FEBRUARY 11 - LUXOR AND ESNA TEMPLE
In the morning, before visiting Luxor, hot-air ballooning in the distance:
Ahmed taught me how to say, "Good Morning," to our crew, staff and people off the ship - "Sabah el khair." Learning just a morning greeting brought smiles to just about everyone. I found the following online posted by a tour guide: "When you say good morning in Arabic (Sabah el khair صباح الخير), I’ll tell you Sabah el noor صباح النور - sabah el foll صباح الفل) “I Wish you a morning full of light, beauty and flowers.“ Can you get friendlier than that?
On the bus, on the way to Luxor.
Luxor, the ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom, and the glorious city of Amun, later to become the god Amun-Ra.
Connecting Luxor with Karnak is the Avenue of the Sphinxes, which was first discovered in 1949. It has taken over 70 years to excavate.
Just a few months ago, in November 2021, the Egyptian government unveiled the Avenue of the Sphinxes to the world in a magnificent parade and ceremony. After seeing this display as well as the one involving the transfer of the Royal Mummies to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, I have to say that Egypt really knows how to put on a show. Here's just a short video about the Avenue and a quick search on youtube will provide videos of this magnificent spectacle.
Horemheb, last Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty
Difficult to see, but these panels depict the fascinating story of the divine birth of Amenhotep III.
As a king born of a lesser-ranking wife – Amenhotep was certainly self-conscious and felt the need to secure his position as king. Mutemwiya who was forever in the shadows of the court of her late husband, was now given the coveted title of a Great Royal Wife in the same way that his father – Tuthmosis IV had given to his own mother, Queen Tiaa.
But this was not enough for Amenhotep and he went about to embellish a legend concerning his own conception, and he had it engraved on the walls of The Birth Chamber in the Temple of Amun at Luxor. The scene depicts the state-god Amun, who assumes the form of Tuthmosis and visits Mutemwiya during her sleep.
The divine presence of Amun awakens her, and they engage in sexual activities together. The scenes declare Mutemwiya to be The Chosen one of Amun and in later scenes throughout the narration she is led by the goddess Hathor to give birth to Amenhotep, the future king, in the presence of the gods – and thus establishing a divine ancestry for himself.
We started out early that day, at 8:30, because we needed to get back onboard by late morning for our sailing to Esna. This allowed us to sit and relax onboard and enjoy the sights along the Nile for a while.
Our Captain.
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| These
guys were amazing. They were selling fabrics and how it works is that
they throw the material up to someone on the boat. If you look at it
and don't want it, you throw it back. If you're interested in buying,
you negotiate the price, the guy in the boat below throws a plastic bag
with a little plastic case that used to hold camera film; you put your
money in the case and throw it back to him. Amazing! |
After lunch, driving to our next destination, Esna Temple:
The roof of the hypostyle hall is supported by twenty four columns with beautifully carved and painted floral capitals in a variety of designs. The columns are decorated with texts describing the religious festival and depict several Roman emperors before the ancient Egyptian gods. The engineering of all these temples is a continuing mystery to us.
Original vibrant colors still exists in this Temple.
Back onboard, we enjoyed another great dinner; afterwards we were invited to enjoy, either in the lounge or in our room, the 1978 movie, Death on the Nile, starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot. We'd seen the movie, as well as the remakes starring David Suchet (2004 - excellent), as well as the 2022 version starring Kenneth Branaugh (far too politically correct).
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