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Embark on a 5-day journey that unveils the gems of Cairo and Luxor. Witness the iconic Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, delve into the treasures of the Egyptian Museum, explore the historic charm of Old Coptic Cairo, and immerse yourself in the vibrant bazaars of Khan Al Khalili in Islamic Cairo. Venture southward to Luxor, where you’ll encounter the magnificent Hatshepsut Temple, explore the mystique of the Valley of the Kings, and stand in awe before the grandeur of Karnak and Luxor Temples.

Embark on an enchanting 11-day journey through Spiritual Egypt, a voyage that will lead you from Cairo to Giza, Luxor, Aswan, and back to Cairo. Prepare to be captivated by breathtaking landscapes, intriguing history, modern cityscapes, and an inner odyssey of self-discovery. This expedition will offer you meditation, initiation, sacred sounds, healing, and a profound reconnection to ancient wisdom, our ancestors, the cosmos, and the elements. These transformative elements await you as you uncover the depths of this spiritual adventure.

(1567-1085) consisted of the 18-20 dynasties, it is sometimes known as the Egyptian Empire, it began with the expulsion of the Hyksos rulers from the eastern delta, where they had their capital Avaris this was achieved by the native Theban rulers of the 17 dynasty (1650-1567) who had been governing during the second intermediate period in a subordinate capacity.
Not only were the Hyksos defeated in Egypt but they were pursued into Asia and totally destroyed.
The 18 Dynasty (1567-1320 BC) produced a number of very able rulers who reasserted Egyptian control over the whole country and in western Asia to the Euphrates and Sinto the Sudan. Know as Kush, as far as the fourth cataract Kush was important for its supply copper and stone .
UNDER HATSHEPSUT
(1503) B-C, Who reigned first as a regent queen and then as a king in her own right, the Egyptian artistic revival began. Her architect, Senenmut, built her a splendid mortuary temple at Thebes and this was followed by a series of temple and tombs built by the reigning kings. Her nephew, Thutmose III
Was the greatest conqueror that Egypt was to produce.
UNDER AMENHOTEP III
(1417) B-C, the Empire reached its zenith, and though he did not conduct any active campaigns he was a great hunter an builder, the country was settled and fairly prosperous that he was able to devote his attention to building the temple at Luxor and a vast mortuary temple , now destroy save for the colossi of Memnon .
AMENHOTEP IV
(1379) who took the name Akhenaton, his city Akhetaton “the horizon of the Aton” here he devoted him self to the worship of the Aton, a form of sun god shown as a disk with the rays ending its hands. This was not a new deity but had been know from the old kingdom, although not as a royal god. While Akhenaton and wife Nefertiti stayed at Akhetaton, the empire declined. Towards the end of his reign, Akhenaton took his brother Smenkhkare as co-regent and sent him to Thebes from Akhetaton , but he did not live more than a year or two . Akhenaton died leaving Tutankhamen, son of Amenhotep III and queen Tiy to assume the throne.
The boy king reigned for about 10 years and died, leaving in his tomb an unsurpassed treasure, the last king of the dynasty, Horemheb , originally a general command at Memphis , was not a royal blood , although he may have married one of the royal princess to legitimize his position he did much to restore Egypt .
THE 19 DYNASTY
(1320-1200 B-C) was also not of royal blood, its founders had been generals under the last rulers of the 18 dynasty. Ramesses I, the first king was already elderly when became to the throne and only reigned for two years.
His son Seti I (1318) B-C was in the prime of life he restored Egypt’s position by campaigns in western Asia and by a building.
His son Ramesses II 1304 B-C, who came to the throne after a co-regency with his father, was also a great builder, also he carried out further campaigns in western Asia, there are varying accounts of the battle of kadesh , which Ramesses II fought against the Hittites , and announced as a great victory .The Hittites claimed success and the battle , in which Ramesses II showed consider able bravery but not much judgment, was probably drawn .
The Hittites problem was not settled until Ramesses II married one of the Hittite princesses and concluded a peace treaty 21 years later.
Ramesses II was followed by Merneptah (1236 B-C) one of his many sons, a man already in middle age.
20 DYNASTY
The only memorable king of which was the second ruler of the dynasty, RamessesIII(1198) B-C .
The later kings of the 20 dynasty all, called Ramesses Two wards the end the power of king was shared by the priests of Amun .
The late dynastic periods (1085-332) B-C sometimes called the third intermediate period was, on the whole, a period of decline, with occasional flashes of energy, as in the 22 dynasty (945B-C-715) these later rulers controlled Egypt mainly from delta where the capital was moved from one city to another, while the high priests, the later priests of Amun, usually of the royal family controlled upper Egypt.
Under 25 dynasty (747B-C 656) Egypt was invaded by Assyrians and both the Thebes and Memphis were sacked, there was slight revival in the 26 dynasty (664-525B-C) but more on the artistic than on the political side.
Large foreign colonies developed and Egypt for the first time opened its borders to the Greeks who settled in the delta, many Greeks mercenaries joined the Egyptian army.
Nearly a century later Psmatic III (526 B-C) the last king of the dynasty, was defeated by the Persians at Pelusium .
Memphis and the whole Egypt became a Persian satraps the 27 dynasty (525-44B-C) was composed of Persian, not native ruler sand, although there was a brief attempt at rebellion in the 29/30 dynasties (393-343B-C).
Egypt really remained under effective Persian control until the arrival of alexander in 332 B-C.
THE GREEK PERIOD- PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY
The Ptolemies (332-30 B-C) after defeating the Persians, Alexander the great entered Egypt late in 332 B-C and appointed Ptolemy soter , one of his Macedonian generals , as satrap one of the most important decisions taken by Alexander was the foundation of the new capital named , after himself , Alexandria This became a great Hellenistic city with a good port and the hub of Greek influence in Egypt.It developed as a center of learning with a museum and library unequalled in the Ancient world.
Ptolemy governed until the death of Alexander nine years later, at first, also deputized for Philip Arrhideous and Alexander IV. Subsequently he assumed the crown and founded the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt for 300 years until it was conquered by the Romans.
Throughout this period they did restoring and rebuilding earlier Egyptian temples in the Pharaonic style, some of these, like Dandaratemple , Philae temple , Edfu temple , are still excellently preserved .
The Ptolemies also developed the Fayyum region, reclaiming the land and reorganizing the crop rotation.
The Greek element adopted the worship of Egyptian Gods, equating them with

