tombs

Older Pyramids and Tombs

Posted by carol.fletcher@rocketmail.com
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Older Pyramids and Tombs

We returned to Cairo, ending our official G Adventures tour.  Now, we were on our own. Our plan was to go see some of the older pyramids and tombs that tell of the lessons learned during construction and also visit what was once the original Memphis.

 

Tour of Bent Pyramid

In Dahshur, we visited the Bent Pyramid and were the only people there. Astonishing to walk up to that massive structure with no one else in sight. Just the sound of the wind and our footsteps in the sandy gravel. We walked all the way around the large pyramid, observing the angles.

This one had been started at a steep 54 degree angle in the 2600s BC, but it is believed that an earthquake toppled a nearby pyramid…and lesson learned. Halfway up, these designers changed the angle to a more gentle 43 degrees and continued to build. This gives the pyramid it’s name, the “Bent Pyramid”. The outer limestone casing is still somewhat intact. With no one there, we lingered. Gazing west to the Sahara and wandering around the edges of the pyramid to see it from varying distances and angles. It could have been 2020 or 1020 or 1020 BC.

The Bent Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt.
The angle was going to be much steeper. But an earthquake tumbled other structures, and the builders adjusted to a more gentle incline half way up. The Bent Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt.
corner bent pyramid dahshur egypt
The Bent Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt.
Panorama of the Bent Pyramid. Dahshur, Egypt.
Panorama of the Bent Pyramid. Dahshur, Egypt.

 

Tour of Red Pyramid

This pyramid looked imposing from a distance. It is red and smooth. Began around 2590 BC, it is believed to be the first smooth-sided pyramid. And it is big–in fact it is the 3rd largest pyramid behind the two big ones in Giza. This one used to be covered in a polished white limestone, which they say was taken for buildings in Cairo.

There were many steps up to the entrance, and once again we marveled at the lack of crowds. As we stopped to catch our breath on the way up to the doorway, we looked out over the plain and could see an older couple beginning the climb down below. Next, we went 145 steps down into the tomb. We were the only ones in there. We looked up at the perfectly stacked stones, considered how far into the ancient pyramid we were, and boom. Anxiety. We scurried up 145 steps lickety-split. Fresh air never felt so good. The older couple sat at the entrance, preparing themselves to go in after the exertion of getting to the top. They asked questions about what they’d see and waved bye as they began their 145 step descent.

Dahshur Egypt red pyramid
The Red Pyramid in Dahshur, Egypt.
Red Pyramid Dahshur Egypt
Look closely for the entrance to the Red Pyramid, midway up up up. Dahshur, Egypt.
Steps up to the Red Pyramid entrance.
Steps up to the Red Pyramid entrance.
Exiting the Red Pyramid, egypt
That’s Bryan, climbing out of the Red Pyramid…hastily.
Carol exiting the Red Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt.
Carol exiting the Red Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt.

 

Tour of the Step Pyramid

Next we visited the Step Pyramid in Djoser. This is the oldest known stone monument, began around 2650 BC. This complex had more visitors, but still much lighter than in Giza. The skies were perfect, but the sandy wind made for a bleak feeling as we walked around.

First was an walled entry facade, then a walkway flanked by giant columns, which at last, opened onto a view of the pyramid. This one is smaller. It has 6 tiers and though there are chambers inside, the structure has been closed for ~18 years because of earthquake damage. It is believed the pyramid will reopen to receive guests in March.

The Step Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt.
The Step Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt.
Step Pyramid walkway saqqara egypt
The Step Pyramid walkway. Saqqara, Egypt.
A horse at the Step Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt.
A horse at the Step Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt.
Panorama of the Step Pyramid, Saqqara Egypt.
Panorama of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, Egypt.

Check out this link to see a fascinating and interactive diagram comparing all the Pyramids in the world today

 

Tombs of Saqqara

We had a brief stop in Memphis to see the giant Ramesses statue, an alabaster Sphinx, and a few salvaged building remnants. We were more interested in the hungry dogs roaming the area. Why don’t people care for the animals? It sickens me to see these sweet faces on skeletal bodies just hoping a tourist will give them a cracker or a crumb. Of course, we emptied our bags of any snacks for the pups. It wasn’t enough to go around. Poor souls.

Next, we spent some time wandering around the tombs. I was mad at humans. Walking around these tombs, remembering the dead and what’s left behind, gave me a strange melancholy. We are nothing. Never will be. We take nothing with us but our soul. We may leave behind giant pyramids, a tomb carved with reliefs of the things we loved in life, or only our bones and the bones of the animals we ate.

I’d later learn that in area near here they recently uncovered a tomb with 8 million dog mummies. WTF? Ancient Egypt or modern places, humans disappoint me. I don’t understand people and I guess I never will.

