The Ramesseum and the Temple of Seti I

The last temples we went to, right before we left to Cairo, were the Ramesseum and the temple of Seti I.  We went to both temples with a friend in from out of town, who wanted to head to the West Bank.  She wanted to know where we thought would be good places to go, since we had been to the Hatshepsut’s temple and to the Medinet Habu, I suggested that we could revisit those, because they were both excellent visits or we could go on to the two temples we had not been to on that side of the Nile.

I warned her that if we were going to go to Hatshepsut’s temple it probably would be a good idea to go at the crack of dawn, because it seems like that would be a wonderful time to catch the temple in all its glory.  Plus, when the tourists start pouring in, it can be a bit much.

She decided to go with us to the last two temples on that side, that I am aware of, that we haven’t seen.  Sure, there are plenty of tombs on that side that I haven’t seen, but I never have been much interested in viewing tombs.  This is just my philosophy, I am not afraid of visiting tombs, and perhaps I will one of these days, but I will not go out of my way to see the work of desecrating some deceased noble’s tomb.  Tutankhamen has been pimped worldwide.  Still, I guess I would be kind of flattered that thousands of years later, people wanted to come and check me out.  But only if they were there to pay me homage, not to check out my gold and stuff.  However, if they find some royalty in Europe and have some tombs open, I might change that philosophy, but it seems like the trend is in seeing our ancestors in their deceased state, natives.  That should make you wonder something about our value in either state.

Anyway, we headed over this time taking a cab, because I negotiated a decent price for the ride.  We had this discussion about whether it was annoying or fun to negotiate prices, with Candice saying annoying, and me fun.  It depends on the day.  Once you know what something should cost, you can argue on for that last 5LE either which way, but you pretty much have won the battle IMO if you get it within the 5LE, especially with not to much Arabic under your belt.

That being said, we have been working on our Arabic as well and are moving along nicely in speaking.  Although reading is a whole different story, since they use a script far different than our letters and it is written right to left.  But of course you already knew that.

So I negotiated the killer deal, actually barely feasible, to get us across and we were on our way.  We were in a hurry because dinner was supposed to be done by four and it was a little after twelve when we left out.  So the cabbie is doing his thing, we drive all the way South in town to get to the bridge, which is a spiritual thing in and of itself.  Crossing the rushing waters of the Nile beneath.  Give thanks.  Crossing, cast away the ‘demons’, they be chilling, waiting, trying to roll.

We make it past and head back North to the area where the temples are.  We pass farmland and pastures, right in the middle of this we have a flat.  We stop slowly and the driver asks us as best as he can to get out.  He apologizes and we start to bet whether he has a spare, because if he does, it isn’t apparent.  I bet that he does.  Our friend thinks otherwise.

Meanwhile I look around and it is a wasteland around us, farmland, but nothing else.  We see a car pass every few minutes, mostly minivans and no cabs.  I look at my phone, debating my options, which are limited, but with some hope.  Then I look over and see he has undone the spare, underneath the old Peugeot wagon.  He apologizes again while changing the spare, and after about ten minutes, we are on our way.

We arrive about ten more minutes at the temple of Seti I.  The temple is near Qurna.  Seti was a wartime pharaoh as were his sons and during this period in Egyptian history there is said to be war involving Northern incursions from Lybia as well as fighting in the south and Nubia.  However, I find it interesting that the Pharaoh himself is named Seti after the god Seth, a southern god, which was latter relegated as an evil force, and some have even argued the source of our Satan.

Whatever the case, it seems that much importance was placed on the unity of the kingdom at this time and despite recent damage from the elements the temple still stands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortuary_Temple_of_Seti_I

http://egyptopia.com/http://egyptopia.com/The+Temple+of+Seti+I_30_100_26_11872_1281_en.html

 

 

The arial photo of the temple is from Wikipedia Commons

The Ramesseum is one of the few temples where I have had a peaceful visit and could really collect my thoughts thus far.  The others being Luxor Temple, and Dendera.  I almost managed a bit of meditation before some rouge tour guides found me and disturbed my train of thought.  I never shoo them away though, especially on the first visit because I feel they might have some insight or show me something I might miss.  However, in this case, the rouge wasn’t very helpful, and even after giving him a few pounds and asking to go it on our own, he kept following, following.  Candice was ready to curse him out, I think.

So we made it down and around, and I think the Ramesseum actually is split between Seti on one side and Ramses on the other.  The Ramesseum was utterly peaceful on this day and probably is early on most days.  I don’t think many tour groups make it to either of these sights.  Although, this is where the poet Shelly found his inspiration for the poem, Ozymandias, although the statue didn’t fall to pieces, it was broken apart and disseminated to museums and such all over the world.

We managed some pretty good pictures at these temples and I will post the remainder in a few days in a web album for those interested.  When available, the link will appear below.

 

 

This video is not mine, I stumbled across it and will place a new video, perhaps on another visit to the temple and the west bank.  Maybe I will do a three day trip over there and video everything and add a touch of music.