The first section gives an introduction of general topics related to the Egypt of today. Included are addendums added years later to describe the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 that followed our trip by a matter of weeks.
The second section is divided into the most important empires of Egyptian history in their chronological order. The journal entries of our travels through the country are not in our itinerary’s chronological order. Instead - descriptions of our site visits are woven into the historical empire sections with pictures and specific site notations.
So travel through Egypt’s historical past with us as modern-day guides. John and Kathy (Gray) McClain, Kay Ellen Gilmour, and Lois Olive Gray
Left- Right: John - Kay - Lois - Kathy
Introduction
A powerhouse of a visit! Egypt's history alone is so overwhelming that it is difficult to begin to digest: thousands of years from Narmer (the first Pharaoh to unite upper and lower Egypt into one country about 4000 BC) to the intriguing society that modern Egypt presents. Pyramids and tombs five thousand years old, with many carvings and wall paintings as clear and vibrant as when they were created. Village life along the Nile proceeding as it has for thousands of years against the backdrop of ancient temples and storied agricultural practices dating back to the Pharaohs.
And then to see from the airplane the tiny and vulnerable green strip (only 4% to 7% of the country) of viable space for humans along the Nile with the implacable desert stretching out to both east and west as far as we could see. How did the ancient Egyptians create such a complex and lasting civilization on such tenuous ground? What manner of men were these amazing Pharaohs like Khufu, Amenhotep III, Akhenaton, and Ramses the Great? What powers did their panoply of gods and goddesses bestow upon them? How did their strong belief in an afterlife give them such vision and purpose for their accomplishments on earth?
I cannot pretend to have gathered all the answers to these and other questions this trip of discovery raised, but I have to admit that I remain totally fascinated by this enduring culture and its many “stars!”
When I learned that Americans are a tiny minority (300,000 out of 12,000,000) of the visitors to Egypt annually, I felt saddened and eager to share my experiences in hopes that others of my fellow citizens will feel the pull of this amazing place and venture out to explore it.
Current Events
Before we discuss ancient Egypt and all its glories, however, I think it is appropriate to talk a bit about modern Egypt a very different place from the kingdom of the Pharaohs! Well, maybe not that different except for the “glory” part.
Modern Egyptians are still as dependent on the Nile River as their forebears. It's that annual inundation by the river in the lands surrounding it that gives Egypt a tiny portion of fertile land for agriculture. After all, though Egypt is the 30th largest country in the world in land mass (it is approximately 3 times the size of New Mexico), only 3% of it is arable and even livable. The old saying that Egypt is “the gift of the Nile” is still as true as ever. A total of 13,212 square miles is irrigated out of 384,345 square miles of total land mass: a pitiful percentage indeed. Today, the population of Egypt is much larger than that of ancient Egypt so the pressure on the Nile and the land is much more intense.
Whereas old Egypt was self-sufficient in food production, modern Egypt must import food, especially wheat, to feed its people. Today, tourism is the 2nd most important economic activity while in the past warfare with its attendant booty, captives, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and other semi-precious stones was the underpinning of the agricultural society. More intriguing is the fact that many of the farming techniques used by villagers along the Nile in the Upper Egypt direction are quite similar to the methods in use all those millennia ago. For instance, wells and winches look like the ones on the walls of antique tombs and temples and plows and yokes look the same as well.
In many ways, even the government of Egypt today is not that different from that of the Pharaohs. Though ostensibly a republic, Egypt is actually more like a kingdom. Hosni Mubarak has been in power since 1981 and is likely to remain so until he dies. At present he is grooming his son to take over when he leaves the presidency. However, he just announced on October 21, 2010, that he will be running for a 6th term. He was born, officially, in May 1928, making him 82 years old now. Of course, we saw no evidence of a pyramid or huge temple/tomb complex being built in preparation for him to secure his place in the afterlife. And the burial place for Anwar Sadat is modest even though very impressive. So there are obvious differences, but everyday Egyptians are probably as impotent in national affairs as they were in the time of Ramses the Great.
Since I have been delayed in completing this journal until January, I can record an astonishing, hopeful, frightening, and still in flux occurrence. The Egyptian people have been in outright rebellion against Mubarak since January 25, 2011. People of all social strata, religions, and from all parts of the country have begun massive demonstrations against Mubarak, calling for his ouster. So far, he has resisted, agreeing only to fire his cabinet. This clearly does not satisfy the people because they are continuing to defy his calls for night curfews and a halt to the demonstrations. More are joining the crowds and so far there have been 75+ deaths reported among the demonstrators.
January 30, 2011 (a Sunday) is the start of a new work week for the Egyptians and it is a matter of great interest whether or not the people who have jobs will return to them. Commentators believe that if they do disperse and return to work, Mubarak will have temporarily prevailed. If not, he is more likely to be toppled. At present the Army appears to be siding with the demonstrators since there have not been any real attempts to disband the thousands of people. The military is guarding the ancient treasures of the country, the Pyramids of Giza, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, Luxor, and other important archeological sites.
