Lunch today was at Sofra Restaurant and Café. It's probably not true, but it seems that lunches are the same everywhere we go ... not complaining, as they have been all good. It's just that Egyptian cuisine must be more varied than what we've experienced thus far.
Afterwards, on our drive back to the Pavillon Winter Hotel, we stopped at a jewelry store whose owner Vivian knows. There were cases upon cases of silver and gold jewelry; silver on the left and gold on the right. Desiring to purchase an old, traditional Bedouin-designed scarab ring, I was disappointed not to find one. However, I did purchase a 3" lapis scarab sculpture ... having learned my lesson in India not to buy a 4' tall sculpture that takes almost six months to receive!
Returning to our hotel, we passed by the Luxor Temple, which we will visit later right before dusk.
Luxor
While Gypsy cat-napped, I began packing as we leave tomorrow for the next portion of our adventure and I have a very early start tomorrow morning.
As such, it was was built to honor Amon-Ra, the king of gods during the reigns of two pharaohs — Amenhotep III and Ramesses II — and honors the Theban triad of Amun, Mut (his consort) and Khonsu, their son the moon god. Its primary purpose was the celebration of the Opet Festival, when once a year, for several weeks, the people of ancient Thebes went on extended holiday to rejoice in the presence of the gods and ask them for favors. Only at this time did the gods come out of their hidden temple rooms to be among the people. Small statues of the gods were carried along the processional avenue between Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple or carried on the sacred barques along the Nile.
Luxor Temple was largely completed during the 18th dynasty rule of Amenhotep III with subsequent additions made to it by Ramesses II in the 19th dynasty. Still later it was modified by subsequent rulers, including Alexander the Great. Its design remained coherent in contrast to the sprawling Karnak complex.
The processional avenue we saw earlier today that extended beyond Karnak’s 10th Pylon connects here, 1.2 miles later, to the Pylon of Ramses II. In fact, this portion of the avenue is much further along in its restoration. The original ram-headed sphinxes were replaced in the 30th dynasty with the ones I now saw with human heads.
The Pylon of Ramesses II in very imposing. Standing over 200-feet tall, its front is decorated with now barely discernible bas reliefs depicting Ramesses II's military victory over the Hittites at Qadash. Two 82-foot obelisks originally fronted the pylon. Today, stands only one. The other was moved to Paris, in 1833, and placed in Place de la Concorde as a gift from the Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali to the people of France.
Luxor Temple was largely completed during the 18th dynasty rule of Amenhotep III with subsequent additions made to it by Ramesses II in the 19th dynasty. Still later it was modified by subsequent rulers, including Alexander the Great. Its design remained coherent in contrast to the sprawling Karnak complex.
The processional avenue we saw earlier today that extended beyond Karnak’s 10th Pylon connects here, 1.2 miles later, to the Pylon of Ramses II. In fact, this portion of the avenue is much further along in its restoration. The original ram-headed sphinxes were replaced in the 30th dynasty with the ones I now saw with human heads.
The Pylon of Ramesses II in very imposing. Standing over 200-feet tall, its front is decorated with now barely discernible bas reliefs depicting Ramesses II's military victory over the Hittites at Qadash. Two 82-foot obelisks originally fronted the pylon. Today, stands only one. The other was moved to Paris, in 1833, and placed in Place de la Concorde as a gift from the Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali to the people of France.
Over the centuries Luxor Temple was engulfed in sand and silt, and a village grew up within its walls.
Sometime around 1881AD archeologist Gaston Maspéro rediscovered the temple, which is just over 850-feet long. But, before it could be excavated the village had to be removed. Only the Abu al-Haggag Mosque built by the Arabs in the 13th century AD, which sits on top of a 6th century AD Coptic church, was left intact and sits high above the temple on the layers upon layers of accumulated silt. Past the entrance is the Court of Ramesses II with its double row of columns with closed papyrus capitals and statues of Osiris. There are also colossal statues of the pharaohs Ramesses II and Amenhotep III, in mid-stride, sculpted out of granite and granodiorite. Funnily … Ramesses II created statues of his predecessor as a way to associate himself and share responsibility for the magnificence of the Luxor Temple — then, right before a big celebration Ramesses II had Amenhotep III’s name removed from each of the statues representing him and replaced with his own. Clearly, large egos are not a modern phenomenon! |
On the east side of the court towering above is the mosque Abu al-Haggag Mosque. On the opposite side is the small temple, built by Thutmosis III, that housed the sacred barques and dedicated to the Thebean triad of Amon, Mut and Khonsu.
One of the things that has swirled in my subconscious since coming to Egypt is the similarity of ancient cultures that used building materials from one monument or temple to build another. Or, how one pharaoh or Inka built on top of, or added to, another's structure.
There is something quite extraordinary in experiencing this layering of civilizations / dynasties compared to our present culture that can’t tear things down fast enough to build something new (and cheaply) and, for the most part, without architectural soul. Each of these ancient Egyptian sites have a unique energetic quality. How lovely it would be to just sit in stillness and absorb the energy and feel the stories these structures, bas reliefs and hieroglyphs have to tell. I feel so very grateful for the first few days of our trip when we often had sacred sites all to ourselves. Just not enough time. Now, in Luxor, there are many more people and it is much more challenging to find stillness. |
Beyond the court is the Colonnade of Amenhotep III with two rows of seven columns with open papyrus capitals. The embellishments on these columns were made during the reign of King Tutankhamun and depict the annual Opet Festival when the statues of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were taken in procession from Karnak to Luxor.
This opens to the Peristyle Court, which was built by Amenhotep III and is surrounded on three sides by two rows of columns with closed papyrus capitals.
A transverse hypostyle hall at the far end of the courtyard serves as a vestibule to the main temple. It has four rows of eight papyrus capped columns that are inscribed with the cartouches of Ramesses II, Ramesses IV, Ramesses VI and Seti I.
This leads to an antechamber with beautiful bas-relief depictions and hieroglyphs and beyond the most intimate and sacred part of the temple — the Holy of Holies. Leaving the group, I wandered through several other halls including the Hall of Sacred Marriage and the Chapel of Mut.
As the sky darkened the artificial lights at the Luxor cast wonderfully dramatic shadows.
While others went off to ride in horse-drawn carriages, Gypsy and I elected to walk back to the Winter Palace Hotel for a bite of dinner at the bar. Happily, the piano player was there, too.
After dinner, we headed back to our room for an early night as I needed to be up by 4AM to meet those who signed up for our next adventure! Stay tuned …
After dinner, we headed back to our room for an early night as I needed to be up by 4AM to meet those who signed up for our next adventure! Stay tuned …