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We flew from Cairo to Aswan (a 4am flight!) and then bussed to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is one of the great success stories of archaeology: it originally stood on an island that was submerged by Lake Nasser when the Aswan High Dam was constructed. It was cut into pieces and then reassembled on a new island that was contoured to look like the original. It is an amazing place.
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There are two temples here, both constructed by Ramses II (of course). The first one is dedicated to Ramses to commemorate his victory over the Hittites--an unimportant skirmish of which he was inordinately proud.
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Ramses was never shy about making sure that people knew who the temple was all about. There are four 60-foot statues of him in front. The small figure in the niche is a god--see below.
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We don't really know what Ramses looked like because all of the pharaohs looked the same in their idealized portraits.
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This is a statue of Horus, the falcon-headed god with a sun disk, who is only a small figure in comparison with the statues of Ramses.
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Ramses' children are also present, but as very tiny figures--Honey, I shrunk the kids!
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Graffiti is a constant problem at the archaeological sites and it goes back a long way. Even longer than this--there are Greek and Roman graffiti in some temples.
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The other temple at Abu Simbel is dedicated to Nefertari (not to be confused with Nefertiti), Ramses' favorite wife.
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Even on this temple, though, there are four statues of Ramses and only two of Nefertari. Still, there aren't many wives who get temples at all!
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| As with the Ramses temples, the Nefertari temple is elaborately carved with hieroglyphics. |
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We returned to Abu Simbel in the evening for the sound-and-light show, which was very well done and included dramatic lighting of both temples.
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There were also very interesting carvings inside the temples, but as with all too many places in Egypt, "No Photography Allowed."
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