On the bus heading from Luxor to Dendara to explore the Temple of Hathor and Abydos, the main cult center of Osiris….
Trying to write whenever I can, but it is difficult. I keep wondering why it was so much easier in Uganda….I think I had more time, but I also think it is easier to write about places that you are familiar with. Everything here is new and different….so much to see in so little time, leaving no time to process the experiences let alone write about them.
We have had an intense tour of the monuments and temples around Luxor, including Luxor and Karnak Temples, the Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Medinat Habu, Abydos and Dendara….
Some general thoughts….
Valley of the Kings. Three tombs—Ramses IX, Ramses III, Tuthmosis III. Spectacular-I can almost imagine what it would have been like to descend into the tomb along passageways completely covered with pictures and text, the ceiling painted with golden stars, into a chamber that glitters with gold, containing all of the material objects one needs to live in the afterlife….
One of our tour guides suggested that the Pharaohs lived during their earthly life in mud-brick homes, focusing all of their energy constructing exquisite homes for the afterlife….I think I find that hard to believe (and will look it up)…….Sadly, I do not know enough about ancient Egyptian culture to really talk about temporal life and its relation to the afterlife, but I find the whole concept of an afterlife fascinating. Once again, this place (similar to Israel) is really making me think about religion and religiosity and the many ways in which we try to understand pain, suffering, happiness, and beauty in life and then the finality of death. Death was so central to ancient Egyptian culture—life, at least for the ruling elite, was consumed with preparing for death–true everlasting life was in death. I like that the Egyptians included tools for daily living in their tombs—it makes me feel like they recognized the physicality that is essential for life……I don’t know—I feel quite frustrated about my lack of knowledge of religion and history. I desperately want to understand it. Although raised in the Episcopal church, I have never really understood the Christian ideal of an afterlife, a spiritual place or state of being devoid of suffering and pain. To me, that state of being sounds profoundly upsetting. Suffering and pain as well as pleasure and love and happiness—these things make us human, make us real, allow us to appreciate the world around us…blah, blah, blah….I can’t write about this stuff anymore. I simply don’t know enough and don’t know what I believe in yet. My thoughts on the issue of religion are built upon layers of beliefs that I have culturally inherited….layers that I cannot excavate right now.
…What I can comment on are the people. I am a people tourist and I find the people watching at these monuments as interesting as the sites themselves. There are so many different types of tourists here in Egypt…..people from all over the world, from every religious and ethnic group….all coming to appreciate the wonder of one ancient civilization. Similar to Uganda, my favorite part of Egypt has been the long drives from monument to monument. I love the colors—the verdant Nile Valley fields dotted with flowers, faded concrete buildings with pale pink and orange and green doors interspersed with mud-brick homes, the desert stretching out in the distance…..traditional women shopping at markets dressed in all black, groups of men gathered smoking sheesha and drinking tea and playing backgammon, cars and trucks loaded with men and women traveling alongside donkeys and carts loaded with palm leaves….the rhythms of daily life that reveal a culture and a people that I want to know more about… a country of contradictions—both developed and developing, modern and ancient, friendly and hostile….
On to Aswan…..
Globe Napper 