Chapter 18
In This Chapter
● Pyramids in the north
● Tombs in the middle
● Temples in the south
Egypt continues to be a marvellous travel destination, but the number of temples, tombs, and museums can be overwhelming. You may be tempted to plump for a package tour with all your trips planned for you, but they have tight schedules and often spend longer at alabaster, papyrus, and perfume shops than at the ancient monuments.
Why not plan your Egyptian trek on your own? This chapter features the top ten places to visit - some on the tourist trail and others a little off the beaten track. For locations, have a peek at the Cheat Sheet map. Armed with a guide book, camera, and taxi driver, the sky’s the limit. You never know, you may even discover other sites to add to this list as must-goes.
Hundreds of guidebooks are on the market, but the best are Jill Kamil’s guides (although they can be tricky to get hold of) and those published by Lonely Planet or Rough Guides. Also take a look at the Egyptian Monuments Web site at www.egyptsites.co.uk which outlines all the sites in Egypt with directions on how to get to them.
The following recommended sites are listed in geographical order, starting in the north and working your way south.
All the sites require tickets - normally costing less than LE.30 ($6) per site, with many costing as little as LE.10 ($2). You can buy tickets at each site.
Giza Plateau, Cairo
Although the prominent pyramids dominate the skyline, the Giza plateau in Cairo is teeming with places to visit. An average tour spends about an hour here, but to see everything you need at least three hours - maybe longer if you like to wander off the beaten track.
The three main pyramids were built by Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaure, and each is accompanied by satellite pyramids belonging to the kings’ wives - for a grand total of nine pyramids. At least three are open to the public.
Only 200 or so tickets for the Great Pyramid are sold daily, so you must be at the ticket office when it opens at approximately 8 a.m. (check the opening time before going there, arrive early, and be prepared to sprint up the hill to beat the coaches). After purchasing your ticket, wait a couple of hours before entering the pyramid, after the crowds have lessened. The pyramid is worth the wait!
Alongside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, be sure to visit the empty boat pits (see Chapter 14) and the modern boat museum (for which you need a separate ticket), which features a reconstructed vessel from the pits. This boat was used in the funeral of Khufu and has been reconstructed according to ancient techniques. Walkways at different levels enable visitors to view the boat from all angles.
The causeway of Khafra leads from the Great Pyramid to the sphinx (made of solid rock and so only viewed from the outside), the sphinx temple (closed to the public, but you can see it from a short distance away), and the valley temple. (You can visit the valley temple, although it bears no decoration.) Between the paws of the sphinx is the Dream Stela erected by Thutmosis IV after the sun god appeared to him in a dream (refer to Chapter 14). On both sides of the causeway is the mastaba cemetery with a number of beautifully decorated structures, three of which are open to the public. The mastaba of Seregemib (which includes a lovely scene of driving donkeys) and that of Khnumenty (a two-level structure with an Indiana-Jones-type ladder to climb) are worth visiting.
Sahara, Cairo
Saqqara is the site of the oldest stone building in the world - a step pyramid - as well as a ‘dummy complex’ of shrines, temples, and ritual areas designed for King Djoser to rule in the afterlife.
The site also has a number of other pyramids, including the pyramid of Unas, which appears to be nothing but a pile of rubble. Sadly the pyramid of Unas is closed to the public because it is structurally unsafe, but you can see the Pyramid Texts from Unas’s pyramid in the burial chambers of the pyramid of Teti nearby.
Close to Teti’s pyramid are the mastaba tombs of Mereruka (with the image of his wife on the bed playing the harp), Ankhmahor (with an image of the earliest circumcision scene), and Ti (with elaborate farming scenes and a serdab and statue). For more information on mastabas and serdabs, go to Chapter 13.
A short distance away stand the large underground catacomb known as the Serapeum, constructed for the burials of the sacred Apis bulls, which were worshipped at Saqqara. The bulls were mummified, according to tradition, and then buried with huge stone sarcophagi and canopic jars. Their mothers also received elaborate burials complete with a burial suite of their own.
The Imhotep Museum has also opened on the site and showcases archaeological finds from the Saqqara region. Highlights include a beautiful reconstruction of the wall tiles that decorated some of the chambers of the Djoser complex, as well as the infamous famine scene from the causeway of Unas, depicting emaciated people entering Egypt looking for help. This scene is very graphic and even shows one chap pulling lice from his hair and eating them.
To see everything at Saqqara takes all day, so negotiate with your driver to wait for you. Take some food with you, because there’s no cafe at the site.
