In November 2022, I spent a week at the very congenial Flower of Life guesthouse in Abydos with a travel companion from the UK. We had planned to explore the immediate area, with the addition of a side trip to the Sohag National Museum. So several visits to the wonderful temples of Sety I and Ramesses II, a glance down into the intriguing Osirion, and a meander around the lesser visited sites of Kom el-Sultan and Shunet el-Zebib were all on our hit list, along with a few hours in the ‘Rituals of Pilgrimage’ gallery at the museum. Not long after our arrival in Abydos, Ameer – the charming host of the guesthouse – suggested adding the rock-cut tombs at El-Hawawish to the itinerary. The tombs were part of the ancient necropolis of Akhmim, and had only recently opened to the public. It would also be an opportunity to revisit the colossal statues of Meritamun and Ramesses II that are located nearby. I quickly arranged for a local driver to take us to both sites, and a couple of days later Abdullah turned up – barely out of his teens, beaming, and wearing flip-flops – to drive us in his vintage Peugeot. It was a classic start to what was a momentous day.
As readers will probably be aware, travelling around Middle Egypt often comes with extra security in the form of police escorts, and the journey from Abydos to Akhmim was no exception. For security reasons, our journey was monitored and logged, and we were escorted from the boundary of Abydos village and back again. While staying at the guesthouse within the village itself, we had been allowed to walk around freely, and had met the chief security guard at the checkpoint located by the entrance to the Temple of Sety I. As we left the village, he asked us where we were heading, and told Abdullah to pull over while he made a few phone calls to his colleagues between Abydos and Akhmim. A few minutes later, he cheerfully waved us off. We had no police escort for the first part of our trip, but we were given one at the next checkpoint in El-Balyana, and we were handed over from team to team from there onwards. Without exception, each group of armed police was polite and friendly. Most travelled in their own vehicle ahead of us, and once or twice we were joined by an officer who squeezed into the back seat of our car. Once we had to stop at a roadside falafel stall, as the chief officer was hungry. He was so apologetic that he even offered to buy us a sandwich to say sorry for the delay!
The modern town of Akhmim is about 50 km north of Abydos, and the journey time is around two hours, including the time taken to change security escorts. In ancient times, Akhmim was called Ipu and was the capital of the ninth nome of Upper Egypt. It was a place of worship to the ithyphallic god Min, and a centre for weaving, as it still is today. The wealthy, but non-royal, family of Queen Tiye of the Eighteenth Dynasty are believed to have come from Akhmim, and archaeologists working in the area have made many discoveries linked to Ramesses II over the past 50 years. There is now good evidence to suggest that there was a very large temple built here during his reign. The only parts of that temple that can currently be visited by the general public are the two raised colossi of the king and his daughter (and Great Royal Wife) Meritamun, located in their own open-air museum.
