Up until this series, most interior Ancient Egypt bas reliefs I’ve presented to you are uncolored. Not so here at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. You’ll see a lot of color here, more of which we’ll explore on Monday. Until then, here is today’s Fun Photo Friday featuring Hatshepsut favorites:
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Our driver dropped the three of us off at the parking lot for our next stop this fine, 1 March 2025 day, and Mohamad led us through the ever-present souvenir vendor gauntlet toward our next Ancient Egypt archeological site — the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. The image below is courtesy of Wikipedia. I borrowed it for this article to give you a sense of this temple’s immense size from an aerial perspective:
I know what you’re probably thinking right about now: 1) That’s impressive! 2) Hatshepsut must’ve been a really important king to warrant this mortuary temple! Well, it is indeed impressive. The mortuary’s design is very unique among others we’ve seen, and the detail is extraordinary. This is some truly classic Ancient Egyptian architecture! Where you would go wrong, however, is on that second thought. This pharoah wasn’t a king. Hatshepsut, the sixth ruler of Ancient Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty, was the second confirmed queen regnant (female “king”) to rule Egypt, the first being Sobekneferu from Ancient Egypt’s Twelth Dynasty some 350 years earlier. We’ll head on over the mortuary momentarily, but first I want to show you what you’ll see in the surrounding hillsides. There are many other temples and mortuaries around here in what is but a small part of the entire Theban Necropolis:
The closer you get to the main attraction, the more impressive some of these temples appear:
But the main attraction is coming into view. Here is the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut:
In the photograph I borrowed from Wikipedia, the second from the top in today’s article, you’ll notice what appears to be a second platform with rubble above it. You also might wonder, in a land known for earthquakes, just how stable is that sheer cliff above Hatshepsut? You would do well to wonder, for that rubble belongs to two other Deir el-Bahari temples — Thutmose III and Mentuhotep II — and they were destroyed by an earthquake and resulting cliff collapse during the beginning of the Twenty-First Dynasty. Not a whole lot remains of either structure:
As you approach Hatshepsut’s temple, you’ll notice a series of bearded figures. Why bearded figures for a queen? Because she felt the need to establish her authority as ruler in a historically male-dominated role.
Next week we take a look at some Hatshepsut interior decorations. And this week’s Fun Photo Friday will feature Hatshepsut favorites.
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Over the course of my ATC career, I’ve flown on many aircraft: the USAF C-141A and C-5A; U.S. Customs UH-1H (to the top of Franklin Mountains and back); Model 18 “Twin Beech” (island hopping in Hawai’i); Cessna 208 “Caravan” (over and through the Grand Canyon with my old college buddy David); MD 500 (on a Border Patrol mission); NASA’s STA (Shuttle Training Aircraft on a couple of Space Shuttle pilot training missions); jump seat on old Continental Airlines DC-3; and more Boeings, McDonnell Douglas’, and Airbus’ than I can even count. I’ve also jump-seated on several commercial airliners, and my first flight as a youngster was aboard a TWA Constellation, on which I was invited into the cockpit while in flight (those were the days!).
But you know what is missing from that list? Sailplane, blimp, semi-rigid airship (like a blimp but with an internal truss supporting the envelope), and a hot air balloon. Lacking a flight on tht last one was something we intended to remedy this trip, so before sunrise on Saturday, 1 March 2025, Ursula and bundled up and headed out to the launch site along with around a dozen fellow balloon “gondoliers”. But as soon as we arrived I expressed my doubts. No; I wasn’t having second thoughts about the flight. I was judging the wind and told our gondola companions that my money was we would be cancelled out. After waiting over an hour, that’s precisely what happened, doggonit. So, back to our riverboat to join up with Mohamad Salah for some different adventures. First stop: The 14th century BC Colossi of Memnon.
These two statues depict Amenhotep III taking a load off his feet. But even seated, this guy and his doppleganger were tall — 60 feet/18 meters. The remnants of Amenhoteps mortuary temple can be seen in the distance, behind the statues. But disregard that for a moment and take a look at the mountain behind, for that is our next photo stop. Behold the Valley of the Nobles:
You may recall that I showed you what archeological sites we would be visiting on our two-day Luxor visit:
But here’s a closeup map to help orient you among the Colossi, Valley of the Nobles, and the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut:
As you can see, the distance from the Colossi to the Valley of the Nobles is quite short — about 1.3km/4,200 feet. So, with a good telephoto, you can snag shots of the tombs even from the Colossi. But once you round the bend west of the Colossi and stop alongside the road, you gain an even better vantage point:
I labled the image above the “Luxor Edition” because there are several such sites around Egypt. The site here is home to well over four hundred Ancient Egyptian nobles.
We had much to do this day, so we were a bit rushed. As such, and considering our aging knees, there was no way we were going to head up onto the mountain for a closer look and to step inside some of the tombs. The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut awaited, so I just snagged some quick shots before Mohamad guided us back into our vehicle.
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Decisions — Murder in Paradise
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