A Drowned Nation

Aswan, Upper Egypt/Lower Nubia

From Aswan

As we drove up to the High Dam in Aswan, Dr. Shahinda explained to us the advantages and disadvantages of the High Dam, Lake Nasser, and the transformation of the whole Nile Valley.  She started with the advantages:

• Egyptian agriculture is no longer ruled by the flood, which means that the agricultural sector has gone from one crop a year to three. Pres. Gamal Abd-l-Nasser saw Egypt's population explosion coming, and knew they would have to be fed, and this was his best option.
• The High Dam generates enough electricity that every villager in Egypt can have electric lighting and hot showers at a not-too-exorbitant subsidized cost.
• There's now enough water in Lake Nasser to support the agricultural sector of Egypt through several years of drought upstream in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, and this has been necessary from time to time.

From Aswan

But it's not all rosy. There are problems aplenty, and Dr. Shahinda listed those, too:

• There was a German design that would have provided channels for the collection of the silt that washes down the Nile and traditionally fertilized the lands of Egypt all the way down to the Delta, at no cost to the farmers. Unfortunately, the Egyptian government couldn't afford to build it. They went with a Russian plan that ignored the silt altogether. Consequently, farmers downstream are now dependent on expensive manufactured, chemical fertilizer. 
• Meanwhile, that silt is building up behind the Aswan High Dam, and over time it has created an unanticipated weight on the dam that now threatens its integrity.
• Silt from the Nile also provided the stuff to make mud bricks from, and they were much cooler in the unbearable heat of summer than the current cinderblock construction in Upper Egypt.
• The floods not only brought fertilizing silt, but they washed away the impurities of the year before. Now, those impurities build up in the soil, including increasing levels of salt left behind by that chemical fertilizer.

From Aswan

But these are the economic costs. There were also great human and cultural costs. The land of Nubia, both Lower Nubia in Egypt and Upper Nubia in Sudan, is a civilization nearly as old as Egyptian civilization, which was concentrated along the banks of the Nile River that nurtured and supported it. Their entire civilization is now under water. The entire population was displaced: Lower Nubians were resettled in Upper Egypt, and Upper Nubians were displaced all over Sudan. UNESCO provided funds to move some of the most prominent ancient ruins to higher ground, but no one thought of the Coptic churches until it was too late, and they are all now gone, except for a few wall paintings grabbed for museum display.

From Aswan

The Temple at Philae
One of the ancient sites rescued by UNESCO was this Ptolemaic temple, dedicated to Osiris. In ancient mythology, Osiris was killed by his evil brother Set and chopped into 14 pieces that were scattered all over Egypt and are the font of her fertility. Philae was one of those resting places. Later, Isis collected all her brother Osiris's parts, mummified them, and resurrected him. He became the god of the afterlife and patron of the pharaohs who ruled in the afterlife after their death.

From Aswan

The temple was later rededicated as a Coptic basilica, housing the bishop of Upper Egypt. Again, this temple has three inner sanctums, like the tripartite altars of modern Coptic churches.

From Aswan

The Unfinished Obelisk
The woman pharaoh Hatshepsut intended to carve the largest obelisk ever attempted, float it down the Nile to Luxor, and install it in the Karnak Temple. Unfortunately, the obelisk cracked during the quarrying process and was abandoned. Unfortunately for Hatshepsut, but fortunately for us, because we have been left with an example of ancient Egyptian stonecarving. Remember that these carvings are from the Stone Age. They were accomplished without the benefit of stone tools! Some of the round black rocks used in the quarrying process are still lying around. So are the marks of the wooden wedges that were shoved in around a desire piece of stone, and then wetted so they would expand and crack the stone.

From Aswan

We also took a falucca ride on the Nile to see at a distance the mausoleum of an Agha Khan, the tombs of Egyptian nobles, the ruins of other temples under excavation, and lots of boats and wildlife. It wasn't a sailboat, but it was still a great finale to a wonderful trip!

Ptolemaic Temples

Edfu & Kom Ombo, Upper Egypt

From Edfu and Kom Ombo

The Temple of Horus at Edfu
This is a Ptolemaic temple, i.e. primarily constructed by the Greeks who established themselves as pharaohs in Egypt after Alexander the Great was confirmed by the Oracle at Siwa as the son of the god Amon. It's interesting to notice that throughout the centuries, invaders of Egypt have not usurped local traditions and religion, they've merely adopted them and installed themselves as descendants of the same pharaohs. In fact, the Mamasium (Birthing Room) in the Edfu temple tells not the story of a specific Ptolemaic pharaoh being conceived by the gods, but of all of them collectively.

