Luxor
January 10, 2007
Today was a great day! We got up around 6, I missed breakfast so I could sleep in and take a shower but it was a small sacrifice. After breakfast and such our group went to the temple of Edfu. Apparently, the slots located in the ceiling were a lighting system to illuminate the stairs for the priest to start morning prayer. Horus is the principle god here and there is a wing sun disc on the front entrance. This temple is very impressive, standing only a little smaller than Karnak. The fact that a lot of this place is still intact and the important rituals once performed here are what makes this place so historic. One of those rituals was when the high priest would would take a boat upstream with surrounding boats. Both Horus and his wife would do this, she would stay with him at this temple for two weeks. His wife, Hathor, would then sadly have to return home after that time period. Amr explained here that Ancient Egyptians believed that the beginning of life started with only water. Then from the water, land grew in the shape of a pyramid. Then from the land grew the lotus flower. In the hieroglyphics, showing Hathor emerging from the lotus flower shows she has the right to be created. Each pillar here symbolizes a flower, meaning creation. Another interesting part of this temple was in one of the smallest rooms. This was where the priest went to make the oils. You can tell by the cluttered hieroglyphics that the grids weren't planned out, which would be very unusual for Egyptians. The hieroglyphics on the wall were the ingredients to making the different types of oils. The sad part about this temple was all the defacing. A lot of the depictions were etched out. The most destroyed features were their faces, hands, and feet because this made it almost impossible to identify someone. The Egyptians believed when you enter the afterlife, you would enter it in the way your depiction was portrayed. For example, if the depiction of a pharaoh had a missing thumb, that pharaoh would have a missing thumb in the afterlife. Therefore, the defacing in this temple was extremely meaningful. The defacing was done by the early Christians; they also lived in this temple and had fires inside, which turned the ceilings black. This means the depictions on the ceiling will be hidden until there is a solution created to remove the black soot without destroying the art behind it. Amr explained that the style of art the Egyptians used was for a certain reason. The reason the depictions are portrayed with two hands and two eyes, even when the figure is standing in a profile position, is because of the same reason above. The Egyptians portrayed every body part because they didn't want to be missing any part of their body in the afterlife. Another amazing fact is that here, depicted on the wall, is the first play in history. When we returned to the boat, Amr talked with us a little about the Islamic religion. Here in Egypt it's about 80 percent Muslim and 20 percent Christian. The Muslims pray five times each day, so that they re always thinking of God. One who does this is less likely to do something sinful because they are always being watched and always are thinking of god. After we talked and had an opportunity to ask questions we had a little free time and then headed to the Kom Ombo Temple. This was once the checkpoint for the Egyptian military. The temple is unique because the triad was split into equal halves. There was an imaginary line that split the temple and a goddess depicted there so when you prayed, your prayers would go to each side equally. Here they put meat in wells to attract the crocodiles. If the crocodile looked like a deity they would keep it and eventually starve and mummify it.
Mummified Crocs
There were three small mummified crocodiles that were still there for us to see. There was also a very interesting and accurate calendar here. Also, a depiction of a woman giving birth in a position that has just recently started being used. When kneeling it is more beneficial and helps in giving birth. I learned here that Egyptians first learned about fractions from something called the "Broken Eye" of Horus; Each piece made a whole. It is a depiction that is very familiar to most people, an eye with a tear coming from it. We were actually lucky to finish the tour of Kom Ombo just as the sun was setting. We were also about an hour early for our schedule in returning to the boat, so Amr suggested we smoke some shisha from the hookah. We all sat down, smoked shisha, and listened to the band for a while; it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went back to the boat to get ready for dinner and the Gallabeah party. I bought a black gallabeah and scarf to wear and my roommate bought a nice white one. It was so much fun getting ready! Amelia, Rachel, Rebecca, and myself seemed to get a lot closer. We all put so much make up on! haha I ended up messing up the first time because I was so shaky from the double espresso I had earlier. I had to start all over again from scratch. Almost everyone dressed up, it was too much fun!
