SAILING THE NILE IN A DAHABYIA

OCTOBER 2015-PART 6

Dearest Family & Friends,

Sleeping with the windows open, the cool breeze wafting in along with the light of a full moon made for a peaceful and restful night.  After breakfast we climbed the steps to visit Sa Sila (aka SilSilla).  This site can only be visited by dahabyias as there is no place for a river boat to dock.  We were the only ones at the site - spectacular.

The temple is located on the edge of the sandstone quarry and is for the benefit of the workers so they could worship at the site and not have to travel into Luxor.  The workers lived across the Nile in a village on the opposite bank and came to work each day in the quarry.

Because this temple was built by Horemheb for the workers, the art was not as sophisticated as the temples built for the pharaohs themselves.  That being said, it was still quite impressive inside with scenes honoring Amun (AKA Amun-Ra, the Sun god and protector of all pharaohs), Sobek (crocodile god of the Nile), Khnum, (god of procreation and protector of the source of the Nile)Satet (goddess of Elephantine Island in Aswan),Hapi (god of the Nile), Anuket (goddess of Sahel Island) and others.  

Later pharaohs, Ramses II, Merenptah, Amanmes, Siptah and Ramses III, added to the decorations depicting many scenes of jubilees, and a list of Hebseds (held at the beginning of each pharaohs reign and then every 30 years where he shows his agilities and strengths are still as a young man)celebrated over the 65 year reign of Ramses II. One very impressive scene is of Horemheb carried in a portable chair during festival.

Flanking the door was a carving of a lion headed figure

One Of The Guardians of the
Portal of The Underworld

holding a knife in each hand with a mirror image of the same figure on the other side of the door. As I am always wanting know about any lion headed figure I see, I asked Ahmed who this was.  He said it was one of the guardians of a portal in the underworld and seeing it in a temple was most unusual.  Scenes of the portal or gates in the journey through the underworld are usually found in tombs.

After studying the scenes in the temple we walked to the quarry.  Ahmed led us up into a narrow opening which opened out to a “window” type of ledge overlooking the Nile.  The view was breathtaking. 

Entrance To The "Window" Cave

Ahmed took portrait pictures of each of us there sitting in the “window”.

My Portrait

Trapped!!!

Climbing out of the cave we walked further into the quarry where we could see the markings of how they carved out the blocks of sandstone used to build the temples of Denderah, Esna, Edfu, Karnak, Kom Ombo and Luxor.  Along the path are slots in the rock leading down to the river where wood used to slide the blocks down to waiting boats below was placed.  I couldn't resist and put my hand in one side and out the other acting like I was trapped.

The rest of the group climbed up over the mountain to go to the tiny temple of Seti I.  I started the climb, but

Meditation Spot

realized my footwear of flip flops just would not do, so climbed back down to sit and look over the Nile to  meditate and “feel” the atmosphere.

As we sailed on towards Kom Ombo we passed the tiny temple of Seti I which was really just a facade.  Thus I was able to see and enjoy it without the climb!!!

Seti I Tiny Temple Facade

We docked at the foot of Kom Ombo at sunset.  Kom Ombo is really two adjacent temples side by side.  One side is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the other to Horus, son of Isis and Osiris.  It is the only temple still right on the river and is one of my favorite.  One section shows

Adjacent Temples Kom Ombo

carvings of surgical instruments including a scalpel and forceps for help in birthing.  There are other scenes of women on a birthing chair and even one of the baby falling out through the hole. 

 Another section shows the calendar of 10 day weeks and 30 day months making 360 days.  Then there are 5 days of celebration increasing the total of the year to 365 days!!!  It also shows the figures representing numbers up to 1,000,000.

Part of the Calendar

There is one of the best examples of a Nilometer, a deep well wth markings carved in the side at different levels, found outside of the Sobek Temple. As the water rises during inundation it fills the well from the bottom.  This allows the priests of the temple to predict the yield of the upcoming harvest based on the level of the water. Then the taxes owed are determined by the projected yield of the harvest.  The priests can also predict famine this way and thus encourage rationing of grain.  There were three seasons: planting, inundation, and harvest. Today the High Aswan Dam prevents the ebb and flow of the Nile as it did in old and ancient times.

To the side of the Nilometer is another pit where a crocodile was kept.  It was thought this would bring luck and abundant crops.  When the crocodile died it was mummified and put in a sarcophagus as a sign of honor to the god Sobek.

A very large museum on the premises (new since last I visited in 2009) displays many mummified crocs of the 300+ found in the vicinity in different sizes and stages of wrapped and unwrapped.  Pretty fascinating, but those who have a fear of crocodiles might find it a bit daunting.

Unwrapped Mummified Crocodile

We sailed on to another remote spot to tie up for the night.  When I say tie up, it was quite a production.  Young, strong men from the crew climb around on rocks finding just the right place to pound a huge metal stake into the ground with a sledge hammer, drag ropes up the steep bank to tie around trees and placed long wooden logs to wedge in the rocks against the side of the boat. 

The metal stake takes two men: one to hold it and one to pound it in place with the sledge hammer.  The first time I witnessed this was with my heart in my throat as the hammer came crashing down appearing to be very close to the head of the holder-of-the-stake.

Much Love To You All,

Sara/Mom/Grandma Syrup