From Edfu and Kom Ombo

It's also the most intact pharaonic temple I've seen yet, with most of its ceiling intact, and much of the inner sanctum. In fact, oddly enough, the reliefs in the bottom half of the temple are almost perfectly preserved, while the upper half of the walls is quite weathered. This is because the temple was filled half way with sand until this century, protected from the elements. But like the temples in Petra, it was lived in during the intervening centuries, and the ceilings are blackened with smoke from their homefires. Later Muslim residents also scratched out the faces and features of the gods they could reach from ground level, so they would not be a distraction to their children from their true religion.

From Edfu and Kom Ombo

This temple, like the old pharaonic temples, is dedicated to a triad of gods. In the innermost sanctum is not one chapel, but three chapels side-by-side, a design very much similar to the current design of Coptic churches. One probably developed from the other. Certainly, as we've seen on this trip, many pharaonic temples were developed into churches in various ways. Just as the Roman Catholic Church adopted the East-West orientation of Roman temples into Catholic architecture, so the Copts seem to have adopted triple altars.

From Edfu and Kom Ombo

The Double Temple at Kom Ombo
We arrived in Kom Ombo just at sunset tonight, and found the temple lit in a soft yellow glow, not to mention teeming with tourists! This Ptolomaic temple is unusual in that it is a perfectly symmetrical double temple, dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed god Horus. In fact, small crocodiles were probably kept in a well to one side of the temple, and mummified crocs were found in vaults under the temple during its reconstruction.

From Edfu and Kom Ombo

There a couple of other unique features to this temple. It has the only known intact Calendar Room, indicating which rituals should be performed, and what sacrifices made on each day of the entire 365 day year. There's also a unique relief of medical implements used during the Ptolemaic era. You can also find evidence of cross-beams and animal hitches hacked out of the rock by the farmers who lived in the temple in later years.

From Edfu and Kom Ombo

The Necropolis of Thebes

Luxor, Upper Egypt

From Valley of the Kings

Egyptians believed that the world emerged from water, and if the balance of good and evil was not maintained, it would drown in water again. A warning for these times of rising oceans, they might say. They believed that when the sun set, it crossed that vast primordial ocean and rose in the Land of the Dead to light their day. Then it set there, crossed the vast ocean again, and rose here in the land of the living. Thus ancient Egyptians tended to live on the East Bank of the Nile, closer to the rising sun, and buried their dead on the West Bank, closer to the setting sun and the journey into eternity. Today we crossed over the river to the West Bank to see some of the funerary complexes of the Necropolis, or City of the Dead.

From Valley of the Kings

Colossi of Memnon
They're not Memnon. They represent the Pharaoh Amonhotep III who built a now destroyed temple that once stood at their backs, but the Greeks later named them after Memnon, an Ethiopian king who was a hero at Troy.

From Valley of the Kings

The Temple of Hatshetsup
Egypt's most successful female pharaoh, she ruled for 22 years, won many military campaigns, and built many monuments. This one has a Temple of Hathor, goddess of beauty, on the left. On the right wing is the Temple of Anubis. The center right gallery is the "Birthing Room," telling the story of how Hatshetsup's mother made a deal with the Sun God Amon to bear a pharaoh, thus rendering Hatshetsup divine. (It helps one's legitimacy as pharaoh!) The center left gallery tells of Hatshetsup's campaign to conquer the land of Punt, which was probably in Somalia judging by its depictions in the temple.

From Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings
Sadly, they have now banned cameras in this valley altogether, not just in the tombs, so I can only leave you with the Internet for visual interest!

And then we loosed our moorings and set off upstream! I put together this little video to show you a few of my pictures, and a little stop-motion capture of the locks we passed through at Esna, because I thought my father would especially appreciate that (both the locks and the stop-motion cinematography!)

Ancient Thebes Revealed!

Luxor (aka ancient Thebes), Upper Egypt

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

Almost a Disaster
So, I thought we were leaving at 2:15PM this afternoon for Luxor. But at 1:45AM, as I was going to bed, I thought I'd take one more look at the schedule, just to be sure. Good thing, too, cuz we were leaving at 2:15AM, and I had exactly 15 minutes to pack, and 15 minutes to get to the bus! But I made it, which is good, considering how much money I spent on this trip!

So, of course, I was then up virtually all night flying to Luxor (much preferable to taking the night train, I might add!)

