Qasr Ibrim (Castle of Ibrim) is an archeological site in lower Nubia. It was originally a major city on a cliff above the Nile, the flooding of Lake Nasser put the castle on an island and flooded the surrounding city. Ancient Egyptian built a temple of Taharqa in the Late kingdom. A stela of Amenhotep I was found. Various small temples were dedicated to Viceroys of Kush as well as deities. The castle was built in Roman times during the reign of Augustus reusing Egyptian temple materials. The site was inhabited until the 1840's and is also the source of the largest collection of Old Nubian documents ever found.
I think this ship take cruise towel folding to new levels-a sphinx.
There must be some very large birds walking around-there were tracks everywhere.
First stop is Temple of Amada, the oldest of the Lake Nasser temples constructed by Thutmose III of the 18th dynasty dedicated to Amun and Re-Horakhty. Depicted on the rear wall is an Egyptian military campaign into Asia.
The kids recognize the Eye of Horus now,
as well as the key of life,
This is an important stelae describing Amenhotep II ruthless military campaign in Asia. It says, "His Majesty returned in joy to his father Amun after he had slain with his own mace the seven chiefs in the district of Takhesy (Syria) who were then hung upside down from the prow of the boat of His Majesty." he goes on to describe how he hanged six of the dead chiefs on the walls of Thebes and the seventh on the walls of Napata in Nubia.
If you look at the 4th row up from the bottom, left of center there are two birds, left of that is a chief up side down and then another bird. Just above his one foot is another bird.
Thutmose III before the gods of Amada.
Erica was off making furry friends again,
they really are quite cute,
When we got off the boat the first thing Dalia said was don't pick up any rocks-because of dangerous critters underneath. This man had two scorpions and in the jar one of the poisonous snakes most feared is the horned viper or sand viper. It rasp with the sound of an f, it was used as the hieroglyph to write the sound fy and is the Egyptian word for viper. The snake god Apophis was considered the enemy of order. The goddess Reneutet appeared in the form of a hooded cobra and was goddess of the granary and offerings of first fruits were made to her.
The Temple of Derr is rock-cut (into the rock) by Ramesses II known in ancient times as The Temple of Ri'amsese-meryamun in the Domain of Re and dedicated to the god Ra-Horakhty. In the first hall are scenes of war and in the rear wall are scenes of triumph.
Thoth, Ramesses in the tree of life (which the kids recognize now too), Ptah and Sekhmet.
Ramesses making various offerings to the gods
Tomb of Penout, the Viceroy of Kush under Ramsses VI about 1140 bc. He was also a priest of Horus. This was the only Nubian tomb of about 500 that was saved from the flooding of Lake Nasser. It was in what would have been a Valley of Civil Servants.
back on the lake,
Afternoon tea with my Dad, Evan (who is finally feeling better-he's had the flu since the second day in Cairo) and Erica. Owen and Erik missed today.
Nubian sunset...
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