ATHENS ANCIENT CITY WALL and the KERAMEIKOS

Just west, beyond  Monastiraki and Thissio along Ermou Street, is the ancient city wall of Athens and the great Dipylon Gate, once the busiest part of the city.  The road from Pireaus and Eleusis lead here. Next to it is the Sacred Gate, a ceremonial entrance or "Sacred Way" used for the Panathenai and Eleusinian processionals. Between the two gates are the foundations of a building known as the Pompeion where preparations for the processionals were made.

City Wall

Along the area near the Kermeikos is where the potters of ancient Athens had their shops and plied their trade (ceramics= keramikos) .  The area, called Kermeikos, just outside the gates, is where the Street of Tombs was located.  Here wealthy and important families buried their dead marking the way with elaborate statuary.  Many of these still survive making it an interesting place to walk about.

The site, along these important roads that led into the city, was a prestigious one. Among the grave markers are the flat, vertical stele of the Classical period and sarcophagi from later Hellenistic and Roman times. Some of the monuments are memorials to soldiers killed in wars such as the large tomb with a semicircular base as you enter the pathway, a Memorial to Dexileos, a 20-year old who was killed in battle in Corinth in 394 BC.  Adjacent to it is the Monument of Dionysios of Kollytos, a pillar stele supporting a bull carved from Pentelic marble.

I love wandering around the Kerameikos, exploring the many grave monuments and imagining life as it must have been, the bustle of people coming and going on those roads.  One of the roads leads to Plato's Academy. Imagine the philosopher and his followers walking there on their way to the Agora.

There's a museum on the site too and it contains many of the interesting artifacts collected from the area including some beautiful ceramics and burial finds such as children's toys, jewelry and other objects.

The site is open daily April - Sept 8 am - 7.30 pm, Oct - March 8.30 am - 3 pm. The museum opens at 11 am. Admission  2 Euro or it is included in a joint Acropolis ticket.

THE SACRED VALLEY OF THE KINGS

After our visit to Kom Ombo and Edfu, we sailed down the Nile to Luxor where we would spend the morning touring the famous Valley of the Kings.

The landscape of Egypt is astonishing with its buff-coloured rolling dunes, wide stretches of sandy wilderness, and cutting through this the wide, beautiful Nile River.  All along the river’s banks is lush greenery: palm and date groves, sugar cane, fields of agriculture. At the shore cattle and goats graze among the swampy marshes and egrets perch in the tall papyrus and reeds. 

 

 

The Valley of the Kings is on the west bank of the Nile across from Thebes (Luxor) in the heart of the Theban Necropolis. It consists of two valleys, the east, where the majority of the royal tombs are situated, and the West. The Valley was used for burials from about 1539 BC to 1075 BC. It contains around 60 tombs starting with Thutmose I and ending with Ramses X or XI. This is the wadi (valley) where archaeologists discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen. It is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, now named a World Heritage Site.

 

site attendant

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the tombs. We visited three tombs: Ramses IV, Ramses II and Ramses IX. All were filled with beautiful hieroglyphics still with their original colours, describing details of each toe, mainly to do with the Book of the Dead. We were able to see the outer part of the tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. Later we would see all the priceless tomb finds in the Cairo Museum. (Since our visit I saw some photos of the reconstructions that are being done inside the tomb so when it is open for viewing again you’ll be able to get a clear idea of just what it was like when King Tut was buried there.)

Marko takes photos outside the tombs

 

 

 The Egyptologist told us there are many tombs still undiscovered in those hills.

 

 

 



Beside the Valley of the Kings is the Valley of the Queens where the wives of the Pharaohs and their children were buried. It was known as Ta-Set-Neferu meaning “The place of the Children of the Pharaohs. 

 The Temple of Hatshepsut

 

 

One of the most spectacular sights that will stay forever in my memory in the Valley of the Kings is the amazing, well preserved Temple of Hatshepsut. This is considered to be the finest building of antiquity in Egypt. The temple is set in a great amphitheatre surrounded by high dunes and rock formations that form an amphitheatre behind it.

