Step Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt

On August 3, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt3 Comments

The Pyramid of Djoser, or Step Pyramid, is an ancient pyramid in the Saqqara Necropolis. It is located about an hour outside of Cairo and we toured it as part of trip to the Giza plateau. Although most people associate the pyramids of Egypt with the smooth sided Great Pyramids, step pyramids were the predecessors to such technology. There are other temples and burial grounds to be seen around the Step Pyramid, but as with Dahshur, there are not nearly as many visitors as at the Great Pyramids.

The Step Pyramid was built around the 27th century BC and is considered the earliest large cut-stone in the world. Tourists are able to descend down the tunnel that leads to an ancient tomb, which is just an empty chamber with hieroglyphs today. It can be extremely hot, so be sure to drink plenty of water and be prepared for cramped quarters as you walk down the tunnel that has had a ramp and railings added for safety reasons.

Walking around the entire complex was very interesting and it is a shame that more people do not visit. The site was looted during the uprising in 2011, but fortunately the monuments were left relatively unharmed. For anyone who is visiting Cairo, Saqqara should definitely be one of the top sites to see during your time there.

Ancient Granite Quarry in Aswan, Egypt

On July 20, 2018July 20, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt7 Comments

One of the first things we visited when we arrived in Aswan was the northern quarry, which contains an unfinished obelisk. Most of the granite that was used in ancient Egypt was mined from the quarries of Aswan and carried up the Nile on boats. It must have been extremely hard work to mine granite by chipping away at it with other stones. The day that we arrived in Aswan it was 114 degrees Fahrenheit (about 44.5 degrees Celsius), which made the thought of conditions that the ancient workers even more oppressive.

Looking Down at the Quarry and the Unfinished Obelisk

The giant obelisk that remains partially excavated from the granite quarry is quite impressive to see. It was commissioned by the famous female pharaoh, Hatshepsut and would have likely ended up with the other obelisks in the Karnak Temple in Luxor. Had the workers completed the obelisk, it would have been the largest ever created, but a crack in the stone stopped work on the obelisk. It has remained frozen in time as the workers have left it for thousands of years. In the time of Hatshepsut, obelisks were meant to represent the rays of sun, a way for the god Amun-Ra (Sun God) to descent to earth. It was important that obelisks be constructed out of a single stone without any cracks, otherwise the gods wouldn’t be able to travel through them.

One of the Finished Obelisks in the Karnak Temple

Probably more interesting than the reason for the creation of the obelisks is the transportation and actual placing of the obelisks in their final positions. After carefully chiseling the obelisks from the hard granite, they would raise them up and transfer them to a ship where they would be transported, standing erect, up the Nile. It must have been an unbelievable sight to the farmers living along the Nile when the ship with its cargo reaching towards the sky when sailing past them. Then, once reaching their location, such as the Karnak Temple, they would have to be transported across ground to their final location, all without breaking these huge structures. It is truly a task to be admired, even in today’s modern world.

People in the Background Provide Scale to the Obelisk

Visiting the ancient quarry with its unfinished obelisk is truly fascinating and should definitely be on your itinerary when visiting Aswan. There is very little shade at the quarry site, so be prepared for the heat and bring plenty of water. Walking around the quarry will only take about an hour or two, so you should have another destination mapped out for before or after. During our trip, after leaving the quarry, we continued onto the island of Philae to see the Temple of Isis.

Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon

On July 12, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Egypt10 Comments

There are so many fascinating sights to see when visiting Luxor, Egypt that you could easily spend a week or more in the area. Although the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple are absolute must-see’s, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon should also be on your list. They are both located on the west bank of the Nile outside of Luxor and we visited them after spending several hours in the Valley of the Kings. As with a lot of the things that you will find in Egypt, these are both amazing partially due to their sheer size.

Statues Outside of the Hatshepsut Temple’s Main Building

The Hatshepsut Temple is dedicated to both the god Amun as well as Hatshepsut, who was the greatest female pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Her reign begin in 1507 BCE and lasted for about 50 years. Her influence can be found throughout the temples of Egypt and she was responsible for the creation of the largest obelisks in Karnak Temple. The temple itself is considered one of the greatest architectural achievements of ancient Egypt with a style that resembles the classic Greek architecture that would follow about a thousand years later. It took 15 years to complete the construction of the temple and it is quite impressive, especially with the backdrop of the mountains behind it. Djeser Djeseru (holy of holiest) is the name of the main building and is also sometimes used to refer to the entire temple.

The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous statues representing Amenhotep III who reigned in the 13th century BCE. Both statues, which are about 60 feet high (18 meters), face the Nile River. Although the Mortuary of Amenhotep III, which was located behind the statues, no longer exists do to floods and the common practice of taking stones from older monuments to create new ones, the statues themselves are quite impressive. You don’t need to spend a lot of time to see the statues, but they are definitely worth putting on your itinerary. By the time that we made it to them, we were exhausted from walking through the tombs and temples in the extreme heat.

Egypt is such an amazing country with a history that stretches back over 5000 years. Our time in Luxor was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, if not our favorite place. We spent two days in the area and wish that we could have spend more time.