SJEDS Travels to Egypt

Hot as blue blazes. It’s one hundred degrees in the shade. You could fry an egg on the sidewalk. These sayings and more were running through my head during our visit to the Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings is a scorching hot place where finding something green is about as easy as threading a needle in the dark. The ancient Egyptians chose this remote ravine to place the tombs of their dead pharaohs for several reasons.

• The remote location was designed as a deterrent to keep away tomb robbers.
• The location made the area easy to guard from the Theban plain.

So far 62 tombs have been found in the Valley of the Kings and Egyptologists believe there are more to be unearthed. This area is the site of the world’s most famous find, the tomb of King Tut. King Tut’s tomb was the only tomb to be found , completely undisturbed by tomb robbers.

Our entrance ticket gained us access to three tombs. To see King Tut’s tomb required an additional ticket. We were limited on time so we made a decision to not visit King Tut’s tomb. We had seen many of the artifacts from the excavation at the Cairo museum and knew the tomb itself was not very elaborate. King Tut had died young and unexpectedly so his tomb had not been fully decorated.

Getting down into the tombs was an experience of endurance. After climbing what seemed like a thousand stairs, going straight up the side of the mountain, we came to the entrance of the tomb of Ramses. After the exhausting climb we were greeted with another set of stairs, this time a vertical descent into the tomb. We knew it was not for the faint hearted, but seeing other tourists, including elderly ones, we knew we had to continue on. We didn’t want to be labeled “wimpy” Americans. Mrs. Tolisano remarked that she had not climbed such deep stairs since the Great Wall of China.

Entering the tomb we breathed in stale, dry air and felt intense heat. No, the tombs are not air-conditioned… Two of the tombs did have a small fan going in the inner chamber, which provided a miniscule amount of air movement. Once in the corridor, leading to the inner chamber, we knew it was worth facing the heat and stairs. The walls were elaboratly painted with hieroglyphic writing and drawings with intense and vibrant colors. The colors were always the same and included ochre, blue, black, and clay red. Here is a picture of the different colors that were found being used for the drawings. These colors can still be rubbed off of stones laying around in temple areas.

Small chambers branched off the main hallway as we headed to the main chamber. The ceilings were a deep blue with yellow stars painted on them, mimicking the night time sky. There was a strict “No photography or video taping” rule in the tombs, so we will have to show you the postcards when we return home.

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