Another friendly Arab. Brenda and Annette pose for a photo at the insistence of the photographer.

He held a scepter in his right hand.

Ramses outside. Notice the left foot forward. It is a sign of royalty.

Third stop — King Titi's tomb

An Egyptian-Czech mission unearthed a tomb of King Titi, King of the Sixth Dynasty (2345–2181 BC). Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, Dr. Gaballah Ali Gaballah, said the entombed man was a judge and a priest.

The tomb is in Sakkara which is a section of the great necropolis of Memphis.

Photos were not permitted under penalty of camera confiscation. The tomb's passages were small, and getting around inside was a stooping and a hands and knees exercise. I whacked my head five times as I maneuvered about. King Titi's sarcophagus was black granite and his cartouche was inscribed inside. More about cartouches later.

Fourth stop — a carpet factory

The carpet these two are working on will be completed in two years!

The selection was magnificent. We didn't purchase, however some of our tour group did.

Next, lunch under a green-canopied restaurant. A nice chance to rest, talk, and reflect.

Fifth stop — The Great Pyramids and the Sphinx

The Great Pyramid of Cheops is estimated to weigh 4 million, 500 thousand tons. It is 555-feet (169-meters) high.

Return to Table of Contents

Tour Day 2 — December 24th

First stop — Egyptian Museum

All museum photos and associated text courtesy of The Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum was fascinating. It had many wonderful exhibits. The egyptians mummified all of their dead — including their animals — and food for the departed.

Beloved Pets

The Ancient Egyptians kept many animals as household pets, including cats, dogs, monkeys, gazelles, and birds.

Pet monkeys and cats are often depicted on the walls of tombs, seated beneath the chair of their owner. These paintings often had magical properties, ensuring that these pets, could join their masters after death. In the pictures above, care has been taken to ensure that the pets, like their owners, would have abundant food in the afterworld. The cat has a large bowl provided while the monkey has its favorite fruits. The cat also has a wooden chair leg to scratch (the left paw is actually in the process of scratching!).

Food for the Dead

The Ancient Egyptians wished to ensure that they would have enough to eat in the after life. Scenes of hunting, farming, and domestic food animals along with processions of servants bearing different foods were often carved and painted on their tomb walls.

Models of foods made of clay, faience or wood, were placed in the tomb as well. The model left shows a fishing scene.

Food Mummies

Meat was not usually not placed in the tomb as whole carcasses. Rather it was jointed and butchered as if to prepare it for cooking. Until the Eighteenth dynasty these ‘victual mummies’ in the form of joints of meat or entire fowl were placed directly in the burial chamber, sometimes in pottery dishes, so that the deceased could enjoy them in the Afterlife.

Upstairs on the first floor (i.e. second level) are thousands of smaller items from the span of Egyptian history. Of course, everybody wants to see the treasures from Tutankhamen's tomb — these occupy a large area along almost two side of the upper floor. Chariots, gloves, jewelry, the famous mask — many of the antiquities from his tomb are displayed here.

Tutankhamen's tomb contained four gilded shrines nested one inside the other. All four of these shrines are on display in the museum. They are lined up in order of decreasing size. The innermost of these covered a stone sarcophagus which remains in the tomb.

Inside the stone sarcophagus were three coffins — the innermost being made of 110 kilograms of solid gold. Inside that lay the pharaoh himself wearing the famous gold mask. Tutankhamen remains in his tomb to this day.

To see everything in the museum would take at least two weeks.

Second Stop — Buying our Cartouches

In Egyptian hieroglyphics, a cartouche is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. This came into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneer. The Ancient Egyptian word for it was sheen. The word cartouche was coined by Napoleon.

Third Stop — To the Airport for our one-hour flight to Aswan

On the way to the airport we viewed some interesting Cairo street scenes.

Notice the rebar extending from the top of the buildings in the right-hand photo. This means the buildings are not yet completed, and if your building remains uncompleted you don't have to pay the property tax.

The one-hour flight on an Egypt Air 737 gave us a wonderful view of Sahara's expanse. I now suddenly understood the task that Moses faced. As we bussed to our hotel I was impressed by how orderly the traffic flow was, compared with Cairo's chaotic streets, where drivers charge on regardless of traffic conditions.

The Isis Island Hotel in Aswan was quite nice, but did not match the elegance of Oberoi Mena House in Cairo. This hotel was being used while the regular hotel for this part of the tour was being renovated.

