National Geographic: Egypt - Quest for Eternity Page #4

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In the time of Ramses

the most powerful deity of the living

was the sun god Amun-Re

He was patron of the city of Thebes

located on the Nile between

the first capital Nekhen,

and Abydos

On the east bank, where the sun rises

were temples dedicated to the sun god

karnak... and Luxor

On the west bank, where the sun

buries itself each day

was a complex of tombs where

royalty was buried

the Valley of the kings

and the Valley of the Queens

The Greek poet Homer was to

immortalize Thebes as

"the city of a hundred gates

where 400 heroes with their horse

and chariots pass through each

of these great gates."

While Ramses reigned

Thebes was splendid

He ordered beautiful additions

made to Luxor temple

gigantic statues, obelisks

and courts dedicated to the

glory of Amun-Re

But having endured 3,000 years

these monuments face destruction

in our time

from the effects of

increased agriculture

industrialization,

changing weather conditions

due in part to the Aswan High Dam

and even the tourists themselves

In 1924, in response to the

impending crisis

the Oriental Institute of

the University of chicago

established a permanent

headquarters in Egypt

called chicago House

it was founded by

Dr. James Henry Breasted

father of American Egyptology

who envisioned making a record of

all the endangered monuments of

ancient Egypt

Today chicago House is under

the direction of Dr. Lanny Bell

The scholars of chicago House

have undertaken

a monumental labor called

the Epigraphic survey

Over the past 50 years

the Oriental Institute

has published an epic series

of volumes

containing the results of the survey

Utilizing an ingenious combination

of photography and draftsmanship

the chicago House Egyptologists

create facsimile

drawings of the monuments' carved

and painted surfaces

the only record that will remain

when the hieroglyphs

and decorations

have disappeared forever

from the temples

As pharaoh succeeded pharaoh

it was common for them

to alter temples

taking credit for the work

of their predecessors

By interpreting successive decorations

the chicago House team is decoding

the history of Luxor temple

As the glory of pharaonic Egypt faded

people built houses inside the temple

Their debris buried much of it

for 2,000 years

When excavation started a hundred

years ago

the stone walls were suddenly

exposed to the air

since then, salts, leaching

out of the stone

combine with moisture in the air

creating crystals that slough off

taking the images with them.

The salt on the walls makes

our work urgent

The reliefs are being dissolved

so that within a period of 200 years

the temple will still stand

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