Hatshepsut is distinguished in history for being one of the most successful pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Learn about her achievements, her life and her death …
Hatshepsut was the Egyptian King Thutmose I and his wife queen Ahmose only child, she was one of the greatest queens and the second who ruled ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt. She was the second confirmed female pharaoh who ruled Egypt, the first one was sobekneferu. Hatshepsut take over the rule of Egypt in 1478 BC.
Hatshepsut and her sister Nefrubity, was the daughter of Thutmose II and his wife Ahmose. Thutmose I was a warrior king who launched a successful wars into Nubia and Syria expanding the egyptian territory rule.
Hatshepsut which means” foremost of Noble Women” or “ first among noble women”, ( royal name, Ma’at-ka-re, translated as “spirit of harmony)
Hatshepsut is distinguished in history for being one of the most successful pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. She was also a woman and is generally regarded as one of the first female historical figures whose exploits are known to modern historians. Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty during the New Kingdom. The dates of her reign are debated by historians, but she is thought to have ruled Egypt for 22 years from 1470 to 1458 BC.

She became Egypt queen when she married her half-brother, Thutmose II when she was 12. Being a Pharaoh, Hatshepsut expanded Egyptian trade and establish promising building projects, most famous one was the temple of Deir el-Bahri. Her reign was the longest female pharaoh reigning, ruing Egypt for more than 20 years in the 15th century. beginning in 1478 BC, she served as a queen alongside her husband.
During her reign Hatshepsut was successful in re-establishing trade relationships that had been disrupted by a foreign occupation of Egypt by the Hyksos people. It is this success in economic matters that led to her being regarded as such a successful ruler.
She also Built a sea voyage to punt land, a place located on the northeast coast of Africa, where they used to trade with inhabitants bringing back “marvels”
The most famous of these trading relationships was with the land of Punt (placed by historians in central Africa), an accomplishment immortalized in the reliefs of her mortuary temple on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor (ancient Thebes). As a result of Hatshepsut’s efforts, Egypt enjoyed a period of economic prosperity during and immediately following her rule.
 

