Nile Treasures                                                                     
March 18-21, 2000   
Petra, the Pyramids and Luxor: A Step Back in Time    

                                          

Aqabah, Jordan, en route by bus to Amman, and I’m humming a tune...  “You never promised me a rose garden”…nor a rose city.  But here I am on my way to Petra, the fabled ancient Rose Red City, half as old as time. And I never dreamed I would be traveling this ancient caravan route.

It’s a hot summer morning in Jordan, and I know little about where we’re headed---to Petra, which means “rock” in Greek.  But soon I find out why this name, so close in name to my very home of “Rockville, Maryland,” but so far in time, is so appropriate. 
Late morning, as we drive up an ever-ascending road, winding through dusty barren hills, I find myself thinking this place Petra must be highly overrated.  We don’t see a single sign of the notorious red sandstone for which this wonder of the ancient world is famous.  But suddenly we round the bend.  There we are at the entrance to an almost hidden canyon protected by steep walls rising up dramatically 600 feet on each side.  It’s Petra, and now you know why it’s called a wonder of the world.

You head into the narrow canyon, craning your neck to view blue sky far above the rose-hued stone face of the gorge.  As you walk, sometimes you can almost touch the walls on either side where the canyon narrows down to only ten feet wide across.  At other times, it broadens to 36 feet across.  At first view of the rugged sandstone cliffs, you only notice soft rose shades of the rock, fading at times from streaks of pink into pale mauve.  Then you begin to pick out other tones and textures in the rock--soft butter yellow ripples disappearing gradually into shades of slate grey stone, earth tones of sienna shifting into shades of ivory and tan sandstone.    The natural beauty of the canyon, the dimensions of the gorge, the patterns of light are beyond imagination.

As I walked I began to reconstruct in my mind something of what our guide had told us about this mysterious canyon and city hidden in antiquity for so many centuries.  

At one time it was the capitol of a flourishing empire, which extended into Arabia and Syria. The center of a rich caravan route, Petra was discovered by the Nabateans, a semi-nomadic tribe from Arabia.  Settling in this canyon somewhere around the 6th century B.C., they quickly controlled passage through the canyon, levying a toll for caravans that wished to pass through. Through time, they extended their empire, controlling ever more caravan routes and drawing in great wealth as they successfully fought off the Roman Forces.  However, in the process, an extraordinary Greco-Roman influence grew to dominate life in the Nabatean empire.  Today, you see the extraordinary examples of  Greco-Roman architecture that have been uncovered in recent excavations there.

You marvel at man’s architectural genius as you pass through Petra’s towering walls of rock that the Romans transformed into magnificent temples and huge amphitheaters without destroying its natural beauty. 

In the canyon you come across niches in the wadi (walls) cut out to worship the gods of the Nabatean civilization; you find hollowed out channels in the rock built by the Romans as they created terracotta pipes to force water through the canyon.  You come upon a mausoleum built to honor a Nabataean King of the 1st Century BC And more—tombs, obelisks, temples, pillars, animal statues, monasteries, and colonnaded streets formed of huge blocks of stone.

Then you arrive at the Khazneh, the Treasury building,  Cut out of a solid sandstone cliff, it is the most incredible feat of architecture to be carved into the walls of the rock canyon. Smooth columns adorned by graceful statues rise up to hold curved arches of the roofs. Stairs well worn by thousands of visitors lead up to the entrance of the treasury building. The rooms within are gouged out of the rock into the stone interior of the cliff.

Still further, we walked on to have a picnic lunch, and then headed back the way we came.   One must walk--not an easy stroll-- or ride a horse or camel, or even be hauled along by horse-drawn carriage slowly, to fully enjoy these awe-inspiring vistas both natural and man-made.  Most of us walked, but a few others, not so hardy, luckily were able to make it through the canyon by carriage or horse.  All agreed we were transported to a time in ancient history and a place miraculously left almost untouched by man until the discovery of Petra in recent years.

