Day 251: Luxor (west bank)

Dec 10 - Just have a few days in Luxor, so today we do the main sights on the western bank. First is Valley of the Kings. We opt for the standard ticket, which allows entry into three tombs of our choice, with the exception of Tutankhamun and two others. Though Tutankhamun is famous for the treasure found with his body, the tomb itself was hastily done and not well decorated.

The valley walls look like this. It is a empty and desolate place, tucked behind the mountains and out of sight of the Nile. There were a number of digging teams around, presumably looking for more tombs.

First go to site KV2, which is the tomb of Ramses IV (r. 1155-1149 BCE) of the 20th Dynasty and son of Ramses III. He became pharaoh at the age of 21, ruling for just seven years, paling in comparison to the 31 year rule of his father. His tenure saw the sharp decline of the empire. However, he managed to secure for himself a substantial tomb, which has been open since antiquity.

It is amazing to me that as long as people have been entering (and occasionally vandalizing) this tomb, there is still so much art on the walls, and in its original coloration.

The two cartouches at the base of this photo show variants of the throne and birth names of Ramses IV.

The Goddess Nut being supported by Shu, God of the Air, on the ceiling above the sarcophagus. She has this important position in the tomb because she is the sky, giving birth to the sun every day and thus assuring the continuation of life.

The sarcophagus, carved from granite.

Some Coptic graffiti near the tomb entrance.

Next, go to KV 8, the tomb of Merenptah (r. 1213-1203 BCE, 19th Dynasty, son of Ramses II). He was already 60 years old when he took the throne. It was during a difficult time for Egypt, as the Libyans and Sea Peoples* were encroaching on the delta in large numbers. He is famous for gathering the armed forces and winning a key battle against them, thus driving the threat out of the crucial agricultural lands.

*History cannot yet fully explain the appearance of the Sea Peoples, as they did not leave written records. They are, however, mentioned by various empires bordering the Mediterranean. They were probably a mix of tribes, banded together with the purpose of acquiring coastal lands to settle. Why they banded together and were attacking powerful empires in the first place is a mystery.

One of the standard scenes shown near the entrance to the tombs of this dynasty. Here, the pharaoh (Menemptah) addresses the god Ra-Horakhty.

Some of the great hieroglyphic art in the tomb.

A cartouche of Merenptah’s birth name.

The sarcophagus lid.

From here go up the valley to KV 11, tomb of Ramses III (r. 1186-1155, 20th Dynasty, son of Seknakhte). He is considered to be the last New Kingdom pharaoh to rule a stable empire, and stayed in power for over 30 years. The Sea Peoples mentioned above continued to attack the coast, gradually draining resources due to the constant need of defense. There would be a political and economic collapse shortly after his rule.

Odette’s favorite scene from the tomb of Ramses III.

The pharaoh converses with Osiris.

Some hieroglyphs on the wall of the tomb chamber.

This tomb is unusual, in that it was meant to be the burial chamber of his father Seknakhte, but was abandoned because the trajectory of the passage collided with the tomb of another king. Ramses III would re-use this passage, stepping it to the south and continuing. As a result, the beginning of the passageway references Seknakhte, only showing the hieroglyphs for Ramses III after the deviation.

This photo was taken to re-create an old picture I have from about 1982, of me standing by this same sign.

Off to Queen Hatshepsut’s temple (r. 1478-1458 BCE. She is one of the most controversial pharaohs for several reasons. First, she was meant to just be regent to Thutmose III, who was two years old when his father, Thutmose II, died. However, she appears to have decided not to elevate Thutmose III for a long time, naming herself pharaoh instead. This did not go over well, as it was technically usurping the throne, and, perhaps just as alarming, she was a woman. There had been female rulers before in Egypt, but this was the first time it happened due to a personal decision.

However, it does appear that Hatshepsut’s rule went well. She ordered a lot of new construction in Karnak Temple and other places, and most famously, sent a sea expedition to the land of Punt (probably Ethiopia), and brought back many things never seen before in Egypt.

She really went all out on this temple, with two columnated floors. The setting is quite dramatic, with sandstone cliffs towering over the edifice.

Hard to see, but there is a meager blackened stump inside the fence. It is the remnants of a tree, brought by the Punt expedition and planted in a garden created in front of Hatshepsut’s palace.

Hatshepsut’s figure, with head chiseled out. Unsurprisingly, her controversial rule caused a lot of discontent that boiled over once she died and Thutmose III was in power. She fell victim to a damnatio memoriae, or official deletion from the line of kings. Her name and face were erased from as many monuments as possible (a few have survived).

Statues in front of the temple.

One of the columns topped with the image of Hathor, on the south end of the temple.

A short distance from here is the temple of Ramses III (we saw his tomb already in the Valley of the Kings).

The temple has a massive pylon in the front, similar to those seen in Karnak.

Ramses III was well known for his military capacity, and he reminds us of this on his pylon. Here he is, grabbing the hair of many enemies at once, and about to smite them with a mace.

This temple has some very well preserved colors on the walls and columns.

A cartouche on the roof supports.

The cartouche of Ramses III, carved very deeply into the wall. This was apparently done so that items could be placed inside the niches.

Some graffiti in Demotic, a script that post-dates classic hieroglyphics and used from the late Egyptian empire through the Ptolemaic era.

The ankh, ubiquitous in pharaonic inscriptions, sometimes shown with arms. The symbol means ‘Life’. Here one supports the base of a heka (staff of power).

The fourth stop is to the Colossi of Memnon. These two enormous seated statues of Amenhotep III used to guard the entrance to his mortuary temple. The temple is almost completely gone now, having been built in the Nile floodplain and victim to countless inundations.

Amenhotep III (r. 1386-1351, also called ‘Amenhotep The Great’) is considered to be a strong ruler, and accomplished many great things during his tenure. He is also the predecessor to the eclectic Amenhotep IV (who changed his name to Akhenaten).

There is a lot of Greek and Latin graffiti on the legs of the statues, but a bit hard to see in this photo.

Go back to town for lunch.

The restaurant we go to has fresh Nile perch. Odette’s favorite cat at the hotel, which she called Pancake, was on her chair when this dish arrived. It took Pancake about ten seconds to grab it with his mouth, and dinner was saved only when I pulled it away before it ended up on the floor.

In late afternoon, I arrange a felucca ride up the river. Sunset is at 17:00 today, and the ride starts about 16:15. There are a lot of boats out, mostly motorized, some with groups singing and dancing. There is basically no wind, so we get a tow upriver, along with four other feluccas, to just north of Banana Island. Then we float down with the current. The captain puts out the sail, but to no avail. I am a bit taken aback at the air pollution, which is easy to see once sitting out in the river. So much burning of garbage, and the constant exhaust from land and water vehicles, make for a heavy, dark haze. Luxor has grown too quickly and too fast. There are more than a dozen Nile cruise boats parked on the east bank, ungainly looking things with port windows down to bare inches above the water line. Some belch exhaust, the back end of the squarish boats coated in black residue.

With the captain of our boat.

Odette captured in the sunset.

Egypt