We are picked up at 5:30 to make a 7:30 flight to Luxor. The flight takes about an hour, and then another hour to get your luggage. From the airport we go directly to the Karnak temple complex. It is considered the largest temple complex in the world. It started construction in 1600 BC (so 900 years after the pyramids – see we are moving forward)! The exterior walls were all made of mud – so they could be torn down when the complex was enlarged. The temple was built from the center out, so the materials inside were sandstone, granite and alabaster.
But let’s start with the sphinx we saw yesterday in Giza. It has the body of a lion and the head of a person.
But in Karnak, Ramses II came along and replaced all the heads with a ram’s head. Then he added his likeness under the ram’s chin. You can even see where there were cuts and the human head was removed to be replaced with the rams head.
And yes we are touring the complex with thousands of other tourists
The great hall in the middle of the complex contains 134 massive columns. You can still see some of the colors that remain on the columns. At one time, they held up a ceiling that was painted blue for the sky, the columns were multicolored and floor was pure alabaster white.
Top middle: They are cleaning and restoring the columns that have decayed from the sand and….pigeon poop!
Top right: This shows the ramps that were used to continue to add stone and height to the interior walls.
This is the second tallest obelisk in the world. It weighs 200 tons and took 3000 men to move it up the Nile and install. That installation process was extremely interesting but too involved for me to describe – trust me it took rolling logs, pulleys, a solid base with massive amounts of sand around it and then leverage and ropes. The sand fell away as the obelisk was hoisted. (There I did describe it)!
I can’t even begin to capture how massive this site is. Only one portion of the site is open to the public, and excavation continues. Construction began in 1650 BC and continued through 10 AD. Approximately 30 Pharaohs contributed to its growth. Ramses II ,who ruled for 66 years, was responsible for much of the expansion. And the last ruling pharaoh was Cleopatra – who we learned was not beautiful at all….but very smart.
And now it is time to head to the boat and squeeze in a nap.
We reconvene at 4:30 to head to the Luxor Temple (along with at least 10,000 other tourists). The temple is located 1.6 miles south of Karnak and is where the religious ceremonies and celebrations took place.
The pathway from Karnak to the temple is called Avenue of the Sphinxes and was lined with 3200 sphinxes. It as first discovered in 1949 and in 2007 the excavations required the current police station, apartment buildings and schools to be moved to unearth them. The pathway just opened in November 2021.
Looking towards Luxor temple
There is so much history in the temple, from the Pharaohs to Alexander the Great and even Napoleon. I can’t even remember the more significant parts, but I will post my pictures and if facts come back to me I will update. It was just enough to take in the splendor of the complex in the setting sun.
The Romans captured the temple in the 4th century – and here we can see them restoring some of the Roman frescoes.
These are the statues of King Tut and his bride (also his half sister). Tut was 9 years old and his bride was 13. Typically the statues would depict the King as much larger, but in this relationship she was the dominant one and insisted on being equal size.
This is the statue of Ramses II and his wife – Nefertari.
Audrey missed this excursion. Our time zones are still all mixed up.
Two more things we learned today:
The Pyramids are not really pyramids they are octahedral. First discovered by World War 2 pilots and later confirmed by drones.
You get really, really sore from climbing in the pyramids and the more pyramids you crawled through the sorer you are. Doesn’t help that we are on the 4th floor of the boat with only stairs. you can hear us quietly moaning at each step.
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