Nile Cruise - carvings
The carvings on the temple walls usually showed scenes of gods blessing people. Here, Thoth, the ibis-headed god and Horus, the falcon-headed god are pouring something on somebody. These carvings are raised out of the stone. Elsewhere, the carvings were etched into the stone.
Mohammed our guide showed us where Rameses II had often tried to erase the "cartouches" or name carvings of earlier rulers and replace them with his own, which he would have etched so deeply that nobody could scratch it out like he had done. The people would often hold sacred symbols like the ankh, shaped a bit like a cross, and hieroglyphics (picture symbols) would explain what was happening. Some hieroglyphics showed detailed calendars meaning that the Egyptians had quite an advanced knowledge of the movement of the stars, the seasons and maths. All the carvings are very well proportioned so that everything fits into its proper place on a wall. Where the surfaces were protected from the sun and the weather, you can see that the carvings were often brightly and beautifully painted as well.
