Amarna

This might be a short one. I am dead on my feet and hurting all over. Yup, the day was THAT good, and I would not have missed it for the world!

One could easily drive past - or even walk through - Amarna and fail to notice anything but a few piles of rubble and desiccated mud brick walls. Under the guidance of Dr. Barry Kemp, however, the ancient city built from scratch by Akhenaten comes alive. We start the visit with some of the southern tombs, including that of Ay, the vizier who later accessed the throne for a short spell after the death of Tutankhamen. This unfinished tomb has one of the most complete versions of the great hymn to the Aten. The decoration on either side of the doorway is quite beautifully done, with exquisite detail on the clothes and hair of the occupants. Ay was not buried here, as he later had a royal tomb made for him in the Valley of the Kings. We enter two additional decorated tombs, one of which was actually use for the burial of its owner. I'm sorry, I'm terrible with remembering names and my notes are way over there on the desk while I'm comfortably sitting in bed. Those tombs will thus remain nameless for now, until I get around to it...

A bumpy ride sitting on wooden chairs on the back of a tractor trailer (literally) takes us near the wash where Dr. Kemp's research and excavation efforts have finally solved a century old enigma: Where were the workers and ordinary people of Amarna buried? Look up any treatise on Amarna and the subject of the "missing cemeteries" will inevitably crop up. Well, no more! Teams of excavators lead by Dr. Kemp have located hundreds if not thousands of individual burials in the sandy banks of a shallow canyon. A long walk across the desert takes us to two workers villages, the first mostly built with stone, the other with mud brick. The ground around both ancient settlements is littered with heaps of pottery sherds dating from the Amarna period. Some are quite large and show decoration. Dr. Barry says there are so many that they do not even bother collecting them anymore.

Later we go to the southern city, where the ruins of a rather large compound is revealed to be the house of the 'Sculptor and Chief of Works' Thotmose. For those not familiar with the man, he is the sculptor responsible for the famous painted Nefertiti bust that's now in the Berlin Museum. Judging by the other works found in his workshop by the German expedition led by Ludwig Borchardt a hundred years ago -- many of which outshine the Nefertiti bust in my eyes -- Thotmose is one of the best portrait sculptors that ever lived. The photo of me squatting behind that low mud brick wall shows the exact find spot where those treasures were unearthed. Needless to say I was all choked up when Dr. Kemp pointed it out to me.

We finish today's tour of Akhenaten's city with a visit of the small Aten Temple, before returning to the good ship Tut.

Draftsmanship

I'm running out of superlatives and we're not even a third of the way into this Egyptian adventure...

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!

Overload

Left the Winter Palace early this morning, grabbing lunch boxes prepared especially for us before boarding the bus.

Destination Qena and the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. This is a late period, Ptolemaic era temple which is remarkably well preserved. Medhat has us looking at the outside of the Temple and its outstanding decoration before entering the great hypostyle hall. The walls, columns and ceiling have recently been cleaned of the soot and dust of ages, revealing vibrant colors and decorations. Blue, everywhere blue dominates the scenes carved and painted on the ceiling. Elsewhere a stairwell takes us to the roof of the temple and the small open air shrine where the statue of the deity would be brought up to be 'recharged' in the sun once a year. Even gods and goddesses needed to have their solar batteries recharged I guess. Another stairwell, this one narrow and decidedly claustrophobic, takes us to one of the twelve known crypts located under the temple. Space is restricted but the carved reliefs are perfectly preserved, having escaped the wholesale ransacking done by the early Christians. Of note is an interesting scene that is interpreted by some as the proof that the ancients had developed "light bulbs" and could produce light at will. I rather think that the large devices depicted look like surf boards and the dudes are waiting for a good swell...

Another stretch of road going north takes us to Abydos, domain of Osiris and location of what is perhaps for the the great artistic highlight of the entire tour: the temple of Seti the First. This represents the high-water mark of the artistic perfection of the 19th dynasty. The raised relief decoration - some retaining much if its original color - is beyond compare in the finesse of its execution. I am in awe. Actually, I am on overload. I take as many photos as I can (no flash allowed), knowing that I may not come back here. The inside of the temple is simply enormous. In addition to the great hypostyle hall, there are seven main shrines, plus a number of additional cultic rooms, mini temples within the temple, and also the famed list of kings, where the fine carved limestone shows Seti having his young son Rameses read from a roll of papyrus the list of pharaohs that have preceded him. The list is far from all inclusive; it has been heavily edited to suit the political necessities of the day. Omitted are Hatchepsout, AkhenAten, Tut, Ay and Horemheb.

