The Motor Ship Queen arrived back in Luxor from Kom Ombo in the afternoon. We had sailed overnight and had passed through the locks in Esna whilst most of the passengers were hard and fast asleep, but some of us die-hards stayed up playing cards in the lounge and then we managed to get a few pictures of the transit though the locks. Actually it was refreshing cool after a hot day.

  After an early dinner on board we headed off for the Karnak Temple Complex while it was still light, the idea being we could then watch the Sound and Light Show after it got dark. try to kill two birds with one stone, because there never was enough time in one holiday in Egypt to see it all.

   The first view of the entrance pylon is enough to convince one that this really was the largest temple complex in the world, it could swallow St Paul's cathedral many times over. Twin rows of magnificent ram-headed sphinxes lined the avenue up to the entrance.

 

 

   Through the huge entrance lead into a massive courtyard, with numerous doorways off to many different temples, all jockeying for your attention, and all I can do is give you a taste of the place, after 20 years I am still finding new things to see.

 

 

   This place is huge and sometimes it is best to get as far away as is possible to take it all in but that is never possible as there is something new around every corner and hidden alcove.

 

 

   The artist David Roberts sums up the vastness of Karnak with his pictures drawn during his visit to Egypt in 1843. There is a whole gallery of his pictures on the David Robert's Egypt page.

 

Karnak Temple - David Roberts 1838

Karnak Temple - David Roberts 1838

 

   Once the awe and majesty has been taken in is the time to start searching for the detail, after all this place is a history book of some 3000 years, and every square inch of the walls has a story to tell, usually of the Pharaoh's glory and prowess in battle against his numerous enemies. The hornet being the symbol of something not to be trifled with, or chance being stung.

 

 

  In a tiny dark hidden alcove is a magnificent statue of the lioness goddess Sekhmet, whilst out in the open alongside the sacred lake is a gigantic statue of a scarab carved in beautiful rose pink Aswan granite.

 

   

 

  As darkness descended the place got a little crowded with thousands of tourists who were there to see and hear the Sound and Light Show. This took about an hour and a half with piped music and coloured lights as the history of Karnak was narrated, the story of the City of a Hundred Gates.

 

 

   As wonderful as the Sound and Light Show is, and it surely is, I have to confess that I prefer the place to myself, day or night, as for me the new moon shining on the obelisks in the quiet of a cool evening is about as mystical as it gets. The faint whisper of gossamer wings as a bat goes about its lawful business of removing any hovering mosquitoes. The stars shining out in a cloudless sky as bright as they did in the days when an ancient priest of Amun would search the sky looking for the first sign of the dog star Sirius, the foreteller of the inundation, the annual flood.

    The ghosts of ages past live in this magic place.

 However, as much as I like having somewhere to myself at night this place really comes alive in daylight. There are hundreds upon hundreds of ruins of mud brick houses where the everyday people of ancient Karnak used to live. All of the priests, artists, stone masons, clerks, record keepers, bakers, butchers, the mayor of Thebes, magistrates, police, from the highest official to the most humble peasant, they all lived or worked in the complex, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, living life exactly as we do today, only probably with less concern about Global Warming.

    Nowadays, as these old mud houses fall apart, as the ground is disturbed, raked over, moved and mucked about, time after time, all sorts of goodies come to light, and it just so happens that on my last trip to Karnak in 2009 I was having a look around here when my eye was caught by a gleam in the sand, and lo and behold there was a semi-precious gemstone waiting for me to find. A double banded agate, the two bands being of great significance to the ancient Egyptians, the symbol of the two lands of upper and Lower Egypt. So I had it set in a gold cage, as it would have been worn in those days by ... but there's the rub ... by whom? I find things, trouble is they don't usually come with a name tag, that would be too easy.  The gem was found by the O on the map. There are probably more, but one find per location is enough for me.

Plan of Karnak Complex

The Great Gate at Karnak Temple with the Avenue of Sphinxes - David Roberts 1838

The Entrance to the Temple of Amus II at Goorha Thebes and the Hall of Columns  - David Roberts 1838

Visitors to the Great Temple in the 19th century.

Ah well, back to the boat, tomorrow we are doing the Valley of the Kings.

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