Valley of the Kings (tombs) - Luxor

Wednesday, September 26
Today we visited Valley of the Kings (near Luxor) - these tombs, long ago plundered, still contain marvelous base-reliefs of human figures and instructions for the dead to pass by the sentinels guarding the way to eternal life. The scope and scale of the tombs is amazing. This is where King Tut's tomb was discovered some decades ago, still intact. I was struck by all the hieroglyphics covering the walls, and still with some color. The slaves began digging the tomb as soon as the Pharoah became king so that there would be time to finish it before he died! (there was so much work to be done for it to be ready for the mummified body).

Here are some details:
1. Usually there were “gates” inside the tomb (sometimes 12 gates) which the dead person had to pass thru before he reached eternal life

2. There were 2 kinds of responses by the dead person 1) negative response – “I didn’t lie” and 2) positive response – “I killed a man because he was an evil person”

3. The hieroglyphics were actually passages from the Book of the Dead – things the dead person would need to know for the next life

4. Mumification process took 72 days, at which time the tomb was closed and no more work could be done on it – even if it wasn’t finished

5. All Pharoah’s treasures (chariot, tools, chairs, bed, anything he used in life) would be buried with him in the tomb so that he could use them in the next life (that’s why the tombs were soooo big.)

We also visited Medinet Habu (mortuary Temple of Ramses III), then took a faluka ride down the Nile River before bed.