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

Karnak Temple
After dropping off our bags and having breakfast on the riverboat, we headed for the magnificent Karnak Temple, begun by Pharaoh Ramses II but expanded by about 30 other pharaohs over 1000 years of Egyptian history. As usual, Dr. Shahinda gave us a wealth of information I couldn't possibly convey, but which I've highlighted in the captions of my pictures. I have to say, above all you have to consider the scale of the place. Everything is enormous, and every inch of the walls, columns and ceilings would have been decorated with raised and sunken reliefs, painted in bright colors. It's even more impressive when you remember that this was the Stone Age, and for the most part these artisans didn't have metal tools, only stone implements. You also have to imagine a roof over most of the complex, which admittedly would have made it much more difficult to appreciate the painted reliefs, but was nonetheless and impressive feat of engineering. To this day, scientists and archaeologists are not quite sure how much of it was accomplished.

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

All pharaonic temple complexes were dedicated to a trio of deities: a god, a goddess and their child. The so-called Theban Triad was composed of the sun god Amon, the mother goddess Mut, and their son Khonsu the moon god. Just inside the main pylon entrance to Karnak are three small chapels dedicated to the Triad, but they appear again and again throughout the complex, as do the many pharaohs who contributed to its construction.

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

One of the highlights are the obelisks of Hatshepsut, one of which was hidden by her step-brother in a fit of pique. See, upon the death of Hatshepsut's father, Tutmoses II, she was named pharaoh instead of her baby step-brother Tutmoses III, and then she proceeded to rule for 22 very successful years, longer than any other female pharaoh, winning lots of battles and building lots of impressive monuments, all of which pissed off her little brother. When she finally kicked the bucket and let him be pharaoh, he went around much of Upper Egypt scratching out every picture of her, every mention of her name, etc. Only there was a catch; obelisks were considered representations of the gods, and as such could not be defaced in any way. As a compromise, Tutmoses III had Hatshepsut's obelisk encased in a wall, so that her name, while still present, would be completely obscured from view. Consequently, it is the best preserved obelisk remaining to us!

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

Luxor Temple
Because one temple is not enough, twice a year the Theban Triad went on vacation to the other side of town and the Luxor Temple. It's thought that a street lined with sphinxes stretched the entire distance between them, and a colorful parade and lines of supplicants bearing sacrifices would have accompanied the statues, which is depicted on one wall of the first courtyard.

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

One of the more interesting features of Luxor Temple is the Abu Haggag Mosque, one of very few examples of a mosque being consecrated on ground sacred to another religion, especially a non-Abrahamic one! Even Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was a church before it was a mosque, and not a pagan temple! As Chris Tuttle explained to us in Little Petra, throughout human history, religions have re-sanctified the places that were already holy to local peoples. Until Islam, that is. With a few notable exceptions (the Ka'aba in Mecca, the Temple Mount, Hagia Sophia), as Islam spread across the world, mosque-builders tended to avoid existing temples and churches, and instead sanctified new ground to satisfy the demands of the Muslim version of God. In this case, they didn't actually know there was a temple there when they built their mosque, but by the time the temple was discovered under their foundations, the mosque had become an important local monument, dedicated as it was to a local saint. So the archaeologists installed a new door on the opposite side, and a second minaret for good measure, and just excavated around it!

From Karnak and Luxor Temples

Luxor Marathon!

Luxor, Egypt

This might go down under "Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time" in my book.... Egypt is cheap, and since I was staying with Megan I didn't have to pay for a hotel room, but still, I was determined to be as thrifty as possible. If I was going to pay for the train to Luxor and back, I wasn't going to spend money on a hotel. But while I remember sleeping pretty well on trans-European sleeper trains, Egyptian trains are not as smooth a ride. Still, it was an awesome day. I arrived in the cool early morning to see Karnak bathed in golden light.

From Luxor

Then I proceeded across the river and headed straight for the Valley of the Kings. You can't take pictures inside, which is only one of many things that Petra could learn from the Egyptian authorities. Tourism is detrimental to archaeological sites, from flash photography, to litter and graffiti, to the very air they breathe. While Jordan has let the sudden increase of tourists in the last year trample right over the best interests of preservation, Egypt has not, forbidding photography of sensitive sites and restricting tourists to seeing only 3 tombs on a given day in the Valley of the Kings. As a result, the tombs are pristine and astonishing, most still brightly painted. It's something I'd love to chat with Chris Tuttle about some day soon.

From Luxor

Then I saw the stunning Temple of Hapshetsut. By the time I got to lunch, I was starting to tire.

From Luxor

That was when the Arabic teacher I had hired to drive me had a brilliant idea, called up some of his high school students, and put me on a falucca on the river to see the sunset.

From Luxor

Two thoughts kept running through my head. From The Wind In The Willows:

There's nothing more worth doing than messing about in boats.

and from my father:

A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work!

From Luxor

In the end, this was anything but a bad day!