Luxor Museum

LUXOR MUSEUM
Discovering Akhenaten

Having  spent the morning at the mummification museum I decided to use the evening to go in search of  Akhenaten, this can be rather difficult as his works were systematically destroyed after his death, no statues of this heretic pharaoh can be found in any temples in Luxor, although the tomb of Ramose offers a glimpse of Armarna art with the king practicing his vision of one god the Aten before he left Weset (luxor) to create his new Kingdom in a completely barren and deserted place that he named Akhetaten, the horizon of the Aten, now known as Armarna, this was also raised to the ground after his death, so unless you are an archaeologist there is only one definite place to find Akhenaten whilst on holiday and that is at Luxor Museum. Akhenaton had been a pharaoh like no other, his whole concept of life and spirituality was on a completely different level from any king that has ever ruled Ancient Egypt, he believed in one god two thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and so I wanted to look on the form of Egypt’s most unusual and revolutionary pharaoh, to achieve this I knew there was only one place that I would be able to gaze on this metamorphous of a mortal,
so I jumped in one of the many caliches that were parked up at the back of Luxor temple and asked the driver to take me to Luxor Museum. Once the driver had negotiated the busy road crossing, I relaxed into my seat and enjoyed the slight breeze that enlivened my senses as the unusual white horse pulling my caleache trotted confidently down the Corniche,  its vibrant mane and tail of  outrageous flaming orange  flew with the breeze, the owner had radically  drawn attention to his horse by dyeing its white hair with henna, this  had to be the most noticeable horse in Luxor, and something about this striking horse   stirred memories from my childhood. I smiled as the memories surfaced again and I remembered scenes from the  film  ‘The wizard of Oz’  where  the  white horse had  triumphantly taken Dorothy  into the Emerald City, and  like a  chameleon the horse had constantly and vibrantly changed  its colour .

As we passed the side of Luxor Temple I was inspired by its vision of radiance and light, its pale golden columns of the Festival Hall of Amenhotep 111  glowed against the early evening deep blue  sky, the floodlights seemed to increase the size of the columns almost helping them to touch the heavens, and then  I remembered an evening walk I had taken through the Temple with Hamde ,  who had worked in the temple for seventeen years, he told me of the ancient beliefs that the stones of the temple had a soul, and that when darkness falls the light of the stars illuminates them again, and they are  filled with the luminous Ka’s of the Pharaohs, then like Nut the god of the sky who comes to meet her husband Geb the god of the earth each evening, the stars came down to earth to fill the ancient containers in the temple with incense and myrrh. The columns had a stream of light reflected through them, and Hamdes beautiful story seemed so real, I looked at the Columns and I felt the magic of the temple and I was so grateful to be alive and experience my emotions that had become so entwined with this ancient culture.

The glow of the temple fell behind us as my horse confidently trotted down the Corniche and I knew that I was experiencing my own special piece of magic that night. Progressing down the Corniche the driver rattled the bells of the  caleache,  cars hooted and tour buses shunted and shuffled, they dropped weary but exuberant tourists off from their  excursions, deftly my little caleache weaved its way through all the bustle of traffic and I observed a migration of people disappear down the steps  leading them to cross the longest river in the world, the river that gave life to Egypt and its amazing ancient civilization,  whilst modern Luxorians jostled their way onto the  crowded ferry they lived their ordinary lives untouched by the splendor around them and their boats continued to cross  in a never ending flow over this awesome river  of life. 

My caleache passed several elegant cream colonial buildings containing memories of yesterday from archeologists and the history they had woken up, we passed the Mummification museum that was discretely hidden from view like a tomb itself, its staircase descended underneath the depths of the Corniche; from this point the road gradually became quieter, and shortly after the horse pulled up outside Luxor museum. To my surprise the museum looked completely out of place, it was an expanse of modern looking embossed concrete, and it suddenly reminded my brain of what century I was actually living in, the driver wanted to wait for me but firmly I told him no as I wanted to relax in the museum and take my time, and I had no idea how long I would be. It is never a problem trying to find a taxi or caleache in Luxor, the problem is more of how to loose one, they want to stick to you like glue. Climbing down from the caleache I surveyed this large modern building with a plain strip of grass before it, and a small black granite striding statue of Tuthmosis. I collected my ticket and passed through the security entrance where I was guided into a small cinema to watch a short film  that described the return to Luxor of two warrior kings, Ramses 1 and Ahmose 1, their mummies were on special display in the new military wing that has been created within the museum. Having watched the video I couldn’t wait to see them. I humbly regret to say that most of my visit from that point was a blur until I stood outside the room of the first warrior king, and so I skipped a lot of the initial collection, deciding I would go round again after I had satisfied my curiosity of visiting the kings.