The latest information tonight (1/29/2011) concerns Mubarak's first ever appointment of a Vice-President, seen as an attempt to placate the people's calls for his immediate removal from office. It is unclear what Mubarak means by this appointment. And it has been said that people are not returning to work now that it is morning in Egypt.
There is an unfortunate amount of looting and crime in the anarchical situation and it appears that the military and ordinary citizens are working together to protect property and facilitate public safety. The most heartwarming pictures I have seen document the Army and citizens linking arms in the garden of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities and protecting that treasure house from looting and pillaging. Army tanks are also ringing the property outside the garden area. At present a fire is raging in a building next to the Museum and Doctor Zahi Hawass, First Minister of Antiquities, is fearful that the building's collapse could spread the fire to the Museum itself. The fire is currently being fought by both professionals and citizens.
Jan. 30 Update: the fire was evidently brought under control and the people of Egypt have not returned to work or halted their protests. If Mubarak goes, who will follow?
Jan. 31 The crowds are getting larger with a projected goal of reaching “Million Man Status.” It has also been reported in our press that talks are now taking place between Mubarak's new Vice-President and some of the apparent leaders of the uprising. What that will come to is another issue altogether. We can only wait and see, of course. Still there is little violence against the demonstrators and the ordinary people are still acting as their own militias to protect their neighborhoods and property. The Army still seems to be more on the side of the demonstrators than the government. Don't know if they crowds reached a million today but certainly there were more than before.
Feb. 1: Apparently Mubarak has announced that he will NOT seek re-election in September but work instead for a smooth transition from this point in time to the transfer of power after the elections. This concession follows the largest group of protesters yet in Tahrir Square today. Formal speech was supposed to further clarify Mubarak's intentions, promises, etc., to the country at large.
Feb. 2: Unfortunately things have gotten more violent now because it appears that the police who are loyal to Mubarak have dressed themselves in plainclothes and are calling themselves Pro-Mubarak demonstrators. They have come armed with weapons such as whips and boards and have been attacking the peaceful protesters. So far today, the casualties announced are 1 killed and 400 wounded. Where is the Army now? Perhaps the “colonels” need to come out and demand that Mubarak leave now and get the crowds to disburse and go back to more normal activities.
Feb. 3: The situation have deteriorated in Cairo since yesterday. There is more violence, looting and pillaging around other parts of the city, and the Army seems to have disappeared from the scene. There was a big apology from the new Prime Minister as he discussed the violence leashed upon the peaceful protesters by the Pro-Mubarak thugs. He promised a full investigation into the aggression perpetrated yesterday producing at least 8 deaths and many injuries, some of which required hospitalization. Even Egyptian and foreign journalists were physically attacked and some were taken in “protective custody.” There is no end to this demonstration in the foreseeable future.
Feb.4: The “Day of Leaving” in the words of the anti-Mubarak demonstrators. The leaders of the protest had announced that they wanted today to be the day that Mubarak would step down. It has been a much calmer day and the pro-Mubarak thugs have been kept out of the Tahrir Square so there has been little or no violence. Thousands of people, including families with children, are in the Square keeping vigil while negotiations are
going on behind the scene between Mubarak and many foreign governments including the USA trying to persuade Mubarak to leave now and do it with dignity and peace. Again, we just have to wait and see what transpires.
Feb. 5: Now the news from the Prime Minister is that he has conducted meetings with the protestors and now believes that “stability” is returning. In other words, he believes that Mubarak and the government will just wait the demonstrations out. He stated he feels the whole “uprising” will be over by Friday but which Friday? Can this be true? News this morning is sketchy at best on the topic.
Feb. 6: Banks opened yesterday and people queued peacefully to withdraw money and the situation stayed calm. The Muslim Brotherhood will be meeting with the new VicePresident in a move that had been denied only yesterday. The United Nations says that 300 people have been killed during the “peaceful” demonstrations. The government is urging people to return to work and let life get back to normal. It is unclear how much longer the protests can go on. Maybe Mubarak really can just wait them out!
Feb. 7-10: The people stayed in Tahrir Square; they remained peaceful but insistent that Mubarak must go. The military maintained vigilance and did not allow the demonstrators to be molested or attacked. But it was unclear what they would finally do to bring the crisis to an end. Late on the 10th, there was apparent confusion since the military seemed to announce that Mubarak would step down on that day and many world leaders, including Obama, thought the government would fall on Feb. 10. However, despite many announcements Mubarak stayed on.
Feb. 11: At noon in the US, it was announced that Mubarak had stepped down and flown with his family to Sharm-el-Sheik, a resort on the Red Sea where he has a resort to himself. The outpouring of joy, relief, jubilation, thanksgiving, and hope was touching to see in the Square as the Egyptians celebrated. Amazing to see that a peaceful demonstration by ordinary people, even though it lasted from Jan. 25 to Feb. 11, had brought down a dictatorial government! Maybe Gandhi's methods still can prevail in the modern world. What a miracle! Now we have to hope and pray that the Egyptians can bring this confrontation and victory to fruition in a real democracy of and for the Egyptian people.