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities (commonly known as the Cairo Museum) is soon to be replaced by the Grand Egyptian Museum and relocated near Giza, where it will be centred around the colossal statue of Ramses (moved in 2006 from Ramses Square in Cairo). The new museum is scheduled to open by 2010.
The museum as it now stands is spectacular and is bursting at the seams with hundreds of objects from 3,000 years of Egyptian history. Most package tours spend a couple of hours here but you could spend an entire day - the morning upstairs and the afternoon downstairs. The cafe does quite nice sandwiches and cold drinks.
Unusual objects are tucked away in every corner, from the sarcophagus of Akhenaten (in the garden to the left of the main building) to the beautiful wooden coffin of Ramses (who oversees the goings-on of the first floor).
Close by is the only human-shaped shroud in Egypt, two real wigs, which are very close to a classic ‘mullet’ style, and a leather military kilt.
Wonder at the weight of the gold jewellery awarded to favoured officials and stare into the eyes of long-dead animal mummies. Marvel over the statue of the dwarf Seneb, seated with his wife and children, as well as the statue of Ramses III with Horus and the little-represented Seth. Spend hours discussing the anomalies of the Amarna art style on the ground floor. If you have any time left, be sure to visit the Tutankhamun exhibition and gaze on the face of the boy-king.
If you’d like to know more, take a look at the official Web site at www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg.
Tell et Amarna, Al Minуa
Tell el Amarna was the city Akhenaten established for the worship of the sun disc, the Aten. The city is situated in Al Minya in Middle Egypt about half way between Cairo and Luxor. Very little of the actual city is exposed because of the fragility of the remains, but British archaeologists have reconstructed some buildings. These structures include the small temple to the Aten, the north palace where Nefertiti and Tutankhamun lived, a city house that is typical of many from the site, and the bridge that joins two temples over the so-called King’s Road. The King’s Road would have seen the daily processions of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their children in their sparkling chariots. This bridge on the King’s Road is also believed to be the site of the window of appearances, from which the royal family bestowed golden jewellery on their favoured courtiers. Visit Chapter 2 for more details on the town.
The real reason to visit Amarna, however, is to tour the two sets of tombs (the north and the south tombs) and the royal tomb. Many of these tombs are open to the public. These tombs are some of the only places where you can see classic Amarna-style art outside a museum.
Most of tombs include images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti standing at the window of appearances along with the princesses, riding in a chariot, or worshipping the Aten. A classic image of Ay can be found in his tomb here, showing him boasting to his friends about his new red leather gloves, a rare commodity in Egypt. The royal tomb is badly damaged, but trying to make out the images on the walls is interesting, and this monument once probably held the secrets to the Amarna period, which continue to elude Egyptologists today.
To make the most of Amarna and Beni Hasan (see the following section) you need to stay overnight at AI Minya. Only a couple of hotels are here - and don’t be surprised if you’re the only people there. You can’t drive to Al Minya alone and need to organise with your driver to travel with the military convoy that leaves daily. You can travel there by train, but first check the safety issues. Your hotel in Cairo or Luxor may be able to help.
Beni Hasan, At Minya
Near Al Minya is the Middle Kingdom burial site known as Beni Hasan. This site is formed by an outcrop of rock, high up in the cliff face. The site includes 39 rock-cut tombs (see Chapter 13) built by local nomarchs, or governors.
Of the 39 tombs, 5 or so are open to the public. Each tomb has an entrance consisting of a pillared courtyard. A central door leads into the tomb itself, and images and inscriptions decorate some tombs. All tombs have large open rooms with supporting pillars, and statue rooms at the rear of the chambers that housed statues of the deceased individuals. The family of each deceased individual laid offerings of food and drink at the statue to nourish the departed’s spirit. (Actual burials took place at the end of a long shaft that opens out into the burial chamber under the main room; these rooms are not open to the public.)
The decoration in these tombs features lots of action. Notable images include:
● Military training activities, such as wrestling, stick fighting, and weight lifting with sandbags.
● Siege warfare, including the earliest image in Egypt of the wheel and an image of foreign diplomats travelling to Egypt to participate in trade.
The most important of these siege scenes is in the tomb of Khnumhotep II and features the earliest depiction of the Hyksos, a rather colourful group of people bringing eye paint to trade with the Egyptians.
● Elaborate fishing and fowling scenes, awash with colour and detailed renderings of marsh flora and fauna.