The Antiquities and Tourism Police maintained a proactive approach to security.

It is December 24th, Christmas Day is on its way.

It was now time for the Christmas banquet. First, we were regaled by a great little band. Noice the Fez's they are wearing. A fez was something Tim had to have before we left Egypt, and he got one!

The dinner and companionship were wonderful, and where we had our first taste of Hibiscus wine.

Return to Table of Contents

Tour Day 3 — December 25th

First stop — Abu Simbel

Christmas morning breakfast, getting ready for our flight to Abu Simbel.

We flew to Abu Simbel on an Egypt Air 737. Abu Simbel is on the Sudanese border, and houses the two huge sandstone temples built by Ramses II, one in honor of himself and the other in honor of his wife, Queen Nefertiti. Below, Big D hands out our flight tickets.

Not only are the two temples at Abu Simbel among the most magnificent monuments in the world, but their removal and reconstruction was an historic event in itself. When the temples (173-miles, 280-kilometers from Aswan) were threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser because of the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support of UNESCO and launched a world wide appeal. During the salvage operation that began in 1964 and continued until 1968, the two temples were dismantled by a Swedish, French, German, and Italian consortium and raised over 200-feet (60-meters) up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,000 years before. Here they were reassembled and covered with dome-shaped "mountains" of concrete covered with natural rock. The relocation project cost $40 million and took two years. The temples are in the exact same relationship to each other with respect to the sanctuary's original ritual effect of the rising sun penetrating the inner shrine at particular times of the year, calculated to be February 21st and October 21st.King Ramses' and Queen Nefertari's temples were originally located on the cliff now submerged by Lake Nasser.

The temples face South, where invading armies originated. They sent the message that if you try to invade Egypt, you will have to deal with me, a very powerful pharaoh.

Most of the joints in the stone have now been filled by antiquity experts, but inside the temples it is still possible to see where the blocks were cut. You can also go inside the man-made dome and see an exhibition of photographs showing the different stages of the massive removal project. The project took four years to complete and coat $40 million.

Abu is an Arabic word for a holy man or saint from any religion that is used mostly by archaeologists. Arabs of today use the word as a general term to describe the head of a family or father of children.

The statues are 65-feet (20-meters) high. The cartouches at the base of the figures represent Ramses' name. The royal insignia include the nemes, a striped head cloth worn by the pharaohs of Egypt, with a sacred cobra on his brow, double crown of lower and upper Egypt, and a false beard.

The following text and interior photos are compliments of Bluffton University and touregypt.net.

Inside the temple. Eight Osiris pillars 32-feet (10-meters) tall with the features of Ramses have arms crossed, holding a scepter and flail. They are arranged in two rows, those on the left wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, those on the right with the double crown. The great vulture goddess is painted on the ceiling. The wall image depicts Ramses victory over his enemies.

Ramses II, who reigned for 67 years during the 19th dynasty of the 12th century BC, was known as "Ramses the Great". His glories surpassed all other Pharaohs, and Egypt reached an overwhelming state of prosperity during his reign. Not only is he known as one of Egypt's greatest warriors, but also as a peacemaker and for the monuments he left behind all over Egypt. He was the first king in history to sign a peace treaty with his enemies, the Hittites, ending long years of wars and hostility. The treaty can still be considered a conclusive model, even when applying today’s standards.

It is thought that Ramses II was the pharaoh who let Moses' people leave Egypt.

Beside Ramses' temple is Queen Nefertari's temple, which is also her tomb.

Nefertari, the favorite Queen of Ramses II, is known from myriad of her representations in the temple relief's and colossi of the great king. The dedication to her, jointly with the goddess Hathor, of the small rock temple to the north of the great temple at Abu Simbel, shows how great her influence with Ramses II must have been.

Nefertari was not the only consort of Ramses II. Four other ladies are attested in the inscriptions of his reign to be his queens. However, she was not an ordinary queen, and her situation excelled that of former ones. Her name has been rendered as "The Most Beautiful of Them"; a superlative that denotes her most exceptional position, while the designation "Hereditary Princess," noted for her in several instances, appears to be the indication of her high ranking origin in the society. Her participation in the affairs of the state is unparalleled outside the Amarna Period, and is reflected in the titles assigned to her as "Great King's Wife". A political role is also reflected by the recurrent designation "Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt" and "Lady of the Two Lands".