Note: At the conclusion of the formal demonstrations, it has been announced that 17 artifacts disappeared from the Museum during the standoffs. Two of them were connected with King Tut, but it appears that the great bulk of treasures was unharmed and remains safe in the national treasure-trove.
Note: The day after Mubarak's departure, the demonstrators themselves, helped and guarded by the military, carried out the cleanup in Tahrir Square. Surely this testifies to the responsibility and civic duty of the thousands of people who brought down Mubarak peaceably. May they continue on the road to a fair and just society for all the Egyptians.
But Mubarak is not nicknamed Pharaoh; that appellation is accorded to Doctor Zahi Hawass, the powerful Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. This renowned Egyptologist jealously and rightfully guards the magnificent heritage of ancient Egypt from further plundering, theft, desecration, or exploitation. Indeed, he IS the modern Pharaoh of old Egypt.
There are 78,866,635 Egyptians living today on that narrow strip of land along the Nile and in the Nile delta, making Egypt the 16th most populous nation in the world. It is estimated that during all the millennia of ancient Egypt no more than 1,000,000 people lived there at any one time. Today, Egypt is a young country with a median age of 24. Life expectancy is an average of 72 years with women outliving men by about 5 years. It is believed that life lasted no more than 40 years for most ancient Egyptians though there were some very long-lived Pharaohs like Pepi I, Amenhotep, and Ramses the Great, these men making it into their late 80s and early 90s!
The ethnicity of most residents of this country is labeled Egyptian (99.6%) and the religion most practiced is Islam (somewhere between 85 and 90%) with the rest being Coptic Christians. National ID cards are required in Egypt and religion is a pertinent identifying label since Muslim men are not allowed to marry non-Muslims. The number of Jews remaining in Egypt was 55 during the time we visited; about 35 live in Alexandria and 20 in Cairo. Christians are not legally persecuted or discriminated against in this country where Islam is the state-supported religion.
The literacy rate shows the second class citizenship accorded to Egypt's women: 83% per cent of men are considered literate but only 60% of women. A strange figure when considered against ancient Egypt's culture in which women had more rights than in any other group of people in the ancient world. Women could buy and sell property then, they could divorce their husbands, they could even study to be scribes so they were literate.
And of course, in the royal class, women were very powerful as leaders, mothers, and regents, and at least one woman became Pharaoh in her own right and actually ruled as a woman, not a male impersonator (Hatshepsut, 5th ruler in the 18th Dynasty from 1479 to 1457).
At least 20% of Egypt's citizens today live below the established poverty line and there is a huge divide between rich people and poor ones. There is only a very small middle class and 10% of the citizens control the vast amount of the country's riches, resources, land, and everything else. That may not be so different from ancient times when there were three classes: the royals who were immensely powerful in every way, the merchants and craftsmen in the middle, and the peasants at the bottom of the pyramid. There is no real tradition of either democracy or capitalism in Egypt.
The capital city of ancient Egypt moved about at the whim of the Pharaohs and even of Alexander the Great, but the current capital city is clearly the biggest city in the country, Cairo. This huge metropolis contains 22 million of Egypt's people. It is spread out enormously and it is congested, smoggy, dirty, and still vibrant with street life, night life, great restaurants, good hotels, amazing houses of worship, and the looming presence of the Great Pyramids hovering above and so near to downtown. We were really amazed to see that the Great Pyramid of Giza is clearly visible in many parts of the city, rather like Mt. Rainier so clear outside of Seattle! The mountain and the pyramid might be near each other in age well, not really, but they are both staggering backdrops.
Our guide warned us about the traffic in Cairo and if anything his rather outrageous comments turned out to be understatements. He told us that the white lines in the streets are merely suggestions which no one heeds, that traffic lights are non-existent, that most drivers never take a driving test or possess a license to operate a vehicle, that we would share the roads with horse-drawn buggies, heavily laden burros, and pedestrians who must take life-threatening chances to get anywhere. The moving
vehicles would often get so close to each other that only the proverbial coat of paint separated them. Yet we never saw any contact. But the most amazing thing about all this was the fact that the traffic did actually move despite all this and that we never saw an accident of any sort. Not only that, the traffic flowed without constant horn blowing, screeching brakes or shrieking tires. However, it did move ever so slowly! Trips of a few blocks would take half an hour or more. To drive across the city took much longer. Yet, like the drivers in India, the Egyptians were polite and considerate road rage is not a big problem here even though driving a vehicle is frustrating and frightening. But before we could begin to feel relatively benign about Cairo traffic, we were told many are killed in traffic accidents each year, more pedestrians than drivers or passengers in cars or trucks!
