In Timeless Company

On my most recent trip to Egypt, I made some time to walk in the footsteps of kings, philosophers and priests on both the "living," or eastern, and "dead" western sides of the Nile. While it was a far different experience than visiting the Pyramids or the catacombs of Alexandria, it was no less inspiring.

The ancient Egyptians believed that in addition ot preparing and preserving their bodies, organs and souls for the most pleasant possible afterlife, that the quality of their afterlife would also be improved the more people remembered them. In this the New Kingdom Pharohs surpassed their Pyrmaid bulding ancesters of 3500 years before. Their crypts were hidden from view. But their temples on the Nile's side of the living to this day inspire mention and rememberance of their names. So in a sense they have succeded.

This image is of the priests' court of the Temple of Ramses III (1186-1157 BC) at Medinet Habu outside Luxor (ancient Thebes). The Temple is impressive. It has three courtyards, which range from the outer for daily exercises of the soldiery, the central for rites to the gods and the inner solely for the mummification of the Pharoh. To invoke memory of the Pharoh the pylons are decorated with scenes of the Pharoh subjugating 316 kingdoms and riding over the enemy with his chariot. The outer gates are unique; designed as gates from Babylon where the Pharoh learned of the technique while subjugating the kingdom. They even sport carved heads of enemy kings hanging from the walls (which was common practice in those days).

Just as impressive is the reconstructed Temple of Hatshepsut (1479-1457 BC), located on the side of the dead. The only female Pharoh in Egypt's history, she set out to make as big a splash as possible to be remembered. She built her unique Temple into the mountainside at what is now called Deir al-Bahari. As the only way she could be accepted as Pharoh was as a man, she was known to have dressed as one in life and death. And just to assure her phallic point was remembered, hers is the tallest obelisk at the Temple of Amun-Re. It was tipped in gold, as the older Pyramids.

The Temple of Amun-Re (Karnak) in Luxor (ancient Thebes) is the site of over 2000 years of worship of the sun god Amun-Re. Walking its paths keeping this in mind is humbling. The Temple is scattered with various additions, revisions and subtractions made by the Pharohs from 2056 BC to the Ptolomaic Greeks and Romans in 395 AD. And for all that time the worship of the sun god persisted.

The Greeks too made their mark. While in Alexandria quite by chance I stumbled across the remains of a part of the ancient Musaeum of Alexandria. Thinkers taught in its halls and invented scientific principles like Euclid's geometry, Archimedes' pi, the scientific method, human vivisection, the mechanical organ, and measurement of the circumference of the Earth, among others. Crunching the gravel under my feet I tried to imagine walking in sandels and a toga while pondering the area of a circle, or sitting in a lecture by Plato in the theater.

Even without pyramids the Pharohs still fascinate. The New Kingdom Pharohs are all buried in a small valley (Valley of the Kings) under a mountain with the proportions of a pyramid. The idea was to be buried in unmarked graves to prevent the robbery of the earlier Pyramids. They really are almost indistinguisable from the rock slides around them.

These modest graves resonate with names like Ramses II, III (the largest grave) and IX, Seti I and of course Tutankhamun. Painted with colors ground and separated from onyx stone, they are still vibrant and memorable. The crypts were meant to be homes for the resurrected Pharohs, decorated with chapters from the Book of the Dead to provide guidance during the journey to the afterlife. The gods, wearing their animal masks, and ankhs, symbols of duality, abound. They attract visitors to their intriguing walls, keeping the Pharohs alive thousands of years later.