Climbing up a step and passing through the entrance I arrived in a small room where every visible surface was painted black and the ceiling was so high it was a reminder of the vastness of eternity; modern artists had not needed to impress the gods, but to simply remind us that we are standing in the presence of a King. To my surprise the frail body of Ahmose 1 laid within a glass case in the middle of this small room, and it was hard to imagine him as a warrior, but then I remembered how small David was and yet he had slain goliath in the bible, and so I decided it wasn’t sensible to let the small frame of this king influence my first impression. As I walked around his glass coffin I was drawn to his amazing battle axe displayed behind a glass recess in the wall, the power of this axe convinced me that it could imbue any man with an indomitable strength of will both in life and battles, and I believe Ahmose had those qualities. His father king Seqenenre Taa had been killed with horrific blows to his head fighting the Hyskos, who had been driven from western Asia into Africa by instability and famine; they had settled at the delta and ruled northern Egypt.  After the slaughter of Seqenenre Taa in battle, Khamose the eldest brother of Ahmose became king and led his army to face the hyskos, he was also killed in battle, and so the title of King descended onto the shoulders of a young ten year old boy who became Ahmose 1, ‘The Moon is born’. After the death of her husband and eldest son, Queen Ahmose Nefertari guided her youngest and only son Ahmose 1 to become a great king, a king that united Egypt’s two thrones once more.
                                                                                   

I do believe that a man can become great with the influence of a strong woman; Eleven years after the slaughter of his father and brother Ahmose also went to battle to seek his revenge for their deaths, he marched his army into Avaris and finally defeated the Hyskos driving them out of Egypt, He then traveled south with his army and defeated the Nubian king, where he seized all the gold mines and reasserted Egyptian power and laid the foundations of the New Kingdom. Ahmose became known as the Glorious liberator, the Avenger of five wounds, the Unifier of Egypt and Great Conqueror, he presented his ceremonial battle axe to his mother Queen Ahmose Nefertari to celebrate the victory. Ahmose 1 ruled for twenty five years and his mummy was found in the cache at Dier El Bahari along with his father and many other great Kings of the New kingdom era. Leaving the sanctuary of Ahmose I then went into the next room to meet Ramses 1, who was not actually of a Royal bloodline when he became king. His official titles before becoming king were Master of Horse, Commander of the Fortress, and Controller of the Nile Mouth, Charioteer of His Majesty, and King’s Envoy to Every Foreign Land, Royal Scribe, Colonel, and General of the Lord of the Two Lands.  Ramses became one of the later kings after all the turmoil that Akhenatens reign had created within Egypt. After Akhenatens death Smenkaare ruled for a year then the boy child Tutenhaten grew up as a king, and under the guidance of his Vizier and chief advisor Aye he returned to Waset changing his name to Tutenkhamun and reinstated the temples of Amun, after a  ten year rule, Tutenkhamun died leaving no heir to the throne, and Aye took control , probably Aye  wanted to feel assured that Egypt would retain its strength and position again after years of turmoil so on his death he transferred power to the Army, and General Horemheb became king, who obliterated any traces of Akhenaten and the Armarna period that had damaged the strength and prestige of Egypt, a position he had been trained to create. When Horemheb died he transferred the throne to his general Paramessu who became Ramses 1. With this turn of events Egypt was now in safe hands once more, the Black land was settled and stable once again, and although Ramses only ruled for two years his son Seti 1 and especially his Grandson Ramses 11 held long and secure reigns that created a memorable era for ancient Egypt. Ramses 1 arrival at Luxor museum followed an extraordinary tale of tomb robbers and eventual saviors.

Across the river at Dier El Bahari in 1888 the Rassul brothers, local tomb robbers had eventually admitted that they had found the secret hiding place of many great kings. It is considered that Priests removed the Kings from their own tombs to protect them from Tomb robbery many centuries ago. When the cache was found at Dier El Bahari The mummy of Ramses 1 was missing although his coffin was found with the rest of the kings. It appears that the Rassul brothers had sold Ramses1 for seven pounds to a Canadian physician named James Douglas who had acquired the mummy for the owner of a museum at Niagra Falls. Over a hundred years later In 1980 a German Egyptologist visited the museum and recognized the features of Ramses the great as he looked at this mummy, he was aware that the mummy of Ramses 1 had been missing from the cache, and also this mummy had its arms crossed and its hands appeared to have been grasping what could have been the symbols of royalty which indicated that it was a royal mummy. In 1999 the Niagra falls museum closed and the mummy was sold to the Carlos Museum for two million pounds, the museum arranged for cat scans and compared the details with the mummies of Seti 1 & Ramses 11 and were convinced that they had in their possession the mummy of Ramses 1, and with this knowledge they generously offered to return the ‘lost’ king to his homeland, and so Ramses arrived at Cairo airport, his coffin was draped with the Egyptian flag, and received a military escort, eventually plans were made to return him to the place of this throne and burial in ancient Waset, now modern Luxor, from Cairo a flotilla of boats escorted him along with Ahmose 1, up the river Nile to a military celebration and welcome that waited for them on the east bank of Luxor, where their coffins were then driven by horse through the town on a special white barque to a reception at Karnack Temple and then their final resting place within the new wing specially created for them at Luxor Museum the kings had arrived home to jubilation once more.