As congested as are the roads however the place where we suffered the most claustrophobia due to the enormous population of Cairo was the prestigious, must-bevisited National Museum of Cairo the home of so much of Egypt's archeological treasure. It had to have been 100 degrees inside when we visited and there is no airconditioning! The crowds had to move as one organism because there was simply no space to be called “personal”. Of course, most of these people were tourists rather than natives and our guide told us we were not seeing it at its most crowded since we were not here at high season. I cannot even imagine how any more people could have been packed into that building whose walls bulged outward under our attempts to pass by the marvelous statuary, sarcophagi, textiles, jewelry, weapons displays, and funerary objects!
The historical wealth of Egypt is on casual display here and yet less than 10% of the holdings are on exhibit at any one time! Here Zahi Hawass is indeed the Pharaoh and he rules his kingdom with an iron hand. He determines what will be seen, whether or not pictures can be taken, when rooms are closed off, when construction takes place, what information is supplied the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities is his home and his castle! But it is still Egypt's treasure house and it is truly magnificent. A new museum is in the planning stages and it is much needed, but since all projects here are very slow to complete, it will be at least another 10 years before Pharaoh Hawass has another palace.
One of the biggest problems in Cairo is the lack of coordinated trash and garbage pick-up and disposal. When it is done at all, it seems to be individuals who take it upon themselves to do something about it. Usually, the trash and garbage just pile up along the streets and create the feeling that Cairo is not just untidy but unhealthy as well. We had read that some of the poor Christian citizens have traditionally attempted to deal with the garbage in order to salvage what is valuable from it. They apparently are said to
pick the trash up and carry it into the districts where they live in order to sort it out. But what happens to the “non-valuable” stuff when they finish their “work” is never revealed.
Because of the Aswan High Dam, electricity is available inexpensively to almost all citizens of the country, so the cities and towns are brightly lit and there is no problem with “black outs” or periods of no power availability. At present eight of the twelve turbines in the Aswan Dam provide enough energy for all Egypt's needs and excess can be sold to neighboring countries. But Egypt's population is growing at a very rapid rate so it is not inconceivable that the people will overwhelm even the 4 turbines not supplying their electricity.
Agriculture is still Egypt's number one economic activity just as it was in the millennia under the Pharaohs Farm products include the most important export, Egyptian cotton, which is an especially fine grade of long fiber material that is grown in very few other places in the world. The Nile delta has been especially hospitable to this plant because of the rich soil, the water saturation levels, and the constant refreshing of these conditions by the annual flooding. Now, however, the Egyptians are facing the one really big drawback of the Aswan High Dam. Because flooding is controlled and because the enriching silt backs up behind the dam in Lake Nasser, those wonderful soil and water conditions are dwindling away. The lustrous, durable, comfortable long fiber cotton may be threatened now.
Other agricultural products are rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruits, olives, dates, vegetables like okra and eggplant, and livestock including camels, cattle, water buffalo, sheep and goats. Camels & water buffalo are used as work animals as well as food. Sheep and goats produce wool products as well as serving as food.
Other economic activities include textile manufacturing, food processing, hydrocarbon production, cement-making, some mining for semi-precious stones as well as gold and silver. Despite a brisk and important tourism industry, Egypt is still basically an agricultural nation. However, the country does possess important natural resources which are gradually being exploited. There is oil, though not in great amounts, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead and zinc. A word must be said about a fascinating part of tourism in Egypt and that word is “security.” We were totally amazed and freaked at the apparent protection we were under the whole time we were in the country. From the moment we arrived at the Cairo
Airport, concerns about our safety seemed uppermost in our guide's mind and in his logistics. When we boarded our minibus to take us to our first hotel in downtown Cairo, we were preceded and followed by official small trucks bristling with big guns and tourist policeman in uniform sitting behind them, apparently at the ready. Not only that, a plainclothesman from the tourist police boarded our bus after we were all settled and sat right up front with the bus driver. Our guide told us that we should ignore him but that he would be with us all the time we were in Cairo. The trucks dropped away after we reached the hotel and we were not accompanied by them again until it was time to return to the airport at the end of the trip when they rejoined our caravan.
However, that was not anywhere near the end of the security we saw! At every tourist site, there were guards sitting behind bullet proof shields with big guns drawn. There were soldiers and policemen in turrets at intervals along main roads. We saw Tourist Police, Soldiers, regular policemen, all involved in security for tourists. It was quite clear that President Mubarak does not want a repeat of the tourist attack in 1997 at Hatshepsut's Temple where about 60 tourists were killed, mostly Japanese and Swiss. Tourism plunged as many countries warned their nationals not to travel to Egypt until the situation was clarified and security increased.
A militant Islamic group at first claimed responsibility for the attack as well as other smaller ones around the country, but when it was realized that the people of Egypt were outraged by the attacks and demanded that the government punish the group and restore the confidence of tourists so tourism would resume, the group back-pedaled and tried to blame the attacks on Israel and its sympathizers. However, the Egyptian government was not fooled and it was constantly pressured by its own populace to prevent any further such attacks. After all, tourism brings in 11% of the nation's revenues and provides many jobs and supports many private businesses. The country simply could not afford any further mayhem against tourists. The Tourist Police and other security measures have done an effective job since 1997 and only isolated events have occurred since with very little loss of life. The biggest threat now seems to be against people in remote areas who are kidnapped for ransom, but those events are few in number as well.
