Our first visit was to the Valley of the Kings. This is where the New Kingdom Pharaohs were buried. Our first tomb was Ramses IV. He died unexpectantly and the tomb was hastily finished. There are some nice wall paintings in the tomb. It contains the only “Book of Nut”. Nut was the goddess who would swallow the sun at night and give birth to it again each morning. The granite sarcophagus is one of the largest in the valley.
Our next temple was Tuthmosis III. He has a Cartouche shaped burial chamber. The drawings of gods and man were stylized rather than the typical depiction of the time. The figures look like stick-men. His tomb is in an almost inaccessible spot. You have to climb a staircase (added in recent times) and walk back in a pass in the mountain side. You then have to descend a stone staircase to enter the tomb. It is extremely hot in the tomb. At the entrance there is a guard/ticket-taker who gives you a piece of cardboard for a fan. As we walked around Luke and I were approached by one of the guards. He started to point out several features and used his flashlight to illuminate the inside of the sarcophagus. On the way out he pestered Luke and then me for a tip. We just left.
Our last tomb was a two-for-one. Queen Tawosret built a tomb for herself and possibly for her husband Seti II. After her death, the burials were removed and Sethnakht extended the tomb and was buried in it. It is unusual that another’s burial chamber would be used for another burial. He must have been looking to save money or time. Most of Sethnakht’s paintings have worn off of the wall; this makes it look like an unfinished tomb. Tawosret’s paintings, on the other hand, are still intact.
Our next stop was the Valley of the Queens. But it wasn’t just Queens that were buried here. It was for the royal families. We visited three tombs: Amen Khopsef, Queen Titi, and Kha Em Wast. The tombs were nowhere as large as the Pharaohs, but they were richly decorated. The scenes were less about war and death and showed how they lived.
Our last set of tombs was the Tombs of the Nobles. Any priest or high ranking official could be buried here. It is generally these tombs that the locals would loot and build their homes over. These are generally less decorated, but they show different scenes of daily life. We visited the tomb of Ramose. He was a governor for Akhenaton (King Tutankhamen’s father) and the tomb is unfinished because he followed Akhenaton to Amarna when he started the new religion. What is fascinating about this tomb is the unfinished decoration on the walls. You can see how they laid out a grid-work and then added the pictures and hieroglyphics. We then went to the tombs of Usernat and Kha Em Het.
We finally got underway after lunch. It was neat to see the boat operate under steam. We sat on the sun deck to take pictures. We met one of the French couples. The husband was wearing a Pennsylvania Railroad tee-shirt. We started up a conversation based on the Tee-shirt. My dad would love to meet this man. They have much in common. They both like to watch trains. He says he likes America because the trains are so long. He has collected four full-sized passenger cars and is awaiting one to be fully restored. When it is finished, he plans on renting an engine and going out on the SCNF (French Railway) tracks for a special trip.At supper, one of the appetizers was a dried beef with balsamic vinegar. Our waiter noticed that Jon liked it and brought another. Tonight was the first time since the first night in Cairo that Jon has had any alcohol. The way his stomach has been, he has been wary of drinking. After dinner, we enjoyed a beer on the sun deck with the two couples we have met on the trip. It was apparent that the couple from France is VERY wealthy. He had a new box of Cuban cigars and offered one to Jon. I know that Jon was eager to smoke one, but the look from my evil eye kept him from accepting the offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment