrounded by a mudbrick fortification wall. On the massive pylons are depictions of the king smiting his enemies and the heads of his enemies are used as steps on the upper levels of the entrance. Inside, his victory against the Libyans is shown by several graphic scenes of prisoners having their hands. tongues and 'manhood' removed to count their numbers. Many of the scenes inside show Rameses honouring the gods - primarily Amun. The temple roof is missing but the preservation of the colours and carvings into the stone and plaster are breathtaking. I hope the photos do it justice. I've added a close up of Rameses cartouche.
There are many more temples in and around Luxor and the west bank and I'd like to go back one day and visit them, as well as the new excavations under Gurna, and the tombs in the valley which were closed (Seti I, Ramses II, Hatshepsut) so I've plenty of reasons to go back!
Once we had returned to the east bank in our motorboat, some of us called in to visit the 'week one' Explorers on their cruise ship DOMA which was back from Aswan and moored nearby. We had a tour of their ship and stories of their antics aboard which all sounded fun. I was happy to have chosen the Felucca though. The others went back to the hotel but I stayed with them until 6.30pm then walked alone to the restaurant for our final group dinner before the final week of our tour into the Western Desert.
