A Trip Down the Nile...Karnak & the Nile

Thursday, February 20th, we would return to Luxor to the Temple of Karnak.  This temple complex seemed larger than Luxor.  There was a long wide plaza out front. The entry to the temple was lined with ram sphinxes leading to the first pylon (gates). Each ram sphinx would have had a statue of Ramesses. 

 

To the right of this entrance was a unique building. Turns out it is a house for pigeons. They would have been used for food and for carrying messages.

Beyond the 1st Pylon (gate) was the courtyard.  Note that at the center back the hallway goes through the hypostyle hall.  This would have had the columns, one for each priest. There are over 100 columns in this hall.

There are a couple of interesting things in this courtyard. The first is evidence of how the columns were constructed based on partially finished columns. The columns were formed with round stones layered on top of each other, then smoothed and shaped, then hieroglyphs were added.

The second item is a mud and straw brick ramp that was not completely removed. It is against the interior side of the 1st Pylon.  The current understanding is this was a ramp used to make the pylon taller.  Once it was complete, it would normally have been removed.  Some believe this is how the pyramids would have been constructed.

A hypostyle hall simply is a Greek term for a room or chamber with many columns.  Alan and Osman had some of the men in our group form a circle around the base of one of these columns. Claude is in the burnt orange shirt and white hat. I believe it took 9 adult men to form this circle.  That is only one column. There were over 100 columns in this room. When it was actually used there would have been a roof covering it. You can see places where that roof is still in place. 

I want to remember some of the hieroglyphs. 

The first one has two bees on either side of an ankh. The bees were a symbol of the lower kingdom (Nile delta between Cairo and the Mediterranean). The ankh was the symbol of eternal life. The ankh has a stem that was the Nile River, a loop at the top which was the delta of the Nile River and to branches under the loop and coming from the stem. These branches represent the two rivers that branch from the Nile and go one to the east and one to the west of the Nile delta. The Nile River is life to Egypt. Growth of crops occurs about a mile on either side of the Nile where irrigation can occur. Once you are past that area you are in desert on the west, east and south. The Nile River is truly life to Egypt. 

The second one is of cartouches.  A cartouche is an oval with characters inside that give the name of a person or god. If the cartouche had a line under it, as these do, it meant it was the name of a royal person. 

The duck on this column tells you which way to read the hieroglyph. With the duck facing left, the hieroglyph would be read left to right. If the duck were facing right, the hieroglyph would be read right to left. If fact, sometimes the hieroglyph were written top to bottom.

Alan took this pictures of a hieroglyph of two people holding hands to take to his wife so she would know he was thinking of her while he was away.  Awwww....

This view is from the hypostyle hall to an area between the third and fifth pylons. In this area were two remaining obelisks.  One is for Thot-Mosis I and the other is for Hatshepsut. An obelisk was to represent a ray of the sun.  Alan helped me position myself to get a unique picture of the sun over an obelisk.

This picture is of the sanctuary which corresponds with the Holy of Holies in the temples in Israel.

On the top of the outside wall of the sanctuary was this hieroglyph which the Egyptians have named the 'endowment'.  Reading left to right the first portion is of the king being washed, the second portion is of the king being anointed, the third portion is of the king being endowed. Then the god Horus (equates to Jesus Christ) admits the king into the presence of Osiris (Heavenly Father). The only way the king can get back to Osiris is with the help of Horus.  This particular hieroglyph is only found in the temple. No where else.

Back between the third and fourth pylons was an exit to the right side of the temple.  This led to a broad avenue.  From here we saw the Sacred Lake used by the priests to cleanse themselves every day prior to serving in the temple.

And to the right of the broad avenue was this pedestal with a scarab on top. It is believed that if you walk around this scarab a certain number of time you will receive money, another amount of time you will get pregnant, and the list goes on. Claude and I did not walk around it but he did pose for a picture.  Several in our group made the required rounds based on the wish of their heart.  When we talked with youngest granddaughter before we left (7 years old), she asked us to bring her a scarab. I was happy to learn that the scarab is more than just a dung beetle to the people of Egypt.  It represents resurrection. 

If one continued on this broad avenue they would have begun walking the Avenue of the Sphinxes that goes 3 miles to the Temple of Luxor we visited the night before.

As we left we went through the bazaar area to get to our bus.

Before returning to the Radamis I, we would stop at the Alfayed Palace.  This is the family of Dody Alfayed of Princess Diana fame. They prepare essential oils in Luxor.  There are 42 essential oils and they are used to make all those expensive perfumes.  Outside the front door was a man blowing little delicate glass containers to heat those oils for aroma therapy. Inside we were led to an area with chairs and were trained by Sammy the Nose's protege in selecting the oils that we might like the best. We were then given the opportunity to purchase the ones we liked the best. We purchased a box of 4 Lotus Flower so each of our daughters and Claude's mom could enjoy one with one left for us. Then we also purchased a box with four bottles, one each of Sandlewood, Amber, Peapermint (that is how they spelled it but we would spell it peppermint) and Frankincense. 

These oils are made by pressing the juice out of flowers or leaves and putting it in alabaster bottles. The alabaster bottles are placed in the dessert sand for a long period of time. Since the alabaster is porous the watery part can evaporate from the bottle leaving only the essential oil. That is what we purchased. Real essential oil. The bottle of oil can be opened and left open and the oil will not evaporate because it is oil, not water. A tiny little bit goes a very long way.  This was an educational and fun experience.

 

I will now post a few pictures of the view of fields, homes, buildings, and streets in Luxor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We would end our day with Radamis I beginning our Nile Cruise. Here are pictures of the beginning of our Nile River cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of the day our cruise ship went through a lock. The men were trying to sell us souvenirs from the walls along the sides of the lock. They would display what they had to sell while calling out to us. Then, without any prompting from those of us on the boat, they would roll up the item they were trying to sell and throw it onto the deck of the ship expecting us to throw money back at them. The only thing to do was throw the item back. After our lock filled with water and the gate opened to let us out to the Nile again, there were three little row boats with men in them trying to enter the lock to again throw items they wanted to sell onto the deck of the ship.