We are off to The Valley of the Kings. We motor to the West Bank of the Nile and Jon a queue of busses that are heading to the 63 known burial sites -tombs and chambers- of the kings and royals of the Egyptian New Kingdom. These areas have been repeatedly robbed and looted from ancient times to the present day. What remains is the fantastic mythological art of the tombs themselves. The area spills out into a valley at the base of Ta Dehent- a natural mountain in the shape of a pyramid. The pyramid shaped mountain top was ,no doubt, deemed auspicious by the earliest tomb builders as it suggested proximity to the sun god.
Kings were placed in the most spacious of the tombs notables in smaller excavations. The fantastic beauty was created by local workers and artisans from the nearby village of Dier-el Medina. The artisans created painstakingly detailed scenes from mythology and religion on every inch of the tombs apparently unconcerned that their gorgeous work was destined to be unveiled until the ends of time. They did record their daily progress and their concerns in odd spots around the site and much is known about their daily lives. It is hard to imagine a modern artist creating such beauty believing there would be no audience.
The site has been visited regularly in spite of the original intent that it would never be disturbed. Greek, Roman , Phoenician ,Coptic and modern tourist graffiti is all about the place.
The paintings inside the tombs are magnificent with well preserved color and intricate design on walls roof and floor…no space is left adorned. The environment was perfect for the preservation of art . Dryness and lack of exposure to the air and the elements served the purpose of curation. Stars, sun boats , the images of Horus, Thoth. Aman Ra, and Anubis are woven into paintings that tell stories and suggest safe passage t the afterlife. In short order the mere weight of the decoration becomes overwhelming.
The antidote to all this luxurious art was the lunch we were to attend at the house of a farmer on the West Bank of the Nile. We arrived there mid-day and the counterpoint was perfect as we entered a house with dirt floors and outdoor plumbing. There were modern hieroglyphs, however. On the outer wall of the farmhouse the owner had painted crude renderings of an airplane and a ship. When I asked about them I was told that they were literally child’s drawings painted to commemorate the family’s two trips to Mecca..one by land , one by sea.
We were offered a rather elegant lunch -subsidized by the tour company- and a surprise was also awaiting. We were escorted to a felluca for a lazy sail on the Nile that would take us back to the area of The Winter Palace Hotel.
We went from the necropolis back to the metropolis in the most picturesque manner.
Olio Folio 