3 April 2022: The West Bank of the Nile and Luxor

We started Sunday at the Valley of the Kings, the burial site for many of Egypt's most famous pharaohs. 

The pharaohs of the Old Kingdom built showy pyramids for their tombs. Thutmosis I was the first pharaoh to reject a pyramid and choose a hidden burial spot. He recognized that a pyramid was a big clue to tomb robbers for where to find treasures. He may have been influenced to choose this valley for his tomb because of this mountain peak which looks a little like a pyramid. For hundreds of years afterwards, the Valley of the Kings was the preferred spot for royal tombs. Sadly, the reality was most of these tombs were looted soon after the pharaohs were buried. Even though the site was supposedly secret, too many craftsmen knew about the location and the fabulous treasure that filled the tombs of the pharaohs. Unable to protect the treasure, the priests focused on preserving the mummies, moving them to unmarked caches without any treasure. All of the mummies we saw at the Museum of Egyptian Civilization were found in caches in the Valley of the Kings. 

Archaeologists have discovered 62 tombs in the Valley of the Kings so far. The tombs are very popular with tourists, but the carbon dioxide from breathing, the salts from sweat and even vibrations from talking degrade the beautiful artwork. The site's compromise is to open the tombs on a rotating basis. Three tombs were open on the day we visited, plus King Tut's tomb which is always open for tourists. Ancient Egyptians were more than a bit obsessed with death and especially the after life. A pharaoh would begin building his tomb as soon as he began to rule since the decorations of the tomb incorporated the magic rituals that would ensure he would obtain eternal life. All of the tombs we visited had the same basic plan: a long tunnel into the mountain opened into a large room where the mummy was buried in a sarcophagus. Niches and small rooms off the tunnel were used to store the treasures of the pharaoh. The first tomb we visited belonged to Ramses IX. All of the artwork in the photo is original, still brilliant after 3000 years. 

The pharaoh chose the scenes he wanted painted in the tomb from The Book of the Dead so all of the tombs look very similar.

We visited the tomb of Ramses III. After a few days of touring Egyptian ruins, we started to recognize some of the features and meaning of some of the inscriptions.

The third tomb we visited belonged to Merneptah. His extremely large outer stone sarcophagus was still in his tomb along with the somewhat smaller stone sarcophagus seen in this photo. When Merneptah was buried, his mummy would have been placed in one or two richly decorated sarcophagi covered in gold and precious stones before being placed in the stone sarcophagi. Of course, the inner sarcophagi would be extremely valuable to tomb robbers and no longer exist.

We paid a little extra to tour King Tutanhkamen's tomb, the most famous tomb in Egypt and certainly the smallest one in the Valley of the Kings. This is a good time to talk about how hot it was in Egypt. It was 109 degrees this day, and well over 100 degrees on the other days of our Nile Cruise. We felt at risk of becoming mummies ourselves as we baked under the sun. We had huge concerns for our Muslim tour guides who were fasting every day.

King Tut had double misfortunes of being the son of Akhenaton, the pharaoh who tried to make Egypt monotheistic, and then dying young at the age of 18. His tomb was hastily made and quickly forgotten. Later, a mudslide completely obscured the entrance to his tomb. Discovered in 1922, the treasure inside astounded the world. If an unpopular pharaoh who died young was buried with such priceless finery, what would the tomb of someone like Ramses II have looked like before the tomb robbers came?

Maybe this is a prize for being forgotten and maybe not, but King Tut is the only mummy not moved from his tomb. Mummification seems extreme to our modern minds and we were reminded of Alma 11:44: Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now. In the end, the Egyptian peasants whose graves were eaten by jackals will be just as resurrected as the pharaohs who thought they were gods.

As we left the Valley of the Kings, we drove past the Valley of the Artisans, where Egyptian officials who were not royal were buried. This site is notable because it is the place where Antonio Lebolo discovered the mummies that eventually came to the United States where Joseph Smith obtained the accompanying papyrus scrolls that inspired the Book of Abraham.

