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| The Grandma in Luxor some decades ago |
With a total length of 6,853 km between the region of Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile is the longest river on the African continent. The Nile basin is complex, and because of this, the discharge at any given point along the mainstem depends on many factors including groundwater flow, diversions, weather and evaporation. It covers about 10% of the area of Africa.
Claire Fontaine is reading some information about the ancient ruins and the importance of places like the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens and The Grandma is studying two new lessons of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 7 & 8).
The Grandma visited these places some decades ago when she was a teenager and she
wants to keep those memories alive because it was an amazing travel.
Sometimes, visiting places twice can help you to discover little things
that you hadn't seen before but it can be also a way to change some good
memories. The Grandma thinks that you can not return to a place
where you had been happy because, perhaps, this second visit can change
your memories and create new ones.
Travelling along the Nile River is like travelling along the History of Civilizations. Joseph de Ca'th Lon is very interested in visiting Luxor and Karnak Temples witnesses of the most splendorous age of the Ancient Egypt.
Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the world's greatest open-air museum, as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city.
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| Joseph de Ca'th Lon with Ramesses II in Luxor |
As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the world's greatest open-air museum, as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city.
Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.
The name Luxor comes from the Arabic al-ʾuqṣur, the palaces,which may be a loanword from the Latin castrum fortified camp.
Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom, and the glorious city of Amun, later to become the god Amun-Ra. The city was regarded in the Ancient Egyptian texts as Waset, which meant city of the sceptre, and also ta ipet and meaning the shrine, and then, in a later period, the Greeks called it Thebai and the Romans after them Thebae.
More information: Lonely Planet
Thebes was also known as the city of the 100 gates, sometimes being called southern Heliopolis Iunu-shemaa in Ancient Egyptian, to distinguish it from the city of Iunu or Heliopolis, the main place of worship for the god Ra in the north. It was also often referred to as niw.t, which simply means city, and was one of only three cities in Egypt for which this noun was used, the other two were Memphis and Heliopolis; it was also called niw.t rst, southern city, as the southernmost of them.
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| Tina Picotes in the Luxor Temples |
The importance of the city started as early as the 11th Dynasty, when the town grew into a thriving city. Montuhotep II who united Egypt after the troubles of the first intermediate period brought stability to the lands as the city grew in stature.
The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom in their expeditions to Kush, in today's northern Sudan, and to the lands of Canaan, Phoenicia and Syria saw the city accumulate great wealth and rose to prominence, even on a world scale. Thebes played a major role in expelling the invading forces of the Hyksos from Upper Egypt, and from the time of the 18th Dynasty to the 20th Dynasty, the city had risen as the political, religious and military capital of Ancient Egypt.
More information: Live Science
The city attracted peoples such as the Babylonians, the Mitanni, the Hittites of Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, the Canaanites of Ugarit, the Phoenicians of Byblos and Tyre, the Minoans from the island of Crete. A Hittite prince from Anatolia even came to marry with the widow of Tutankhamun, Ankhesenamun.
The political and military importance of the city, however, faded during the Late Period, with Thebes being replaced as political capital by several cities in Northern Egypt, such as Bubastis, Sais and finally Alexandria.
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| Claire Fontaine in the Avenue of the Sphinxes, Luxor |
However, as the city of the god Amun-Ra, Thebes remained the religious capital of Egypt until the Greek period. The main god of the city was Amun, who was worshipped together with his wife, the Goddess Mut, and their son Khonsu, the God of the moon.
With the rise of Thebes as the foremost city of Egypt, the local god Amon rose in importance as well and became linked to the sun god Ra, thus creating the new king of gods Amon-Ra. His great temple, at Karnak just north of Thebes, was the most important temple of Egypt right until the end of antiquity.
Later, the city was attacked by Assyrian emperor Assurbanipal who installed the Libyan prince on the throne, Psamtik I. The city of Thebes was in ruins and fell in significance.
More information: Discovering Egypt
However, Alexander the Great did arrive at the temple of Amun, where the statue of the god was transferred from Karnak during the Opet Festival, the great religious feast. Thebes remained a site of spirituality up to the Christian era, and attracted numerous Christian monks in the Roman Empire who established monasteries amidst several ancient monuments including the temple of Hatshepsut, now called Deir el-Bahri the northern monastery.
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| Joseph in King Seti I Burial Chamber, Luxor |
Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor, ancient Thebes, and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it is known as ipet resyt, the southern sanctuary.
In Luxor there are several great temples on the east and west banks. Four of the major mortuary temples visited by early travelers and tourists include the Temple of Seti I at Gurnah, the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri, the Temple of Ramesses II, aka Ramesseum, and the Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu; and the two primary cults temples on the east bank are known as the Karnak and Luxor. Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the king in death.
Instead Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the kings of Egypt were crowned in reality or conceptually, as in the case of Alexander the Great who claimed he was crowned at Luxor but may never have traveled south of Memphis, near modern Cairo.
