Abu Simbel - Ramses II mega temple

  Abu Simbel, Egypt
Friday, February 10, 2006

After a day or two of felucca haggling in Aswan, Mystery and I were happy to get out of town for the day and head further into the wilds of southern Egypt. One of the mightiest and most picturesque temples of Pharaonic times - Abu Simbel - was the destination, and to get there would realise a little dream I'd had since my youth because this, after the Pyramids naturally, was my most vivid image of Egypt from days of yore. It's well out of the way, but it's totally classical Egypt, so I was looking forward to getting there with relish.

Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II, arguably Egypt's greatest Pharaoh, in the 12th century BC. Located 280km south of Aswan in the border region of Sudan, it helped mark the boundary between neighbouring Nubia and Upper (southern) Egypt - ensuring river traffic crossing into Egypt knew who was boss of northern domains.

It stood happily in its original position until the 1960s, when the massive Aswan Dam project created Lake Nasser, which required it to be moved block by block to its new location above the rising water line.



Now streams of tourists coast through the pockmarked desert to see it each day, and I'm happy to report it's well worth the visit. Due to previous rebel unrest in the area, you must go in a bus convoy (departing at 4am) to get there, but it's a reasonably painless affair and you get to see the sunrise over some quite interesting arid landscape. The ticket office manages to cope with the resulting hundreds of entries at the same time and from there you have a couple of hours to enjoy the Simbel's delights.



And it's a pretty inspiring scene as you round the barren hill to come face to face with Lake Nasser and then the two rock-cut temples! Each statue of Ramses lining the entrance is over 20 metres in height, dwarfing everyone and everything around. To complement these big guys, there's a collection of almost man-sized statues (eagles, queens etc) on the lower steps as you enter the main hall. The hieroglyphs and pretty well everything else to do with it (including the crowds) are suitably king-sized.



The main temple is dedicated to the Gods Ptah, Amun, Ra and to Ramses II himself, basically putting him on their level. From what I've read about him he earned it by being one of the longest ruling (over 50 years), most prolific temple building and most successful (in administration and war) Pharaohs in Egypt's history. And in an age of mega temple building, this is one of the biggest.

Once you clamber through the crowd the entry hall is a wide, high-ceiling job lined with massive statues that sorta look like garden gnomes but are really images of the big cheese himself. From there you just turn right, follow the crowd and watch the beautiful carvings on the walls as you glide by.



Again, no pictures are meant to be taken inside 'to protect Egypt's heritage' (never mind the hordes of tourists touching and leaning on the carved walls!), but I didn't pay big money ($US10) just to gawp, so here's some covert snaps.

Man-sized carved reliefs adorn the walls from floor to ceiling. The themes are pretty familiar, such as Pharaoh making an offering to a God (who's invariably holding a staff in one hand and pointing a life symbol back at him with the other), or general Pharoaic activities like treading on a dead enemy's face whilst brutally slaying another in battle. There's variations on the theme but naturally they all make the big R look pretty good.



It's remarkable how well all this has lasted through the ages, although it was almost completely buried in sand until the 19th century which would certainly help. Still, it's hard to tell that is has even been restored let alone completely moved from one place to another - even the crumbled forth statue (which fell in ancient times) was carefully replaced where it fell.

The lighting and presentation is pretty impressive too but again, you do have to worry about the preservation of this stuff with so many tourists being able to literally touch, lean, scratch and carve themselves into history through these works of art.



Once you've gone past all the side storerooms and as far as you can possibly go, there's a small room containing images of the Gods the temple is dedicated to. Fortunately no-one is allowed fully inside or they'd be headless before the day was out. Because of the surging crowd this holiest of holies a highlight you only get a moment in but is well worth it all the same. Make sure you visit all the little side rooms you see, the carvings alone are worth it.



After that it was on to the Temple of Hathor next door. Dedicated to Hathor and to Ramse's beloved wife Nefetari, she features prominently as two of the six 10m statues that guard the entry. The other four are Ramses himself and the identical heights of the statues show how much esteem she was held in by the Pharaoh - usually wives and consorts were depicted no more than half his height.

Again this is a rock-cut temple, shaped out of the hillside by some dedicated masons indeed.



Whilst on a similar scale to the main temple, it seems to be dwarfed by it both externally and internally. It's not as loud and proud if I may, but that doesn't make it any less appealing.



On the contrary, I thought the carvings inside Hathor were more varied, interesting and sophisticated inside Hathor - possibly due to the far smaller square meterage, which would mean wall area was at more of a premium. Still, both temples rocked in my opinion and if you come to Egypt Abu Simbel should definitely be on your itinerary.

Salaama (bye!).

Next entry -> More of Aswan or cruising the Nilus

Lucky me travel affliction of the week

It's been months since I've had something to report on this front which goes to show what a happy and healthy chappy I must be.

Not a sniffle through Siberia nor the runs since Laos. My ejecting fingernails have recovered (thanks to all the doctors out there for the free advice) and about the only thing vaguely interesting since then has been a case of travellers dandruff which was quickly cleared up with some Russian Head and Shoulders. Ho hum.

Since I do not want to encourage King Tut's revenge in any form I'd better report a recent ailment that might give me bother in the future - a single, tiny cavity in one of my bottom teeth. The cavity is not really the problem, it's where to get it fixed over the next 4-6 months. Do I find a dentist in Jordan or wait til England?

I'm glad that is one of the biggest decisions in my life at the moment ;-)