On Day 8, the wake-up call was for 4:30am and our breakfast was at 5:15am. We departed the hotel at 6am to catch our chartered flight which was leaving Cairo at 8am. Luxor was only an hour’s flight away. We arrived at 9am and headed directly for Karnak Temple once we collected our luggage.
The system was to find our checked case next to the coach (which had been brought down from our rooms while we were having breakfast), pull up the handle and set our carryon on top, if small, or next to it with its handle pulled up, if it was larger. The people handling the luggage would then put both cases on the coach. At the airport, we would again identify our cases by pulling up the handle of the large case and taking the smaller case with us on the plane. Both cases had red Viking tags on them with our coach number and with our ship name and stateroom number. We had to identify them once more and leave our smaller cases again once we landed in Luxor. They would be taken to the ship while we were at Karnak Temple and we would be reunited with them in our stateroom when we arrived at the ship later.
Photo 001 is the view from the hotel restaurant where we had breakfast. The next photo (002) is of a charter plane exactly like the one on which we flew, taken from the window of our plane. Photo 003 is of Cairo as seen from the air.
The Karnak Temple Complex is enormous. Its construction began during the reign of Senusret I (1971 – 1926 BC) during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000 to 1700 BC) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 to 30 BC). Most of the buildings date to the New Kingdom (1570 to 1544 BC). The major portion of the complex is dedicated to the god Amun-Re.
In photo 004, we are walking along the Avenue of the Sphinxes towards the 1st Pylon. That is Hanaa in the red shirt and cap. Photo 005 was taken while we were in the Forecourt on our way to the 2nd Pylon. There was a temple to Ramesses III and a few more sphinxes (006) in this area. The 2nd Pylon was built by Horemheb and was later usurped by Ramesses I and still later usurped by Ramesses II.
You can see some statues of Ramesses II in photos 007. In 008 to 010 are more photos of one specific statue of Ramesses II from several angles. Photo 011 shows even more statues of Ramesses II where he was identifying himself with the god Osiris. This is why he is depicted like a mummy.
There is an interesting statue of the god Amun-Re seated with the goddess Mut (012). It is said that the facial features are of King Tutankhamun and his wife as he was the pharaoh who commissioned the statue.
Some wall inscriptions are in the next couple photos that I enjoyed. These had to do with a festival of some kind. The first photo (013) shows someone firing up the barbeque. In the next photo (014) some very flexible people are dancing.
This brings me to a very ancient Egyptian god named Min. We were in an area where the walls were decorated with depictions of Amun-Re and Min and some of the story of Min. I don’t remember having been told about Min during my previous visit to Egypt. He was considered to have been a very powerful god of male fertility, sexual potency, harvest, and kingship. Since his worship dates to the predynastic period, he is one of the very earliest Egyptian deities.
The way that Hanaa explained him to us was that he had been a human who was a powerful warrior. He lost both an arm and a leg in battle. Amun-Re decided to reward him for his bravery by making him a god and compensating him with another physical endowment. This is depicted in photo 015. As Hanaa said, he became very popular with the ladies.
One of the treasures of this particular temple is the Great Hypostyle Hall. It was begun by King Seti I and completed by his son, Ramesses II. Seti’s carvings were in raised relief. Ramesses switched to sunk relief as that would be much more difficult for a later king to usurp, especially if it was deeply carved. He should know as he usurped many a previous pharaoh’s reliefs, including his own grandfather, Ramesses I, as well as some of his father’s.
I have included some of my photographs of the columns in this hall in photos 016 to 019. In photo 017, you can get an idea of how tall the columns are by seeing how they tower over the people at the bottom of the photo.
Some statues of Sekhmet in photo 020. She was the Egyptian goddess of war, destruction, and healing. Even though she brought plagues and war, she also cured diseases. This made her the patron deity of ancient physicians. She is usually depicted with the head of a fierce lioness on top of a human female’s body.
She was created from the fire of Amun-Re’s eye to punish humanity for turning against him. Her rampage became so fierce that Amun-Re tricked her into drinking red-dyed beer, which she mistook for blood. The beer calmed her into the gentle goddess Hathor (often represented with the head of a cow). More about Hathor when we get to Luxor Temple (and even more at Dendera Temple).
The next photo (021) shows what is left of the altar in the Central Bark Shrine Sanctuary deeper into the complex. This was defaced during the Armana Period under King Akhenaten. It also suffered damage during the Assyrian and Persian conquests of Egypt.
The Red Chapel of Hatshepsut was dismantled and reused to build one of the later pylons. Now there is a reconstruction of that chapel in the Open-Air Museum in the Karnak Temple Complex (022). In 023, can be seen where Hatshepsut’s figure was chiseled out of a scene on one of the walls within the main temple. Photo 024 shows the inside of the Osirian Temple of Taharqa.
The obelisks of King Tuthmose I (left) and Hatshepset (right) are shown in photo 025. Her successors not only dismantled her chapel and chiseled out her image, but they also built a wall around her obelisk so it couldn’t be seen from ground level. You can see bits of the remainder of the wall in this photo.
A calendar is inscribed on a wall in photo 026. The remains of a second Hatshepsut obelisk that was originally paired with the one in 025 is shown in 027. This is just the top part of it. The rest of it was destroyed during an earthquake. This top part was lying on the ground near where it now stands when I made my first visit to Karnak in 2008. It was determined that letting it continue to lie on the ground was hastening its erosion. So, they decided to stand it upright.
The sacred lake, where the priests would purify themselves before performing rituals in the temple, is shown in photo 028. Some of Ramesses II’s deeply etched sunk reliefs are shown in photo 029. You can see how much clearer these are than many of the others.
The last photo, 030, shows the restaurant and coffee shop complex where we stopped in to have a rest and get some refreshments before continuing on to view a film at the Luxor Heritage Center. At first, we were offered the usual Coke and Pepsi. I don’t usually drink sodas and cannot drink anything with caffeine. I asked about Fanta, but they surprisingly said didn’t have any. So, I asked for a lemon juice with mint. The owner of the place brought it to me. Then he started a conversation with me.
Eventually he told me that he had lost his wife about two years earlier. I told him I was sorry and he continued the conversation with other topics for a while and then began to tell me how attractive he thought I was. He wanted to show me what a large place his complex of several restaurants and cafes was. Kind of an “and all of this could be yours” pitch. The more I said various versions of “thank you, no” the more aggressive he became. Maybe he was somewhat enamored, but I think it was more likely that he figured I was a “rich American”.
After we saw the film, we were taken to our ship, the Viking Amun. Our key cards were distributed on the coach on our way there. Onboard I met the steward who would be looking after me and he let me into my stateroom. My cases were there, waiting. Lunch was beckoning in the restaurant. I was hungry and so put off unpacking until after getting some sustenance.
Next – Settling in on the Ship and An Evening Visit to Luxor Temple
