Tombs of Astounding Beauty

“I, Philastrios the Alexandrian, who have come to Thebes and have seen with my eyes the Colossi, and the work of these tombs of astounding horror, have spent a delightful day.” - Graffiti inscribed on a tomb wall in the Valley of the Kings, date unknown.

Our two days in Luxor would consist mostly of exploring some of the most beautiful tombs in the world. But first, we had another lecture with Dr Zahi Hawaas at Luxor temple at 4 am. Yes, FOUR AM. Archaeological Paths, our tour company, got special permission to go into the temple complex two hours before it opened to the public. So for the first hour, Dr Hawaas talked about many things, the different temples in the area, the tombs and especially about the news that there may be another tomb behind Tutankhamen's tomb. He thinks it's BS, that there is nothing there. Only time will tell. 

After the lecture, our wonderful guide, Mohamed, who I can't say enough good things about, took us for an hour tour of Luxor temple. We mostly just wandered around enjoying the magical ambiance. 

"Thought: the Egyptian temples bore me deeply" - Gustave Flaubert. 

After breakfast, we took a trip to the temple of Medinet Habu. This was the funerary temple for Ramses III, of the 20th Dynasty. It is one of the best preserved temples in the area, with great carvings on the pylons, or gates. The carvings are almost always of Pharoah, riding his chariot and smiting many enemies with a mace. And it's all ancient propoganda, as the Pharoah would have never personally done any smiting. But these funerary temples were to make Pharoah great, much better than he actually was. 

Our group...

There are many colors, 3500 years old, that are still on many of the walls and columns. This shows that all the temples were covered with bright, garish colors. Luckily for us, they have faded over the last 3 1/2 millennia. 

"The foreigner Nesamun took us up and showed us the tomb of King Ramesses VI ... And I spent four days breaking into it, we being present all five. We opened the tomb and entered it. ... We found a cauldron of bronze, three wash bowls of bronze ..." - New Kingdom papyrus, c. 1110 BCE

From here we went to see some amazing tombs. First it was to Deir el Medina, which was the town for the tomb builders and artisans. The wealthier of these built some beautiful tombs. There are two that are open to the public. And we were able to visit both. 

Deir el.Medina...

Some tomb paintings...

Next it was to the Valley of the Queens and the highlight of the entire trip...spending time in the Tomb of Nefertari. She was the main wife of Ramses the Great. This tomb is closed to the public, but apparently our tour company knows people in high places and several of us were able to go into the tomb for an extra fee for about 15 minutes. Compared to the pharoahs' tombs, this one is a lot more human. The entire tomb depicts her journey to the underworld and it does so in astonishing beauty.  The tomb tells the life of a human being instead of a pharoah/god and when we all came out I don't think there was a dry eye.  It was truly one of the most magical places I've ever been in. 

At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame 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 struck 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." - Howard Carter, The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen, 1923

The next day we went to the Valley of the Kings and again, it has some of the most amazing burial chambers on the planet. Here, 64 tombs have been found over the years, 15 of them pharoahs. Not all of them are open to the public and some you have to pay a special fee. One of the greatest is Seti I and it is absolutely astonishing.   We saw five tombs in all, Tutmoses III, Tausert and Seknakht, Horemheb, Ramses V & VI and Seti I. 

Tutmoses III's tomb was located in a cleft in the mountain, so you had to go up a steep ladder to get to it. Then the tomb itself went down deep into the mountain, don to two large chambers, one being the actual burial chamber. This tomb is very unusual, in that the walls and pillars aren't covered with carvings and large paintings of gods, but with hieroglyphs and drawings, giving it an almost modern feel. The entire ceiling is covered with a blue field of stars. 

 

Two others, Tausert and Horemheb, were quite different. They both had long corridors that went hundreds of feet down in the rock, sometimes twisting left, then right. Large, deep shafts, now bridged over, were deterrents for thieves (they never worked). There were several chambers, with beautiful carvings and paintings on the walls and pillars.  Since a tomb of a pharoah would be worked on from his coronation until his death, the pharoahs who lived the longest had some of the biggest and most beautiful tombs. 

Tausert...

Next we went into the tomb of Seti I., also called Belzoni's Tomb, as it was discovered in 1817 by Giovanni Belzoni. This, like the tomb of Nefertari, was entered by very special permission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). Very few people are allowed in because of the delicacy of the paintings and the fact that this is the most remarkable tomb in the valley. It is over 300 feet long. 

One of the antechambers is quite interesting. Right off of a beautifully finished room, this one was obviously started but was left unfinished. It shows how they made these tombs as all the figures are drawn in black and red (the red was the correction by the master if there was a mistake).   This happened because if the pharoah died, then the workers would abandon the tomb and leave it as it was. 

The most spectacular room in the tomb is the burial chamber, a huge vaulted room with an amazingly painted ceiling. The sarcohogas was found in the room by Belzoni and is pure alabaster. It now sits in a museum in England, where Belzoni took it. 

"Surrounded by bodies, by heaps of mummies in all directions…the blackness of the wall, the faint light given by the candles or torches for want of air, the different objects that surround me, seeming to converse with each other, and the Arabs with the candles or torches in their hands, naked and covered with dust, themselves living mummies, absolutely formed a scene that cannot be described” - Giovanni Battista Belzoni, ‘Travels in Egypt and Nubia’, 1822

The last tomb we visited was Ramses V and VI. This was another incredible tomb, going way, way down into the mountain, with paintings and carvings covering every square inch. Again, the vaulted burial chamber was the best room. The ceiling had wonderful paintings of a night goddess, whose long body covers the entire ceiling.