More information: Ancient Facts
To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty, and Alexander. Other parts of the temple were built by Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. During the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area.
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| The Grandma with Ramesses II, Luxor |
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak, from Arabic Khurnak meaning fortified village, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings.
Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut, The Most Selected of Places and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head.
Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut, The Most Selected of Places and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head.
It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres north of Luxor.
More information: History
The Valley of the Kings also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock cut tombs were excavated for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom, the 18th to the 20th Dynasties of Ancient Egypt.
The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes, modern Luxor, within the heart of the Theban Necropolis. The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley, where the majority of the royal tombs are situated, and West Valley.
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| Visiting the Valley of the Kings, Egypt |
This area has been a focus of archaeological and egyptological exploration since the end of the eighteenth century, and its tombs and burials continue to stimulate research and interest.
In modern times the valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, with its rumours of the Curse of the Pharaohs, and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. In 1979, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the rest of the Theban Necropolis. Exploration, excavation and conservation continues in the valley, and a new tourist centre has recently been opened.
More information: Pinterest
The Valley of the Queens is a site in Egypt, where wives of Pharaohs were buried in ancient times. In ancient times, it was known as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning the place of beauty.
Using the limits as described by Christian Leblanc, the Valley of the Queens consists of the main wadi which contains most of the tombs, as well as the Valley of Prince Ahmose, the Valley of the Rope, the Valley of the Three Pits, and the Valley of the Dolmen. The main wadi contains 91 tombs and the subsidiary valleys add another 19 tombs. The burials in the subsidiary valleys all date to the 18th Dynasty.
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| The Grandma & Claire visit the Luxor Temples |
The reason for choosing the Valley of the Queens as a burial site is not known. The location in close proximity to the worker's village in Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings may have been a factor.
Another consideration may be the existence of a sacred grotto dedicated to Hathor at the entrance of the Valley. This grotto may be associated with rejuvenation for the dead.
The Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu is an important New Kingdom period structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt. Aside from its size and architectural and artistic importance, the temple is probably best known as the source of inscribed reliefs depicting the advent and defeat of the Sea Peoples during the reign of Ramesses III.
The Ramesseum is the memorial temple, or mortuary temple, of Pharaoh Ramesses II, Ramesses the Great, also spelled Ramses and Rameses. It is located in the Theban necropolis in Upper Egypt, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor.
More information: Ancient Egypt
Deir el-Medina is an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt, ca. 1550–1080 BCE.
The settlement's ancient name was Set maat The Place of Truth, and the workmen who lived there were called Servants in the Place of Truth. During the Christian era, the temple of Hathor was converted into a church from which the Arabic name Deir el-Medina, the monastery of the town, is derived.
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| The Grandma & the Colossi of Memnon years ago |
The Theban Necropolis is located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor. As well as the more famous royal tombs located in the Valley of the Kings and Queens, there are numerous other tombs, more commonly referred to as Tombs of the Nobles, the burial places of some of the powerful courtiers and persons of the ancient city.
There are at least 415 cataloged tombs, designated TT for Theban Tomb. There are other tombs whose position has been lost, or for some other reason do not conform to this classification. Theban tombs tended to have clay Funerary cones placed over the entrance of the tomb chapels. During the New Kingdom they were inscribed with the title and name of the tomb owner, sometimes with short prayers. Of the 400 recorded sets of cones, only about 80 come from cataloged tombs.
Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri or the Monastery of the Sea is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis. The first monument built at the site was the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. It was constructed during the 15th century BCE. During the 18th Dynasty, Amenhotep I and Hatshepsut also built extensively at the site.
More information: Ancient Pages
Malkata or Malqata, meaning the place where things are picked up in Arabic, is the site of an Ancient Egyptian palace complex built during the New Kingdom, by the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III.
It is located on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes, Upper Egypt, in the desert to the south of Medinet Habu. The site also included a temple dedicated to Amenhotep III's Great Royal Wife, Tiy, and honors Sobek, the crocodile deity.
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| Tina Picotes visits the Colossi of Memnon |
The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who reigned in Egypt during the 18th Dynasty. For the past 3,400 years, since 1350 BC, they have stood in the Theban Necropolis, located west of the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor.
Memnon was a hero of the Trojan War, a King of Ethiopia who led his armies from Africa into Asia Minor to help defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by Achilles.
Memnon, whose name means the Steadfast or Resolute was said to be the son of Eos, the goddess of dawn. He was associated with colossi built several centuries earlier, because of the reported cry at dawn of the northern statue, which became known as the Colossus of Memnon. Eventually, the entire Theban Necropolis became generally referred to as the Memnonium making him Ruler of the west as in the case of the god Osiris who was called chief of the west.
More information: Ancient History
By 3000 B.C. the art of Egypt was so ripe and so far advanced
that it is surprising to find any student of early culture proposing
that the crude contemporary art of the early Babylonians
is the product of a civilization earlier than that of the Nile.
James Henry Breasted
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