First impressions as we fly in our Petroleum Airlines Embraer en route to Abu Simbel airport from Aswan. The Nile was impounded first in 1902 by the British, whose history in the Middle East have volumes to lead one to dismay. Displacements to locals at that time were one thing but with the development of the High Dam in 1961, they became totally another thing. Nubia was gone, drowned beneath the Lakes of Lake Nasser. Egypt finally gained its revenge for the 25th Dynasty.
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Rule in ancient Egypt was always a top-down affair. Absolute power lay absolutely in the hands of the divine Pharaohs seen as gods on earth. The demise of the New Kingdom with its assortment of Ramses (I and II during the Nineteenth Dynasty and III through IX with the Twentieth) eventually led to foreign invasions bringing in foreigners to rule the Land of the Two Kingdoms. Most successful were the Greeks in the form of one of the favorite generals of Alexander, Ptolemy I. They would rule Egypt for 300 years before the Romans would take their own turn. Here, on the east bank of the Nile, about fifteen miles downstream from Aswan in southern Egypt, at the town of Kom Ombo, a temple exists in good, restored condition showing off a bit of how the Greeks were able to successfully pull off leadership of the country for three centuries.
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To say Egyptian mythology and the pantheon of gods and goddesses presents itself in a straightforward, easy to understand approach means you have probably already given up trying. No god presents themselves in a more confused manner than the falcon-headed Horus. The particular Horus getting worshipped depends on where in Egypt you visited. But even here in Edfu, local rules do not apply.
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Most tourist visits to Egypt include life, death and the afterlife, or at least an ancient Egyptian look at how all intertwine. The Necropolis of Thebes, much like that seen further north in the Giza-Saqqara-Dashur necropolis of Memphis, extends for many miles beyond the main attraction, the Valley of the Kings. Mortuary temples built by New Kingdom pharaohs front the desert mountains rising to the west. Mortuary temples arose as early as the Old Kingdom. The temples commemorated a specific king who reigned during the construction of the temple. Most prominent of all was to the peculiar Queen-King Hatshepsut.
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The west side of the Nile at Thebes – Waset to the Egyptians, like further upstream at Memphis, was reserved for the next life. At both sites, the bank of the setting sun became the home for the Afterlife. Cemeteries predominately lay on the west side of the river as Egyptians believed human life paralleled the path of the sun, rising in the east and setting in the west. In the land of the setting sun lie the underworld. Line up with the others to witness the Egyptian version of eternity.
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Luxor Temple stands at the southern end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes in the center of the City of Luxor. Along with Karnak, Luxor Temple rates as one of the most popular visitor sites in Egypt. The temple (Ipet Resyt or Southern Opet to ancient Egyptians) became dedicated to Amememopet, “Amun in Opet”. This particular form of Amun-Ra was specific to this temple, especially tied in the idea of royal ka or the spirit of kingship entering into a king’s body at the time of his coronation. Evey year the Opet Festival took place in which the king visited the Luxor Temple in order for the royal ka to be ritually reborn, reconfirmed and re-energized.
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Far to the south, not far from the border of Egypt and Sudan, lies one of the greatest monuments surviving from the New Kingdom and its most prominent pharaoh, Ramses II. The magnificent temple complex erected here at Abu Simbel demonstrated the power and supremacy of Egypt over Nubia lying to the south. This became the most extravagant of all of the many building projects the great Pharaoh commissioned over his long life.
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Waset to ancient Egyptians and Luxor today, Thebes is best known probably for its Greek name – not to be confused, of course, with the city-state in ancient Greece. Thebes in upper Egypt also served originally as a city-state. The city developed into the ascendant city of all Egypt around 2000 BC. Armies from Waset went forth to reunify the country at the end of the First Intermediate Period – 2125-2010 BC. Today’s armies are tourists from all over the world seeking to recapture some of the glory of the ancients.
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It is amazing to hear how many people dream of seeing the pyramids. While they are worthy of a visit … a journey? After having spent a couple of weeks along the Nile, if not for a visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum – literally next door to the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the wonders of further south near Luxor are where I would set my sights upon. But the pyramids are impressive – especially when you consider their age – and worth a visit if you are in Cairo. Coming to Egypt, I recommend you visit the Memphis necropolis at Saqqara and Dashur first, however, to give you a little sense of how the pyramids developed from much simpler burial tombs and where they went after the Great Pyramid era ended with the end of the Fourth Dynasty.
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Egypt was first united into one kingdom around 2950 BC under the rule of King Narmer – also known as Menes. He might have had a couple of predecessors coming close to uniting the country, but most scholars give Narmer the nod as becoming Egypt’s first pharaoh – though that title only utilized much later. Narmer came from the city of Abydos located about 15 miles north of the great Qena bend on the Nile. The city lay in a wide area of rich agricultural land on the west bank of the river. It was also the take off point from the water to a main caravan route leading to the oases of the Western Desert making Abydos an important communication center, as well.
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