Her era was peaceful and she ordered to build the great temple of Deir el-Bahari at Luxor, Hatshepsut was also a prolific builder. The number of building projects undertaken and the elevation of architectural style during her rule is evidence of the economic prosperity that Egypt enjoyed during her reign, as well as her desire to immortalize her influence as the ruler of Egypt.
She built hundreds of buildings throughout the Nile Valley and there was a huge amount of statuary produced with her likeness. By far the most famous building attributed to Hatshepsut is her mortuary temple, known as Deir Al-Bahiri or Hatshepsut Temple. The unique collonaded design of this temple is still admired by art historians as unrivaled until the rise of Classical Greece.
HATSHEPSUT’S MUMMY
In 2007, archeologists announced that Hatshepsut’s mummy had been identified in tomb 60 KV in the Valley of the kings, a CT scan of a single tooth in  box with hatshepsut’s name on it matched a tooth socket in the mummy’s jaw. Queen Hatshepsut was around 50 when she died, suffering from diabetes and wearing black and red nail polish.
Tiny writes along with some post-mortem destruction of her images describes her health problems, history still address her as a successful ancient egyptian pharaoh.
Queen Hatshepsut was a great pharaoh, Explore her heritage through one of our Egypt Tours !
HATSHEPSUT TEMPLE – DESCRIPTION
No doubt that the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Dayr Al- Bahari in Luxor is the most famous of Egyptian temples, especially after the discovery of the temple of X 1th dynasty beside it .
All the credit of the design of this temple ought to go the architect of the X 1th dynasty and not to Senmut. The soul idea which Senmutadopted from the X 1th dynasty building was that of a terrace.
The name of Dier el Bahari which is applied to the site means “the northern monastery” which is not referring to anything ancient but to the Christian monastery which was actually erected on top of the site of the temple dating to about the seventh century AD.
However the ancient name of the site was “Zosret” or the “Holy” and when Queen Hatshepsut erected her temple beside the X 1th dynasty construction it was called “Zosret Zosru” or the Holy of the Holies and the two temples together were called “Zosreti” or the “Two hollies “.

The reason of building the temple, When Hatshepsut decided to build this temple, she had more than one reason in mind.
– She wanted it to be the “paradise of Amon” which was dedicated to him but like other temples in Egypt it has a collection of other gods as well so there was a chapel for “Anubis” and for “Hathor”.
– It was intended to serve as a mortuary temple for the founder and her family. Indeed, she first intended to have her tomb which is in the Valley of the Kings, underneath the site of this great temple, but after they started to cut her tomb through the cliffs they found that the rock turned to be bad, so they cancelled the whole idea.
– The third most important reason for building this temple, is that Hatshepsut wanted to emphasis her legitimate right in claiming the throne by creating that theory of her divine birth, and choosing of coarse the patron-god of Thebes and the growing empire “Amon Ra” to be her father.
This very same idea was repeated later on by Amenhotep III in his reliefs in the Temple of Luxor.
DESTRUCTION CAUSED TO THE TEMPLE
This temple suffered more than one cause of destruction.
First the family troubles which existed between Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.
The temple is certainly belonging to Hatshepsut but the name of her father Thutmose I is found there, together with brother and husband’s name ThutmoseII also exists there. However, the name of her nephew Thutmose III also exists here

