Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 7 - Return to Cairo

After another restful night at the Holy Family Hotel near Minya, we embarked on the three-hour return trip to Cairo.  This time, we took the modern highway that follows the west bank of the Nile (dark blue line.)

 

Once again, this is a modern freeway with three lanes in each direction and two more for truck traffic running parallel to it.

 

As we left the hotel turning northward, we passed by the large quarry area that produces the brilliant white limestone blocks that are seen in many rural area homes.  These are the modern versions of the talatat blocks that were quarried three thousand years ago from the same area to build Akhenaten's new capital city of Amarna.

 

  

 

Larger limestone blocks are finding their way to the "New Administrative Capital" under construction, thirty miles east of Cairo.

 

After crossing the Nile to the west side, we passed large stretches of agricultural land, including a nice looking vineyard.

  

 

 

Tomatoes were being shipped in trucks both large and small.

  

 

Garlic is usually only found moving by small truck. (Almost every Egyptian dinner meal includes a sauce with garlic and tomatoes)

 

And people also move by truck.

 

There are numerous houses of worship along the route, both churches and mosques.

 

 

 

For drivers on the road at prayer time, even small rest stops such as this one usually have a small mosque or a prayer area such as the one just to the left of the WC.

  

 

We soon passed the picturesque pyramid at Maidum which we had visited on a previous trip.

 

Reaching the Cairo administrative area, we paid another toll to finance the road construction.

 

The city continues to build apartments for its growing population and each year the building stretches further out.  Seeing the first glimpse of the pyramids on the Giza Plateau is always a welcome reminder that we are almost home.

  

 

Back at the apartment we were greeted by our building's cats who certainly missed us during the previous few days.  After quickly eating dinner, they joined me by the computer as I began loading the 1500 or so pictures from the trip.

    

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 6 - The Monkeys of Ashmunin and Hermopolis Magna

Following our visit to the Boundary Stela "A", we headed a few miles Northeast to the town of Ashmunin (also appearing as Ashmoun or Ashmunein). 

We passed through some interesting rural areas, then the town of Ashmunin.   It took about a half hour to cover the six or seven miles of bumpy road, maneuvering around donkey carts and sheep.

 

  

This road apparently does not get a lot of tourist traffic, so we seemed to attract a lot of attention, especially from the children.

Just beyond Ashmunin, we reached an open-air museum which houses the two large baboon statues (reconstructed in part) that represent the ancient Egyptian god, Thoth. 

 

  

 

 

The statues appear to hold some original hieroglyphic carvings.

 

Notice the two oval cartouches which appear to have been altered to eliminate a previous royal name.

After taking a few pictures with the baboons, we turned around and noticed the ruins of the ancient city of Hermopolis Magna behind us. There was only a half hour left before sunset so we didn't have time left in the day to visit the site, still the subject of continuing architectural digs. It is probably just as well since we later learned it is home to numerous snakes and scorpions.

 

As the sun set, we returned north toward Minya where we stopped for a delicious dessert at a "Pick & Go" in this modern town.

 

  

    

 

After that, we returned to the Holy Family Hotel via the west bank highway utilizing the ferry which we had observed at breakfast, to cross the river.

  

Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 5 - Tuna al-Gabal, Boundary Stela A

Near the entrance to Tuna al-Gabal, one of the Amarna boundary stelae, Stela "A", can be seen in the distance.  Of course, we were interested to get a close up look at this notable monument.

As we approached the stairway leading up to the boundary stela, we noticed some toppled signs, both at the base and the top.

The signs at the bottom appeared to be quite old and were, in fact, "retired" signs meant for the nearby necropolis of baboons and birds which we had skipped during the visit to the tombs described in the previous post.

  

 

It is a tough climb to the top due to the blowing sand deposited on the stairs. It's easy to see how entire buildings and monuments in Egypt can disappear over the years.

There was another pair of overturned information signs at the top which our helpful police escort stood up for me to take a photo.  

  

While both signs appear to have been painted over at some time, the Arabic version is fairly legible; the English side is very difficult to read.   Google Translate, applied to the Arabic side yields the following"

The boundary panel of the city of Akhetaton, one of fourteen faces established by the new god Akhenaten, the city of Anun, the political capital of Egypt in the period from 1350 AD, was inscribed on it by King Akhenaton and his wife, and his wife Neferini, worshiping the god Anun, the one, and the text in the roll of the two giants, the rest of the joy, and after Muawiyah, the dangerous religious and now Mr. Abu Halima, the other side has the son Ali al-K and the royals from Melin with her theological T Anun, Anun passed away - Ankhesen, Ya Anun, and from their daughters, Heri

1982

Somehow, Google Translate never quite satisfies my curiosity!

This boundary stela was first depicted for the general public in a drawing by Robert Hay in 1827:

In fairly recent times a protective roof was added; In 2009, smoked glass doors protected the remnants of the statues and stela when British photographer and blogger, Su Bayfield, took this picture in 2003.

We were lucky in 2024 to be free to browse and see the stela up close (under the watchful eyes of our police escort, of course.)

Naturally, I took quite a few pictures, especially of the stela and its hieroglyphics.

At the top of the stela Akhenaton, Nefertiti and their first two daughters are portrayed worshiping the sun god, Aton, in front of offering tables.

 

The hieroglyphic text below the royal family is largely eroded except for the upper left and lower right corners. This is apparently one of two royal proclamations that are repeated on the several boundary stelae.  This one states that Akhenaton does not plan to expand the city.

The full stela:

The Armana Project has a good explanation of the content of the various boundary stellae here.

Walking back down the stairs, the rocky cliffs on the eastern boundary of Amarna were barely visible in the distance.  

As we returned to our van, our path was littered with a large number of what appeared to be agate geodes. One had been cracked open.  Being a native Oregonian, I would like to have sawed a couple of the others in half to determine whether they might even be "thunder eggs".

  

More photos at our Flickr album, of course.