Day
14 - Luxor :Temple of Seti, Temple of Merenptah, Rammesseum
Today, we decided not to go back to Hatsheput's
temple, as we covered it fairly well on the boat tour, also
the Tomb of Pabhasa seemed to be closed. So we started with
the Ramesseum and then Merenpetah.
 The
Ramesseum has been upgraded and futher restored a great deal
since we were here last. The entrance point has changed to
orient you on the axis of the remains of the pylon and the
storage magazines on the south and the side temples on the
north has been uncovered. Things I didn't remember were that
the famous Osiride statues of Ramesses are on both sides of
the entrance court. You always just see the pictures of the
western row, but they are on the eastern side of that courtyard.
All have the heads missing. You just have to wonder where the
heads are now, were they destroyed in a fit of religious destruction,
or are they tucked away in museums and private collections
around the world. It would be interesting to take a monument
that was exposed to the adventurers of the 1800's and trace
it's component parts to all their destinations around the world.
Belzoni famously looted the Ramesseum of a large statue, or
he would say discovered and recovered in the name of his sponsors.
But has that act caused more bad than good. It is undeniable
that the objects of art that came out of Egypt after Napolean's
Expedition lit an unquenchable fire of intellectual curiosity
throughout the rest of the world, and the influences of the
great civilization of Egypt became of great interest. It is
because of the "looting" that the science of Egyptology
was born and it is because of Egyptology and the fascination
with the greatness of Egypt's past that the Tourism business
was born. Tourism, undeniably is the greatest industry in Egypt,
and the only thing that will keep it from sustaining the current
Egyptian population and creating a rising standard of living,
is if that population grows in numbers far faster than the
tourism business can expand to support those numbers of people.
As you walk through the Ramesseum, the birds that live on
the agricultual land twitter in the trees, and that is still
the same 20 years later. The site is cleaner and the columns
inside the internal hall retain more color than I remember.
They really are still very alive. There weren't many tourists,
and thus the essential atmosphere of the place is probably
much the same as when it was a complete functioning mortuary
temple. It was completed before the death of Ramesses II and
must have been the sight of great mourning and dismay when
he died and the building became fully used in its primary function.
Ramesses II ruled for 67 years, and came to the throne as an
adult. Many of his subjects were born and died while he still
reigned and those that lived to see his death amid the thousands
of monuments and statues that he had erected must truely have
wept is disbelief that he, the great god King, had died.
 Next we visited the mortuary temple of Merenptah, who was
his son, and who succeded him on the throne of Egypt. There
is really not much there, but the building outlines and a small
museum that displays some of the objects that were recovered
with its excavation. There is a very nice stele. Of equal interest
to the Temple of Merenptah is the storage magazine for the
on-going excavation of the Temple of Amenhotep III, best know
for the remaining entry statues, the Colossi of Memnon. The
magazine can be opened by the guards for a little baksheesh
and you can photograph the objects that have been recovered.
When we drove past a few days earlier they were excavating
a giant crocodile statue, or at least that's what it looked
like to Ken.
When we were leaving Merenptah we were approached by a little
girl with a box of scarves and objects to sell. Her mother
was hovering in the background, and I found out later she was
a neighbor of the sister of our driver. Anyway, the women here
dont't all wear black headscarves. Many match their head scarves
to the color of their clothes, and the scarves have sequined
patterns on them. I bought a pink one she had for EP20 or EP25.
Later I asked the driver if she would like to pick out a selection
and I would buy some more. I ended up buying four more the
next day, a red, a midnight blue, an orange varigated and a
turquoise. They were well received as gifts when I got them
home.
The driver took us to the shop of his uncle, solely for tea. His
uncle had been a resident of Gurna all his life and now, with the
clearance of the village, it looked like he would soon have to leave.
They cut off the water to Gurna at least a year ago if not longer,
so he and his wife live in the Alabaster shop and his relatives
bring in supplies. His English was excellent and he showed us around
his shop and talked about Gurna. He and the other Gurnaes (I think
that is how it is done in the plural) believe that they are the
descendants of the tomb builders who settled in the village after
their government quit supporting the tomb makers village. If so,
they have been there for a couple of thousand years. Well, you know,
the place has been continuously occupied since pharonic times, so
they could be right. But they are having to leave now, sacrifices
to the industry of Egyptology, which ironically they started by
removing objects from the nearby tombs and selling them.
We didn't purchase anything but left a bit of baksheesh and
went on to see the Temple of Seti.
I must be getting temple fatigue, because the Temple of Seti
I had beautiful reliefs and even an Osirian similar to the
one in Abydos, but I just was not that excited. Perhaps we
should have started with this one. Anyway, we came, we saw,
we photographed and we drove back for lunch and then to the
hotel.
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