Maqābir al Malikāt

Ahmed felt that we could just make it to the Hapshepsut temple before the ticket office closed at 4:30 pm, but just before we got there at 4:15, it closed. He spoke to a travel agent who just happened to have 2 extra tickets so we were able to happily go in.

A little tuff tuff train took us to an area that had rugged limestone cliffs that rose nearly 300 m above the desert plain. At the foot of these cliffs sits the beautiful Temple of Hatshepsut. It has clean lines and looks very modern but it was built into the mountain between 1473 and 1458 BC.
It must have been even more stunning when it was built as there used to be a wide road flanked by sphinxes and gardens with exotic trees and perfumed plants leading up to it.

Considered one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs, man or woman, Hatshepsut, a woman, brought great wealth and artistry to her land. She was usually carved or drawn as a man, complete with muscles and a beard, as was the artistic tradition for pharaohs. But historians knew the truth as she always made sure the art included a reference to being a woman, such as “Daughter of Re” or “His Majesty, Herself.” When she died in 1458 B.C., Egypt would not see as powerful a female ruler for another 1,400 years, when Cleopatra came to the throne.

She sponsored one of Egypt's most successful trading expeditions, bringing back gold, ebony, and incense from a place called Punt (probably modern-day Eritrea). One of the reliefs at the entrance, documents this boat trip. It also shows strange animals and plants as well as different looking people and houses.

The temple was vandalized over the centuries. Hatshepsut’s stepson had her name and feminine pronouns removed from many of the stones and several statues of her destroyed. Two decades after her death, he decided that all evidence of her reign as king of Egypt should be erased, but his reasons remain unclear.

Later, early Christians (6th to 8th century) turned the temple into a monastery and defaced many of the reliefs. But it is still a beautiful and unique building with beautiful reliefs and we were happy to have seen it before we leave Luxor.Read more