And yet another amazing day. Today’s theme was temples. We saw four in all, two from the Greek/Roman time and two from, I think, the New Kingdom. They were all pretty much amazing. So huge, so many carvings, so complex, so…defying description. It really kind of bothers me, though, that someone (Christian or otherwise) spent so much time chipping out the beautifully carved faces and figures. It’s rather unfortunate. Still, so many good ones do remain.
At the first temple Heather gave a presentation on Egyptian medicine, which was quite interesting. They really knew quite a bit, considering the technology they had to work with. Their knowledge was probably partly the result of their practice of mummification – they learned a lot about anatomy and physiology through that. There was a carving on the wall which included various medical instruments they would have used.
As I look back, the first two temples especially are starting to blur together… I think it’s a lack of sleep. Or maybe it has to do with the time period they are from, which we didn't study at all.
The third temple was especially amazing, though. We went to Karnak! I have been looking forward to seeing that for a long time. It has so many links to the Bible and the land of the Bible that we’ve considered in class. It was nice to make those links. We got to see Thutmose III’s city list, and Shishack’s city list and all sorts of cool stuff like that. It’s amazing to see such old carvings that mention places that I’ve been. There were also images from Merenptha's campaign into Canaan and some people (like Anson Rainey) think that is also depicts Israelites:
Additionally, the sheer size of the place was amazing. It took 8 “average” people to reach all the way around one pillar.
The fourth and final temple was Luxor, which we visited after dark.
We had presentations on the Sphinx and on astronomy, both of which were quite interesting. I was excited to see one of these places after dark. We see advertisement about them being lit up at night, but we hadn’t seen any yet. It was lovely. Not quite as massive as Karnak, but still quite impressive.
More impressions of Egypt:
1. I think Aswan is still my favorite place that I’ve been thus far.
2. It’s hilarious how much time we spend comparing water prices. “I had to pay 10 pounds here!” “I got some one pound water at that place!” “Two for five!”
3. The whole 5 course meal is nice, but not all that helpful for us. We don’t know what to expect, so generally we eat up the first two or so, thinking that’s all we’ll get, and then we get to the main course and are slightly shocked that they’re still bringing us food and are too full to eat it.
4. I’m kind of glad not to be the oldest never-married person on this trip…
5. I’m really a bit exhausted.
6. Egyptians are interesting people. Friendly, in general, but I’m not entirely comfortable being asked to pay “Baksheesh” for minor favors or being asked to have a picture taken with me.
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