I left the room of Ramses and headed towards the highest level of the museum to see Akhenaten. I wondered who was this king that had created so much turmoil within a society that had been dominated by their beliefs of many gods and the Priests of Amun for thousands of years?
 Akhenaten was one of the sons of Amenhotep III, the pharaoh who had created the largest festival hall at Luxor Temple and whose colossal statues are known as the Colossi of Memnon, they sit alone abandoned at the side of the fields of the western shore, now only the foundations of Amenophis’ mortuary temple remain behind the lonely statues, and in the desert the scattered remnants of his palace can still be found, this huge palace was possibly where Akhenaten grew up. The palace area today is known to the local s as Malquata, which means the ‘place of debris’, Amenophis had named it ‘The Palace of the Dazzling Aten’, he created a harbor in front of the palace that from its place in the desert it still gave access to river Nile, so that he could sail straight from the palace in his golden Barque that was called ‘Aten Sparkles, obviously during the reign of Amenophis the Aten was beginning to rise in importance.
During his childhood Akhenaten was known as Amenhotep, he was never included in any festivals or ceremonies along with his family, he was a hidden child, excluded from the royal circle, rejected, possibly because of obvious signs of an illness that royalty would not accept, but yet his mother Queen Tiy showered him with her love regardless of the reason for his exclusion. His older brother Tuthmosis was the heir to the throne, but when he died suddenly, a new heir was needed and Amenophis was finally exposed to the people as the new successor to the throne.


I stood beneath his statue and was drawn by the hypnotic stare from  his elongated Asian eyes that viewed me from above , his  face was long with unusually broad cheekbones and a high forehead, a strong masculine jaw  fought against the supremacy of his wide and sensuous mouth that pouted somewhat, I felt that he would have known my innermost thoughts in life, I was un- nerved by his steadfast probe of my soul, never had a pharaoh been portrayed in such an unusual  manner before, his deep sensuous lips reminded me of the African race, his long face with highly pronounced cheek bones suggested European and his eyes suggested Asian, his face was a confusion and seemed to portray a man  possessing the features from all the four corners of the earth within one race, his athletic  arms and long slender fingers grasped the crook and flail firmly, but there was no impression of the raw brutality strength or power from  within his body that previous pharaohs had amplified, he was an enigma, a man whose body portrayed both male and female characteristics with his sweeping wide female child bearing hips,  his mind held the key to his power and his strength, the wealth of his position and centuries of belief that the pharaoh was a living god fueled his defiance of the priests of Amun to eradicate their powers and install  his chosen God the Aten to rule supreme, like a despot he blindly pursued his belief and forced his will over others, but his will  was only as strong as his own mortal life and his beliefs and suppression of the priests of Amun then ended with his mortal  life.

I left his steadfast gaze and followed the small pieces of talatat across the wall, Akhenaten had initially created a temple at Karnack that he dedicated to the Aten, and to fulfill his usual rapid need for renewal he used these small slabs of talatat to decorate his temple. Pharaoh Horemheb had been an army general during the reign of Akhenaten, after his death he destroyed the remains of Akhenaten's Sun temple and used its remains to fill his 10th pylon.

All the pieces of talatat that could be found to match, like a jigsaw have been pieced together again to create a small scene from within one of the Sun Temples that Akhenaten had created outside the eastern gate of Karnack Temple. He named his main temple Gempaaten which means “The Sun Disc is found in the Estate of the God Aten",  there’s defiance for you and a snub to authority, his temple had no roof and was created in the same style that his father Amenophis 111 had made the  festival hall at luxor temple, its offering tables were exposed to the warmth of the rays of the Sun,  the opposite  of  the dark secretive and covered chambers that had been created for centuries of worship in the temples of Amun. A special house within the precincts of Karnack contains the remains of the small pieces of the talatat .It is  almost like a  library for  the privileged where only the chosen few are allowed to have a glimpse of all the broken remains of Akhenaten's rule. In time someone will come that can put all the pieces together and recreate Akhenaten's dreams once more. Many layers of history have tried to destroy and eradicate this most unusual pharaoh, a man of peace, a man who made his own rules and defied the priests of Amun, a king not interested in following the traditions of dominance,  a man  that was eventually  broken by the overwhelming forces against him, enemies on his frontiers and a plague within his Capital that took the life of two of his beloved young daughters, his hopes were diminished and after his death his religion and the sanctuary he had created at Akhetaten was abandoned by his people,  the lonely life he had lead as a child, and his vision of one god, the Aten was rejected, he had brought Egypt to the brink of economic disaster with his non violent policy and his life of seclusion, his only interests in life had been the love of his wife Nefertiti his children and the worship of the Aten. Regardless of his faults   I admired him for his determination to stand up for his own beliefs and for the obvious love of his wife and daughters; he had tried to create a haven of peace within a country that needed the wars and suppression of its neighbors to survive. Akhenaten was a rare pharaoh indeed and was not afraid to be shown in the tender embrace of his family something that no other pharaoh has ever been portrayed for, a man of the family, a child that had begun life as an outcast he blindly soared to the heights to live his dreams. Sadly his dream had broken him; he tried to change too much too soon. I sat and stared at his face for a long time, was this really him? Had he been as honest in his strange portrayal as he had been as open in is love for his wife and daughters? I sat and reflected for a long while, and then I left with the memory of his unusual face in my mind, as nothing else in the museum could compare to this enigma of a pharaoh.