The Valley of the Kings is one of the highlights of a visit to Luxor and therefore high on my list of priorities to visit.  The valley was used primarily by the 18th-20th dynasties, spanning approximately 500 years, to hide the kings’ tombs in the hopes of keeping the graves safe from grave robbing.

Despite its barren appearance and challenging terrain – high cliffs with steep sides cutting through a warren of small gaps in the walls – the valley has attracted tourists throughout the ages, as evidenced by the amount and variety of graffiti that can be found in multiple ancient scripts.  The same holds true today; the site was crowded with tourists speaking an incredible array of languages and by far was the busiest place we have yet visited.  With the renewed interest in Egyptian archeological activity sparked by Napoleon when he invaded in the lat 1700’s,, the tombs hidden in the valley were slowly uncovered.  To date they have found and catalogued 64 tombs, although not all of them are open to the public. As I was walking around the site, I could not but help think about what it might be like to explore the areas not open to the public.

A ticket to the Valley of the Kings grants access to three tombs and a board indicates which tombs are open for visits (They rotate what is open to help preserve the tombs).  Extra tickets are necessary for the tombs of Seti I and Tutankhamen.  Seti I is one of the most well preserved tombs, with the brilliant blue ceiling, colorful scenes on the wall and several columns dotting the chambers still intact.  The tomb had a steep entrance with a long tunnel leading to several chambers reminding me my adventures climbing through the pyramids.

King Tut’s tomb. The sarcophagus is not his. The mummy was in a niche opposite this spot.

From Seti I’s tomb we went to visit Tutankhamen’s tomb.  When the tomb was discovered nearly 6000 artifacts were removed, now all on the display at the new Egyptian Museum, a later stop on our tour.  When the artifacts were removed, the decision was made to leave the mummy in place, so when I entered the burial chamber after the long, steep climb down into the tomb, I foundTutankhamen laid out on a platform on top of his sarcophagus. The head and feet were bare and the rest of the body was covered by a white linen cloth. The nine containers he was buried in, kind of like a Russian matryoshka doll, were on display at the new Egyptian Museum as well.  Three of the containers, one of which included the famous golden mask that hid his face, were coffins followed by the outer three- the stone sarcophagus and two wooden shrines that hid the sarcophagus. I was looking forward to seeing them when we visited the museum! The walls of the tomb had several well-preserved scenes and paintings as well.

Passageway to Seti I’d tomb.

An example of the art on the walls of Seti I’s tomb.

After emerging from Tutankhamen’s tomb, Hossam pulled us to the side of the crowded main thoroughfare and gave us some information about the mythology behind many of the scenes that decorate the tombs.  The themes in the various tombs were similar as they dealt with the voyage of the deceased to the afterlife and their relationships with various gods.  He then recommended we visit the tombs of Ramses III, Merenptah and Ramses IV on the general ticket and turned us loose on free time to explore the site.  Interestingly, the tour guides are not allowed to enter the tombs with their clients in an effort to keep the traffic flowing (as opposed to having groups stopped indefinitely in different areas of the tight spaces in the tombs).

Ramses III tomb entrance emerging from the tunnel.

A scene of Isis and Osiris on the wall in the tomb of Ramses III.

We headed to Ramses III tomb the first, by far the one with the longest line.  It is one of the more popular tombs to visit because of the significant number of well-preserved scenes and hieroglyphics on the walls. The ceiling was painted as a starry sky and the color was still very vivid. Numerous painted columns dotted the large chambers with scenes illustrating his divinity showing him engaging with various gods. The colors were very bright even after 3000 years- incredible. The tomb is very complex in shape, with lots of chambers and tunnels.  The long entrance tunnel had a slight bend in it as it descended  to avoid an earlier, lower, tomb that was discovered when building Ramses’s tomb (so even in that time- 1150BC, there were lots of tombs around!). Despite the crowd, because of the size of the tomb, I did not feel pressed for space.

The tomb of Merenptah, in contrast was very simple, although the colors on the walls were different, various shades of yellows and orange dominating instead of the dark red and blues that were dominant in Ramses III tomb.  Merenptah’s tomb was relatively small but it still contained the sarcophagus, which dominated the burial chamber.  A platform built around it allowed for good viewing, especially of the image on the top of the sacrophagus.  Like other tombs, certain areas were blocked off allowing no access.  It was impossible to penetrate the darkness to see what was beyond some of the closed off areas despite my inner explorer trying to discern what was out of sight.

The brilliant colors in the tomb of Ramses IV.

