Day 6 Luxor, Karnak Temple

We are heading out to the Karnak Temple with the group this afternoon.

Luxor was called Thebes in the past. All the famous pharaohs and queen such as Ramses II, Hatshepsut, Tutmosis, Tutankhamum all ruled from Thebes. The temple was dedicated to the triad god Amun Ra. The word Luxor came from the word of "palace" in Arabic. It means the temples and palaces of the old time. Twenty thousand priests used to live in the temple.

Colossus of Ramses II at the entrance to Karnak with his favorite wife, Nefertari at his feet. Our guide Ahmed tried to calm the women in the group and told us not to be mad that Nefertari was always small and put to Ramses II's feet since she was the only wife Ramses II allowed to be with his statue although he had many many wives. She died young. I thought the reason he was only building statues to honor her (same as in Abu Simbel) was because she died young and he only remembered her youthful beauty. Who knows?

Entrance into the Great Hypostyle Hall. This is my favorite hypostyle hall in all of Egypt. Karnak Temple accentuated the fact that ancient Egyptians never built anything in a small scale. Seriously every building, temple, palace, tomb in Egypt have massive, jaw dropping scale.

Obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut made out of granite from Aswan. Ahmed mentioned that the obelisk in Paris was originally from here.

The scraped off graffiti used to be the catouches and images of Queen Hatshepsut (1473 BC), who took reign from her stepson and ruled Egypt as the only queen pharaoh for 15 years. Ahmed said she was a great pharaoh and Egypt was in peace and powerful during her reign. Common people lived in prosperity. After her death, her stepson ruined her tomb, carved out all her catouches and images in her tomb so that she would not have an after life. In the Cairo Museum, the one remaining statue of Hatshepsut had her wearing a fake beard, looking like a man (to blend in within a male dominated world I guess). I was very impressed by her - A woman who ruled a country and all her male subordinates three thousand years ago.

View of the Hypostyle Hall

Carved graffiti that looks like a happy face -first smiley face in the world :)

Ram head lion body sphinxes used to lead to the Nile

More of the hypostyle hall. This is my favorite part of the Karnak Temple. These 134 gigantic columns are made of sandstone for easy carving. The columns are 60 feet tall and each weighs tons. The ancient Egyptians cut the sandstone in short chunks then piled one on top of each other to add up to the desired height. Sand was filled between colomns so the workers could start carving and painting from the top. As the project progressed, sand was removed to the next level. At the end all sand was cleared and the entire hypostyle hall was revealed with all 134 columns and their ornate carvings.

Sun light changes the color as afternoon deepens into dusk.

View of Karnak Temples, obelisks, the Sacred Lake, and the mountain over the Valley of Kings at the West Bank of Nile (which we climbed to top via donkeys the next day)

The central hall which only the High Priest could visit. We touched the stone for good luck.