March 5th Valley of the Kings and Hatshpesut

 





March 5th Valley of the Kings and Hatshpesut Temple



Today we are up very early and off by 6 AM in order to beat the crowds and the temperature which was just shy of 100!  And those that know me know i don’t do well in the heat. As we are leaving we watch about 11 hot air balloons take off over the horizon.

We are on Luxor’s West Bank.

The valley of the kings was amazing. How do they find these tombs and long entrances in a pile of dirt? One tunnel was found accidentally by a young boy who put something down and saw a hole.  When it was dug up they found 40 mummies.  They stole from these mummies and began to sell the valuables on the market. When this was discovered by the authorities, one of the brothers was arrested.  He would not give up the whereabouts till he had a signed agreement that he and his brother and all the family members here after would have a job which was guarding the tunnel.

We visited the tombs of Rameses IV,Rameses II,Rameses IX, Rameses V/VI ,

 Rameses I, and lastly the tomb of KIng TUT. King Tut tomb was found in 1925

Inside the tomb tells us the story of 12 hours of the day and 12 hours of the night. The traveling of the underworld god from Sun sets in the west and rises again in the East.

It is like a video game where the pharaoh needs to go through the underworld and overcome obstacles  and gain other powers as he comes towards the light of the next 12 hours. 

To make a mummy it takes 70 days.  They first pull the brain out through the nose and throw it away as they didn’t feel it was important .  The lungs,liver,intestine and stomach were put in canonic jars.  One jar has the head of the human, one the dog, one a baboon and the last on a jackal. The heart was left in the body because it was believed to be the most important thing for rebirth. The body was washed ,dried ,and filled with a salt and carbonate mixture.  This process was done several days.  After 40 days the body was then stuffed with linen and sewn up.  The body was adorned with amulets and  jewelry and wrapped again as the priest prayed.  The coffin was put in a wooden box which in turn was put into a sarcophagus usually made of stone. 

Our next stop was to the Alabaster factor. Where it was shown how to make the bowls and figures into alabaster.

Our last stop was to Hatshepsut Temple. Who ruled for 22 years.  I can’t find much about her though she is suppose to have been a good ruler

No pictures will come up  sorry