Jan 23 – Safaga-Luxor, Egypt-Continued. We drove from the temple area back to downtown Luxor and ate lunch at the Sonesta Saint George Hotel. The hotel was right on the Nile. In fact, our table was on the second floor overlooking the hotel's fan shaped pool and beyond that the Nile River. As we ate we watched the riverboats cruise past the hotel on their lunch and sightseeing trips. The lunch was very good.
Karnak is more than a temple; it is a collection of temples the largest of which is the Temple of Amun. It is the largest religious reservation in the world. In its entirety it would cover one half of Manhattan Island in New York. The Temple of Amun, (Since Ancient Egypt had a different alphabet everything is transliterated and sometimes it's spelled Amon. He's also called Amun-Ra, the sun god), just one of the temples in the area, is the largest temple with columns in the world. To the south they are excavating the Temple of Mut, Amun's wife and to the north they are excavating the Temple of Montu, the god of war. To give you some idea of the size, Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, would fit entirely inside Amun's Temple. The complex covers an area of over 74 acres. It was started in 1960 BC and was added to over the next 2,000 years. Inside Amun's Temple there are many temples dedicated to Pharaohs and lesser gods.
As you approach the temple area from east, along a processional avenue from the water, the first things you see are the outer walls of the First Pylon of the Temple of Amun. They have large entryways that allow you to pass through to the next section. There are ten of them in the Temple of Amun, six in the main temple and four in the annex that goes south toward the Temple of Mut. When you get closer and can see the base of the walls you find an avenue of ram-headed Sphinxes built by Ramses II leading up to the entrance. The ram-headed sphinx is the symbol of Amun and each has a small statue of Ramses II between his front legs for protection.
The First Pylon is the largest and probably the newest part of the temple, having been added near the year 1 BC during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. It's about 125 yards wide, 30 yards high and 16 yards thick, a large structure. The area between the first and second pylons is an open area called the Great Forecourt or the Ethiopian courtyard. As you stand just inside the entrance through the first pylon, to the left is the Shrine of Seti II. It has three chapels dedicated to the gods Amun (ah-moon'), Mut (pronounced 'moot', his wife) and Khonsu (their son and the moon god). Their sacred barques were stored there for use in various religious processions on the Nile. This shrine is relatively intact and you can enter all three chapels. Directly in front of you is the only 70-foot, open-topped papyrus column still standing from the Kiosk of the Ethiopian (Nubian) King Taharka. This carport like structure, which originally had 10 identical columns in two rows of 5, is where the processional boats were stored. In the wall to the right, extending outside the wall like a pull out room on an RV, is the Temple of Ramses III, which he built to store his barque. Large statues of the pharaoh, wearing the crown of the combined kingdoms, flank the entrance. Inside are chapels of the barks of Amun, Mut and Khonsu. Are you sensing a pattern here? No matter who was building, the holy family was being honored.
As you walk toward the Second Pylon's gate, past the only remaining complete column of the Taharka kiosk you find the 50 foot tall Colossus of Pinudjem, Pharaoh of the XXI Dynasty and High Priest of Amun in Thebes on your left. He's protecting a much smaller depiction of his wife, standing on his feet facing forward. The lateral sides of the Great Forecourt are lined with papyrus-bud topped columns and more of those ram-headed sphinxes that were outside the main entry. On the left side of the gate in the second pylon is a pink granite statue of Ramses II. I think there was another one on the right as well but all that's left are the feet so it's not easy to tell. Only his podiatrist would know for sure.
Between the Second and Third Pylons is the Hypostyle Hall, which was a very large covered space. The central aisle, leading between the pylon gates, is made up of 12 open-papyrus columns, six on each side, 90 feet tall. This was built by Amon-Ofis III as a simple colonnade in 1375 BC. In later years the 122 76-foot tall papyrus-bud columns were added by Horenheb, Seti I, Ramses II and finally completed by Ramses IV, half on each side, to form the entire hall. Notre Dame cathedral would fit within the outer walls. The sides and ends of the raised center roof along the colonnade were fitted with a latticework of bricks that allowed for a constantly changing look to the entire room. The lintels, some of which still set across the rows of columns, produce dramatic effects with the light that changed significantly even during our short stay even without the ceiling and the windows. The pictures I took of the hall on the way in look very different from the ones I took on the way out. The change in color and feel of the area is amazing.
The walls of the First Pylon and the outside wall of the Second Pylon are not decorated with pictures or hieroglyphs. However the inside walls of the Second Pylon are carved from top to bottom as are the columns and the lintels. Some of the original color still remains on the underside of some of the lintels. Lots of room to tell a story. The largest pictures are of the pharaoh offering Amun and Mut food and performing other acts of worship. You can identify the gods in these carvings pretty easily; they all have an ankh (life in hieroglyphics, a cross with a loop at the top) held by the loop in their right hands.
Between the Third and Fourth Pylons is the Court Amenophis III. The space created is more of a large transverse hallway. It originally held four obelisks in pink granite, two each for Thutmosis I and III flanking the gates through each. The only one surviving is on the south side of the Fourth Pylon, and is of Thutmosis I. If you turn left here you will be heading toward the Temple of Montu. If you turn right here you will be heading toward the Temple of Mut after passing through the Seventh (Thutmosis III), Eighth (Thutmosis II and Hatshepsut) and Ninth (Horemheb) Pylons on the way out of the Temple of Amun. These pylons are much smaller than the ones in the main temple area. The only interesting thing in this area is a chapel with an alabaster shrine and offering scenes of Ramses II.