I could easily spend several days studying this marvelous temple. Alas, we must go on to the next stop, which is the similar, but much dilapidated temple of Rameses. This must have been a jewel in its heyday, built of the finest limestone, sandstone and even black and pink granite.

Is there such a thing as seeing too much beauty in too little time? I am afraid I have reached that point.

Traveling through the countryside in this predominantly rural and agricultural stretch of the Nile Valley reveals a very different Egypt than what I have seen in Aswan and Luxor. Smoke rises from the fields with the acrid and yet sweet smell of burnt sugar: indeed, sugar cane is a huge crop here, and everywhere we see farmers loading donkeys, motorcycles, trucks and narrow-gauge rail cars with the tall stalks destined to the refinery. Not much tourism here. Camels, water buffalos, donkeys, goats and sheep are 'parked' in front of people's homes like one would park a car in the United States. Many, especially children, smile and wave at us as we drive by.

Oh and speaking of camels, I am now certain they come from outer space. As anyone who has seen "The Empire Strikes Back" will attest, camels are alien creatures!

We are on the Hotep, a Nile cruise boat moored in Sohag/Akhmim in Middle Egypt.

Room 105.

I am on sensory/artistic overload. Better go to bed now. Tomorrow is another day, which will take us, given a couple of interesting stops on the way, to Tel El Amarna, site of the great city AkhenAten built for himself and his court when things got ugly with Amun in Thebes (modern day Luxor).

Templeneckititis

The day concluded with a visit to the Luxor Museum, with its treasures displayed in a modern, sleek setting, and then to the famed Temple of Luxor itself, which they very conveniently built right next to the Winter Palace Hotel... :-)

I didn't spend as much time exploring there as I could have, but knowing I would be back in a week, I didn't linger on the details. The Temple is quite magnificent, mostly the work of Amenhotep III and of Rameses II, with a bit of decoration by TutAnkhAmun thrown in for good measure. Unlike Karnak which is a hodgepodge of additions and revised buildings done over a good thousand years, Luxor temple follows a master plan. The great colonnade is simply breathtaking. So is the effect all this temple viewing is having on my neck. Looking up at the top of columns 90 high certainly takes a toll on one's vertebrae!

Karnak at sunrise

Up by 5:00 AM and out the door by 6:00 for a sunrise visit to the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. Fellow tour traveler Sonia, who's seen me react to the previous sites, asks me if I have been to Karnak before. When I answer to the negative, she says "Oh, you are going to go crazy!"

That was the understatement of the Millennium.

This no simple visit to the temple. Ancient World Tours and our guide Medhat have cooked up some incredible treats and surprises for us.

First is Salah ElMasekh Ahmed, an Egyptian archaeologist who has been making fantastic discoveries at the front of the first great pylon, including the original harbor and boat docks right in front of the temple, where Pharaoh would come in his great golden barque, and Greek and Roman era settlements, including a vast bathhouse, complete with boiler rooms and shower stalls, where pilgrims would wash and purify themselves before entering the great shrine. Salah shows us around in the early morning light, pointing to this and that discovery, work in progress, complete intact urns still upright in the solidified dirt, explaining the plumbing and waterworks that sustained the bathhouse.

Then the Temple of Khonshu - falcon-headed lunar deity - where one of the once soot-covered rooms has recently been cleaned to reveal the vibrant original colors of the painted reliefs. Amazing. This is not open to the public, but we have been granted special permission to enter the holy of holies of this smaller temple in the compound of Amun...

We don't enter the main Karnak sanctuary yet, but skirt the north side of the external wall to view the great conquests of Seti I. Medhat and Dr. Barry explain the reliefs, revealing the existence of a lost branch of the Nile going way to the east and into the Sinai. There's even crocodiles depicted in the water...

Under the guidance of Dr. Barry Kemp, we look for surviving signs of the Amarna/Aten era amongst later 19th dynasty constructions. Surprisingly there are quite a few, considering the ferocity with which Akhenaten's reforms were obliterated by his successors. Just fascinating. What appears to be a partial column drum made of alabaster is engraved with the cartouches of the Aten. Barry greets him with fondness, like one would a dear old friend.