The following two interior photos of Queen Nefertari's temple courtesy of George and Audrey DeLange (www.delange.org).

Wall details.

Brenda poses with a smiling Antiquities and Tourism policeman on our way to the café and a refreshing respite.

We flew back from Abu Simbel to Aswan and boarded our river cruise boat, Royal Lotus, which was to be our home for the next three days. We had lunch at 2:00. At 3:00 we sailed to Kitchener's Island aboard felucca sailboats. Most are steel-hulled boats, and they are everywhere on the Nile.

Second stop — Kitchener's Island

Kitchener's Island is a botanical garden, filled with exotic plants and trees imported from all over the world. The island must be reached by boat, and is located on the other side of Elephantine Island from Aswan. The Island was given to Lord Kitchener for his campaigns in the Sudan, and he moved there and created his garden, importing plants and trees from all over the world. Today, the Egyptian government operates this popular tourist destination.

The dark mark on the skipper's forehead (top RH photo) indicates he is a devout muslim, who prays four times daily and observes the other tenets of his religion.

We see Aga Khan III's tomb. He died on July 11, 1957.

We meet a student group on the island. Annette helps them practice their English. They were overjoyed by this opportunity.

That evening, we explore the Royal Lotus.

Brenda, dressed for dinner.

Return to Table of Contents

Tour Day 4 — December 26th

First stop — Granite quarry and the unfinished obelisk

Big D tells us how the Egyptians quarried — In ancient times obelisks and other large stone objects were usually blocked out roughly before they left the quarry. Diorite, a very hard stone, was used as a mallet in shaping the obelisk. There are several techniques suggested for the splitting of hard stone away from its surrounding rock. One method may have been to cut a groove along the line where the stone was to be detached and then to drive in wooden wedges that were soaked with water. The force of the swelling wood would act to split the granite — there is certainly evidence that this method was used in Roman times. Another method may have been to cut a groove with stone tools, or a primitive saw used with an abrasive, which would then be heated with charcoal and rapidly cooled with water, causing the stone to split.

Given the primitive soft-metal tools of the ancient Egyptians, the obelisk in the Northern Quarry shows us an amazing feat of technology and archaeologists have learned much about the techniques of stone cutting from examining this abandoned monument and from the tools that have been left behind. It would appear that the stone, which measures 148-feet (42-meters) in length and would have weighed around 1,216 tons, developed a flaw during quarrying and was never completed. It was left to lie still attached to the rock for the next 3000 years. (Some text courtesy of www.egyptsites.co.uk)

Second stop — Aswan High Dam

Actually, there are two Aswan Dams, the Old Dam and the High Dam.

Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s and completed in 1970 at the cost of over $1 billion. It is an embankment dam and contains 18 times the material used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The Dam is 11,811-feet (3,600-meters) long, 3215-feet (800-meters) thick at the base and and 364-feet (111-meters) tall. Today it provides irrigation and electricity for 95% of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902, which is still in use, is located 4-miles (6-kilometers) down river. When this dam almost overflowed in 1946 it was decided that rather than raise the dam a third time, a second dam would be built. The 2-mile-long (3.7-kilometer) High Dam contains 43 cubic meters of material and from the top you can gaze across Lake Nasser, the huge reservoir created when it was built, to the Kalabsha Temple in the South and the huge power station to the north, which has 12 Soviet-built generators with a generating capacity of 2,100 megawatts of electricity.

The High Dam created a 30% increase in the cultivatable land in Egypt, and raised the water table for the Shara as far away as Algeria.  The electricity producing capability of the Dam doubled Egypt's available supply. Although the Aswan High Dam has provided many benefits to the area, it also has caused problems. The formation of Lake Nasser inundated many villages along the Nile in both Egypt and Sudan, forcing thousands of people to relocate. Farmland along the Nile is becoming less fertile and productive because it no longer receives the fertilizing silt from the river’s floodwaters. Farmers have attempted to use chemical fertilizers instead, but these are not as effective.

Because of geopolitical intrigue, Russia (then the USSR) was the only nation to assist Egypt in building the High Dam. They underwrote 1/3 of the cost. Below is the Russian-Egyptian monument.

Third stop — The Temple of Kom Ombo (The Mountain of Gold)

We bussed back and boarded the Royal Lotus and began our sail to the town of Kom Ombo. We had a delicious lunch in the Lotus restaurant, then embarked on our motorboat ride to Kom Ombo.

