This morning, for once, Denny and I were ahead of the game, a good half hour before everybody actually, having miscalculated the times we needed to be out of the room, breakfasted and luggage in the corridor.
First we visit Great Royal Daughter and Wife MeritAmun, a colossal limestone statue just a short distance from where we spent the night. One cannot escape the conclusion that this is an actual portrait of Rameses' daughter. There's very little of the usual tendency to idealize the subject. Her nose is rather large, she has a slight double chin and her square jaw denotes a strong, willful personality. No wonder she rose to the status of Queen. Across the street there are the broken remnants of two huge seated statues of her father. Obviously there is/was a large temple here, and if someone cared to remove 50 feet deep of accumulated debris and a whole neighborhood of low-rise apartments sitting on top of it, one could have oneself a nice archaeological site here... I suspect there are hundreds such buried monuments still to be discovered. Speaking of which, besides some roman era statuary and foundations, a number of blocks showing the distinctive sun rays of the Amarna Aten were also at the site, pointing to an earlier shrine to the Aten nearby. Dr. Barry Kemp explains that the city of Akhmim was the hometown of Great Queen Tiye (mother of Akhenaten) and possibly also of Nefertiti, which would make the presence of an Aten temple very likely.
Medhat invites us to visit a traditional fabric store and workshop nearby. It is really just a few steps away. Hard to describe, but what ensues is what would be best called a shopping frenzy, as most of us pick out beautiful hand-woven linen and cotton fabrics and scarves. I get two pieces of 4 metres each, with an eye towards making a pair of shirts for myself and Denny. We also get to see the looms, which must date back at least several hundred years. The weavers are men, and their level of concentration is amazing.
The big highlight of the day are the nobles tombs of Meir. We drive there using the desert road, revealing parched vistas of a pure mineral nature, before returning to the lush greenness of the flood plain. The area is the most fertile part of the Nile valley, and so it was in pharaonic times. So much so that the governorate would be exclusively given to members of the royal family, specifically sons of the Pharaoh. These high nobles built their tombs high on the limestone cliffs overlooking the valley, a veritable maze of interconnected rooms. It is a long climb up the hill to reach the tombs. The steps are partially covered with sand, which makes progress difficult. But the effort is royally rewarded. Scenes of daily life, fishing, hunting, boat building, sailing, even a wrestling match enliven the walls. One room in particular takes my breath away: an unfinished room where only the outlines of scenes -- to later be carved and painted -- were completed. The elegance, precision and artistry of those black ink drawings is outstanding. The hand that drew these figures and scenes of sailing, hunting and offerings was that of a superb, unequalled draftsman. I have never seen anything like this.
We are in Assyut aboard the Tut, sistership to the Hotep where we stayed last night. Assyut is a large university town on the west bank of the Nile, quite in contrast to the rural village directly across the river.
Tomorrow we go to Tel El Amarna, site of the city built by Akhenaten. First of two days we will be spending exploring under the guidance of Dr. Barry. I just can't wait!
Wow! This looks amazing!
ReplyDelete- Sounds like this really IS an adventure! These pictures just made my day :)