Luxor and Suzanne Mubarak, part I

I spent a really interesting 3 days in Luxor, but I have to admit that I was impacted less by the amazing temples and tombs than by the social and political condition there. However, since there's so much to say about both, I'm splitting them into 2 posts, starting with the historical beauty of Luxor, formerly Thebes, the capital of all Egypt during the New Kingdom (from 1550 to 1069 BC).

As the capital of Egypt, Thebes was the center of some spectacular architectural innovations - many of which are still around. I'm not going to go into too much detail on the history, because there's way too much to even begin. But, if you're interested, I'm posting links to sites with more info.

The Valley of the Kings is a collection of tombs of the various Pharaohs during the New Kingdom. These are the Pharaohs whose names you know - Tutankhamen, Ramses II, etc - for a total of 64 tombs. The Pharaohs picked this area, on the west side of the Nile, for their tombs because of their belief that since the sun sets in the west, the west side of the Earth (which is everything beyond the Nile, obviously) is where people go when they die (this also explains why the cities are generally built on the east side of the Nile - true for Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan).

Rather than build pyramids, these Pharaohs found mountains in the shape of pyramids and built long tombs in the mountains. To access the tombs, you walk through a long passageway, about 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide, down to the room that holds the tomb. The walls are covered with carvings of hieroglyphics and pictures depicting the religious rites before and after death, and are brightly painted with colors you can still see 3000 years later. It's unbelievable to see. I went into 3 tombs, each more spectacular than the next.

For more info go here.

The Temple of Hatshepsut was built by Queen Hatshepsut, who is widely considered the strongest female leader of Egypt. The temple is built into the side of the mountain in the desert, and is an architectural masterpiece. There are carvings throughout, and huge statues. It's beautiful. Much has been defaced by the following Pharaohs, but it's still an amazing site. For more on Hatshepsut, read this and for more on the temple go here.

Medinat Habu is a huge temple built by Ramses III. In its heyday, Medinat Habu served as a temple to the god Amun, a funerary temple for Ramses III, and a palace for various Pharaohs. The carvings are spectacular, scenes from wars and various foreign conquests, and some of the colors on the walls remain, which is unbelievable. This temple (as opposed to the two sites described above) is a bit further off the beaten path, and was much more peaceful than the other places (which were overflowing with tourists). For more info, go here.

The Tombs of the Nobles was my favorite place of the first day. Because there's a short hike up a desert mountain to get to them, these tombs were literally deserted. It was so peaceful on top of the mountain - there was a beautiful view of Luxor, the temples I'd seen, and the villages on the West Bank. With no one around, there was total silence. It was beautiful.

The tombs themselves were unreal. These tombs were built for the advisers to the Pharaohs - important men but still mere mortals. In exchange for good work, the Pharaohs would often fund the building of these tombs (instead of a traditional Christmas bonus). They were similar in shape to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings (though smaller), but instead of carvings the tombs were literally covered in paintings (including on the ceiling - often of grape vines, to give the impression that the tomb is bigger). The vibrancy of the colors was phenomenal, and the scenes were so interesting. They depicted scenes of everyday life in Egypt - farming, hunting, men eating dinners with their wives, etc. I wasn't able to take pictures, but go here, here, and here for some interesting pictures.

Karnak Temple is the highlight of the East Bank. It's unbelievably huge - 1.5 km by 800 m - and there is literally no way to see everything. It seems very haphazard (which makes sense, as it was constructed in phases by more than 5 different Pharaohs). There's too much history and descriptions to even begin, so look at my pictures and this website for more information.

Luxor Temple is another temple on the East Bank, on an enormous scale but much more coherent than Karnak. In front of the temple are 4 gigantic statues of Ramses II, and inside the great hall (the first entryway) are more huge statues. All are remarkably well preserved. Most interesting to me was the mosque built into the temple; in the 14th century, unaware that a temple lay under the ground, a group of people built a mosque into the ground, attached to stone in the ground which turned out to be the top of the temple. It's a fascinating site - look at my pictures!

Those were the sites I saw in Luxor; view my pictures at summerincairo.shutterfly.com. (Note: As of 5/25, these still aren't up - coming soon!)