Karnak Temple, Luxor
Karnak temple in Luxor is the largest temple ever built. Because it took more than 2,000 years to construct, Karnak temple includes a number of different shrines, temples, statues, and chapels dedicated to many different kings and gods. It covers 247 acres and many hours can be required to walk around the various monuments. Most package tours spend about two hours here, but you need at least a morning to do it justice - although even a morning won’t allow time for the open air museum and the temples of Khonsu and Opet. The complex includes a coffee shop, and the Tutankhamun restaurant outside does a lovely lunch. Check with the guards when leaving the temple, because they often let you come back in after lunch on the same ticket. The temple can easily provide a couple of days’ entertainment to any Egyptophile tourist!
The main temple has ten entrance pylons, each decorated with elaborate images and texts, as well as the largest hypo style hall, consisting of 134 columns. These columns, which stand up to 21 metres (69 feet) tall, create a stone version of the primeval marshes - a most impressive sight. And if you can tear yourself away from the pillars, the surrounding walls feature images of the coronations of Sety I and Ramses II in great detail.
The Karnak complex also has two sacred lakes - a rectangular one built by Thutmosis III and a horseshoe-shaped lake built by Amenhotep III (although the latter is closed to the public and forms part of the complex of Mut outside the present enclosure walls). Within the enclosure walls are a number of small temples worth going to see, including the temple of Ptah (with a beautiful statue of Sekhmet enhanced by ancient lighting techniques), the temple of Khonsu (built with re-used blocks, many of which retain their original images), and the Chapels of the God’s Wives of Amun (some of the only chapels built by and depicting women).
The complex also has an open air museum displaying a number of decorated blocks as well as a large-scale temple of Thutmosis III and three reconstructed chapels - the Alabaster Chapel of Amenhotep I, the White Chapel of Senusret I, and the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut, which includes some lovely scenes of her coronation. Don’t miss a reconstructed temple gateway of Akhenaten’s temple to the Aten, which surprisingly shows him in a traditional manner, smiting foreign prisoners with a large mace head. Compared with later images, this depiction of Akhenaten is completely unrecognisable.
Medinet Habu, Luxor
When in Luxor, you must visit the spectacular mortuary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu on the west bank of the Nile. This temple is a copy of the temple of Ramses II at the Ramesseum (which is situated further north and is also open to the public). Some of the scenes on the walls have been directly copied without any thought for reality; for example, Ramses II recorded battles with the Nubians, whereas Ramses III didn’t, but copied the Nubian battle scenes as his own victory! The temple is a good means of seeing what the Ramesseum looked like, because now the Ramesseum is in a ruined condition.
The pylons at Medinet Habu depict the many battles of Ramses III, including his Libyan wars. An external wall shows the battle of the Sea People. Although these scenes are difficult to make out, it is worth the effort because they show the first naval battle in history. Don’t miss the image of the world’s first crows’ nest, which enabled sailors to see for great distances and shoot fire arrows into the enemy ships.
To the left of the entrance pylon is a palace with a window of appearances that looks into the first court of the temple. No doubt the king himself stood in this area, so why not stand in the footsteps of the pharaohs.
The palace itself was for women. A number of three-room suites - perhaps a sleeping area, dressing room, and lounge area - are at the rear of the structure.
You can also see an audience chamber complete with throne dais, a pillared court, and even two showers - the drain is still visible.
The main gate to the temple is an amazing structure - a copy of a Syrian migdol, or ceremonial gateway. The hollow gateway, which, sadly, isn’t open to the public, contains images of the king and his royal women. Although historians once thought the site was a harem, many now believe it was a visiting place for royal women. Evidence shows patio gardens on various levels of the gateway where women sat and sunned themselves. From the windows in the gateway, the women viewed processions and activities happening outside the temple or entering into the temple itself. The decoration on the gateway retains a lot of colour. In fact, this temple is one of the most colourful in Egypt and gives visitors an idea of what it must have looked like new.
Put aside a morning for this temple. Cafes opposite the entrance provide lovely food and cold drinks - you can re-enter the temple feeling refreshed.
Deir el Medina, Luxor
The village of Deir el Medina, which housed the workmen who created the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, is situated on the west bank at Luxor. This site offers much to see and is well worth the trip - set aside a morning or an afternoon for this site. Check out Chapter 2 for all the details on this village.
The entire village is extant, with the foundations up to a metre high, giving a clear view of the village layout. Each house consists of four or five rooms, and many include staircases (the bottom few steps are still visible), which led to flat roofs.
