The Amazing Karnak and Luxor Temples
Luxor, Nile River Valley, Egypt
June 10, 2013
Our wakeup call was at 5:15 today. We enjoyed our last breakfast buffet at the Mariott and met Hanny and our third Emeco driver at 6:30. I don't recall the name of our driver as I was still half asleep, but he did a great job getting us to the airport on time.
Hanny passed us off to Mossad at the airport once again and he whisked us through check in. We were able to stop and buy a chai tea on the way to our gate. We had plenty of time to spare and did some good people watching before we boarded.
Fayez took good care of us when we arrived in Luxor. Arabs named Luxor in 610 AD, The Town of Castles. It used to be called Ta Ebit, The Land of the Hippo
Amun Ra - Avenue of the Sphinxes
. We don't have to worry about hippos or crocs any longer because of the damns in Egypt on the Nile. We met our fellow boat mates from New Zealand, Barbara and Brian. We were driven to the boat through Luxor in a car.
The city has 250,000 people and we saw Karnak temple, a coptic church, a catholic church, Luxor temple, and the winter palace of the former royal family on the way to the harbour. There were only 30 of 349 cruisers like ours operating on the Nile and we only had 12/60 cabins filled on this trip.
We were greeted by the general manager of our ship, the Movenpick Lotus, and had a refreshing drink of hybiscus juice. Bill and I checked into our very unromantic twin bed rooms and I had a nap before lunch. We had a lovely lunch with salad, soup, fish, shawarma and dessert. Over lunch we became better acquainted with the Kiwis.After lunch I decided to catch some rays while Bill had a nap
.
Our guide Hassan gave us a short lesson prior to our departure. Our group name is Ramses. Ramses II was the most important of the eleven Ramses. In order to maintain peace he married a wife from each of the 42 states and of the places he conquered and he fathered 102 sons and 98 daughters. He lived for 95 years and reigned for 67 years.We visited the East bank of Luxor today where the temples were located. Karnak honoured the king of the gods, Amun Ra, meaning Invisible Sun. In this location the sphinx had the body of a lion (strength) and the head of the ram (energy, light and fertility).
The avenue of the sphinxes connects Karnak and Luxor temples and was 2 1/2 miles and had over 5,000 sphinxes. The avenue was part of a yearly ceremony for Amun Ra and his wife Mut. Several years ago a project was started to excavate the rest of the site and local people were relocated
Incredible Pillar "Garden" at Karnak
. The project was halted after the revolution, but has now resumed.
Karnak was over 69 acres, had 29 temples, 100 gates and constructed over a period of 3,000 years. Hassan told us that we should not judge the relationship of the king and queen by the sizes of their images of the statues, Ramses II is significantly larger. They are interpreted as one because they were made from one block of one stone.
After the second gate of Karnak there was the hall of columns, 134 in total. The size and amount of columns was really impressive. The columns represented the garden of creation and was built in 1,300 BC during the rein of Ramses II. We saw two obelisks at this temple that were 29 meters high and weighed 323 tons and was made from granite from Aswan. They were built during the time of Queen Hatshepsut. When the king has a cobra on his head, it represents that he always has to keep an eye open to protect the people or the third eye
Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
.
Our next stop was Luxor, the home of Mut. Amun and Mut met once a year and walked the avenue of the sphinxes together. At Luxor temple there are statues of Ramses II, two seated representing that he ruled upper and lower, and four staues were walking representing the four corners of the earth. One obelisk was still located here and the other was relocated to Paris. The story of Luxor was about Ramses uniting upper and lower Egypt.
The head of Amun on the sphinx was human close to Luxor where he had met with his wife and had dispelled of his animal needs, as he journeyed back toward Karnack the head of the sphinx was depicted as a ram.
On the side of the seated Ramses statue was a representation of The unification of Egypt. It was represented by feminine figures, larger bellies and breasts for nurturing
. They were tying the lotus and papyrus with a strong knot. Three things were represented: breath, the Nile and fertility as illustrated by the two lungs and windpipe, the East bank, West Bank and the Nile, and finally the testes and penis.
There was a church and mosque on this site. They both respected this site and each other and did not deatroy it. Hassan instructed us to give the men in the temple a camel face and ignore them.
We returned to the boat and had drinks and dinner. We retired to the upper deck and enjoyed the breeze and the lights on the Valley of the Kings.
I know this sounds like I am throwing a lot at you, but it all started making sense for us today. Seeing everything on site was was truly spectacular. It was mind blowing and we are looking forward to what the next few days gap has in store.