Back in the 1970 ‘s I had read a book by author Pauline Gedge. “Child of the Morning”  was the story of the child who became first a queen and then a pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Perhaps it was that book that captivated my interest in ancient Egypt. But how did I know then that one day I’d be standing right in front of this fabulous monument left in her memory.

As I approached the temple down the sphinx-lined avenue and up the monumental ramp leading to the three wide terraces, I was almost speechless and overcome with emotion. To think that here I was, entering Hatshepsut’s sacred precinct. It was almost surreal, and definitely a moment in time that will never be forgotten!

 

The terraces of the temple are flanked with porticos and rows of Doric columns. There are rows of statues, some with faint traces of ochre indicating that at one time they were painted. There are fascinating carved reliefs on the second terrace that depict a maritime expedition to the land of Punt (Sudan) and show the exotic gifts: ivory, ebony, wild cats and incense that the Queen of Punt had sent back to Egypt. The temple was designed  by the queen’s steward and architect, Senenmut. It took eight years to build, a fitting tribute to the woman who ruled Egypt as pharaoh for nearly half a century (1501-1452 BC)  Hatshepsut called it “The Splendor of Splendors”. It is still considered one of the most striking architectural works on earth.

 

 

Heiroglyphics

We visited the tomb of one of the Egyptian princes who was the son of Ramses III. Inside were beautiful paintings and a tiny fetus in a glass case.

After this memorable morning we headed back to the cruise ship for lunch. In the afternoon we will visit Luxor and the Temple of Karnak.

 

HONORING THE DEAD ON ALL SOULS NIGHT

Mountain View Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Vancouver, in operation since 1887.  It covers 106 acres, home to 92,000 graves and 145,000 interred remains.  The cemetery is located in what was once farmland, in the area of Fraser Street between 31st and 43rd Ave.  Buried beneath the ground here are everyone from war heroes to sea disaster and slide victims and victims of the worst transit accident in BC when a transit streetcar crashed in 1909 killing 15 people.  There are wealthy people interred here as well as those who met their ends through violent or tragic means.

The wealthy include Henry O. Bell-Irving, a cannery owner and Yip Sang, a Chinese businessman.  But there are also grave of well known athletes:  Joe Fortes, a popular African/Canadian lifeguard and Harry Jerome, an Olympic runner.  The mother of poet Robert W. Service, Sarah Emily Service, is buried here along with murder victim Janet Smith, age 22, aka "The Scottish Nightingale". Her murder in 1924 was known as "The notorious Janet Smith Case" 

Burials are often grouped together according to religion or nationality or organization affiliations.  Other groups are paupers, and war vets including Canadian military graves.

On Saturday, Oct 29,  "All Souls Day",  the cemetery was open for visitors during the night.  Candles lit up the pathways and shrines were set up with candles and incense to honor the dead.  There was choir music,  the Carnival band, and music by a Asian musicians playing instruments made of bamboo.

It wasn't at all spooky wandering the candle-lit pathways.  Occasionally there was a pyre burning in a cauldron or a piece of timber.  There were adults and children, many of them visiting specific grave sites.  My friends and I wandered the labyrinth of tombstones and pathways, stopping now and then to light candles and read the inscriptions left on the shrines. 

It was a tasteful and nostalgic way of celebrating the Hallowe'en weekend.  Inside the cemetery office building tables were set up where you could make your own votive candles with materials supplied including flowers. 

I thought of my many friends and family members who have passed, several of them just this year.  It was a good way to remember and honor their memory.  I've been on the Ghost Tours of Vancouver bus trips which also stop at this cemetery and focus on the more sinister side of the graveyard sharing gruesome tales of old murders and accidents.  But wandering the tombstones by candlelight, listening to music, lighting votive offerings, seemed a much more meaningful way to celebrate the Hallowe'en weekend.