Deir el Bahari

Friday, November 20: A visit to the Valley of the Kings started our day, but unfortunately pictures are not allowed inside the tombs. However, a virtual tour can be taken from home by visiting the Theban Mapping Project website. For the very interesting compositions inside these tombs, known to Egyptologists as the "Underworld Books," you can consult the very useful volume by Erik Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999). Very interesting visits to the tombs of Ramses V/VI and Tutankhamun highlighted our brief tour through the valley. After a beautiful rooftop lunch at the Amenophis Hotel, we continued with the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari ("the Northern Monastery"). The sun setting behind the Theban mountain was a perfect backdrop to a beautiful temple in the cliffs of western Thebes - nestled in the cliffs along with the mortuary temples of Montuhotep II and Thutmosis III.

Deir el Bahari: Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Deir el Bahari: Expedition Detail

Deir el Bahari: Inscription Detail

Deir el Bahari: Portrait