Hatshepsut's Temple was built almost inside of mountains. The view is unbelievable as you are high in the mountains.and from there you can see the whole West Bank and the Nile. It’s being said, that this temple used to be a luxurious palace, with a small garden with Myrrh trees (there is no chance of plants to grow there in a sand, so I imagine, it was a hard business -to keep those trees for the Queen's amusement), avenue of sphinxes (just like the one in Luxor Temple)…everything to impress…as well as to legitimise the divine birth of Hatshepsut and her claim for the pharaoh’s throne – lots of carvings on the walls dedicated to the "divine birth", mostly those of the queen with the goddesses…
In the end of a day, she wasn’t the worst ruler that happened to Egypt and there are some noticeable historical events associated with her name. But she was – a woman after all. A woman that loved luxury and loved to show it off…maybe that was partly the reason why all the next kings tried to erase her name from the history of the Egyptian Pharaohs…
Anyway, the temple is nice preserved and there is also a lot of reconstruction works around its site – apparently some older temple was discovered nearby as well. The temple built to impress. But inside it is somewhat "empty". Not much of a spiritual energy – it was just a palace of ambitious woman. Typical female understanding of the beauty and comfort. You can stand there, on the top gallery, looking down at the valley and think, like, perhaps, Hatshepsut was thinking in her time: "This is all mine. I'm the Pharaoh of the World".
But it was too hot to imagine myself as a pharaoh…
Singing Colossi Or What’s Left Of Them.
It was our final stop for this long day in the West Bank. More of a simply photo opportunity then anything worth exploring. Collosi of Memnon. They were erected by Amenhotep III and are standing right on the entrance of the Valley, as if greeting visitors. Despite of their sheer ugliness, there is a beautiful legend associated with them:
During Roman period people noticed, that the northernmost statue started to …"sing" at a sunrise. So immediately this was attributed to some mystical greeting of the Memnon to his mother, Eos, the goddess of Dawn. But in fact, the earthquake in 27th century has badly damaged the statue and the singing talent has probably developed since then. In any way, when the statue was repaired, the singing stopped.
Is There Something To It?
Hmmmm...an intriguing survey from Dreamerbooks2003
Whatever it is, I hope we'll find out eventually, eh? ;-)
24 Apr 2005 - Survey?
1.Grab the nearest book.
2.Open the book to page 123
3.Find the fifth sentence.
4.Post the sentence in your weblog journal or website along with these instructions
5.Don't search around for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually closest to you
Mine:
This leads to the narrow, sunken alleyway that connects the various buildings.
(from Eyewitness Travel. Egypt)
[~Duh! am I so predictable or what?! :-)]