Statues of Ramses II, a.k.a., Ramesses the Great; Abu Simbel
One thing about Abu Simbel I neglected to mention Monday or Wednesday is an interesting factoid, but first I have a little riddle for you. Are you ready? Well, then, here goes:
Question: How do you hide a couple of massive temples this enormous in size?
Answer: No need. The Egyptian desert will hide them for you.
What do I mean by that? I’ll explain in a moment, after today’s photo gallery/slide show:
Now for an amazing fact: Abu Simbel eventually completely disappeared beneath a massive sand dune. Indeed by the 6th century BC., sand had already buried the gigantic statues of Ramses the II up to their knees, and the whole comlex became lost to the “sands” of time and the collective European memory. It was not until March 1813 that Swiss geographer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt came across a portion of the Small Temple and the frieze at the top of the Great Temple, thus “rediscovering” Abu Simbel.
The Ancient Egyptian godHorus had many roles. Horus was not just the god of the Sun (his right eye), as you can see depicted above with the sun perched upon his head. Horus was also was god of the sky, including the Moon (his left eye) as well, kingship, healing, protection, and various other realms. Horus was one busy little falcon. Horus also had many iterations, but he is most commonly depicted as a falcon. And Horus wasn’t the only Egyptian god with many different depictions. So, to, is the goddess Hathor, seen here as a cow:
Hathor as a cow
I mentioned on Monday that we did have one glitch on this excursion — our driver — and our companion/guide Mohamad Salah was none too happy with this recalcitrant chap. On both the way down and, especially on the way back north, he was taking his own sweet time despite knowing we were due back at our river boat, the Jaz Celebrity, for a 13:30 departure. Breaks for coffee. Breaks for a smoke. Breaks for the toilet. Brakes for the speed (see what I did there?). Despite Mohamad growing increasingly impatient and perturbed, nothing prompted this guy to put his foot on the gas until Mohamad started making some calls. I got the impression this is one driver neither Mohamad nor Luxor and Aswan Travel would be using again.
The Small Temple of Nefertari at Abu Simbel
Not that I was concerned about missing the boat. I knew they’d be waiting for us, but delaying the entire compliment of passengers is never a good thing. Now for today’s photo gallery/slide show of Abu Simbel:
This week’sFun Photo Friday will present my Abu Simbel favorites. Monday the Jaz Celebrity casts off and we begin images of the cruise northward on the Nile toward Luxor.
Abu Simbel — Great Temple of Ramesses II (left); Small Temple of Hathor and Nefertari
Bright and early the next morning, after our Philae Temple adventure of the day before, we met up with our exceptional companion/guide for this trip, Mohamad Salah. Our boat, Jaz Celebrity, was still moored in Aswan, and not scheduled to depart until early afternoon, which left us with time for an optional excurstion to Abu Simbel. As this excursion would take us close to the Egypt-Sudan border, and as relations between the two countries are iffy at best, our vehicle would have to caravan southward with many other tourist buses and cars, and we would have to pass checkpoints along the way. Fortunately, Mohamad had our trip well-managed, save for a less-than-cooperative drive (more on that little glitch on Wednesday).
Our Route from Aswan to Abu Simbel
As with Philae Temple Complex (which I showed you beginning with: Nile Cruise — Boating Lake Nasser to Philae Temples) this immense complex of two enormous temples that had to be relocated because they would otherwise be flooded upon completion of the Aswan High Dam and the subsequent creation of Lake Nasser. Stone by stone. The entire site was cut into large blocks that weighed, on average, around 20 tons. The pieces were then transported to their current location and reassembled. This incredible feat was accomplished between 1964 and 1968, and it went like this:
Reassembly of Ramses (Ramesses) the Great statue; Great Temple of Ramsses II (image: Wikipedia)
The larger of the two temples is the Great Temple dedicated to Ramses II a.k.a., Ramesses the Great; alternate spelling Ramses), who reigned between 1279 BC and 1213 BC during Ancient Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty.
Abu Simbel’s Great Temple of Ramses II
This façade of theGreat Temple is 115 feet/35 meters wide and 98 feet/30 meters in height. I use the word façade because it is in fact an entrance into which you may pass:
Inside the Great Temple
The “Small Temple“ (if you can refer to either of these as “small”) is dedicated to the first of Ramses II’s first “Great Royal Wife“, Queen Nefertari, and the Egyptian goddess Hathor. And despite it’s “small” designation, this behemoth is 92 feet/28 meters long and reaches to a height of 40 feet/12 meters. Here you see the façade of the Temple of Nefertari, an enduring symbol of Ramses II’s love and devotion to his queen:
Abu Simbel’s Small Temple — The Temple of Hathor and Nefertari
I’ll be presenting on Wednesday many more images from these two Abu Simbel temples, but until then I’ll leave you with this photo gallery/slide show :
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