Valley of the Kings

This morning, I visited the Valley of the Kings, on the West Bank of the Nile in ancient Thebes. There are 67 known royal tombs here but only a few are open at a time. I visited 3 of them today - Ramses IV, Ramses IX and Meremptah. I also visited two beautiful nearby temples, the temples of Hatshepsut and Hapu. 

It is an awesome experience to walk down, always down, into the tombs. The passage can be more than 100 metres, and the walls and ceilings are intricately decorated all the way down. After the torrid heat outside, one instantly feels cooler. The carving, the colours and artistry are all of very high quality. Pictures of scenes from life and the afterlife and in between, dominate, with large areas of hieroglyphs in places telling the story. In many ways, they give the impression of beautiful illustrated books. 

Egyptologists, for four hundred years now, have been piecing together the relics of antiquity and retelling the story of the world's oldest civilization with written records. Just recently, another tomb of a noble person was found close by filled with statuary, jewellery and other treasures. The interpretation and discoveries will never end. Of course, we all know that most of the tombs were looted very early on. That is just how it is. 

As with all civilizations, destruction of beauty by those who come after is evident everywhere. Sometimes, the destruction was very quick. Hatshepsut' stepson, Thutmose III caused much of her statuary to be defaced on her death, perhaps out of jealousy and revenge, perhaps to reflect his version of history or maybe just to be different! 

It has been an extraordinary day of learning and experience for me! Al-hamdu lillahi

Postscript.  Try as I might, I cannot from here download pictures to illustrate my blogs and so I must wait! Sorry.