I left Petra reluctantly, but having walked a path of about four dusty miles on a hot Jordanian day, I was very tired.  I hope to return some day to climb to the top of the cliffs and view the canyon walls from another inspiring perspective.

Treasures of the Nile

But other antiquities beckoned, and the “Nile Treasure,” as our trip was named, soon would introduce me to other ancient civilizations.   Flying into Cairo, we arrived late at night.  I could hardly wait for my first view of the  Great Pyramids and Sphinx.  From there we would journey to Luxor where still other testaments to civilizations created by man awaited--the temples of Karnak, tombs of the Pharoahs, and Valley of the Kings and Queens were among them.  What a learning experience awaited us—a year in an advanced university history course could not have equaled what we were about to try to absorb intellectually over the next few days.

Colossal marble columns and monumental statues.  Towering temples. Great Pyramids stepping into the sky. Sarcophagi of gold and masks inlaid with gold and precious stones.   Massive minarets and Mosques.  How can I evaluate what I learned from my “Treasures of the Nile” journey?  I can’t.

I just went there and tried to absorb--all too quickly--a tiny fraction of a civilization that dates back more than 6,000 years.  I observed a land of brilliant light and deep shadow, of barren desert and fertile valleys.   And I marveled over monuments to man’s genius that defy simple description.  

First stop were the Great Pyramids of Giza known by every school child as the eternal symbol of Egyptian history.  The stone, grey and dead, absorbed the morning sunlight at our first view of these awesome megastructures. They seemed all the more inspiring because we arrived on an Egyptian national holiday, and families were there in force, visiting, hawking their wares, spreading out picnics with their children—using the massive stones as tables, and taking snapshots just as eagerly we poor foreign tourists were doing. 

As I viewed these towering structures etched against a brilliant blue sky, I could hardly envision how man could possibly have constructed these monumental tombs of the pharaohs.

“The World of the Pyramids” is an apt name for the many cemeteries located along the West Bank of the Nile.  Almost 80 pyramids form a continuous chain almost 50 kilometers long.  A great many are smooth faced, but a few are stepped— including the  Great Pyramids of Giza that stand at the head of the series of pyramids.  The Great Pyramids are one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and I realized why when I had my first view of them.   These three monuments date back to the Fourth Dynasty of the Pharaohs, when kings perfected the art of pyramid building. The pyramids were actually built over a period of nearly 1,000 years. Khufu (Cheops), the grand king of the 4th Dynasty, built his mortuary complex on a plateau at Giza, 25 kilometers north of what was then called Memphis. He built the largest pyramid ever raised.  (This mammoth tomb contains 2,350,000 cubic meters of stone and its base stretches over 13 acres,) much of which we experienced as we trudged over the dusty plateau in the hot morning sun.

Cheops’ two sons added two more pyramids, only slightly less grandiose.  His second son, Khafre, not only had his pyramid built, but also ordered the construction of the Great Sphinx that lies to the east below the plateau. Later in the hot afternoon sun, we visited The Sphinx and learned about it—at length from our guide. The Sphinx is a mammoth stone statue, minus a nose destroyed by subsequent warriors, shaped into a recumbent lion with king’s features added to its human face.  It faces the rising sun and was covered in sand for many eons, thus protecting it from the elements.  Now uncovered, unfortunately, it is crumbling.
The three Great Pyramids were constructed stepstone fashion, by stacking ever-smaller still huge stones.   The builders, thousands of slaves, cut chambers beneath the pyramids into underlying bedrock, built tunnels and burial chambers, and when done, blocked the tunnels with huge blocks of Aswan granite that they floated down the river to Giza. 

