Up early, we made our way to the Valley of the Kings, burial ground for many pharaohs of the New Kingdom, including, most famously, Tutankhamun. Though virtually all but Tut's have been raided (though isn't Carter a glorified tomb raider?) they are still marvels for their artwork.. Unlike the outdoor temples, the tombs don't have a little bit of paint; they're awash in colors. There are over a dozen tombs open to the public, but the admission ticket only got us into three (any three) of our choice. I paid for an extra ticket to see Ramses VI tomb because Magdolin said it had good paintings. Others paid to see Tut's tomb, but I'd heard the treasures (which we'd seen in Cairo) are great but the tomb isn't worth seeing.
Though we could all pick different tombs, we all, as a group, went to Ramses III tomb on Magdolin's advice. We'd been told photos were prohibited (as they were at Abu Simbel) so we didn't take our cameras. Monica, our Australian movie producer, took a photo with her iPhone and some bastard American tourist ratted her out to security. Supposedly, the fine is 1000LE ($200) per photo taken. The guard made Monica get Magdolin and extorted 100LE of baksheesh from her to get the phone back. We teased Monica often after that.
As for the tombs themselves, same as I've said before: words can't do them justice. I went to Ramses III, Ramses IX, Merenptah, and Ramses VI.
I had my own moment with a guard when the peasant watching Ramses VI tomb thought he might be in line for some baksheesh of his own. He saw me listening to my iPod (before you judge me; I was in there w/o anyone from my group and I didn't want to hear the incessant drivel of the other tourists) and somehow decided it was a nefarious camera with headphones coming out of it. Fortunately, a tour guide was in there and told the guard to sit back down because it obviously wasn't a camera. Foiled, he angrily motioned for me to put it away. I did.
Just from the other side of the mountain from the Valley of the Kings is Queen (King) Hatshepsut's Temple. Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I, who ended up not having any sons with his royal queen. Thutmose II, Thutmose I's son through a concubine, was married to Hatshepsut, his half-sister, and derived his authority through her since she was fully royal. Thutmose II and Hatshepsut only had daughters, so like their father, Thutmose II had to put forward Thutmose III, his son from a concubine, to succeed him as well. Of course Thutmose II had one of his royal daughter with Hatshepsut marry III to legitimize him as well.
When Thutmose II died while III was still a child, Hatshepsut decided it was all a buncha bullpuckey. Her husband ruled through the legitimacy of her purely royal blood; she was gonna be damned if his non-royal son was going to rule. She was regent for III but ruled as though she were a king, even making her statues look male. When the regency should have ended, she tried to retain rule. Unfortunately for her, her step-son/son-in-law/nephew (Egyptians were apparently proto West Virginians) turned out to be "the Egyptian Napoleon," their greatest warrior pharaoh. Sometimes you catch a bad break. Thutmose III took back his crown and proceeded to destroy every image of Hatshepsut he could find, the Egyptian equivalent of sending her to oblivion since images/engravings were essential for the afterlife/immortality.
Uppity usurper that she was, Hatshepsut had built a colossal temple which Thutmose did not destroy (he only tore down her statues and chiseled out her likeness). That's where we went. Time had not been so kind to the temple so, while it was impressive enough, it was all virtually modern reconstruction.
After we left Hatshepsut's Temple we stopped at the Colossoi of Memnon, famous in antiquity, but the first objects we've seen here I can truthfully call "ruins." They'd be treasures and top of the list of must-sees in most any other country.
On our way back to Luxor, we stopped off at another planned shopping opportunity, this time at one of the myriad "Alabaster Factories" on the road. Thoroughly sick of vendors, I was the one to stay on our minibus.
No comments:
Post a Comment