The day in Luxor

Up at 3:45 am again this morning, this time to go hot air ballooning. The balloons are MASSIVE. The basket is divided into 9 compartments and will hold 28 people plus the pilot. The pilot pointed out things of interest to us from the air, including the funeral temple of Hatshepsut. We landed after about 30 minutes safely in the middle of a sugar cane field. 

Sunrise over Luxor

                    

Our tours for the day began on the West Bank in Luxor, with two statues that were built during the reign of Amenhotep III.  At one time there were cracks in the statues that would produce a  singsong sound when the wind blew, but in restoring the statues they had to block the cracks in order to strengthen them structurally, so they no longer sing. 

The golden time of ancient Egypt started with Tuthomosis I. His daughter was  Hatshepsut, who was bis daughter by his wife of royal blood. She was forced to marry her half brother Tuthmosis II, who was allowed to come to power instead of her. Then their younger brother, Tuthmosis III, who was only 11 at the time, came to power and she took the opportunity to co-rule with him and influence his decisions. She influenced him into going to a war expedition and for those 20 years she ruled as pharaoh. After he returned, she mysteriously disappeared. Tuthmosis III then started to destroy and deface temples dedicated to Hatshepsut. She was an extremely successful pharaoh and lead during the height of the new kingdom.

The Funeral Temple of Hatshepsut

Some of the temple is free standing  and some is carved deep into the mountain. In ancient times, if you followed the road that ran from Hatshepsut’s temple it would lead you straight to the temple at Karnak. Tuthmosis III built a shrine on top of the temple to show superiority over her.  A lot of the temple has been damaged, not only by Tuthmosis III. but also by the Romans. Most of the scenes in the first floor were chiseled off. Those on the second floor are mostly intact except that her image has been removed by her half brother. The section to the left covers trading expeditions to the southern part of Africa and depicts sea life. In the third floor a number of statues feature Hatshepsut standing as Osiris with her arms crossed. Once upon a time each column in the front features such a statue but those have been lost to time and the elements. 

Next we head to the Valley of the Kings. King Tuthmosis I decides he would not build a pyramid to house his funeral chamber. He sent someone to scout out a spot for him as his final resting place. The scout discovered the valley and brought the King out to inspect it. The natural curve of the mountains formed a pyramid and the king decided that this would be where his tomb would lie. This would be the end of  pyramid building in Egypt. All the kings of ancient Egypt who came after were buried here. Half of the mummies of the new kingdom were buried here. Even his daughter, Hatshepsut, was buried here. The workers who carved the tombs into the mountain were never allowed to return home so they could not tell anyone the location of the tomb. Some of the  workers were also entombed here. The tombs in the valley are numbered by the order in which they were discovered. King Tut’s tomb was discovered in 1922. There were 19 infant mummies inside the tomb as well. Howard Carte, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb, and his crew all died due to breathing in the poisonous air inside. This tomb is unfinished. The best theory as to why it’s unfinished is that he died so young his actual tomb was not ready and he was buried in a tomb that was meant for his mother. They sand blasted the walls and attempted to paint over them. 

King Tut's mummified remains

Inside King Tut's tomb

We later go to an alabaster factory  where they show us how they still make alabaster pots using traditional methods. We also learn about other stones  found in Egypt and how to tell the difference between them. Our final stop of the day is the Karnak Temples. Karnak is the name that was given to the temples by the Arabs. The ancient name was Ben- Amun “the house of Amun”. The original temple was built during the Middle Kingdom. During the new kingdom the temple in the front was built. There are six temples inside of Karnak. All the kings of the new kingdom came to Karnak and added to it. King Akenaten closed Karnak temple because he came to worship another god, called Aten, and he built a temple to Aten on the site. Akenaten was deposed by his son Tutankaten, later Tutankhamen, who restored the worship id Amun. 

Karnak Temple

The Avenue of the Sphinxes 

Karnak Temples are mainly composed of sandstone. Rams we’re the favored animal of the god Amun- Ra. Ram headed statues line the open court of the front temple. The temple is unusual because you have an open court, a colonnade hall, a shrine, and a temple all in the same space. This is because various kings made changes to the original structure over time, so the end design was very haphazard. The hypostyle hall of King Seti I has 134 columns. Some of the columns l. The hall was started by Seti I but finished by his son, Ramses II. The obelisks of Tuthmosis II and Hatshepsut are both over 200 tons and are carved from one single piece of rose granite. Adham explains how they carved the obelisks out of a fissure in the transite using basalt, transported them during the floods, and how they slid them into place using sand. It was carved and decorated from three sides while it is still attached to the bedrock. Only the 4th side was decorated once they were erect, by use of a scaffolding system. We have about forty five minutes to wander through the temples after Adham finishes our tour, but the temples are MASSIVE. Tonight we take the sleeper train back to Cairo for the end of our incredible journey.

The obelisks of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis II

The Hypostyle Hall