Located in the town of Kom Ombo, about 28 miles north of Aswan, the Temple dating to the Ptolemies, is on an island. It is built on a high dune overlooking the Nile. The actual temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor in the early second century BC. Ptolemy XIII built the outer and inner hypostyle halls. The outer enclosure wall and part of the court were built by Augustus sometime after 30 BC, and are mostly gone.  There are also tombs from the Old Kingdom in the vicinity of Kom Ombo village.

The Temple known as Kom Ombo is actually two temples consisting of a Temple to Sobek and a Temple of Haroeris. It is dedicated to the crocodile and falcon gods. In ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the river bank near here. The Temple has scant remains, due first to the changing Nile, then the Copts, who once used it as a church, and finally by builders who used the stones for new buildings.

The gods hold the Keys of Life. Two cartouches are in the center.

Everything is duplicated along the main axis. There are two entrances, two courts, two colonnades, two hypostyle halls and two sanctuaries. There were probably even two sets of priests. The left, or northern side is dedicated to Haroeris (sometimes called Harer, Horus the Elder) who was the falcon headed sky god and the right to Sobek (the crocodile headed god). The two gods are accompanied by their families. They include Haroeris'  wife named Tesentnefert, meaning the good sister and his son, Panebtawy. Sobeck likewise is accompanied by his consort, Hathor and son, Khonsu.

Foundations are all that are left of the original Pylon. Beyond the Pylon, there was once a staircase in the court that led to a roof terrace.  The court has a columned portico and central altar. There is a scene of the King leaving his palace escorted by standards. Near the sanctuary is a purification scene. On either side of the door to the pronaos are columns inscribed with icons of the lotus (South) and papyrus (North), symbolizing the 'two lands' of Egypt.

In the southwest corner of the pronaos is the one column that does not echo the duality of the temples. Here, there are scenes depicting purification of the King, his coronation and his consecration of the Temple.  The ceiling has astronomical images.

The hypostyle hall has papyrus capitals on the columns. Here, there is an inventory of the scared places of Egypt, the gods of the main towns and the local and national festivals. 

In the anti chamber, there are scenes depicting the goddess Seshat launching the building of the temple, followed by a scene of the completed temple with the king throwing natron in a purification ceremony. The staircase leading to the roof is all that remains of the offering hall.

Statues to the gods and the builders of the temple once occupied the net room just before the sanctuaries.  The ceiling of the pure place to the north still remains with an image of Nut.  There is little left of the sanctuaries.  

We pass t he omnipresent vendors on our way to the motorboats. They had some excellent goods for sale.

Tourists from all over.

Later, we shopped for perfumes and essential oils. We purchased all sorts of oils, such as mint, cheops (the basis of Arpege perfume) Lavender, cumin.

We returned to the Royal Lotus for our sailing to Edfu. Our dinner that evening was an Egyptian buffet, which was very enjoyable.

Return to Table of Contents

Tour Day 5 — December 27th

First and only stop — The Temple of Horus at Edfu

The ride to the temple was by horse and carriage. The drivers negotiate with Big D for their passengers.

One of the carriages, and Mustafa, our driver.

Street scene on our ride. See the tax-free unfinished buildings.

We arrive in the carriage "garage". Photo by Mustafa.

Dedicated to Horus, the falcon headed god, the templet was built during the reigns of six Ptolemies. It was begun in 237 BC by Ptolemy III Euergetes I and was finished in 57 BC. This is not only the best preserved ancient temple in Egypt, but the second largest after Karnak. It was believed that the temple was built on the site of the great battle between Horus and Seth. The pylons of the main temple are about 118-feet (36-meters) high with typical scenes of the pharaoh in battle with his enemies.

An immaculate ten-foot tall colossi of Horus as the Falcon God.

Interior views.

We get ready to return to the Royal Lotus and the sand stone statue of the Sphinx outside the café.

Royal Lotus interior views.

Our boat's oasis.

We sail to Luxor. Our day was relaxing. We pass another Nile cruise boat and a view of the shore.

All of the Nile cruise boats are of almost the same size design. This is because they moore side-by-side at their destinations. This allows the passengers to walk across the boats to go ashore. there are hundreds of these boats plying the Nile. Nile cruising is big business.

