Our first Friday off, and we take a road trip to Elkab (ancient Nekheb) and to Mo`alla south of Luxor. This necessitates our participation in the convoy, and we are happy to learn that the police will give us an armed guard to ride with us so that we can go to our chosen sites off the normal convoy route. At Elkab we first visit the small temple of Amenhotep III located in a desert wadi where the road to the Eastern Desert gold fields begins. Here Wendy, Katie, and Fatma look at the wall reliefs with Betsy. |
Wendy, Christina, and Betsy discuss the relief styles and various periods of restoration in the Amenhotep III temple. |
Elkab also has several tombs open to the public and two of these date to the mid-18th Dynasty (ca. 1450 B.C.). Here Wendy looks at the fine painted relief in the tomb of Pahery, governor of the Elkab region and tutor of Thutmose I’s son Wadjmose. |
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The tomb of an admiral, Ahmose, son of Ebana, contains one of the lengthiest autobiographies in Egypt. Here a Hopkins tradition is being reenacted where the Egyptologist students must read the inscription on the walls of the tomb. Here Fatma, Elaine, and Elizabeth are reading for Betsy, while Maria looks on. |
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In the tomb of Setau, a high priest under Ramesses III to Ramesses IX, Christina, Betsy, Katie, and Maria look at the painted relief. |
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Following our visit to Elkab, we head back toward Luxor and visit the site of Mo`alla on the way. This is ancient Hefat, ruled in the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2150 B.C.) by a local strongman named Ankhtify. His tomb, compared to those in the cemetery around him, is akin to that of a ruler indeed. A large pillared hall with painted walls and inscribed columns. Here the tomb owner’s autobiography is carved onto the front portions of the hall’s pillars, so that a visitor is struck by them at first glance. Wendy and Katie look at the remarkably lively painting also placed on the columns. |
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Elaine and Christina look at an inscription in Ankhtify’s tomb. |
Beautiful light in the tomb as Katie looks at the painted wall. |
In a nearby tomb are stacked coffins of the First Intermediate Period, distinguished by their narrow rectangular form and here, simple undecorated exteriors. |
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In a small tomb in the Mo`alla cemetery Scott snaps a scene of cattle and vegetation painted in the typically lively style of southern Egypt in the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2150-2000 B.C.). |