Steps down into the tombs at Saqqara, Egypt.
Climbing down into the tombs at Saqqara, Egypt.
Ancient word bubbles in hieroglyphics at a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt.
Ancient word bubbles in hieroglyphics at a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt.
Reliefs in a Saqqara tomb oxen
Reliefs detail how men got the oxen to follow them across the river…snatch a calf and worried family follows. 🙁
Kohl black dogs in the tombs in Saqqara Egypt.
Kohl black dogs in the tombs in Saqqara Egypt.
In a tomb there is much to read. Saqqara, Egypt.
In a tomb there is much to read. Saqqara, Egypt.

 

Saying Goodbye

We rode back to Cairo along a channel for the Nile. The fertile fields of the Nile Valley as green as green could be. Fields and fields along the way. And trash piled into the irrigation channels. Life goes on and on and on here.

Our flight to Heathrow left Cairo just after dawn on January 25, the anniversary of their 2011 revolution. From the plane window, I could see the brown land below, and the patches of green lining the Nile. Same as it was in the times of the Pharaohs, or the dictators. Goodbye Egypt.

The fertile fields of the Nile Valley.
The fertile fields of the Nile Valley.
Along the green Nile Valley. Egypt.
Along the green Nile Valley. Egypt.
Dawn From the airplane over Egypt.
Leaving Cairo, bound for London’s Heathrow.

 

Thank you for reading

If you’re interested, select photos are available for sale on Etsy.

Finally, if you liked this post and would like to stay in touch, please…

 

Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings

Posted by carol.fletcher@rocketmail.com
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Arrival in Luxor

After our night on the Nile, we loaded into a van and took the “shortcut” to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings…faster, less traffic, but with about 5,000 speed bumps they said. No exaggeration…I had a bruise on my head from sitting with my face too near the window watching the Nile Valley go by.

Signs along road Egypt
Signs along the road in the Nile Valley. Kom Ombo to Luxor.
crack in wall chair egyptian hotel
A chair and a crack in our Nile-view room at the Philippe Hotel in Luxor.

 

Valley of the Kings 

Eternity was to the West, toward the setting sun. Ancient Egyptians believed a paradise awaited them past the shadows of death and the Day of Judgment. Egyptians preserved and mummified the body, and with their belongings, encased the dead in tombs to prepare for the journey.

Cut into rock, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings tunnel under and around the pyramid-shaped peak of al-Qurn. Possibly because of the resemblance to the man-made pyramids of the Old Kingdom from the 2500-3000 BCs, Egyptians began royal burials here around 1500 BC. The Valley’s isolation also resulted in reduced access, and less tomb raiding of the necropolis.

There are 63 known tombs in the Valley, some tunneling down into the mountains hundreds of feet and containing 100+ rooms or chambers. In 1922, Howard Carter found the still intact tomb of young king Tutankhamun here. Today, all of the tombs are empty. However, most of the ramps and tunnels have colorful paintings telling of the dead’s passage to eternity as depicted in the Book of Gates. The tourism board opens a selection of tombs each year, rotating which ones receive guests in order to protect them from too many tourists.

Valley of the Kings panorama
Beneath the peak of al Qurn, a Valley of the Kings panorama
Guards at a Valley of the Kings tomb entrance
Tomb entrance. After burial the corridors were filled with rubble and the entrance to the tomb hidden. Today, gates and guards and crowds mark the entrances to open tombs.
ramp in a Valley of the Kings tomb
A tomb tunnel, covered in colorful hieroglyphics of religious texts like the Book of Gates.
Hieroglyphics in the tomb of Ramesses IV KV2
Vibrant paintings in the tomb of Ramesses IV (KV2).
Blue starry ceiling in a tomb
Looking up in a tomb may reveal golden stars on a lapis lazuli night sky from the Book of the Heavens.
panorama of Valley of the Kings tomb hieroglyphics
A panorama of tomb hieroglyphics

 

Temple of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut. The 2nd known female pharaoh, depicted with a beard, and rosy cheeks.

Hatshepsut was the second female pharaoh (that is confirmed). She used her bloodline, education, and an understanding of religion to rise to power. She was the daughter, sister, and wife of a king and used those connections plus her wits to establish herself in the stories as a god’s wife. Hatshepsut was a successful pharaoh, reigning through war into a long peace, reopening trade routes, importing trees and incense, and building extensive and innovative architecture.

Sitting on a series of cliff terraces once covered with gardens, her temple complex “the Sublime of Sublimes” is a colonnaded and perfectly symmetrical building, built one thousand years before the Parthenon. The temple is considered to be significant advancement in architecture.