KING OF EGYPT
Alternative Titles: King Tut, Tutankhamen, Tutankhamon, Tutankhaten
Tutankhamun, also spelled Tutankhamen and Tutankhamon, original name Tutankhaten, byname King Tut, (flourished 14th century BCE), king of ancient Egypt (reigned 1333–23 BCE), known chiefly for his intact tomb, KV 62 (tomb 62), discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. During his reign, powerful advisers restored the traditional Egyptian religion and art, both of which had been set aside by his predecessor Akhenaton, who had led the “Amarna revolution.”
The parentage of Tutankhaten—as he was originally known—remains uncertain, although a single black fragment originating at Akhetaton (Tell el-Amarna), Akhenaton’s capital city, names him as a king’s son in a context similar to that of the princesses of Akhenaton. Medical analysis of Tutankhaten’s mummy shows that he shares very close physical characteristics with the mummy discovered in KV 55 (tomb 55) of the Valley of the Kings. Some scholars identify these remains as those of Smenkhkare, who seems to have been coregent with Akhenaton in the final years of his reign; others have suggested the mummy may be Akhenaton himself.
With the death of Smenkhkare, the young Tutankhaten became king, and was married to Akhenaton’s third daughter, Ankhesenpaaton (later known as Ankhesenamen), probably the eldest surviving princess of the royal family. Because at his accession he was still very young, the elderly official Ay, who had long maintained ties with the royal family, and the general of the armies, Horemheb, served as Tutankhaten’s chief advisers.

By his third regnal year Tutankhaten had abandoned Tell el-Amarna and moved his residence to Memphis, the administrative capital, near modern Cairo. He changed his name to Tutankhamun and issued a decree restoring the temples, images, personnel, and privileges of the old gods. He also began the protracted process of restoring the sacred shrines of Amon, which had been severely damaged during his father’s rule. No proscription or persecution of the Aton, Akhenaton’s god, was undertaken, and royal vineyards and regiments of the army were still named after the Aton.
In addition to a palace built at Karnak and a memorial temple in western Thebes, both now largely vanished, the chief extant monument of Tutankhamun is the Colonnade of the Temple of Luxor, which he decorated with reliefs depicting the Opet festival, an annual rite of renewal involving the king, the three chief deities of Karnak (Amon, Mut, and Khons), and the local form of Amon at Luxor. Tutankhamun unexpectedly died in his 19th year. In 2010 scientists found traces of malaria parasites in his mummified remains and posited that malaria in combination with degenerative bone disease may have been the cause of death. Whatever the case, he died without designating an heir and was succeeded by Ay. He was buried in a small tomb hastily converted for his use in the Valley of the Kings (his intended sepulchre was probably taken over by Ay). Like other rulers associated with the Amarna period—Akhenaton, Smenkhkare, and Ay—he was to suffer the posthumous fate of having his name stricken from later king lists and his monuments usurped, primarily by his former general, Horemheb, who subsequently became king. Although Tutankhamun’s tomb shows evidence of having been entered and briefly plundered, the location of his burial was clearly forgotten by the time of the 20th dynasty (1190–1075 BCE), when craftsmen assigned to work on the nearby tomb of Ramses VI built temporary stone shelters directly over its entrance. The tomb was preserved until a systematic search of the Valley of the Kings by the English archaeologist Howard Carter revealed its location in 1922.

Inside his small tomb, the king’s mummy lay within a nest of three coffins, the innermost of solid gold, the two outer ones of gold hammered over wooden frames. On the king’s head was a magnificent golden portrait mask, and numerous pieces of jewelry and amulets lay upon the mummy and in its wrappings. The coffins and stone sarcophagus were surrounded by four text-covered shrines of hammered gold over wood, which practically filled the burial chamber. The other rooms were crammed with furniture, statuary, clothes, chariots, weapons, staffs, and numerous other objects. But for his tomb, Tutankhamun has little claim to fame; as it is, he is perhaps better known than any of his longer-lived and better-documented predecessors and successors. His renown was secured after the highly popular “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibit traveled the world in the 1960s and ’70s. The treasures are housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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QUEEN OF EGYPT
Nefertiti, also called Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, (flourished 14th century BCE), queen of Egypt and wife of King Akhenaton (formerly Amenhotep IV; reigned c. 1353–36 BCE), who played a prominent role in the cult of the sun god known as the Aton.
Nefertiti’s parentage is unrecorded, but, as her name translates as “A Beautiful Woman Has Come,” early Egyptologists believed that she must have been a princess from Mitanni (Syria). There is strong circumstantial evidence, however, to suggest that she was the Egyptian-born daughter of the courtier Ay, brother of Akhenaton’s mother, Tiy. Although nothing is known of Nefertiti’s parentage, she did have a younger sister, Mutnodjmet. Nefertiti bore six daughters within 10 years of her marriage, the elder three being born at Thebes, the younger three at Tell el-Amarna. Two of her daughters became queens of Egypt.