Archaeologists are still unsure how the Giza pyramids were laid out and built, but some believe the massive blocks were moved up earthen ramps that wound around the growing structure. Once built, the limestone core of the pyramid was covered with finer limestone.  Workers would start from the top and move down the face of the pyramid until the entire surface was covered.  Within these pyramids and burial tombs, kings were buried, and these sites (that have not been looted by grave robbers) over time have yielded incredible treasures of ancient artwork, massive portraits of granite, painted reliefs, gold and silver and rare gemstone jewelry, and gold-encrusted furniture.  Later we were to see some of these incredible caches of ancient art in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

As you can tell, we learned more in a few days than we ever needed to know about the pyramids and the tombs of the pharaohs.  Our guide, an Egyptologist who loved his profession, fed us a steady stream of information over our five-day visit, and the Pyramids of Giza and Great Sphinx, while fascinating, were only the first stop in our quest to absorbing the history of ancient Egypt in an all-too-short time.   At times, we were inundated with information, but strangely enough, we absorbed more than we knew, perhaps through osmosis.  At any rate, after a few days, words such as hieroglyphics and cartouche and obscure names such as Queen Hatshepsut (remember it by Hat Cheap Suit) were etched in our memories forever.

Also etched into my private memory was my memorable first RIDE on a camel!  This was perhaps the most hilarious of any ride —donkey, horse, or carnival bumper car—I had ever taken.  My friend Phyllis and I had each agreed to hop on a camel.  We were tied together.  I brought up the rear of the camel caravan as we lumbered across a patch of desert sand behind the Great Sphinx.  All went well, until suddenly, for some unaccountable reason, our two camels decided they didn’t want to be part of the caravan. Without warning, they absconded with their captive riders, and loping across the sandy lot, they headed for some unknown oasis.  My camel brought up a reluctant rear of our two-woman caravan as we galumphed along, while I bounced and jostled trying to maintain my balance and simultaneously take pictures of my friend Phyllis.  We had no idea where our duo of dromedaries was headed, but prisoners of the desert, we went along for the ride. 

They took us on a merry ride we later labeled the grand “city tour.”   They loped up and down streets and around corners and across tourist paths, until we turned a final corner and recognized the Great Sphinx street--the familiar site where the camel trek had originated.  We hobbled off amid much laughter from our colleagues.  Jokes that we were going to be sold as slaves of the Bedouins abounded, but our fellow camel trekker comrades hadn’t had half the fun we had!   I will remember my camel ride as yet another expedition adventure, albeit within the confines of the city of Cairo.

Exploring Karnac by Moonlight and Daylight

From Cairo, we flew on to Luxor, to visit perhaps the most impressive of Egyptian antiquities—the Temples of Karnak. Luxor, situated on the banks of the swift flowing Nile, is the site of the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes.  From here, the warrior pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty marched forth and conquered nearly all of the known world.  They returned with gold and slaves and turned their city into a wonder of the ancient world.  However, Thebes was overrun by invaders in the 5th century BC and the city fell into obscurity until Thomas Cook inaugurated a line of steamers and brought tourists into the town in the late 19th century.   

The town is treasure of antiquity, sprawling on the east bank of the Nile and bounded on either side by the twin temples of Karnak on the north and Luxor on the south.  We arrived at our Hilton Hotel overlooking the brown waters of the Nile, late evening and skipping dinner temporarily, 12 of us decided to hop onto a small van to arrive in time to the English-speaking version of the greatest light and sound spectacle in Egypt.  This is the story of the ancient Temples of Karnak, a site dedicated to Amun-Re, the invisible god of air, wind and water, and later the sun.  It turned out to be an evening to be remembered forever!

It was the night of the full moon.  The air was clear and perfumed.  We walked into the Temples of Karnac not knowing quite what to expect and we found we were transported back several millennia. Through spotlights of pale yellow and blue, music of the night, and voices replicating the voices of the kings and queens who ruled Karnac several thousands of years before, we were transported into another world and another time. 