The final tomb we visited at the Valley of the Kings was Ramses IV.  His tomb also had a long line, and like Ramses III, the tomb consisted of several chambers.  Of all of the tombs I visited, Ramses’s IV tomb had the widest variety of colors still excellently preserved, vividly splashed across the walls and ceiling.  Yellow was widely used as a base color but that made the contrast with the reds, blues, greens and oranges all the more dramatic.  Armed with the information that Hossam had provided about the mythology and hints about what to look for in the scenes, I spent some time tracing the pictures around the walls, tracking the story of the voyage to the afterlife.  Again I was struck by how incredible it was that such artistry had survived for so long.

The Valley of the Kings is a huge complex and it would take hours to explore every nook and cranny.  The hills are dotted with large holes covered by locked doors— tombs that are closed to the public.  Archeological work is ongoing at the site on multiple fronts as not all of the tombs have been identified, and it may not be possible to identify all.  As I was walking around the barren, rocky, rugged landscape I tried to picture what it was like to be one of the people, 100 years ago, hunting for tombs, moving sand, dirt and boulders  under the burning sun, not knowing whether any tomb found would be intact or already the victim of grave robbers (most likely scenario).  Definitely hard work!

Leaving the Valley of the Kings we had a brief stop at an alabaster factory, of which there are many in the area, to learn how the alabaster that is mined nearby, is handcrafted into various products.  It was an interesting lesson and I enjoyed it but was not motivated into buying anything— but the break from the sun was appreciated nonetheless.

The Temple of Hatshepsut, a large structure hewn into the cliff face near the Valley of the Kings, was our next stop.  This stop, like the Valley of the Kings, was also a popular tourist destination and we dodged several buses as we walked to the entrance.  The site, dating back to 1500BC,  is also co-located with even more ancient ruins of the Temple of Mentuhotep (2100BC).  Hatshepsut, was a female Pharo who ruled for several decades over a peaceful and prosperous Egypt.  She was a massive builder, not only building the temple on the West Bank of Luxor, but also adding edifices and structures to other sites.  Ironically, after she died her likeness was erased in some places- as if to erase the fact there was ever a female pharo! The Temple of Hatshepsut is an imposing structure built on three large terraces facing directly east across the Nile to the Luxor Temple and Karnak.  The sphinxes that lined the causeway leading to the temple entrance are mainly gone, only two remain.  A side chapel on the second level has a shrine to Hathor, goddess of love and maternity (as a matter of fact, Hathor images are everywhere). An inner shrine for Amun held the place of honor and helped cement Hatshepsut as a descendent of the gods (and fit for rule).  It is an imposing structure and must have been more so when it was fully intact!

Striking a pose at the Temple of Hatshepsut.

The remains of a shrine to Hathor at the Temple of Hatshepsut.

Our final stop of the day before boarding our dahabiya, our home for the next five days, was the Valley of the Nobles.  While this is not a popular tourist spot, especially for those on tight schedules from cruise ships, it nonetheless is an interesting site.  It sits adjacent to the Valley of the Kings, separated by walls of cliffs and hosts numerous tombs of important nobles, priests and royal household members from the 18th-20th dynasties.  Like the Valley of the Kings it is a rocky, barren place; a large site dotted with holes blocked with locked doors denoting the tomb locations.  We visited five tombs in this valley, all in excellent states of preservation. The gates of the tombs we wanted to visit were unlocked by guards who followed us from tomb to tomb.  As these were not popular tombs, much of the infrastructure— lighting, flooring, ventilation was absent.  To get light into a couple of the tombs we visited the guard placed a mirror at the entrance and focused the sunlight into the tomb, then held an aluminum foil covered carboard placard to direct the light around the walls.  (Anyone thinking of the opening of the movie Fifth Element????) Hilarious!

Tunnel leading into a tomb in the Valley of Nobles.

Visiting tombs in the Valley of the Nobles. They were dotted all over the valley walls.

Because those buried in the Valley of Nobles were not Pharos, the scenes on the walls depicted stories of daily life rather than extravagant engagements with the gods on the walls of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.  Interestingly one of the tombs hosted an official who served both Akhenaten and Amohotep III so this individual lived through the upheaval when Akhenaten raised up the god Aten, turning away from polytheism to introduce Aten as the single god.  The shift of theology created a new style of inscriptions, the “Armana” style named after the capital city of Armana he established in honor of Aten.  The noble’s tomb displayed both the older style and the new style reflecting his service across both Pharos.  (As an aside, the next Pharo- and his priests- returned worship to the original pantheon and Akhenaten was defaced from many inscriptions, much like Hatshepsut was earlier.)  Drama through the ages….  The last tomb we visited had the most vivid, and breadth of colors of all the tombs we saw the whole day and it was a great way to end our sightseeing.

Vally of the Nobles- tomb of Ramose, vizier. The tombs in the Valley of Nobles were well preserved, not being targeted by grave robbers as were the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Another tomb in the Valley of the Nobles, with the ceiling intact!