Since our return home, we saw, along with the rest of the world, that fundamentalist groups have not been totally quashed since a terrorist attack was perpetrated on a Coptic Christian Church in Alexandria during the New Year's services. Many of the churchgoers and passersby were killed and wounded in this terrible massacre.
One possible explanation for this action is a continuing goal of destabilizing the Mubarak government and establishing sharia law and government in Egypt.
Our guide did tell us that American tourists, few in number as they are compared to other nationalities, get the most protection since our government demanded it or tourist warnings on travel to Egypt would be instituted by the State Department. Most Americans take those warnings very seriously and do not travel in places considered dangerous.
While we were a little discomfited by the number of armed men we saw, none of us confessed to feeling uneasy after a couple of days in Egypt. It appeared we were being protected as much as possible, but I am glad that I did not read about the attack in 1997 before we went on our visit since the details of that attack revealed that the murderers were dressed in the uniforms of the Tourist Police!
Besides occasional outbreaks of violence by the country's fundamentalists who want Egypt to be an Islamist state, the nation does face other constant problems. Most of these are due to the strange and basically hostile terrain it occupies. The most threatening of these natural events are droughts, frequent earthquakes, flash floods, landslides, hot driving windstorms, dust storms and sandstorms. All these help to increase soil loss and desertification. Human-caused problems include pollution of the Nile, their only source of water, and loss of fertile land due to the burgeoning population which creates a demand for housing and the consequent loss of former farmlands.
Historical Timeline
Egypt has been a recognized and unified country for 5,110 years! It is generally recognized as the oldest continuous civilization and country in existence. Because of that longevity, a short history is really an impossibility. But for convenience, a timeline will be provided for the sites we saw. Of course there were people living in Egypt before Narmer, the first Pharaoh, united the kingdoms of Lower and Upper Egypt into a single nation, but this timeline will begin with Narmer.
Upper and Lower Egypt had different crowns for their kings before Narmer united them and combined the crowns into one. The designations for the two parts are confusing since they seem paradoxical. Upper Egypt is the part of the country closest to the source of the Nile, Lake Victoria. Lower Egypt is the part closest to the Mediterranean, the delta of the Nile. Upper Egypt's crown was shaped rather like a bowling pin and was white in color while the crown of Lower Egypt was red and shaped like a wide-mouthed vase. Narmer combined the crowns by inserting the white crown into the opening of the red crown. From his time onward, Pharaohs wore this double crown, the Pschent symbolizing the unification of the two parts of the nation.
Thirty-one different dynasties ruled ancient Egypt from about 3100 BC to 30 BC. This estimate of the number of dynasties comes from an Egyptian monk (Manetho) who lived in the first half of the 3rd century BC. Though his divisions can be questionable, modern Egyptologists have accepted them for convenience and uniformity. Egyptologists define a dynasty as the reign of a group of rulers from the same family. The other convenient divisions adhered to by modern archeologists and historians concern the periods for the dynasties. At present, the histories are divided thus:
Early Dynastic: Identified as the 1st and 2nd dynasties, from 3100 to 2686 BC, including as Pharaohs, the aforementioned Narmer and 15 other kings.
Old Kingdom: Includes the 3rd – 6th dynasties, from 2686 to 2181 BC, with familiar names like Zoser, Snefru, Cheops, Cephren, Pepi I and II, & 21 other rulers.
First Intermediate Period: Includes the 7th - 12th dynasties from 2181 to 1787 BC. No widely familiar names are present though there are 34 rulers during this period.
Middle Kingdom: The 13th dynasty from 1787 BC to 1705 BC with an indeterminate number of kings. No familiar names exist among these rulers.
Second Intermediate Period: Includes the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth dynasties from roughly 1704 BC to 1540 BC with 13 known rulers and many others not known. No familiar names are included among these rulers.
New Kingdom: Includes the 18th (Golden Age of Egypt), 19th, and 20th dynasties from 1540 to 1069 BC. This dynasty includes many of the most famous of the Pharaohs, with Amenhotep I, II, III, Thutmose I, II, III, VI, Akhenaton (heretic Pharaoh who proclaimed there was only one god), Hatshepsut (female Pharaoh), King Tut, and Ramses II (self-proclaimed “The Great”).
Third Intermediate Period: Includes the 21st – 26th dynasties from 1069 to 525 BC. This period is 500 years long, the only well-known name is Ashurbanipal: familiar from the Bible and part of an Assyrian occupation of Egypt from 671 to 664 BC
Late Period: Includes the 27th – 30th dynasties from 525 to 332 BC. Some familiar names from these dynasties are Persians and Greeks, like Darius the Great and Xerxes.
