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| Hatshepsut's Horus |
There are 22 temples on the West Bank of the Nile and over 90 tombs here in this one valley, built between 1292 and 1015 BCE during the 19th and 20th dynasties. There’s a village at the foot of the valley, and soaring above the tombs a triangular hill, like a pyramid itself, is Ghorna, the horn.
The Valley of the Queens is really a misnomer because it’s more nobles, officials and their families who are buried here. At the dawn of the 20th century, Italian archaeologists lived here to excavate the many tombs. And there are many because each hole is a tomb, with a shaft and at least one chamber, many never finished or decorated. Now all the sand has been cleared away down to bedrock, so no more will be found.
As in the Valley of the Kings, our pass lets us visit three tombs as well as Nefertari’s.
The first that I choose is the tomb of Prince Kha-em-Waset, son of Ramses II. In spite of his wealth, he came to an unfortunate end - his throat slit by his wife and one son. On the walls is depicted another son who died young . So we see the prince guiding the son through the underworld to introduce him to Osiris. You can tell he was young because of the lock of hair on the side, which means he was under 12 years of age when he died.
The second tomb is that of Queen Tyti, the wife of Ramses III, perhaps the last of the great pharaohs. There’s a detail here that differs from other tombs, and that’s that the queen is portrayed as a young woman and then in middle age. Among the divinities depicted are Ma-at, her wings outstretched and Thoth, the ibis-headed god of wisdom and writing. In the burial chamber, instead of the stars standing out against a blue ceiling, the background is yellow.
The third tomb is Prince Amen-Khopshef, son of Ramses III. Just inside the entrance a “guide” calls me over to a recess carved in the corridor. In it is a tiny mummy. “6 months. Not born”, he tells me. A miscarriage. Again I think of the grandson I never met who died almost at the same age, the one I thought of at the Cairo Mosque. I turn away, but too late. He’s already seen that I was starting to cry. Not knowing what to do, he pats me on the back, which is amazing because I’m a woman and he doesn’t know me. (On the way back out, I see him again, but he’s not showing this mummy to the ladies any more, at least not today.) I find I’m starting to understand the meaning of the drawings more; for instance, a woman with her hands down and the signs for water turns out to be the goddess Nephthys, sister of Isis, pouring libations. On the door to the sarcophagus chamber are two winged cobras, long and winding. Far nicer is the image of man and woman holding hands, their fingers intertwined, his darker than hers. It’s unusual.
As I climb down some stairs, a guide holds out his hand and calls me Hathor. I’m not really sure why. Maybe because of my age, and the fact that I smile, he thinks I’m worthy of being the goddess of love, joy, music and maternity. Or maybe he just says that to all the girls... although I’m the only one within earshot that he says it to.
The last tomb I visit is that of Nefertari, which is 3300 years old but still has most of its original paint. Nefertari was the most beloved wife of Ramses the Great, his first and most favored. Married at 24, she was called “the most beautiful companion” and bore the pharaoh four daughters and two sons. Like so many others, her tomb was pillaged. Her mummy was never found.
In the sarcophagus chamber it’s easy to pick out Osiris because he’s always green. And of course there’s Anubis, with his jackal head, who’s responsible for mummification. There are multiple Isises, Horuses and Hathors. Again there are winged cobras guarding doorways as they guard the gates in the afterlife. And the outspread feathered arms of Ma’at on the lintels between chambers. There’s also a strange bald, naked man - the doorkeeper - brandishing two knives on the wall of the burial chamber. But a detail that strikes me is the way Nefertari’s clothing is often made to look transparent; you can see her arm or part of her leg “through” the fabric.
Although the centuries haven’t been kind to this tomb, and patches of plaster have fallen to dust, marring the otherwise bright colors of the wall decoration, the magnificence of the woman in life is maintained in death.
Then it’s time for the other site, besides Abu Simbel, that has always captivated me and has brought me to Egypt: the Temple of Hatshepsut.
