19th November 2013
Mt. Meretseger - Re-visited - West Bank - Luxor
I decided it was a good day to climb Mt. Meretseger. It was a clear day for photos and not too hot.
I took the climb slowly and mainly kept to the steps to the top Police Station. I had my trusty cola with me and stopped for regular breaks to enjoy the view from different perspectives.
I got to the top as far as I could go; the next stage was to climb over some rocks to get to the summit. I have been at this point before but because of the height, I was not brave enough to get over it. I gathered some courage and went along a pathway; nothing more than a goat track and less than half a metre wide and a sheer drop off from it. I was told there was a way around to the left that will lead me to the summit. I got along this goat track, not that I would think that goats would be up here or crazy enough to walk this path. The track leads nowhere but another climb up over some rocks. Then, vertigo hit me and I had to abandon that attempt.
Nevertheless, the views from where I was are stunning to say the least. You see things from up here that you do not from ground level, such as, The Tomb Workers Way Camp towards the Kings Valley and the Ptah Shrine towards the Queens Valley. The views of the Kings Valley, Hatshepsut, Dra Abu El Naga, Asasif, Tomb Workers Way Camp, Sheik Abd El Qurna, Ramesseum, Medina, Malqata and St. Tawdors Monastery off to the south towards Shelwit can only be seen better from a balloon flight.
Mt. Meretseger - Re-visited - West Bank - Luxor
I decided it was a good day to climb Mt. Meretseger. It was a clear day for photos and not too hot.
I took the climb slowly and mainly kept to the steps to the top Police Station. I had my trusty cola with me and stopped for regular breaks to enjoy the view from different perspectives.
I got to the top as far as I could go; the next stage was to climb over some rocks to get to the summit. I have been at this point before but because of the height, I was not brave enough to get over it. I gathered some courage and went along a pathway; nothing more than a goat track and less than half a metre wide and a sheer drop off from it. I was told there was a way around to the left that will lead me to the summit. I got along this goat track, not that I would think that goats would be up here or crazy enough to walk this path. The track leads nowhere but another climb up over some rocks. Then, vertigo hit me and I had to abandon that attempt.
Nevertheless, the views from where I was are stunning to say the least. You see things from up here that you do not from ground level, such as, The Tomb Workers Way Camp towards the Kings Valley and the Ptah Shrine towards the Queens Valley. The views of the Kings Valley, Hatshepsut, Dra Abu El Naga, Asasif, Tomb Workers Way Camp, Sheik Abd El Qurna, Ramesseum, Medina, Malqata and St. Tawdors Monastery off to the south towards Shelwit can only be seen better from a balloon flight.
Mt. Meretseger.
The Mountain peak was venerated as a major deity of the Necropolis to whom Hymns were written and Shrines dedicated. See (Ptah Shrine Article)
Meretseger, Goddess of Punishment and Mercy, Protectress of the Necropolis Under the Peak of the West.
Meretseger was a New Kingdom local Goddess of the necropolis at Waset (Thebes) She guarded the deceased in their tombs from tomb robbers and criminals in the area.
She was shown as a Cobra with female head or a female with Cobra’s head and sometimes as a coiled snake. She was closely associated with Hathor and the Pyramid-shaped peak of Mt. Meretseger; as known today. Ancient name (Meretseger) “She Who Loves Silence” comes from. In respect, she was also known as her dwelling place “The Peak of the West”
She was a protective deity, but was also greatly feared. The workmen of the necropolis left numerous stelae dedicated to her. They believed she would strike down anyone who desecrated a tomb as well as anyone who committed a crime or broke an oath. It was thought that she could cause immediate blindness or inflicts a snake or scorpion bite on the guilty party. However, she was merciful and would cure anyone who repented and promised to atone for his or her actions. For example, a worker named Neferabu recorded that Meretseger had punished him for his sins. However, he confessed and did his best to make amends and the goddess forgave him and cured him of his affliction.
Neferabu dedicated a stelae to her in which he describes his punishment by the goddess and her forgiveness:
Made by the servant in the Place-of-Truth, Neferabu, justified.
[I was] an ignorant man and foolish,
Who knew not good from evil;
I did the transgression against the Peak,
And she taught a lesson to me.
I was in her hand by night as by day,
I sat on bricks like the woman in labor,
I called to the wind, it came not to me,
I libated to the Peak of the West, great of strength,
And to every god and goddess.
I called upon my Mistress,
I found her coming to me as sweet breeze;
She was merciful to me,
Having made me see her hand.
She returned to me appeased,
She made my malady forgotten;
For the Peak of the West is appeased,
If one calls upon her.
These notions of "sin" and "repentance" were not common in Ancient Egypt. They believed in Ma'at (balance or order) and chaos rather than "good" and "evil" and no other deity rewarded atonement and punished sin in this manner.
Her worship was centered on the city of Waset, and the village of the workmen at Deir el Medina, during the New Kingdom. When the royal tombs there were abandoned during the 21st Dynasty, the worship of Meretseger died out.