Alexander the Great: He gets a dynasty designation of his own even though he is the only member of it. This 31st dynasty lasted from 331 to 323 BC and though short and surviving only one ruler's lifetime, there are many evidences of Alexander's presence in Egypt.
Ptolemaic Kings: Though they could legitimately constitute a 32nd dynasty, they are not so labeled. Their rule runs from Ptolemy I in 323 BC to the Cleopatra with whom we feel wellacquainted. She finished out the Ptolemaic hegemony in 30 BC.
After this period, Egypt's history is dominated by Romans, Arabs, Turks, French and even the British for about 70 years. Even when other peoples ruled them, the Egyptian people maintained their ethnicity and their character.
The biggest change for them came with two religious “invasions” when the Romans brought Christianity in 41 AD with the arrival of St. Mark the Apostle and when the Arabs brought Islam into Egypt through their conquest of the Byzantines in 640 AD.
Since l952, the Egyptians have again been an independent nation as they were under their own ancient Pharaohs Though much diminished in numbers and percentage of the population, Coptic Christians continue to live in relative peace with the Muslim majority.
Religions of Egypt
For a full day, we participated in a Spiritual Tour of Cairo including visits to Jewish, Christian and Islamic places of worship.
Judaism
Our young guide, Hany, told us with very little obvious discomfiture that at present only 55 Jews live in Egypt: 35 in Alexandria and 20 in Cairo. We visited the Ben Ezra Synagogue during our Spiritual Tour of the city. It functions today only as an historical monument and the most-visited Jewish site in Cairo.
In modern times, the Jews were “invited” out of the country in 1956 after relations between the Arabs and Israelis deteriorated into war. Nor were they asked to return after the peace treaty was signed between Egypt and Israel. However, it is important to remember that despite these modern events, Jews lived in Egypt for many thousands of years and their history in the land of the Egyptians is deserving of some comment.
As they have in most parts of the world, Jews in Egypt have experienced sporadic periods of acceptance with longer ones of repression. During Pharaonic times, Jews were present throughout the kingdom. The Hebrew Bible records stories of Jewish experiences under Pharaoh, though it never specifies which Pharaoh. Many Biblical scholars maintain the belief that the Hebrews were in captivity in Egypt under Ramses the Great, but there is no archeological or other external evidence of that 400 year sojourn. Some scholars look for internal evidence in the Bible itself and believe that the story could be plausible. But at present the story has to be accepted on faith rather than empirical evidence.
The story of Moses in the bulrushes discovered by Pharaoh's daughter is another Biblical event that cannot be substantiated in historical or archeological records. Some researchers believe that the daughter of Hatshepsut (the female pharaoh) was the person who adopted Moses from the Nile. But all these are speculations without physical or written foundation.
Jews are have been present throughout the Egyptian history. Through Christian ages, Turkish rule, Islamic domination, the Mamelukes, Roman and Byzantine times. Though persecuted often - tolerated occasionally, they survived in Egypt for thousands of years. At some times, Jews held positions of power in whatever government held sway at others they were exploited and made to pay exorbitant “taxes” for the privilege of
living in their communities. Sometimes, their synagogues and their scholarship were respected and valued and at other times their houses of worship were burned and their schools destroyed. But it took modern events of the 20th century to bring Jewish life in Egypt to a complete end. Zionism and the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel sealed the fate of Jews in most of North Africa.
A synagogue has been on this site since 350 BC!
Christianity
According to tradition, Christianity has its oldest roots in Egypt! The Bible states that Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled into Egypt to escape Herod's determination to kill Hebrew first-born males because the Magi had told him they had come into Judea seeking a new king. According to the teachings of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Holy Family sought sanctuary in a grotto in Cairo, now enclosed within the Coptic Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church, dating from the 4th century.
The church is dedicated to Sergius and Bacchus, who were soldier-saints martyred during the 4th century in Syria by the Roman Emperor Maximian. It is considered the oldest of Cairo's Christian churches. The crypt which is under the current choir contains the remains of the original church where tradition says the Holy Family lived. Originally, this crypt was the main sanctuary of the church until the newer edifice was raised above it.
Another important Coptic Christian church in Cairo is the “Hanging Church” whose real name is Saint Coptic Orthodox dating from third century AD. It is located above a gatehouse of the Babylon Fortress, an early Roman structure. The nave of the
church is suspended over a passageway into the fort. The land surface has risen some 30 ft. since Roman times so the original tower of the fort is partially buried Because of this geologic factor, the elevation of the church is not as dramatic as it must have been in earlier times. Incidentally, tradition suggests Joseph may have worked at the Babylon Fortress during the time the Holy Family lived in Cairo.
In this church is a mosaic map indicating the many small towns along the Nile where Christian churches associated with the Holy Family's residence in Egypt were built. Many of the ones still extant claim direct connections with the Family. They may claim to have an article of Mary's clothing or a piece of furniture created by Joseph, or something belonging to the Baby Jesus. The whole concept was a revelation to me because I had never heard any of these stories, nor had I ever read or been told anything about the Holy Family's residence in Egypt.
