The acknowledged centerpiece of our Egyptian odyssey was the Ancient Egyptian period. That means visiting several significant temples and monuments spanning six thousand years. Our guide, Mohammed, is a knowledgeable Egyptologist who captured our attention with stories and details that made us feel like we were living in Ancient Egypt. He never ceased to amaze us with his breadth and depth of knowledge. But how can anyone absorb and retain the details of 4,000 years of Ancient Egyptian history in 10 days? The ancient sites we visited were fascinating, but after about two hours, I hit a wall as my mental lens began to lose focus. Everything I see and hear melds into it a textured, sand-colored hologram. The moment snaps me back to my interest in a holistic view of Egypt. It was time to meld the nuances of Ancient Egypt into today's Egypt. Hence, my posts will intermingle both the old and the current.
After boarding the River Tosca, we made our way North to the city of Dendera to explore the ancient Dendera complex tomorrow. Traveling on the Nile was very peaceful, with an apparent wind created by our ship moving downriver. The sky was blue but muted by a hazy filter of sugar cane smog—no rain in the forecast. The last cleansing rain occurred in 2017. The river's width varied but never seemed more than half a mile across. If I hadn't known better, I could have been in a tropical climate, perhaps sailing down the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Near the riverbanks, swaths of green were painted on a canvas of dunes. Palm trees, sugar cane plants, banana trees, and a full spectrum of crops created a collage of green swaths. The rich soil deposited by the Nile is ideal for agriculture. The combination of the earth and weather permits multiple crops per year.
Every so often, we would pass a settlement with multi-story buildings. Many buildings have pillars or rebars sprouting out of the top floor. Mohammed explained that this is an unintended consequence of Egypt's property tax laws. A builder would acquire a permit to build a multi-story building, e.g., six floors, but would stop before completing the top floor. Property tax payments don't start until the structure is complete. Not finishing the building eliminates a significant annual cost to the owners and reduces revenue to the government. Lack of progress could go on for years. Egypt had recently changed the law, but just like the law against burning sugar cane stalks, it is not enforced and, therefore, ignored.
After an aperitif in the ship's lounge, l was ready for dinner. As we sat down for dinner at a table for eight (I was the only man in the group), our waiter opened and presented the menu to me first, waiting for me to open the book before giving each woman their menu. Wham! I woke up to the reality of gender inequality. I realized that every member of the ship's staff was male. No women on the crew! When I mentioned this to the hotel manager, he explained the ship was designed without accommodations for women. There was no way to provide separate spaces for women, as required by Muslim practice. Hence, the exclusion of women in any role.
The dinner was good yet tailored to satisfy international guests’ tastes, with an offering found in any international hotel. Both breakfast and lunch were served buffet style. A section was devoted to authentic Egyptian dishes. The Egyptian offerings were delicious, very aromatic, and spicey. The Chef stood by, explaining the dish's heat level. Most diners shied away. How can anyone not try these local dishes? These offerings became my 'go-to' meals on all meals. The Chef would seek me out and invite me to taste some of his unique Egyptian dishes, proudly listing the ingredients and the cooking process. His soups were fabulous.
After a great night’s sleep, I didn't find the next day's start very civilized. Awakened at 5:30 AM, we rushed to gulp, not savor, some nourishment to leave the ship by 6:30 to visit the Dendara complex before the day became too hot. This morning, the sky was bright and the air crisp. No smog. Wonderful!! The early start would avoid tourist crowds.
The construction of the 10-acre Dendera complex dates to circa 2250 BCE and evolved over centuries, reflecting the everchanging sociological, political, and religious eras. Archeologists unearthed artifacts dating back to 1500 BCE. However, today's oldest surviving structure is a small temple constructed circa 350 BCE by the last pharaoh, Nectanebo II, of the thirtieth dynasty.
The Dendera Complex
A mud brick wall, built during the Roman period by Roman Emperor Trajan encircled the complex. The site included many essential items from the Ancient Egypt period. I zeroed in on three components that I found most interesting: the Hathor Temple, the bas-relief carving of Cleopatra, and the two Obelisks.
The centerpiece of the Dendera complex is the Hathor Temple, which was constructed in 54 BCE. That is relatively new in the Ancient Egypt timeline. It is the best-preserved temple of Ancient Egypt.
Hathor Temple
Schematic of the Hathor Temple
It was named to honor Hathor, a major goddess in ancient religion. She was the mother of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, who I mentioned in my prior blog. Hathor was considered the symbolic mother of the pharaohs. She is depicted hydrographically as a woman wearing a headdress with a sun disk and cow horns. She was carved at the top of the temple columns as a cow's head with cow's ears. Unfortunately, most of these column carvings of Hathor were severely mutilated during the Christian period.
The goddess Hathor
She was an enigma as the goddess of sexuality, fertility, healing, music, drunkenness, and pleasure. So, it's easy to accept that she was one of the most popularly worshipped deities and continued to be venerated until the early AD centuries. Here's an opportunity to designate her as a goddess of anything you fancy.
Note the artwork on the ceiling. During the Arab era, the temple housed a centuries-old Arab village. Soot from the village fires obscured the ceiling. A 2005 restoration project revealed a beautifully colored artwork. The carvings depict either an astrological zodiac or a night sky. Controversy in the interpretation and dating of the artwork continues. The current consensus is that it is a nightscape depiction dated August 15, 50 BCE, based on the positions of 5 planets the Egyptians knew about and the two eclipses. It's hard to appreciate the detail of this masterpiece. The rich, vibrant blue is called Egyptian Blue, symbolizing life, fertility, and birth, and was used to depict the heavens and water. The combination of copper and iron oxides created this striking blue. You must lie on your back and use binoculars to enjoy the details.
On the outside back wall of the temple is an enormous relief of Cleopatra and her son Ptolemy XV (a.k.a. Caesarion) by her lover Julius Caesar, born in 47 BCE. Since a woman could not officially be designated a Pharoah, she appointed herself and Caesarion co-rulers of Egypt. She was intelligent, powerful, attractive, and scheming– a power player in the Roman empire. After Caesar's death, she and Anthony formed a political and personal union. They married and had three children – two sons and one daughter. This arrangement worked until 30 BCE when Cleopatra committed suicide. She was the last in the dynasties that ruled Egypt. Shortly after that, the Roman Octavian, later known as Augustus Caesar, executed Caesarion and completed the conquest and annexation of Egypt as part of the Roman Empire.
Comments