From this point on each of the pylons in the main temple gets increasingly smaller than the previous one. The first and second pylons are similar in size with the second being just slightly shorter. The third pylon is about 60% as high as the first but just as wide. From the fourth on each one gets about 10% shorter and 25% narrower than the previous one. The last pylon is just in front of the sanctuary.
The Fourth Pylon is the entrance to the heart of the Temple of Amun. Between it and the Fifth Pylons (both of Thutmosis I) is the vestibule of the temple in which stood two obelisks of Hatshepsut in pink granite. Only the one on the north is still her. It is 100 feet high and weighs 200 tons, the largest ever erected. Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh and the pharaoh who succeeded her had her name chiseled over with his name on all her monuments. This obelisk is a slightly pinker color starting about two thirds of the way from the top. This is because he didn't carve over the cartouches of her name on this obelisk, he covered the top and that prevented it from losing its pink color over the years. The bottom is unfinished in that only the symbols in the center are carved and her name didn't show at the bottom, only on the top. The remainder of the vestibule is colonnaded. Between the Fifth and Sixth (Thutmosis III) Pylon is a small colonnaded area and through the Sixth Pylon are two pilaster-style granite stelae, one with the symbol of upper Egypt (the papyrus) and one with the symbol of lower Egypt (the lotus) at the top. A stele is a stone tablet or post carved with historical information or a tribute to someone. These are square posts. Most I've seen are in the shape of a common grave marker like you see in the National Cemeteries, but usually much larger.
Through the Sixth Pylon is the Sanctuary of the Sacred Barks, the naos (the inner sanctuary of the temple) built of pink granite. The interior walls are carved with scenes from the daily ritual worship of Amun and the ceiling is covered with gold stars on a blue field. Through this sanctuary, and across a very small courtyard is the Sanctuary of the Middle Kingdom. These sanctuaries are mostly intact with a great deal of the ceilings and all the walls standing. The ceilings of both are covered with stars and painted blue. The walls are filled with images of the gods and pharaohs interacting. Mostly the pharaohs are making offerings and giving gifts to the gods.
From here we returned to the Court Amenophis III and turned south towards the Temple of Mut. In between the Gate of Ramses II and the Seventh Pylon is the Cachette Courtyard. In 1903 a large cache of statues was discovered here, 700 in stone and 17,000 in bronze. No one is sure how they came to be here all in one place. It took 4 years to uncover them all and most are in the National Museum in Cairo and some are in the Luxor Museum. Most are from the New Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period and while some are figures of royalty most are figures of priests performing their duties at Karnak. These statues provided invaluable information on the clergy and the rituals of the temple. Some of the statues were 'block-statues'. In this type of statue the finely carved head of the subject emerges from a cube shaped body. This style of carving provides a lot of space for carving historical and biographical information about the person and his times, as well as ritual scenes and requests to the priests for offerings on his behalf. The far end of the courtyard is the 7th Pylon (The first 6 pylons run east to west. After turning south out of the Court of Amenophis III, this part of the temple complex runs north to south. The 7th Pylon is the first of 4 pylons going south from the main Temple of Amun toward the southern temple are of Mut.)
Across this courtyard and further down the hill we could see the Temple of Mut but time was limited so we had to take a quick look at the Sacred Lake (used in ritual ceremonies) and start the trek back through the temple. On the way out we stopped to take a closer look at many of the things we had glanced at on the way in.
This place is fantastic. Almost every inside surface is covered with figures, hieroglyphics, cartouches and symbols. Just the size of it was impressive. All the more so because it was carved, carried and erected with human labor, no machines at all. Double yikes!! It would take days to do this place justice. I was sad to leave but that's life touring from a ship. It can't be helped.
Epicurean's Note: While in Egypt do enjoy the lamb, fish, chicken and squab (pigeon), they are great. Be careful of the fish, as they are not as thorough as they could be deboning it, although it might just be the fish in the area are bony. The chicken is a bit of a challenge, as they do not follow the USA custom of cutting chicken at a joint. They cut it in chunks right through the bone and as I've said before this leaves some sharp points on the bones that can inflict a painful cut if you aren't careful. Finally, do not eat the beef. We've had it several places and it is uniformly tough and stringy. Their cows must be fed mostly on grass and other low-fat feeds and I don't believe it is well or even moderately marbled and tends to be low in flavor and hard to cut and chew. Even the rare roast beef slice I had, which was cut very thin, was hard to cut. I asked our guide about that and he said that the only place to get a good hamburger that he knew of the TGI Friday's in Cairo. Apparently only the well to do eat there, as it is expensive, but the hamburgers are great from his point of view. I guess they're expensive because they have to import the beef from elsewhere.
After that it was 3.5 hours back to Safaga the same way we came. I just reread this day's description and I have to apologize for the somewhat disorganized form and the alteration of my usual style. Actually that's about how I felt. Totally overwhelmed by what I had seen and very grateful that I had seen it.
Jan 24 – At Sea on the Red Sea. Typical day at sea again, breakfast, devotional, presentations, lunch, read a bit, write a bit, work on the pictures I took yesterday, the evening show and back to the room to relax.
Dan Jones' presentations are informational and given with a healthy dose of that understated English humor I like. Today his talk was on the burial practices of Ancient Egypt.
Our entertainer was Frank in Person. His actual name is Frank and he does a show of Sinatra music. The music was nice and he did sound a little like Sinatra, in short, enjoyable.
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