She fascinates me because Egypt was a country of pharaohs, who were all men. All except for her and two “illustrious unknowns” (as the French say) before her. She reigned for about 22 years. And then pretty much there was nothing until Cleopatra fourteen centuries later. In addition, Hatshepsut is generally regarded as one of the most successful pharaohs, male or female. She restored the trade routes, making the country rich again. She built innumerable monuments, including at Karnak, as well as her own mortuary temple, which is where we’re headed. One Egyptologist called her “the first great woman in history of whom we are informed”. She was the half sister of Thutmose II and co-regent with Thutmose III, her stepson and nephew. (Ancient Egypt was an incestuous family business, but you can blame it all on the original god Osiris who married and had children (Horus) by his sister Isis.) Then she got herself named king-queen, and thus pharaoh. Hatshepsut, the Iron Lady of Ancient Egypt.
Hatshepsut’s tomb is just behind the hill, in the Valley of the Kings. Plans were to drill through the hill to link up this temple with her tomb, but that was never done.
I’ve already seen the temple from the hot-air balloon. But actually walking up the broad staircase is almost like a dream. There are people around - mostly Egyptians, tourism being down greatly - but it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m here.
At the base of the stairway are statues of Horus, their eyes keeping watch. Like Notre-Dame or the Cathedral of Chartres, the temple was once painted. But like Notre-Dame or Chartres, I prefer just the stone. There are only traces of color left on some columns and outer walls, but the colors are well preserved for their age in the colonnade where they’re more protected from erosion. After all, this temple was built around 1470 BCE.
The whole temple is so very different from anything else from Ancient Egypt. It’s sober yet beautiful, simple but striking. There’s a quiet purity about it. Of the three different levels, the top one - rebuilt about ten years ago by a Polish expedition - is the most striking visually, when seen from afar, because of the tall statues backing onto the columns, pharaohs with their arms crossed on their chests.
You have to get closer, into the colonnades, to get the full effect of this temple’s artwork. Especially on the middle terrace, with its sanctuary (the only part built into the rock; the other two are free-standing). The left side tells the story of Hatshepsut’s birth, the right the famed expedition to Punt. All the walls are covered with carvings, and some of them are unlike all the others I’ve seen. For instance, there’s Hathor in the form of a cow (at least I think it’s Hathor) with her tongue out, drinking something from the hand of the pharaoh (probably Hatshepsut, with her false pharaoh’s beard). There’s a frieze of trees, mostly palms but also some deciduous-looking trees with branches unlike any I’ve seen in the parts of Egypt we’ve visited. There are also rounded huts which look more like tropical Africa than Egypt.
And then Ahmed points out a turtle, which lends a possible explanation. There are no turtles in Egypt; only in the Red Sea. But Hatshepsut is notorious for her expedition to Punt (either Ethiopia or Somalia) in 1480 BCE, which brought great riches of ivory, ebony and myrrh. It’s reported that she sailed there herself. So she would have seen turtles and other kinds of non-Egyptian trees. And later I’ll find confirmation on the internet that this expedition to Punt is indeed recorded on her “memorial temple”. So sometimes it’s interesting all you can learn from a simple turtle carving.
There are a few carvings where the face has been removed. You can see the impacts of the hammer or rock used. As there was some bad feeling towards Hatshepsut after her death - and even during her lifetime, cheeky broad that she was, trying to be a pharaoh! - and that the clothing looks more feminine than the usual leopard skin of other pharaohs, I take this to be Hatshepsut herself. I know her successor defaced many of her likenesses. I wish I could have seen the face. At least I’ve seen what she had designed in her memory.
The first that I choose is the tomb of Prince Kha-em-Waset, son of Ramses II. In spite of his wealth, he came to an unfortunate end - his throat slit by his wife and one son. On the walls is depicted another son who died young . So we see the prince guiding the son through the underworld to introduce him to Osiris. You can tell he was young because of the lock of hair on the side, which means he was under 12 years of age when he died.
The second tomb is that of Queen Tyti, the wife of Ramses III, perhaps the last of the great pharaohs. There’s a detail here that differs from other tombs, and that’s that the queen is portrayed as a young woman and then in middle age. Among the divinities depicted are Ma-at, her wings outstretched and Thoth, the ibis-headed god of wisdom and writing. In the burial chamber, instead of the stars standing out against a blue ceiling, the background is yellow.
As I climb down some stairs, a guide holds out his hand and calls me Hathor. I’m not really sure why. Maybe because of my age, and the fact that I smile, he thinks I’m worthy of being the goddess of love, joy, music and maternity. Or maybe he just says that to all the girls... although I’m the only one within earshot that he says it to.
