Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Tombs of the Ministers

Relief from the tomb of Maya, the treasurer of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, newly opened to the public in Egypt. Tutankhamen was of course very young when he inherited the throne, and he was deeply involved in tense family politics and arcane religious disputes, so we have to assume that his top officials did most of the real governing. The tomb of Tutankhamen's leading general, Horemheb, is also now open for visitors (below).

Too bad nobody is visiting Egypt. If you have the money, I suggest you go now; the turmoil has eased off, and with tourism way down you will miss the crowds. I went to Greece during the first Gulf War, when fear of terrorism kept many people away, and it was a great experience. My mother and I were the only tourists at Tiryns when we visited, and there were only about 20 people at Mycenae when we visited there.

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