Some in-built furniture, such as couches and box beds, can be seen in many houses, as well as sunken pots used for storage, and even bread ovens in some of the kitchens. In a couple of the houses, religious shrines are still standing, and you can almost imagine the incense burning and ancient Egyptians praying to their household gods.
The tombs of the workmen surround the village in the cliffs. Three of them are open to the public: those belonging to Sennedjem (with lovely farming scenes), Pashedu (showing one of the few scenes of salt-and-pepper-and white-haired ancestors), and Inherkhau (with an image of the deceased playing senet).
If the preceding isn’t enough, you can also visit a number of temples built and used by the inhabitants of the village. These include a small temple to Ramses II, a terraced temple to Amenhotep of the Garden (Amenhotep I, the original builder of the village), and a large Ptolemaic temple dedicated to Hathor, built by and for tourists on the way to the Valley of the Kings. Even tourism isn’t new!
Luxor Museum
The Luxor Museum has recently undergone an extension, which has improved it no end. Although it is a small museum, there is plenty to see, and the low lighting creates a great atmosphere for viewing the objects inside.
Highlights include the Kamose stela describing the expulsion of the Hyksos, and the mummy of Ahmose, the brother of Kamose, who finally did expel the Hyksos. Gaze into the beautiful carved face of Thutmosis III and wonder why Senwosret III looks so unhappy. Follow the Tutankhamun trail, which begins as you enter the museum with a statue of Tutankhamun as the god Amun and includes shabti figures on the first floor, each of which bears his youthful chubby face.
The reconstructed wall from the temple of Akhenaten at Karnak is still being worked on, so if your timing is right, you may be able to see archaeologists making additions. There is also a case of large ostraca (limestone flakes) used to draw the plan of a tomb and a house. The grid system is marked out on another wall to practise illustration. If all this isn’t interesting enough, don’t miss a number of weapons, a chariot, and a stela showing Amenhotep I in his chariot shooting arrows at a copper target.
The Luxor cache wing of the museum includes numerous royal statues discovered in the courtyard at Luxor temple, including Horemheb kneeling before the creator god Atum, a lovely red statue of Amenhotep III with rather slinky cat’s eyes, and a large statue of Amun and Mut built by Ramses II. Although this last statue is damaged, many historians believe that the face of Mut is the true face of Nefertari, Ramses’s beloved wife.
Visit the museum after 5 p.m. when it reopens for the evening, and plan to spend a couple of hours here.
Abu Simbel, Aswan
Ramses II built the temples of Abu Simbel at Aswan at the southernmost reaches of the Egyptian borders. The project may have taken more than 30 years to build, although the smaller of the temples is not complete. Ramses built two temples out of the cliff face, oriented to the east to meet the rising sun - one to the sun god Re-Horakhty and the other to Hathor and Nefertari. The facade of the Re-Horakhty temple is constructed of four colossal seated figures of Ramses, standing 21 metres (69 feet) high, carved directly from the rock face.
On entering the temple, a hall confronts you featuring pillars carved into Osirid (wrapped like a mummy) figures of the king. At the rear of the temple is a statue room with figures of Ramses, Re-Horakhty, Ptah, and Amun-Ra creating the focus of the worship in the temple. In February and October, sunlight enters this sanctuary and illuminates the faces of the gods.
Temple decoration shows Ramses II at his battle of Kadesh against the Hittites, as well as his Libyan, Syrian, and Nubian wars. The scenes are lively, brutal, and colourful, with much of the original paint still vibrant.
The smaller temple to Hathor and Nefertari has colossal figures of Ramses II and Nefertari on the facade, standing 10 metres (33 feet) tall. There are only two statues of the queen and four of the king, demonstrating that the building of this temple glorified the king as much as the queen. Within the temple, the first pillared court has Hathor-headed columns, and the sanctuary at the rear has a carved image of Hathor as a cow emerging from the marshes. Again the king is present and is standing beneath the head of the cow Nefertari is shown throughout the temple carrying out rituals in worship of the gods, which was unusual, because queens normally played a more passive role.
Both temples were moved to higher ground in the 1960s when the Aswan dam was built and Lake Nasser submerged many of the Nubian temples.
While visiting Abu Simbel, you can take a tour of the concrete support structure within the cliff face that stabilised these newly placed temples - itself a feat of modern engineering.
You can fly or drive to Abu Simbel. The drive from Luxor takes about four hours, but the road is often closed for security reasons. You can fly from Aswan, but the return flight is such that you only have an hour or so from the arrival time. I recommend staying overnight at Aswan and arranging transport with a local driver to really make the most of this site.