Today we drove from Luxor to the nearby Valley of the Kings. This was the necropolis for the city of Thebes (modern day Luxor). It was the burial site for pharaohs and noblemen for over 500 yrs from roughly 1550 BC to 1077 BC. Archaeological digs have uncovered 65 tombs over the years. The latest discoveries were one tomb in 2005 and two in 2008. The tombs range in size from simple pits to complex multi-room tombs. Unfortunately, most tombs were opened shortly after closure and the contents stolen. It is generally believed these were inside jobs. One notable exception is the tomb of King Tutankhamun which was discovered unopened in 1022 by Howard Carter. It yielded a massive trove of golden artifacts many of which we saw in The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The valley was probably chosen because of its remote location and the presence of a pyramid shaped mountain at the end.
We then took a short bus ride to the next valley over to visit the mortuary temple of Hatsheput. Considered one of the masterpieces on ancient architecture, it was constructed in 15 BC.
We then returned to the where I attended a lecture on Arabic given by one of our Egyptologist guides. He started be stating behind Chinese and Japanese, Arabic is probably one of the most difficult languages to learn. The language is written right to left. One of the difficulties is a given letter can be formed differently depending on whether it is at the beginning, middle and end of word. Also, the language uses many different speech sounds.
After dinner, we were treated to a performance by a whirling dervish. Oh my! To say this dance style is amazing, is an understatement. The dervish whirled feverishly for over 30 minutes.