Below, the sites are enjoyed from the Royal Lotus' upper deck.

We pass through a lock, and are greeted by a lock worker.

Big D expands our Egyptian knowledge, and we meet one of Big D's guide compatriots.

We enjoy the formal dinner.

Later that evening — The Belly Dancer and the Whirling Dervish

The Dervishes, also known as the Mevlevi Order, are Sufis, a spiritual offshoot of Islam. The traditional dance rite involves many dancers where each dancer represents a planet in the solar system.

Needless to say, the dance was spectacular.

Return to Table of Contents

Tour Day 6 — December 28th

Visit to the Nile's West and East banks.

First stop — Valley of the Kings on the Nile's West Bank

The Nile's West Bank is the abode of the dead. The East Bank is the abode of the living. Hence, in WWI a soldier who died in battle had "Gone West".

We disembarked the Royal Lotus for our motorboat ride to the West Bank. Getting from land to the motorboats was a bit tricky.

There was an interesting model of the location of the tombs that have so far been discovered.

We board the tram for our first look at the valley.

The Egyptian belief that "To speak the name of the dead is to make him live again" is certainly carried out in the building of the tombs. The king's formal names and titles are inscribed in his tomb along with his images and statues. Beginning with the 18th Dynasty and ending with the 20th, the kings abandoned the Memphis area and built their tombs in Thebes. Also abandoned were the pyramid style tombs. Most of the tombs were cut into the limestone following a similar pattern: three corridors, an antechamber and a sunken sarcophagus chamber. These catacombs were harder to rob and were more easily concealed.

The royal tombs cut in the Valley of the Kings during the New Kingdom represented a shift in form and location from royal cemeteries that preceded them. As Egyptian society gradually developed from the predynastic chiefdoms to the first united kingdoms of the Early Dynastic Period (Dynasties 1 and 2), impressive royal tomb complexes were constructed, surrounded by cemeteries of courtiers and servants. The characteristic tomb of the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom was a rectangular flat-topped superstructure with steep sloping sides called a mastaba.

Ramesses III's tomb is sometimes referred to as the "Harpers Tomb" because of the two harpers playing to the gods in four of the chambers. Ten small chambers branch off of the main corridors. These were for the placement of tomb furniture. Below we line up to take a look.

Signs marked the direction to the tombs.

Tutankhamen Tomb

Though small and unimpressive,Tutankhamen's Tomb is probably the most famous because of its late discovery. The tomb is small because Tutankhamen died young, age 18, and did not have time to create his own tomb. The tomb of one of the high priests was donated instead.

Howard Carter's description upon opening the tomb in 1922 was, "At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flames to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold — everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment — an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by — I was dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' It was all I could do to get out the words, "Yes, wonderful things." The royal seal on the door was found intact. The first three chambers were unadorned, with evidence of early entrance through one of the outside walls. The next chamber contained most of the funerary objects. The sarcophagus was four guild ed wooden shrines, one inside the other (which we viewed in the Cairo Museum) and within which lay the stone sarcophagus, three uniform coffins, the inner one being solid gold, and then the mummy. Haste can be seen in the reliefs and the sarcophagus, due to the fact that Tutankhamun died at only 19 years of age following a brief reign. Though extremely impressive to the modern world, the treasures of Tutankhamen must have paled when compared to the tombs of the great Pharaohs that ruled for many years during Egypt's golden age.

Ramesses IV tomb was originally placed by the priests in Amenhotep II's tomb in order to hide the body, which was a common practice.

Below, a tomb attendant at the tomb entrance, and a view of tourists exiting the tomb.

Ramesses IX was the eighth king of the 20th Dynasty. He is thought to have reigned for about seventeen or more years. During his reign, there was a scandal in which the tombs in the Ban necropolis were being robbed, which was recorded in the Abbott Papyrus. There were also campaigns by Libyan bandits. He had a son, Montuherkhopshef, who did not live to succeed Ramesses.

We wait to enter the tomb.

All of the tombs we visited were decorated similarly, floor to ceiling, as is Ramesses IX tomb.

Some off the text and photos above courtesy of thebanmappingproject.com and touregyp.net

We leave the Valley of the Kings and pass what appears to be exploratory 'digs'.

Second stop — Valley of the Queens on the Nile's West Bank

We were awed by our view of Queen Hatshepsut's temple (Temple of Deir el Bahari, 18th Dynasty).

The mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is one of the most dramatically situated in the world. The queen's architect, Senenmut, designed it and set it at the head of a valley overshadowed by the Peak of the Thebes, the "Lover of Silence," where lived the goddess who presided over the necropolis. A tree lined avenue of sphinxes led up to the temple, and ramps led from terrace to terrace. The porticoes on the lowest terrace are out of proportion and coloring with the rest of the building. They were restored in 1906 to protect the celebrated reliefs depicting the transport of obelisks by barge to Karnak and the miraculous birth of Queen Hatshepsut. Reliefs on the south side of the middle terrace show the queen's expedition by way of the Red Sea to Punt, the Land of Incense. Along the front of the upper terrace, a line of large, gently smiling Osirid statues of the queen looked out over the valley. In the shade of the colonnade behind, brightly painted reliefs decorated the walls. Throughout the temple, statues and sphinxes of the queen proliferated. Many of them have been reconstructed, with patience and ingenuity, from the thousands of smashed fragments found by the excavators; some are now in the Cairo Museum, and others the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Ruins that are being reconstructed.

A welcome respite during our tour, with our ever-present water bottles.

Third stop — The Colossi of Memnon

Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty) built a mortuary temple in Thebes that was guarded by two gigantic statues on the outer gates. All that remains now are the two 75-feet (23-meters) high, one thousand ton statues of Amenhotep III. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive.

Because of an earthquake in 27 BC, these statues became known for a bell-like tone that usually occurred in the morning due to rising temperatures and humidity. Thus they were equated by the early Greek travelers with the figure of Memnon, the son of Aurora who's mother, Eos, was the Goddess of Dawn. To be granted a song meant that you were very much in favor of the gods. Visitors came from miles around to hear the music, including Emperor Hadrian, in 130 A.D.  The Roman emperor Septimius Severus, seeking to repair the statues in 199 AD, inadvertently silenced them forever. 

Fourth stop — Karnak Temple

This temple is the largest temple complex ever built by man, and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. The Temple of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples located about three kilometers north of Luxor. This vast complex was built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period.

The Hypostyle Hall is found after passing through the Second Pylon. The hall is considered to be one of the world's greatest architectural masterpieces. The outer walls of the Hypostyle Hall are covered with scenes of battle.The hall ceiling was 82-feet (25-meters) high and was supported by 12 papyrus columns. The columns are made of sandstone and set in two rows of six. Each row is flanked on either side by seven rows of columns that are 42-feet (13-meters) high. Each row has nine columns, however the inner rows have seven columns. The reliefs throughout the hall contain symbolism of creation.

King Tut's wall. Because the king died so young, this was his only contribution to the temple.

This obelisk is the only remaining Obelisk of Hatshepsut (1473 – 1458 BC). It is 97-feet (30-meters) high and weighs approximately 320 tons.

The rectangular Sacred Lake, dug by Tuthmosis III is the largest of its kind, and is lined with stone and provided with stairways descending into the water. It measures some 393-feet (120-meters) by 252-feet (77-meters).

Purification was obtained by bathing in the lake, then circling the the huge granite statue of a scarab twenty times. The statue was dedicated by Amenhotep III. Below the temple visitors circle the statue in imitation of this ritual.

Statues in the interior courtyard.

On leaving the temple, we see a mosque minaret aglow in light.

Fifth stop — Temple of Luxor at night

Many festivals were celebrated in Thebes. The Temple of Luxor was the center of the most important one, the festival of Opet. Built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II, it appears that the temple's purpose was for a suitable setting for the rituals of the festival. The festival itself was to reconcile the human aspect of the ruler with the divine office. During the 18th Dynasty the festival lasted eleven days, but had grown to twenty-seven days by the reign of Ramesses III in the 20th Dynasty. At that time the festival included the distribution of over 11,000 loaves of bread, 85 cakes and 385 jars of beer.

During the festival the people were allowed to ask favors of the statues of the kings or to the images of the gods that were on the barges.

Once at the temple, the king and his priests entered the back chambers. There, the king and his ka (the divine essence of each king, created at his birth) were merged, the king being transformed into a divine being. The crowd outside, anxiously awaiting the transformed king, would cheer wildly at his re-emergence. This solidified the ritual and made the king a god. The festival was the backbone of the pharaoh's government. In this way a usurper, or one of not the same bloodline, could become ruler over Egypt.