Of all the sites on the west bank, none can match the breathtaking panache of Deir el-Bahri. Set amidst a vast natural amphitheatre in the Theban Hills, the temple rises in imposing terraces, the shadowed verticals of its colonnades drawing power from the massive crags overhead. Its great ramps and courts look modern in their stark simplicity, but in ancient times would have been softened and perfumed by gardens of fragrant trees. Although its uppermost levels may still be off limits, the lower colonnades and chapels attest to a woman's will and a man's spite. Deir el-Bahri is the Arabic name for the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, the only woman to reign over Egypt as pharaoh (1503-1482BC). A daughter of Tuthmosis I, married to his successor Tuthmosis II, Hatshepsut was widowed before she could bear a son. Rather than accept relegation in favour of a secondary wife who had produced an heir, Hatshepsut made herself co-regent to the young Tuthmosis III and soon assumed absolute power.

When Tuthmosis came into his inheritance after her death, he defaced Hatshepsut's cartouches and images, consigning her memory to oblivion until her deeds were rediscovered by archaeologists. In ancient times an avenue of sphinxes probably ran from the Nile to the Lower Terrace, which was planted with myrrh trees and cooled by fountains. The Middle Terrace once also boasted myrrh trees, which Hatshepsut personally acquired from the Land of Punt in a famous expedition that's depicted along one of the square-pillared colonnades flanking the ramp to the uppermost level. Together with the Birth reliefs behind the other colonnade, and scenes in the chapels at either end, these are the highlights of her temple.

The Valley of the Kings

Secluded amidst the bone-dry Theban Hills, removed from other parts of the Necropolis, the Valley of the Kings was intended as the ultimate insurance policy on life eternal. These secretive tombs of New Kingdom pharaohs were planned to preserve their mummies and funerary impedimenta for eternity. While most failed the test, their dramatic shafts and phantasmagorical murals are truly amazing. The descent into the underworld and the fear of the robbers who braved the traps is still imaginable in the less crowded, darker tombs.

Royal burials in the "Place of Truth" date from the early XVIII to the late XX Dynasty. The first to be buried here was probably Tuthmosis I (1525-1512BC). Until the time of Ramses I, queens and royal children were entombed here. The tombs were hewn and decorated by skilled craftsmen who dwelt at nearby Deir el-Medina. Work began early in the pharaoh's reign and never exceeded six years duration; even so, some tombs were hastily pressed into service, or usurped by later kings. Broadly speaking, there are two types: the convoluted, split-level ones of the early XVIII rulers such as Tuthmosis I and Amenophis II, and the straighter, longer tombs of the XIX-XX Dynasties.