With today's post there are five sets of photos of Karnak and Luxor Temple, both sites in or near the city of Luxor. Luxor, with an absurd embarrassment of ancient wonders, is also the gateway to the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately, cameras are not permitted in the Valley.
The Temples of Karnak are, in a country that does impressive sites with a high level of regularity, amazing. The scale, detail and level of preservation are something to be seen. The Great Hypostyle Hall, filled with 134 towering columns, is large enough to fit both St Peter's Basilica and St Paul's. Some of the columns and parts of the overhanging structuring have original, 3000 year old, painted scenes still visible.
Luxor Temple was largely built during the time of Amenhotep III and Ramses II, about 1390 to 1213 BC. Some parts of the complex appear to be much newer, dating from Roman times. Shadowing the entry is an impressive obelisk, the partner of which stands in Concorde Square in Paris. Part of the complex is overlooked by a mosque, built much later, from which Brenda received much attention from a group of teenage boys (I am confident they weren't looking at me). While in the most part they were respectful, it made for an interesting visit to be watched, and taken photos of, throughout.
In time (hopefully) Karnak and Luxor Temple will be connected by an avenue, three kilometers long, lined with Sphinxs, as it was in ancient times. The small section that is restored is a pretty unique sight.
From Dubai I will post the last few photos of our time in Egypt, my reflections on our visit (if I get round to writing them) and some photos of Jordan.
With Brenda out snorkeling and the other activity being one I also can't sensibly do (why I will explain in a later post), I am able to post some more photos. In a country as amazing as Egypt it is easy to take alot.
The photos that accompany today's post are of Edfu and Abu Simbel.
The temple at Edfu, dedicated to the god Horus, was started in around 250 BC and completed about 180 years later. Owing to it being shielded by mud brick walls and being extremely liberally covered with of sand in later years, it is one of the better preserved temples we visited.
The temples at Abu Simbel, like Philae, were relocated piece by piece to their current site to avoid inundation on the building of the high dam. Both temples were completed around 1250 BC in the time of Ramses II. The larger temple has four massive statues of Ramses II at its entrance. The second, much smaller, temple is dedicate to his wife but four of the six statues that mark its entrance are of Ramses II and only two of his wife. Given his habit of writing his name on everything, including statues and scenes dedicated to his father, it is not surprising that he is given pride of place in both temples.
The interior of the temples are well preserved, in part due to sunlight almost never reaching into the temples. On the birth and coronation dates of Ramses II, the first rays of the days sunlight makes their way into the deepest part of the great temple, lighting up three of the four gods that are carved into the wall of the sanctuary.
Next time I will posts some photos of Karnak and Luxor Temple.
