The Trip To Egypt, 2004

 Jim Hayes' Web Pages

Egypt Home
Day 1, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Day 2, Pyramids and Sphinx At Giza
Day 3, Dahshur (Bent and Red Pyramid),
Day 3a, Sakkara (Stepped Pyramid)
Day 4, Abu Simbel
Day 4a, Aswan
Day 5, Philae Temple
Day 5a, Kom Ombo Temple
Day 6, Edfu Temple
Day 6a, Esna Temple
Day 7, Luxor, Medinet Habu, Village of Deir El Medina
Day 7a,Temple of Hatshepsut
Day 8, Valley of the Kings
Day 8a, Valley of the Queens, Luxor Museum
Day 9, Luxor, Tut's Tomb
Day 9a, Temples of Karnak and Luxor
Day 10/11, Cairo, Museum, Manial Palace, Churches and Mosque
Day 5a, Kom Ombo Temple

 

 

 Jan's Notes  Jim's Photos And Comments


Kom Ombo

Greek/roman 185 BC; took 220 years to complete. Built for 2 gods: Horus and Sobek the Crocodile god. Temple built by river bank. They worshipped crocs because didn't understand the amphibian lifestyle. They thought they "died" in the winter Y& mysteriously "came to life" in the sun which to them showed proof of life after death. Used by healers as well as priests.

 

Story of the carving:
Ptolemy III
Thoth (Ibis) was the writing and literature & numbers god. Answers numerical questions for me after my death = the 'data god'.

Isis
Sachet=Lioness Goddess
Horesh is the oldest & youngest
Time of decline of art
Story mattered, not the art.
Myth of Sechmet
Amun Ra father of the got old and people lost faith in him so Amun Ra got angry and wanted to prove he still was powerful so he created the lioness goddess who'll eat all you ungrateful humans. She roamed the land & ate human flesh and blood. She had to be stopped so people went to Hathor, Goddess of Love (question: both Isis and Hathor or goddess of love? I've missed something here). Hathor gathered all the Egyptians at a party & invited Sechmet. They played music & plied her w/drink until she lost her senses. Gave her paper to sign that was a peace treaty not to each any more people. So she lost all her evil power & became just a lioness. But afraid to anger her in case she forgot the peace treaty so kept her as a goddess and let her eat only enemies. Tamed her. Scenes show lioness in chariot scenes.

Sobec = Croc. God.

Christians obliterated parts of carvings & statues not sand-covered-chiseled them because they were "heathen".

Staff=snake catcher; emphasis on femaleness in shape.

There were 7 Cleopatras. The last one is the famous one. Cleopatra was Greek so she was blue-eyed and blond. Hollywood got it wrong. She was not beautiful by the standards of today.

Lock & key style of stone so no mortar needed.

Secret tunnels for gifts from VIPs; priests, healers. Deep water hole to keep a croc. that was chosen to be the god.

Ancient Egyptians had advanced medicine & could treat: menstrual pain, fractures, skin rashes, brain surgery & epilepsy. Care based on experimentation.

Pregnancy test: collect urine from not pregnant woman & suspected pregnant woman. Plant 2 seeds and water each one with a different urine and wait 5 days. If one grows faster, that urine came from a pregnant woman since the hormones make the seed grow faster.

Imhotep=Asclepius, the Greek god of healing. He was the architect of the step pyramid and was rewarded by being made a god.

Surgical instruments
First "motion picture" to show motion by displaying 'multiple' hands in a pattern the eye will see as forward motion.

While building road from Luxor to here, found 40 mummified royal crocs in a tomb.

Played music while patients waited.

Part of the temple at Kom Ombo shows it's Greek roots

The alligator god.

Karen gets to feed a camel. He's as well behaved as her horse.

A pile of jugs near the temple.

A dragongfly near the temple.

 

A boy and his cobra - friends for life...

 

Aki gives us the lowdown on Egyptian food at the "full dress" dinner.

 

Surprised by a watermelon.

Fishermen on the Nile.

View out the window of the Sun Boat, past statues.

Dusk on the Nile

 

 

 

 

(c) 2004, Jim Hayes

 

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