According to our guide, who is a Coptic Christian, there is no attempt to prevent Christians from practicing their faith in Egypt nor does he feel there is any outright discrimination against them. They make up 10-15% of Egyptians.
Of course, Christianity preceded Islam in Egypt because it is a religion at least 600 years older than Islam (Mohammed was born in 570 or 571 AD). When the Rome fell in 410 AD and the Byzantine Church remained in control of Christianity in Egypt, the ascendance of Christianity held for another 300+ years until the Arabs poured into Egypt and captured it, bringing Islam as their religion.
This history of Christianity in Egypt is a sad one because of persecutions by the Romans, after they themselves had introduced the religion to the region in 37 AD with the mission of St. Mark to the Egyptians. However, Emperor Diocletian (ruling from 284-305 AD) ruthlessly persecuted them, killing many thousands, because he perceived their religion to be a grave threat to the state religion of Rome. In 312 AD the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity himself and made it the official religion of Rome.
Between the Byzantine Christians and the Coptic Christians grew an insurmountable difference of opinion regarding the true nature of Christ. The “great schism” at the Council of Chalcedon occurred in 451 AD when the Byzantine Patriarchate demanded that the Copts accept the doctrine of the dual nature of Christ (both human and divine) and the Copts absolutely refused it. From then on, there was conflict and persecution of the Coptic Christians who were completely decimated and demoralized.
When the Arabs conquered the territory of Egypt, there was little to no resistance by the Coptic Christians against the imposition of Islam. They continued to practice their own religion through discretion and restraint.
Since Mohammed considered both Jews and Christians “people of the book,” there was little outright conflict between the two faiths. Occasionally, the Muslim leaders would need more tax monies for their own purposes and would exact patently unfair fees against both Jews & Christians living amongst the Muslims. But unlike the Jewish population, the Coptic Christians have been allowed to remain devoted to their own sect of Christianity and have continued live relatively peacefully in Egypt.
Islam
The Arabs brought their religion with them when they invaded Egyptian territory in 642 AD. For a while, the Jews, Christians, and Muslims coexisted in the country fairly easily. But as the leaders became more grasping, discrimination commenced and became institutionalized. By the time that the Turks took over in their expansion of the Ottoman Empire, Islam had become the dominant religion and morphed into the state religion as well.
Today, 85% of the Egyptian people self-identify as Muslim and the state continues to support the religion in many ways: funding the imams, the schools, construction of new mosques, declaring official holidays connected with the religion. The Sunni branch of Islam is dominant and there are very few Shia practitioners in the country.
There are many old mosques in the country and minarets are to be seen all over every populated areas.
During our day-long spiritual tour of Cairo, we visited the magnificent Ottoman Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha in the Cairo Citadel.
Since Muslims are required to pray 5 times daily and many choose to do so in the mosques, there is always activity around these houses of worship. There is a traditional architectural pattern for mosques, though there are many levels of opulence. There is always an outer courtyard where the purification obligation can be performed before entering the mosque. This means there are fountains, water taps, or a well, since washing of feet, hands and face is required.
The mosque inside is oriented towards Mecca so that the members are facing that city when they kneel for prayer. There are no decorations, no icons, nor statues in mosques, due to Mohamed's dictum against representation of living things. The words “There is no god but Allah and Mohamed is his Prophet” are written in gold Arabic letters in many mosques but that is the only decoration. However, the mosques are often quite beautiful with colored tiles, usually in blue, domes soaring above the prayer floor, colorful prayer rugs, gold or gold-painted pulpits, columns of marble or granite or other colorful stones for roof support.
Minarets (the towers from which the calls to prayer are issued) are fanciful and reflect the country from which their style originates. The minaret is formed of a base, a pillar,
and a conical or onion-shaped dome surmounted by a decoration consisting of from 3 to 5 balls separated by narrow shafts. These symbolize the five pillars of Islam: 5 prayers daily, a once in a lifetime visit to Mecca, regular alms-giving to the poor, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and the profession of faith “There is no God but Allah and Mohamed is his Messenger”.
Primarily utilitarian, they can be quite beautiful in themselves, and no particular number is required on an individual mosque. The minaret's function is to provide a high place from which the muezzin can issue the calls to prayer five times daily. In Egypt are found minarets of Turkish, Moroccan, Persian and Egyptianstyles.
Islam has become divided in more modern times into two sects: Sunni and Shia. The Egyptians are followers of the Sunni tradition. The chief difference between the two stems from the period after Mohamed's death. Some followers believed the rightful leadership should pass to a member of the Prophet's family and chose Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, his cousin/son-in-law, to be their leader. That group became the Shia Muslims.
Others of Mohamed's followers felt that an election should determine the leadership and they elected Abu Bakr as their first Caliph. These Muslims are now practitioners of the Sunni branch of Islam.
