EGYPT - The TEMPLE of HATSHEPSUT, guided visit in English

It's five o'clock in the morning. We left Giza last night at 8.30. We will arrive in Luxor in about one and a half hours time. Luxor was built on the ruins of the ancient city of Thebes, the capital of Egypt 4,000 years ago during the reign of Mentu-Hutep II. Then it loses the status of capital and regains the title during the 17th dynasty, about 3,600 years ago. The Thebian hills became the necropolis of the pharaohs up to Ramses XI, the last pharaoh to be buried here 3,000 years ago. Before the Arab name Luxor, the town was called Waset during the pharaonic period and the Greeks gave it the name Thebes. Our guide Abdul was waiting for us at the station and will be our guide for the coming week. We will start by a visit to Dayr el-Bahri, better known as the Temple of Hatshepsut. We'll cross the Nile to get to the West Bank opposite the Karnat Temple. The goddess Nekbet, with the head of a vulture, extends her wings to protect Upper Egypt and the pharaohs. We arrive at Jezer Jezeru, translated as the Holy of Holies, which was the temple's original name. We were lucky to be there early. The stores are not yet open and we have the sight to ourselves. As you can see on the model, there were in fact three temples. The oldest was for Mentu Hotep II. He influenced the architecture for the two others. The Temple of Tutmos III, which was covered by an avalanche of stone, was only discovered in 1962. The first excavations of the Temple of Hatshepsut started in the middle of the 19th century. The traces of a copped monastery, which dates from the 7th century, can be seen on the photo. Since 1961, the restoration of the temples is entrusted to a Polish-Egyptian archaeological mission. Followers, we're going back three and a half thousand years. Like most visitors, we will not visit the Colonnade of the Grand Courtyard. We go directly up the 50 meter ramp to the second terrace. This sphinx of Hatshepsut, with its yellow painted face, is one of the survivors of the 120 sphinx, which lined the rising road, which linked her temple with the valley temple and connected to the Nile by a canal. The function of a mansion of millions of years was to perpetuate the funeral worship of the king and so ensure his survival for eternity. These monuments were also devoted to divine worship, specifically here those of Amun-Ra Hathor and Anubis. We are now at the south end of the second terrace, viewing the chapel of Hathor and the colonnade of the expedition to the land of Punt. Hathor is a very ancient and very important deity. She is goddess with several powers. She's both adored and feared. She's represented in many forms, but always with her crown, the sun disk held between cow's horns. On the chapel walls we can see her feeding Hatshepsut, but also licking her hand. Colorful reliefs, well conserved, show several festive scenes celebrated in honor of the goddess. Between myth and reality, the land of Punt was, during 2,000 years, an El Dorado for ancient Egyptians. The main objective of the expedition was to return with frankincense trees, but also precious woods and metals, ivory, wild and domesticating animals and palm trees. New relations were thus established with the land of Punt. The Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, the mysterious kingdom is still unknown. During the eighth year of the reign of Hatshepsut, a flotilla of five boats, each about 20 meters long, left Thebes. Each boat had 30 rowers, 21 crewmen, eight soldiers and an officer. Hundreds of Egyptian gifts were piled on the boat for bargaining. Arriving in Punt, the Egyptians were immediately struck by the presence of houses on stilts accessed by ladders. The scenes show a table where the Egyptians have placed the items they have brought from Egypt in preparation to exchange them for local wares. Even hammered out, we can distinguish Hatshepsut sitting majestically and the lions protecting her under her chair. In Egyptian mythology, the Theogamy represents the conception of the new king by the god who takes on the physical appearance of the pharaoh to unite with the royal wife. Thus, the representation of this scene on the walls of her temple, Hatshepsut is legitimizing her title of pharaoh. Unfortunately, the fresco is in a bad state. Here is a drawing to explain it. The god Amun announces his intention to endow Egypt with a new king. Toph, the god of knowledge, order and wisdom, recommends the queen The next scene shows the carnal union of the god with the queen which will give birth to Hatshepsut. After, with the Nile silt, Khnum, pottery god, models the child king and his car. The frog goddess oversees births since ancient times. The queen, Amos, pregnant, is accompanied by Khnum and Heket to give birth. Here is the scene as it appears on the temple wall today. The queen then holds the newborn in her arms in the presence of several deities. Hathor shows Hatshepsut to Amun and finally she's shown to the deities of the country. Thutmose III finished the construction of the temple and he shows himself with Amun. Anubis is also very ancient in Egyptian mythology. He is the god