Our next stop was an alabaster factory. Before our stop we weren't interested in shopping for vases. Then we listened to a beautiful explanation of the love of women for the Savior as shown in Luke 7:36-50 and Mark 14:3-9. An alabaster box features in both stories and this simple item rose in all of our estimations.

The shop sold both factory and handmade items and workers outside the shop demonstrated how the alabaster rock is shaped using simple tools.

This photo shows both chunks of alabaster and finished containers. After it is shaped, the alabaster is thin enough that light can shine through it. Many Egyptian temples originally had alabaster floors.

Then we had time to shop. It's a good bet that everyone on the tour bought something. Michael Wilcox assured us he does not get a commission from the shop, but he should since his teaching touched all of us with a desire for something to remind us of generosity, forgiveness and love. While the factory pieces are more regular and smoother, we opted for a handmade vase that seemed more in character with the time of the New Testament.

Did we need to stop at another temple? Yes, yes, yes! Our next stop was Medinet Habu, a temple built by Ramses III in honor of Amun, the invisible god. Amun was the head god in Egyptian mythology and we wondered if he was a misguided interpretation of our Heavenly Father. We could see a lot of parallels between Egyptian temple architecture and modern temples.

Sofi had just shared a poem by Margaret Atwood called Sekhmet, the Lion-Headed Goddess of War with the rest of us and was delighted to find a statue of Sekhmet in the temple. Egyptians chose a lioness for their god of war instead of a lion because a lion will kill 1 out of 5 of the prey it chases while a lioness will kill 4 out of 5.

The vivid paint on the ceiling is all original. All of the engravings in the temple were originally painted, but the paint on the walls is mostly worn away. Vultures are symbols of protection in Egypt and vulture wings are common decorations. This was kind of funny to us from the American West where we assume the vulture is nearby not for protection, but to eat your innards if you keel over.

Next we had a quick stop at the Colossi on Memnon. These statues of Amenhotep III were placed at the entrance to a temple. The temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 27 BC, but the statues remained.

The Colossi are 60 feet tall and quite impressive, even though they are damaged.

We enjoyed seeing rural Egypt as we drove from site to site. Nearly every house we saw was unfinished, even very nice houses. Our tour guide explained that families just add another story to their house when a child gets married. Most people live in multi-generational houses. It makes finding a house more affordable for young families. There's no need to finish the top floor of the house until someone needs it, and then the builders prepare for an additional story on top of the new one.

Back at the cruise ship, we found the staff had created a cobra from our blankets. Ancient Egyptians thought cobras were also a sign of protection, which doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe it's the old idea of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

We had a bit of down time so Brandan took a few minutes to download the recordings he had made. All the time and effort he spent before the trip researching recorders and learning how to use the one he bought became a blessing to us and the others on our tour.

After dinner we went to Luxor, a huge temple built to honor Amun. Our tour guide had us pose for a group photo outside the temple. At this point of the tour, we only knew a few other people, but after 2 weeks of spending long days with each other, we came to know most of the people. It's not easy to travel in a group this big, but you couldn't find a nicer group of people to manage the unwieldiness of it all.

Originally there were two obelisks in front of the temple, erected by Ramses II, but the second obelisk was taken to Paris in 1833.

Luxor was elegantly beautiful with pleasing proportions.

Some of our tour friends joined hands with Gibson and Sofi to encircle one of the pillars. This photo gives a sense of the size of the temple.

Luxor has a twin temple at Karnak, about one and a half miles away. A line of sphinxes edges both sides of the avenue. This impressive display of hundreds of sphinxes was only recently excavated and officially opened in 2021.

Luxor is 3000 years old and in that time has been adopted and adapted by other faiths. There are remains of Roman frescoes in the Holy of Holies. The frescoes could be signs of worship of Roman gods or could be from a time when Luxor was used as a Christian church.

Currently a mosque occupies a corner of the temple, incorporating some of the pillars of the temple into the outer wall of the mosque. The mosque was decorated with green lights for Ramadan and we could hear the call to evening prayers as we explored the temple.