karnaktastic
whatever there is wrong with modern egypt, be it greedy cabbies, budget food, or sleazy arab chaps, you simply cannot argue with the wonders of their pre islamic heritage. the pharaohs of the ancient dynasties really knew how to ensure their legacies, in vast, self aggrandising monuments of stone: modern dictators, with their emphasis solely on oil money and casual genocide, seem positively unimaginative by comparison.karnak temple, a few kms out of luxor, is simply huge, a complex of monuments stretching over acres of dusty land. as you look through the opening aperture, flanked on either side by a line of ram headed sphinxes, all you can see are statues, obelisks,and more giant, intricately carved walls receding into the distance. once again, it is the sheer magnitude of the undertakings which i find so stunning: who, in this time before christ and bulldozers, could actually imagine that such colossal projects were achievable? and yet ramses and the gang not only had the ambition to envision such structures, but the ability to bring them into glorious, intemporal existence.
i'm not normally one to go for guides but, with my arm twisted by vicki, we picked up khaled at the temple gates. this was undoubtedly one of the best $5 investments i have made in my travelling time: guides can be a bit hit and miss, but our man was definitely the former and then some. as well as knowledge, he had boundless enthusiasm for the topic of egyptology, and this shone through in his instruction.
it is of course much easier to be enthusiastic about things as wondrous as those contained in karnak. of particular interest to me was one particular sanctuary at the back of the complex. small, dark, and unassuming from the outside, and certainly something which i would have ambled straight past if unguided, this apparently insignificant room was in fact constructed by alexander the great, complete with inscriptions of the greek king dressed as a pharaoh making offerings to the ancient egyptian gods, and carvings of his very own cartouche, the hieroglyphic marker of a god king.i had no idea that the greeks had taken egyptian culture to heart so much, but on reflection, the position of a semi divine entity would be understandably appealing to any man, regardless of their own cultural heritage.
khaled left us at 8am, to start his real job: he is part of the archaeological team excavating one of the sites at the back of the complex. he may have grabbed an opportunistic hour's work, but the benefit definitely fell on vicki and i.
off to the pyramids tomorrow morning, and after karnak am getting more than a touch overexcited. time for a shisha to calm me down...
posted by bicrom @ 11:37 am
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