Finally, 3 years after my first trip to Egypt, we finally went to the Valley of the Kings. I love the idea behind the Valley of the Kings. The Pharaohs saw that tomb raiders had already looted the Pyramids, so they thought, "I will show those tomb raiders. No more of this above the ground tomb business. I'm going to hide my tomb where nobody else will find them. Therefore, I pick..... there... that big mountain across the river from Karnak. I will pick the furthest most place in the mountains, hire a village of workers, and swear them to secrecy. And, to make sure nobody finds my tomb, I will not leave any blueprints or record of the location of my tomb. Bwah hahahahahahhahaha."
And so it was. The Pharaohs all thought this was a good idea, however, since there weren't any blueprints (or so it seems), their tombs crisscross each other underground, there are locations where you can see the new tomb digger had realized he had struck another tomb and just changed directions, etc. It's all just a mountain tomb.
They number the tombs in the Valley of the Kings based upon the order in which the tombs were found. It's no surprise that the 'genius' Pharoahs who built their tombs at the entrance of the valley got discovered first. They didn't just get discovered first... they got discovered before the Ancient Greeks took over. How can you tell? Ancient Greek graffiti from Alexander the Great's tourism agency is carved alongside the funerary hieroglyphics. Oh, and the Coptic Christians used these tombs to camp out while they were hiding from Roman persecution. These tombs barely lasted 1,000 years. I'd call that a lack of forward planning!
How about that Pharaoh who originally started the Valley of the Kings? They found his tomb somewhere in the 30s of the 63 discovered tombs. I'd say he didn't do half bad.
The tombs themselves are amazing. We had taken a guide for the day, and he recommended the 3 tombs that we should see (you get to pick 3 with your ticket). We went to the tomb of Ramses III, who was the last of the great pharaohs. The detail work in the tomb is amazing. Did you know that the hieroglyphics used to be painted? Did you know that those little hieroglyphic owls had multiple colors and wings drawn? Or that the pharaoh hieroglyphic had stripes painted on his skirt? It's so incredible.
We also saw the tomb of Ramses II's successor Merenptah and Ramses IV. All of which just showed different styles of ornamentation of the same 'Book of the Dead' story. You could see that at some stage, they just stopped cutting out the hieroglyphics from the stone and just started painting on the hieroglyphics. You can also see exactly how deep these tombs went. It was incredible.
We also went and saw two more temples. The Temple of Hatshetsup and Medinet Habu (the 'military temple' of Ramses III). These West Bank temples were built by the different pharaohs for burial processes and when Amun Ra had to take a vacation to visit the dead.
We had a great time at the place we stayed, enjoyed one last Egyptian dinner, and then we went to go and get our train back to Cairo for one more day before we head to Turkey.
And so it was. The Pharaohs all thought this was a good idea, however, since there weren't any blueprints (or so it seems), their tombs crisscross each other underground, there are locations where you can see the new tomb digger had realized he had struck another tomb and just changed directions, etc. It's all just a mountain tomb.
They number the tombs in the Valley of the Kings based upon the order in which the tombs were found. It's no surprise that the 'genius' Pharoahs who built their tombs at the entrance of the valley got discovered first. They didn't just get discovered first... they got discovered before the Ancient Greeks took over. How can you tell? Ancient Greek graffiti from Alexander the Great's tourism agency is carved alongside the funerary hieroglyphics. Oh, and the Coptic Christians used these tombs to camp out while they were hiding from Roman persecution. These tombs barely lasted 1,000 years. I'd call that a lack of forward planning!
How about that Pharaoh who originally started the Valley of the Kings? They found his tomb somewhere in the 30s of the 63 discovered tombs. I'd say he didn't do half bad.
The tombs themselves are amazing. We had taken a guide for the day, and he recommended the 3 tombs that we should see (you get to pick 3 with your ticket). We went to the tomb of Ramses III, who was the last of the great pharaohs. The detail work in the tomb is amazing. Did you know that the hieroglyphics used to be painted? Did you know that those little hieroglyphic owls had multiple colors and wings drawn? Or that the pharaoh hieroglyphic had stripes painted on his skirt? It's so incredible.
We also saw the tomb of Ramses II's successor Merenptah and Ramses IV. All of which just showed different styles of ornamentation of the same 'Book of the Dead' story. You could see that at some stage, they just stopped cutting out the hieroglyphics from the stone and just started painting on the hieroglyphics. You can also see exactly how deep these tombs went. It was incredible.
We also went and saw two more temples. The Temple of Hatshetsup and Medinet Habu (the 'military temple' of Ramses III). These West Bank temples were built by the different pharaohs for burial processes and when Amun Ra had to take a vacation to visit the dead.
We had a great time at the place we stayed, enjoyed one last Egyptian dinner, and then we went to go and get our train back to Cairo for one more day before we head to Turkey.
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