Denny is taking pictures, lots of pictures. A true shutter bug. Which is great because I am totally useless. I know I will be back here in the coming weeks, so I am not in a frenzy to take photographs, yet. One of the several I manage to take with my blurred vision is that of the restored standing statue of Amun with the features of TutAnkhAmun. Deeply moving.

The great hypostyle hall is a veritable forest in stone. I am reminded of the words of Robert Schwaller de Lubiz who commented that Egyptian Temples were symphonies in stone. I agree, I totally agree. This immense hall sings in polyphonic harmonies.

Oh and to bloody hell with my disbelief in reincarnation, I have been here before!

Sacred Ground

I am in a state of shock, a state of humble reverence where words cannot possibly convey the magnitude of what I feel. Today the Gods have allowed me to walk on Sacred Ground, to walk awake in the fabric of my dreams, to see up close some of the most refined artwork ever created by man. The carved walls of the tomb of Ramose exceed anything I have ever seen or even dreamed of seeing. The rest of the day wasn't too shabby either...

We saw a LOT today:

Started with the Colossi of Amenhotep III (aka Memnon)

In the Valley of the Kings
Rameses VI
Tawre-waset
Rameses III
And Rameses I

The majestic Memorial Temple of Hatchepsut

Then break for lunch at an authentic Egyptian restaurant 'AFRIKA', which is close to the hotel where we will be staying in two weeks. Great food, we will definitely be back!

After lunch, the afore mentioned tomb of Ramose, plus two other smaller yet beautifully decorated tombs nearby; then finishing the day at the Ramesseum, the sprawling memorial temple of Rameses II.

Now back at the hotel, showered and refreshed in our room. At 7:30 we are invited to an artist reception in the lobby of the the grand old Winter Palace hotel - where we are staying. This is the famed Luxor hotel where the great Egyptologists, English Lords, assorted royalty and roaring 20's movie stars used to stay in the heyday of the discovery of king TutAnkhAmun's treasure trove. An oasis of Victorian splendor amongst the hub hub of modern day Luxor. At any rate, this contemporary Egyptian painter is having a show here at the hotel and we are invited. Our guide Medhat, bless his heart, has mentioned to the hotel manager that I am also an artist and our presence has been specifically requested...

Speaking of Medhat, he is truly an exceptional man, most resourceful and incredibly attentive. He is opening doors and establishing connections that are going to be invaluable when we start the independent part of our stay, especially here in Luxor.

Tomorrow we visit the great temple of Amun at Karnak at dawn, to see it in the light of the rising sun; the Luxor Museum in the afternoon and, finally, the Luxor temple at dusk...

The people at Ancient World Tours certainly know how to put an incredibly amazing tour together. This will all take some time to integrate and assimilate. Today was quite the emotional roller-coaster for me.

Gebel SilSila

Gebel SilSila

Today was a long day. Blog entry will be short - I keep falling asleep while loading and looking at the photos of the day.

We traveled from Aswan to Luxor, making some fascinating stops along the way. As an introduction, I guess, to the temples of Luxor and Karnak which we will be looking at over the next few days, we visited the quarries from where the sandstone blocks were extracted to build the great shrines. Inscriptions, shrines, even tombs abound in the imposing quarries of Gebel SilSila.

About halfway between Aswan and Luxor we made a left-hand turn towards the Nile on a narrow dirt road and into a lush cultivated area. A boat was awaiting us for an extraordinarily lovely ride on the Nile, first to the quarry site on the west bank, and then to the larger quarry on the east bank. These quarries, like I said, furnished the stone for many of the Luxor area temples, but also produced shrines, sphinxes and other statuary, some of which lies unfinished or broken in the mounds of tailings around the walls of stone. Very very impressive. Another treat today was a visit to the Vulture Rock, and immense monolith, covered with pre-dynastic petroglyphs, as well as some pharaonic inscriptions, that is located in a desolate, windy valley. Further visits to local tombs of nearby new kingdom nobles revealed remarkably fresh and well preserved wall decorations.

I suspect our guide Medhat pulled some major strings - negotiating on the fly with local officials and guards - to make today possible. It was just a magnificent day.

Some of our group are taking the optional hot air balloon ride over the west bank early tomorrow morning (I am not). After that we all go to the Valley of the Kings, Deir el-Bahri and the great temple of Hatchepsut, and will visit some of the nobles' tombs at el Gurna.

OK, going to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day too!