The Girls in Gallabeahs
"Wet Gallabeah Party!", that was Chris' idea but I think he was the only one who went for it. haha The party started out with a few games. The first game was where everyone got on the dance floor and danced when the music started but when it stopped they would call a number and you had to form a group that size or you would be out. The Adirondack Community College group stayed in for a while but we didn't win. Next was the spoon game; starring me, myself, and I. Well, of course other people from different groups also, but I was the only one playing from ACC. The game was basically like musical chairs only when the music stopped you had to pick up a spoon. Whoever didn't get a spoon was eliminated. I was intense, I had my eyes on the prize! haha, I didn't take my eyes off those spoons once, and I won and got a free drink at the bar! It was really funny! Next it was Alissons turn to bellydance, and she rocked the house! I can't believe they played Moulin Rouge and YMCA! The D.J. kept on repeating certain parts of the songs for us, I had a blast! I think everyone had a great time! I will forever be known as the best "Spooner" in the land. hahaha!
Luxor
January 11, 2007
Today we got to sleep in until 6! It's sad, but that isn't a joke! Anyway, we started our day with a felucca ride, it was very peaceful to just sail calmly on the Nile. The plan was to sail to Kitchener's Island by felucca but there was very little wind, so Amr had a motor boat near by pull us so we would have more time on the island. Kitchener's Island was gorgeous, the flowers were so vibrant! At the entrance there was a group of cats including a tiny kitten, I felt so bad for them because they looked so helpless and hungry. I was happy Lydia gave me a piece of Pop-Tart to give to the little one so I didn't feel as bad. After exploring the island we hopped on a motor boat and headed towards a place where we could go bird watching. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a rare bird, the black ibis. We also saw gray herons and a few other kinds. While heading back towards the boat, Amr had the boat driver stop and he had two men bring out Crocodiles for us! I couldn't understand why they were so calm at first but Amr explained that when they are cold they are basically paralyzed. Our whole group was holding them but I was a little bit scared at first but I figured...it was a once in a lifetime chance. I held the crocodile and really enjoyed it, I couldn't believe how soft and surprisingly cute it was! We then headed back to Solaris II (the ship) and had lunch, then immediately headed back out to see the unfinished Obelisk. Amr took us behind the ropes (that we were not supposed to cross! He is awesome by the way) in order to show us a brand new discovery, depictions of dolphins carved into the stone. It was a great experience to see something not many people know about. The work here must have been extremely time consuming, the Ancient Egyptians would use a very hard rock to chisel off quartzite to construct the Obelisk. Amr showed us how it was done with this certain rock and it was so hard it turned quartzite into powder! The Egyptians used to have to search for good strong stone, meaning they'd spend an unbelievable amount of time trying to chisel a big hole in the stone at a certain location. If the stone cracked around it they wouldn't be able to use that site because it meant the stone was to weak to build an obelisk out of. After the obelisk we went to see the high and low dam. While we were outside the bus a family of Egyptians asked to take a picture with Lydia, it wasn't something I would of expected, but it was cool. Today we also paid a visit to the Soviet-Egyptian Monument of Friendship, then on to the Temple of Philae. This temple was for Isis and her son, Horus, some say the image of her breastfeeding is basically identical to the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. I really enjoyed the light show too, yes I admit it was a little dramatic, but I won't lie; I had fun. We took a small motor boat to the temple and walked through a second time at night with different colored lights illuminating it and a story playing over loud speakers as we moved through the temple. The lights just put me in awe as the history of the temple was described, it also told how the temple was submerged underwater a while ago when the dam was built in the 1960's. So the plan was made to move it to this island and shape it like a dove, just as it was originally. The workers had to record thousands of rocks and rebuild it again because the Nile was weakening the base. It was reconstructed, with most of the original rocks and materials, on this island exactly as it had appeared before the dam was built. This temple was very impressive! I bought papyrus today as well, one of my favorite images of Tutankhamun and his wife, it's a very tender and loving depiction of the two. Well it's been a long day and I'm very tired, so...off to bed. Goodnight!