Karnak was built on a scale for giant gods.  I walked along in the dark, passing massive pylons and pillars that threw moonlit shadows onto the darkened cobblestone.  The Temple of Amun loomed above the ruins of smaller temples.  As I stepped carefully on moonlit paths learned how each successive ruler had ordered more and more huge structures and temples onto existing temples and massive stone-paved courtyards, creating an almost Rube Goldbergesque series of sprawling temples, pylon walls, chapels to the sun gods, huge open-roofed halls and sanctuaries, colonnades and shrines, and statues of sphinxes, kings, and animal gods.  (The main hall is so huge it could house Paris’ entire Notre Dame Cathedral within its walls.)

In the moonlight, with soft music and dramatic dialogue spoken over loudspeakers by the ancient kings and queens themselves, and mysterious shadowy dark paths winding through the massive moonlit courtyards and around glittering sandstone columns and gigantic obelisks, I walked silently. I followed the crowd moving in silent waves through the courtyards.   Finally, I was seated at a grandstand overlooking a silver shrouded lake.  Shafts of golden moonlight shed a brilliant path across the lake created to provide holy water for ancient priests’ ablutions.  I could imagine I was actually present as the history of the ancient temple of Karnak came alive. What an evening it was. 

At 11 p.m. when we finally had dinner in the hotel, I was still living in the past in the time of the pharaohs.

The next day, as we walked through Karnac in the daylight, we saw this place again.  But this time, in the heat of the day, we felt a special familiarity with its history.  We had already walked through its halls and courtyards and around its columns and obelisks and had viewed its hieroglyphics and bas reliefs and statues of  rams and kings—in an environment of moonlight and music and magic

Now it was time to bus to the Valley of the Queens. There we came upon the story of Queen Hatshepsut—a woman before her time, it seems, because she assumed a headdress, beard and kilt of a royal Egyptian male ruler and declared herself the pharaoh, the only Egyptian queen to rule as king.  I admired her, even though you cannot see her in the murals at the site of Deir-al –Bahri—a semi-circular notch in the cliffs of the western desert—because her son-in-law, the next king, ordered all depictions of this valiant queen to be removed from the temple walls.

From that dry mountain temple site, we traveled  to the tombs of the kings.  Located in isolated, towering desolate mountains where only hyenas and jackals visited, the ancient Egyptians thought this was a safe place to bury their kings.  But grave robbers found many of the burial tombs and eventually this forbidding terrain was to be called the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

The tombs we visited have been shored up and lighted.  We descended down deep into the mountain to visit the tomb of Thutmose III, stepping into an entrance hall far in the rock and ducking under low doorways and ceilings that led into a burial chamber and sarcophagi of the king.

At dawn the next day, my roommate Suzy and I got up at 5 a.m. and walked along the Nile.  Looking both ways to see all was quiet, we jumped aboard a fellucca--a boat of the Nile, pretending like children that we were floating down the river.  We agreed—next time we would actually sail all the way to Aswan.

We flew back to Cairo and spent the day at the Egyptian Museum. There we visited the richest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world—gathered to combat the plundering of Egyptian antiquities by both native and foreign looters over generations of grave robbing.  We marveled over ancient statues, tombs, sarcophagi, jewelry, gold encrusted wooden wagons and furniture, tools, and textiles---and the absolutely mind-boggling gold mask, furniture, rare jewels in jewelry and masks found in the King Tutankhamen treasures!   

On our way back to the ship, we were tired—but not too tired to notice the extreme presence of Egyptian military on the long road to Port Said.  We saw military bases, soldiers guarding barbwire fences in parapets with guns alerted, and we saw bombs exploding in the distance-- target practice to destroy tanks situated in mock battlefields.  Along the way, a convoy of ten tourist busses assembled to travel together after a security guard mounted each bus.  We decided this was a show of force to prove tourists were safe in Egypt—protection from such disasters as the fatal bombing of a tourist bus that had exploded in the Valley of the Queens two years ago, when 67 tourists died on the very road we had just ridden in the Valley of the Queens.

And so, somewhat ironically, our Treasures of the Nile trip ended as we were literally transported from viewing the antiquities in the Egyptian Museum to experiencing the realities of modern technology engaged in mock warfare all within a few hours.

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