Tombs and our Dahabeya

 Monday, February 9, 2026

Tombs and our dahabeya

 This will be a long post—I just have too much to show.

The Valley of the Kings and Queens contains so much it is beyond understanding.  There are more than 60 tombs, buried deeply underground, each with multiple rooms.    

It also has the enormous Temple of Hatshepsut, the famous female pharaoh of the 18^th dynasty, the daughter of Thutmose I.  She married her half-brother Thutmose II, and came to power, reigning until she died around the age of 55. 

The temple is adorned with many statues of her: 

There are fabulous and incredibly well-preserved wall carvings.  Here is Anubis: 

Here is Hatshepsut.  Note that she is portrayed as a man despite being a woman. 

We went to some limited access tombs which have the finest art, having special tickets to see them.  King Tut’s tomb is one of them.  Here is one wall from his tomb.  Each of these portrayals has stories and legends which go along.  I can’t possibly relate them all. 

The joint tomb of Ramses V and Ramses VI is spectacular.  

One room has a vaulted ceiling with a double portrait of the god Nut (pronounced Noot).  She is the daughter of Ra, the sun god, and every morning she gives birth to him, every evening she swallows him.  In the daytime the stars are in her.  In this glorious barrel roof portrayal, in the upper picture of her starting on the left she is swallowing the sun, and on the right giving birth to it.  Back to back is another picture of her, head to the left, with the stars inside her during the day: 

The end of the room with the vaulted ceiling has this: 

Here are some prisoners: 

The tomb of Seti I is deep underground, 165 steps down:

The tomb of a pharaoh is begun when his reign begins, but sometimes it is unfinished when it is needed.  Here is a portion of Seti I’s tomb which helps in understanding the process: 

Here’s a wall in his tomb: 

This is a portrayal of the rising sun, in this case, pulled up out of the earth by a scarab : 

It was a hot, demanding, exhausting, overwhelming morning.  We then went to the dahabeya Yakouta (which will be our home for the next five nights) to have lunch.

 There are only eight cabins; ours is luxurious: 

With a marble bathroom: 

I’ll have more to say about the boat in a future post, but the four course lunch was incredible: 

After lunch we went to the tomb of Ramose, who was vizier to Amenhotep III and IV.  Although his tomb is smaller than some, it has some of the best color of any.  Here are some women in a song of praise: 

Here is an unpainted frieze which shows the hairstyles of men and women very well: 

And the best color of all is in the tomb of the son of Ramses III.  Here’s an example of the hieroglyphics in his tomb.  The color is as is—in none of my photos have I enhanced the color: 

We went back to the boat for a shower and dinner after yet another exhausting and exhilarating day.