Death on the Nile

January 19, 2019…Saturday 5:15 AM

Dear Friends and Family

The above book title by Agatha Christie is a good title for our Egyptian experience in the Valley of the Kings. Yesterday, Friday, was the beginning of our in-depth introduction to the concept of death and the afterlife of the ancient people. While many of the tombs were robbed within 200 years after burial, the art remaining on the walls gives us a beautiful picture of the life and beliefs in ancient Egypt.

Eternal life for the common man was dependent of the ability of the king or pharaoh to make it to life after death.  His heart had to weigh less than a feather. Therefore, when the new pharaoh came into power the new tomb was begun. Slavery was probably not involved as the people had a vested interest in seeing that the new pharaoh had the best possible resting place so he could make it to the afterlife. Because, if the pharaoh did not make it, no one would. What we now see in the walls of the tombs, is the art of the time and the amount of art is dependent on the lifespan of the pharaoh.  Therefore the tomb of Tutankhamen is a very short passageway and only four short decorated walls as he died so young after only 10 years at about 18 (based on medical evidence of his mummy) while the tombs of the Ramses III is full of art and beauty as he ruled for possibly over 30 years.

From the images below you can seen the detail of the passageways leading into the tomb of Ramses VI and Ramses III. At the end of each passageway is a room with the actual tomb room . I had to pay an extra 300 Egyptian Pounds to be able to take photographs ($15)..Well worth the money as I took over 300 photos. I was in King Tutankhamen tomb, but no photos allowed…

Today, Saturday we go to the Valley of the Queens and to see the tombs of the Noblemen.

Let me know either here or on Facebook if you are enjoying these pages. I will try to keep the information flowing. I did not write anything last night as by the time we got back to the hotel for dinner at 7:30 and up to the room by 9:15 I was exhausted. So far on this trip I’ve averaged 4 hours and 27 minutes of great sleep and am walking over 16,000 steps.

Thanks for reading!

Ellen

PS. Below are only an a partial group of 300 plus photos I took yesterday.