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| Hathor drinking from pharaoh's hand |
In the sarcophagus chamber it’s easy to pick out Osiris because he’s always green. And of course there’s Anubis, with his jackal head, who’s responsible for mummification. There are multiple Isises, Horuses and Hathors. Again there are winged cobras guarding doorways as they guard the gates in the afterlife. And the outspread feathered arms of Ma’at on the lintels between chambers. There’s also a strange bald, naked man - the doorkeeper - brandishing two knives on the wall of the burial chamber. But a detail that strikes me is the way Nefertari’s clothing is often made to look transparent; you can see her arm or part of her leg “through” the fabric.
Although the centuries haven’t been kind to this tomb, and patches of plaster have fallen to dust, marring the otherwise bright colors of the wall decoration, the magnificence of the woman in life is maintained in death.
Then it’s time for the other site, besides Abu Simbel, that has always captivated me and has brought me to Egypt: the Temple of Hatshepsut.
She fascinates me because Egypt was a country of pharaohs, who were all men. All except for her and two “illustrious unknowns” (as the French say) before her. She reigned for about 22 years. And then pretty much there was nothing until Cleopatra fourteen centuries later. In addition, Hatshepsut is generally regarded as one of the most successful pharaohs, male or female. She restored the trade routes, making the country rich again. She built innumerable monuments, including at Karnak, as well as her own mortuary temple, which is where we’re headed. One Egyptologist called her “the first great woman in history of whom we are informed”. She was the half sister of Thutmose II and co-regent with Thutmose III, her stepson and nephew. (Ancient Egypt was an incestuous family business, but you can blame it all on the original god Osiris who married and had children (Horus) by his sister Isis.) Then she got herself named king-queen, and thus pharaoh. Hatshepsut, the Iron Lady of Ancient Egypt.
Hatshepsut’s tomb is just behind the hill, in the Valley of the Kings. Plans were to drill through the hill to link up this temple with her tomb, but that was never done.
At the base of the stairway are statues of Horus, their eyes keeping watch. Like Notre-Dame or the Cathedral of Chartres, the temple was once painted. But like Notre-Dame or Chartres, I prefer just the stone. There are only traces of color left on some columns and outer walls, but the colors are well preserved for their age in the colonnade where they’re more protected from erosion. After all, this temple was built around 1470 BCE.
The whole temple is so very different from anything else from Ancient Egypt. It’s sober yet beautiful, simple but striking. There’s a quiet purity about it. Of the three different levels, the top one - rebuilt about ten years ago by a Polish expedition - is the most striking visually, when seen from afar, because of the tall statues backing onto the columns, pharaohs with their arms crossed on their chests.
You have to get closer, into the colonnades, to get the full effect of this temple’s artwork. Especially on the middle terrace, with its sanctuary (the only part built into the rock; the other two are free-standing). The left side tells the story of Hatshepsut’s birth, the right the famed expedition to Punt. All the walls are covered with carvings, and some of them are unlike all the others I’ve seen. For instance, there’s Hathor in the form of a cow (at least I think it’s Hathor) with her tongue out, drinking something from the hand of the pharaoh (probably Hatshepsut, with her false pharaoh’s beard). There’s a frieze of trees, mostly palms but also some deciduous-looking trees with branches unlike any I’ve seen in the parts of Egypt we’ve visited. There are also rounded huts which look more like tropical Africa than Egypt.
And then Ahmed points out a turtle, which lends a possible explanation. There are no turtles in Egypt; only in the Red Sea. But Hatshepsut is notorious for her expedition to Punt (either Ethiopia or Somalia) in 1480 BCE, which brought great riches of ivory, ebony and myrrh. It’s reported that she sailed there herself. So she would have seen turtles and other kinds of non-Egyptian trees. And later I’ll find confirmation on the internet that this expedition to Punt is indeed recorded on her “memorial temple”. So sometimes it’s interesting all you can learn from a simple turtle carving.
There are a few carvings where the face has been removed. You can see the impacts of the hammer or rock used. As there was some bad feeling towards Hatshepsut after her death - and even during her lifetime, cheeky broad that she was, trying to be a pharaoh! - and that the clothing looks more feminine than the usual leopard skin of other pharaohs, I take this to be Hatshepsut herself. I know her successor defaced many of her likenesses. I wish I could have seen the face. At least I’ve seen what she had designed in her memory.
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