The earliest images of Nefertiti come from the Theban tombs of the royal butler Parennefer and the vizier Ramose, where she is shown accompanying her husband. In the Theban temple known as Hwt-Benben (“Mansion of the Benben Stone”; the benben was a cult object associated with solar ritual), Nefertiti played a more prominent role, usurping kingly privileges in order to serve as a priest and offer to the Aton. A group of blocks recovered from Karnak (Luxor) and Hermopolis Magna (Al-Ashmunayn) shows Nefertiti participating in the ritual smiting of the female enemies of Egypt. She wears her own unique headdress—a tall, straight-edged, flat-topped blue crown.
By the end of Akhenaton’s fifth regnal year, the Aton had become Egypt’s dominant national god. The old state temples were closed and the court transferred to a purpose-built capital city, Akhetaton (Amarna). Here Nefertiti continued to play an important religious role, worshipping alongside her husband and serving as the female element in the divine triad formed by the god Aton, the king Akhenaton, and his queen. Her sexuality, emphasized by her exaggeratedly feminine body shape and her fine linen garments, and her fertility, emphasized by the constant appearance of the six princesses, indicate that she was considered a living fertility goddess. Nefertiti and the royal family appeared on private devotional stelae and on the walls of nonroyal tombs, and images of Nefertiti stood at the four corners of her husband’s sarcophagus.
Some historians, having considered her reliefs and statuary, believe that Nefertiti may have acted as queen regnant—her husband’s coruler rather than his consort. However, the evidence is by no means conclusive, and there is no written evidence to confirm her political status.

Soon after Akhenaton’s 12th regnal year, one of the princesses died, three disappeared (and are also presumed to have died), and Nefertiti vanished. The simplest inference is that Nefertiti also died, but there is no record of her death and no evidence that she was ever buried in the Amarna royal tomb. Early Egyptologists, misunderstanding the textual evidence recovered from the Maru-Aten sun temple at Amarna, deduced that Nefertiti had separated from Akhenaton and had retired to live either in the north palace at Amarna or in Thebes. This theory is now discredited. Others have suggested that she outlived her husband, took the name Smenkhkare, and ruled alone as female king before handing the throne to Tutankhamen. There is good evidence for a King Smenkhkare, but the identification in the 20th century of a male body buried in the Valley of the Kings as Tutankhamen’s brother makes it unlikely that Nefertiti and Smenkhkare were the same person.

Nefertiti’s body has never been discovered. Had she died at Amarna, it seems inconceivable that she would not have been buried in the Amarna royal tomb. But the burial in the Valley of the Kings confirms that at least one of the Amarna burials was reinterred at Thebes during Tutankhamen’s reign. Egyptologists have therefore speculated that Nefertiti may be one of the unidentified bodies recovered from the caches of royal mummies in the Valley of the Kings. In the early 21st century attention has focused on the “Younger Lady” found in the tomb of Amenhotep II, although it is now accepted that this body is almost certainly too young to be Nefertiti.
Amarna was abandoned soon after Akhenaton’s death, and Nefertiti was forgotten until, in 1912, a German archaeological mission led by Ludwig Borchardt discovered a portrait bust of Nefertiti lying in the ruins of the Amarna workshop of the sculptor Thutmose. The bust went on display at a museum in Berlin in the 1920s and immediately attracted worldwide attention, causing Nefertiti to become one of the most recognizable and, despite a missing left eye, most beautiful female figures from the ancient world.
If you want to enjoy a fabulous vacation where you will visit all these historical monuments and discover the Ancient Egyptian Civilization, then you can explore our Egypt tours, Egypt tour packages or Nile cruises and choose your own journey.