While no one managed a coup during her reign, someone tried to obliterate her accomplishments after her death. Her cartouches and images were chiseled off walls, leaving “very obvious Hatshepsut-shaped gaps”. Numerous statues were torn down, and smashed or disfigured. At Karnak, there was even an attempt to wall up her perfect obelisk. It is not clear why.

In 1997 on this site, six gunmen killed 62 people, mostly tourists, mutilating many of the women victims.

Transportation awaits to The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, carved into the mountains in a perfectly symmetrical colonnaded terraces.
Hatshepsut statues at her mortuary temple in Luxor.
Hatshepsut statues at her mortuary temple in Luxor.
Night sky hieroglyphics in the temple of Hatshepsut
Night skies painted on the ceiling in the Temple for Hatshepsut.

Lunch with family

As part of our G Adventures tour, it was arranged for us to meet and have lunch with a Luxor family. One of the best meals–home cooked and filling. After lunch, I befriended the girls of the household and made photos of them, and the family.

little girl pink coat luxor egypt
Her smile! She talked to me and when she realized we couldn’t understand each other, she mimed, I mimed back, and we giggled together.
Egyptian family luxor egypt
Part of our G Adventures tour included a home-cooked meal with this family in Luxor. After eating, I stepped out to photograph the little girls. Eventually, we got the whole family to come out.
Family photo in dining room luxor egypt
A photo of a dead relative hangs in the dining area of the family’s home in Luxor, Egypt.

 

Colossi of Memnon

Built at the entrance to a large temple complex, these guys are all that remains today.

Behind them–on the other side of the mountain–is the Valley of Kings. On this side of the mountain is a village that sprouted up with the intention of tunneling into the mountain and raiding the tombs. Luckily, the authorities finally figured it out and the village is abandoned and fenced.

Colossi of Memnon luxor egypt
The Colossi of Memnon from ~1350 BC. Twin statues are all that’s left of a Pharaoh’s temple complex. An earthquake damaged the one on the right in ~27 BC. Afterwards, it “sang” at daybreak–sounding like the strings of lyre snapping. In all likelihood, it was vibrations from wind or evaporating dew. Sadly, someone “repaired” the statue about 2000 years ago, and he no longer sings at sunrise.
Colossi of Memnon
Colossi of Memnon
A daughter or wife tucked in by his knees. The Colossi of Memnon.
A daughter or wife tucked in by his knees. The Colossi of Memnon.
Colossi of Memnon bird nests
Repairs to the Colossi of Memnon may have stopped the statue from singing, but birds nest there now and singing continues.

 

Karnak Temple

Karnak is a vast open-air complex, built by each successive Pharaoh adding a little something for more than 2,000 years. There is the Hypostyle Hall with 134 grand columns, a pool, obelisks, reliefs…Like a giant’s playpen full of blocks left in disarray.

Slowly, we walked through the crowds and the pieces in the late afternoon, shadows playing at the edges. My stomach churned and I sat for awhile staring at the ancient stones. Imagine a jealousy so strong that a pharaoh walled up a more-perfect obelisk built by his predecessor, but not strong enough to defy a presumed god and destroy it.

Obelisks at Karnak
Dueling obelisks. The one on the left…Thutmose’s not so precise version. The one on the right…Hatshepsut’s perfect version, partially hidden from view by a jealous Thutmose wall.
Ruins at Karnak.
Ruins at Karnak.
Columns at Karnak
Pillars in the Hypostyle hall of Karnak.
Stand here feet imprints karnak
Stand here. At the pool in Karnak.

 

Olden Days

Later, we’d spend some time in the fantastic old library at the Winter Palace Hotel. I had a tame meal of croissants and tea served in a cast iron teapot. It is from the steps of this place in 1922 that Carter announced he’d found a tomb intact…and the world came to know the story of the boy King Tut.

The little bookshop called Gaddis and Co. is not far from the steps to Winter Palace. A bell dinged on the door as we walked into 1922. The ladies dressed like Greeks in black knee-length skirts. They sold black and white postcards from the early 1900s, and ancient-looking books upon books about tombs, hieroglyphics, the pharaohs, and the Nile. It was like stepping back into time there–maybe a modern time by Egyptian measures–but a distant time to me, where life felt unhurried, calmed, and quiet.

cast iron tea kettle
Cast iron tea kettle at the Winter Palace Hotel. Luxor, Egypt.
Winter Palace Hotel Luxor Egypt
In the library at the old Winter Palace Hotel, Luxor Egypt

 

Thank you for reading

If you’re interested, select photos are available for sale on Etsy.

Finally, if you liked this post and would like to stay in touch, please…

 

Carol Fletcher is a traveling, dog-loving, tree-hugging, coffee-addicted, Nashville born-and-raised photographer living in Chicago. To see more photo essays and projects, please visit www.carolfletcher.com.