of death, mummification and the afterlife. He accompanies the souls of the deceased in the last judgment room where Osiris reigns. He is usually shown as a man with the head of a black dog or a jackal. The ancient Egyptians were inspired by starfish for the stars in the sky. Here we can see Thutmose III offering wine to the god Sukkar, the ancient funerary god of the region In spite of the protection of the goddess Nekbet, Hatshepsut's image has been erased. She devoted a great offering to Amun-Ra, the master of the place, both here and in all Egyptian temples. The scene is repeated with Anubis. Hatshepsut, hammered out, could be seen between the goddess Nekbet and Ra-Orakti. In the vestibule, two Anubis present the sign of life to Hatshepsut, again erased. Other than the royal family, only a few priests had access to the third terrace. Originally, 24 Osirian statues represented Hatshepsut. There are eight left today. She is the only pharaoh who dared to be represented not only with the scepters of the Osirian royalty but with the scepters of the solar royalty. She has in her hands the staff and flail, which are the two scepters of the Osirian royalty, which all pharaohs hold in their hands, but with two additional attributes, the cross of life and the sign was. These elements are exclusively solar related and hence divine. So by these four symbols she is showing she has attained eternal life. The entrance to the third terrace is by a superb gateway in pink granite from Aswan. The courtyard was surrounded by two rows of 34 columns, but only a few of the bases are visible today. Opposite the entrance is the most sacred part of the temple, the sanctuary of Amun-Ra. Each side of the entrance are niches decorated with funeral offerings to Thutmose II. These niches held statues of a sitting Hatshepsut in the small ones and two meter tall Osirian ones in the larger ones. To the south of the courtyard are the royal family funeral chapels. In one of the chapels there is the celebration for Thutmose I and in the other Hatshepsut. Here we are in front of the north wall where we can see scenes of the beautiful valley festival. They're not very clearly visible today. The beautiful valley festival was one of the most important festivities of the new empire, celebrated since the reign of Mentu Huttep II. At this festival, celebrating the rebirth of the dead, the Amun-Ra's processional boat left the Karnak temple, crossed the Nile and proceeded to the temple of Hatshepsut. The pharaoh and the priests accompanied the procession to Amun-Ra's sanctuary. The other side of this north wall is the solar courtyard open to the sky. It is dedicated to Ra Harakti, the sun god of Heliopolis. More than anywhere else in the temple, the reconstruction of the festivities courtyard was a gigantic puzzle. I learned from my friends that this is called anastylosis. Hundreds of small fragments were put in their original place and it's difficult for a layman to understand their meaning. However, here are a few scenes of the festivities that can be seen on the eastern wall. After years of restoration, the sanctuary was open to the public in December 2017. The monumental gateway, which leads to the granite door, did not exist at the time of Hatshepsut. It dates from the second century BC. Completely burrowed into the mountain, the sanctuary originally had two rooms. The hall of the bark and the statue room, which is currently not open to the public. For two days during the beautiful valley festival, the sacred bark of Amun-Ra was placed on a sockle. It was surrounded by four torches and four large bowls of milk. We can see two Assyrian statues of Hatshepsut whose heads can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The hall of the bark is the only place in Hatshepsut's temple where you can see all the members of her family, the living and the dead. The living are grouped together on the east side of the wall and the dead on the west side. These two worlds are together around the sacred bark for the grand offering ceremony. This is what is shown on the two walls, which took 10 years to reconstruct partially. You can see a pharaoh kneeling with a child behind. The child can only be Neferu-Ra, the daughter of Hatshepsut and Thutmose II. But who is the pharaoh? Hatshepsut or Thutmose III? Only the cartouche can answer the question. And here there has certainly been an attempt to change the identity from Hatshepsut to Thutmose III. But it failed. Above the frieze of wrecked birds, which symbolizes Hatshepsut's people under her authority, you can see a scene often seen in Egypt, the Semertoi. It depicts the unification of the two lands, which has been partially restored by the Polish mission. Happy, representing the Nile, joins together the lotus, symbol of Upper Egypt, and the papyrus, symbol of Lower Egypt. I will finish the visit by the scene which is above the door leading to the statue room. To the right, the kneeling Thutmose III offers new vases to Amun-Ra. On the opposite side and mirrored should be the same scene but with Hatshepsut. Not surprisingly, her image and cartouche have been destroyed. But this time with a chisel.