The Valley of the Kings (and queens, and nobles...)

Leap Day 2016 started with a visit to the Valley of the Kings, where many of the Egyptian pharaohs were entombed. As we learned at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the ancients thought they could take it with them and loaded up their tombs will all the stuff they wanted in the afterlife. Little remains because the tombs were robbed, but the tomb walls were adorned with their visions of the next world and instructions and spells to help them on their way.

Photography was not allowed here, but these images purloined from the web will give you some idea of the beauty that survived here for thousands of years.

Anubis prepares the mummy of the pharaoh Siptah.

Anubis, god of mummification

Entry to tomb of Queen Tausert and King Setnakht

The vulture spreads his wings in protection

Columns in Tausert/Setnakht tomb

The tomb of Tutankhamen is one of the smallest in the valley. He was a minor king, but is well known because his was the only tomb discovered almost completely intact in 1922.

On the other side of the mountain is the temple of Hatshepsut, the woman who ruled as king. It's been restored and can be seen from miles away.

The temple has separate sections dedicated to the goddess Hathor and the god Anubis. Hathor is often depicted with a round face and cow's ears, and also as a cow.

The Anubis side of the temple had some nice paintings.

Nearby is the temple of Habu, which was the mortuary temple of Ramesses III.

Since the images and writings of many pharaohs were defaced by their successors, Ramesses III had his hieroglyphs carved really deep.

Next to the temple is the remains of his palace, and just so we don't forget anything, his toilet. I certainly must have been imagining the smell.

The pharaohs weren't the only ones to have tombs. Also on the other side of the mountain from the Valley of the Kings were the tombs of high officials, or nobles.

Rather than depicting the afterlife, the nobles' temples showed everyday life scenes. Also they knew that if the ceiling was plastered for their painting, the plaster would eventually fall off, so in the temple of Rekmire, they painted directly on the wavy rock ceiling, which gave the effect of a banner blowing in the wind.

The people here are taking water from a pond to make mud bricks. New Mexicans, give thanks to the Egyptians for your adobe walls.

On the way out of the tomb, we were greeted by this little snake. The guards said it was the first time they'd seen one here.

The workers who built and prepared the tombs of the kings lived in a village just over the mountain. Their area of their tomb and village complex is known today as Deir el Medina. It took them about an hour to walk to work. Archaeology in this village has told more about the daily lives of ancient Egyptians than at any other site. It was occupied from about 1500-1000 BC.

The workers, on their days off (they worked eight days, then had two off), worked on their own family's tomb. Most workers were literate, and since they carved and painted the pharaohs' tombs, they were experts. Twenty mummies were found in one family tomb. Since these were not wealthy people, no one disturbed the tombs, and they are remarkable. Officially, photography is not permitted, but as often happens, the guard at one tomb let us know that for a small gratuity, exceptions could be made.

Next to the workers' village is a temple to the goddess Hoth, which was later used as a Coptic Christian church. The Copts wrote in the Greek language.

The temple shows how the Egyptians believed they were judged in the afterlife. If they successfully passed through twelve gates guarded by twelve gods, their heart was weighed on a balance against the weight of a feather. If it was light, they got a pass, otherwise back to a less pleasant place. Through this trip, I've found it interesting that some beliefs of modern religions (a trinity, holy water, virgin birth) were presaged by the Egyptians.

The next morning we went to the Valley of the Queens, a site similar to the Valley of the Kings that was actually started for the tombs of children who died. This is from the tomb of Khaemwaset, one of the many sons of Ramesses II; he's on the right.

Nearby were tombs of some minor nobles such as the royal scribe Roy.

Friends of Roy mourning

Mummy and coffin are moved by sled to the tomb

The Valley of the Kings is so rich that we went back for a second visit. On the ceiling of Ramesses IV's tomb is a wonderful painting of Nut, the goddess of the sky, who each morning gives birth to the red sun and each evening swallows it.

When the pharaoh goes to the next world, he has to pass dangers such as this gulf of snakes representing evil.

The general Horemheb tried to reestablish order from the instability that followed Akhenaten (the "heretic pharaoh) and his successors Tutankhamun and Ay, destroying much of their monuments and records. Tombs, though, didn't depict images of a king's life, but what was expected in the next world. So all is copacetic with the gods.

There is much more, but you and I are probably saturated by now. There will be one more post from Egypt--a glimpse of life in modern Luxor--and we're off to Jordan tomorrow.