Out of Egypt-June 5, 2006

Hello all,

Aside from almost passing out from heat exhaustion today...we had an interesting day of visiting Abu Sambul—The Valley of the Kings and Queens. The temperature in the Valley got as high as 130 degrees today. There is no shade, no trees, and no water...you MUST bring your own!!

Thanks Carolyn for giving me the advice about carrying my own tissue. When you go into a public bathroom, women are waiting to give you toilet tissue for a fee...there is no tissue in the bathrooms...if you don't pay, or bring your own, you're SOL.

Now back to the Valley of the Kings...there are also 4 women Queens buried in the Valley of the Kings--Queen Tiye (T), Queen Hatchepsut, and the Queen Sipta, and the other one, I don't remember.

While in the Valley we went to the tomb of King Tut, Rameses I, Rameses III, and Queen Hatchepsut. Of course I want to talk about the Queen! Particularly because this woman coined the term DIVA...she was a bad girl and a Pharoah.

Aside from her Temple being the most magnificent in the valley because it broke all rules of architecture in her day, it had three levels and all other temples were just one level. Her tomb was restored but it took 43 years to do it...it was only completed last year.

During her reign she organized a journey to Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

The bad news for this Diva was that she acquired her the throne illegally. Her nephew was really supposed to be King but when he was very young, he came up missing for 21 years. It is believed that she kidnapped him and kept him locked away so she could be Queen. Once he was free, guess what happened--Queen H came up missing, never to be seen of again. Although she had the most magnificent and massive temple, her remains were not there. In fact, her nephew made it his mission in life to erase her name (remember what I told you guys about a Name) from all of Egypt, including from her own Temple. He would have been successful had it not been for her friend Rameses I who restored her name on several key pieces of architecture. Also, the foundation of the temple which was underground--had her name on it as well.

The moral of this story is "Whatsoever we sow, that we shall also reap." Yes, we remember the Queen, but her name is shrouded in negativity. Yes, she accomplished many great feats, but she stole someone else’s birthright and her consequence was she would never have the honor of being memorialized in her own temple.

Blessings,