Through the years, other differences have arisen but are mostly political and cultural. The chief beliefs of Islam are shared by both sects (the 5 pillars), the reading of Koran and the hadith (sayings of the profit), and the celebration of various holidays. There are many more Sunni Muslims than Shia 90% of the world's Muslims identify themselves as Sunni and only 10% as Shia. However, both sects recognize each other as Muslims.
An important characteristic that Muslims share with Jews is their belief in one God only; no trinity or “son of god” is recognized in Islam. As a matter of fact, Mohamed cautioned his believers against too much praise and adoration offered to him. He said he was the “slave of Allah only” and not a divine being and specifically asked his followers not to deify him as Christians had done with the “son of Mary.”
Ancient Egyptian Religions
The religious beliefs that predominated among Pharaohs and their people until the Romans brought Christianity into the territory was thoroughly interwoven into the culture and lives of the Egyptians.
It is a complex system of belief with many gods and goddesses symbolizing important beliefs and practices. However, there are aspects of this religion which are not entirely alien to religions of today. For instance, there was a strong belief in a resurrection and an afterlife as well as a “judgment day” to determine worthiness to enter that afterlife (rather like Christianity and Islam). Places of worship were considered important and necessary (as among Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus). There is a creation story to explain how humans arrived on the earth in a certain place (these myths are important in almost all the world's religions, including those of our own Native Americans).
A respect for human life is also evident in Egyptian practices since tombs were important for deceased persons both to secure their passage to the afterlife and to allow continued veneration of the dead by their progeny. Of course, very few people in Egyptian society could afford the kind of tombs that Pharaohs and their noble kinsmen could erect for themselves. But there is evidence that lesser folks also built modest tombs and were remembered by their children and grandchildren.
Mummification was a vital part of Egyptian faith since it was believed that the mummified
body was necessary to resurrection. Even poor and lowly Egyptians greatly desired that their dead bodies be mummified and if that was an economic or logistic impossibility, they wanted something of their physical selves to be buried with them so that when they entered the afterlife their “ka” (soul) could recognize their physical bodies so that body and soul could be rejoined for eternity.
Pharaoh Akhenaton (grandfather of King Tut) conceived the idea of monotheism. For this, he was considered a heretic by his successors. During his 20+ years of rule, he made strenuous efforts to establish this belief among his people. But upon his death, the succeeding Pharaohs and the people reverted immediately to their ancient beliefs. For most Egyptians their most important gods were Isis and her husband Osiris, their son Horus, the falcon-headed protector god of the sky, and Hathor (the cow-headed goddess) who was both nurse and wife to Horus.
The experience of Osiris was the origin of the resurrection belief. The story holds that Osiris is killed by his brother, Set, the evil one, and then dismembered and his body parts scattered. Sounds a bit like Cain and Abel, doesn't it? Anyway his distraught wife, Isis, searches all over the earth and brings all the pieces together and brings Osiris back to life.
There are twenty-eight total gods and goddesses in Egyptian mythology and most were honored with temples and ceremonies and traditions like the 4 most important figures. For instance, Mut is the goddess who holds the space between the sky and the earth. She is painted on the ceilings of many tombs, both royal and otherwise.
Bastet is the cat goddess whose importance as a protector is proven by the many thousands of mummified cats found in Egypt. Many of the cats were buried next to their owners, both royal and common, and temple cats were mummified and buried within the temple compounds. A period of mourning was required of human owners when domestic cats kept as pets died.
Sobek was the crocodile god and was worshiped as part of the creation myth and as a powerful force whose strength would be desired by its worshipers.
Ra was the sun god and he was elevated at times to the highest pantheon of Egyptian gods and then sometimes found to be less esteemed and removed from the highest
levels of gods and goddesses. Akhenaten, the heretic Pharaoh, decreed Ra to be seen as not only the highest god but as the only god of Egypt.
Lesser gods would be treated rather like Christian religions, in both Eastern and Western traditions, treat saints. They were examples of virtuous behavior and teachers of the tenets of the faith. They could also be placated and petitioned for favors, for relief from suffering, for help with problems, and forgiveness of misdeeds by both priests and individuals.
Priests were very important figures in Egyptian life because of their close connections with and service to the gods of the temples where they were stationed. They could be revered as interpreters, celebrants of the various rites, advisers to the Pharaohs, propitiators of the gods, and liaisons between the people and the gods.
Pharaohs themselves claimed divinity to increase their power and enforce their hegemony over the land and the people. In general, the people and the priests seemed to accept this claim of Pharaoh as god. Since religion and culture were often synonymous in ancient Egypt, it was necessary for stability and harmony in the nation that the Pharaoh be acknowledged as divine. Another tradition which helped cement the Pharaoh's claim to divinity and the right to rule was the often cited belief that a god had impregnated the Pharaoh's mother who was previously a virgin. Does this sound familiar at all?
At any rate, it seems clear that religion in Ancient Egypt was a vital element in life and culture. Because of their strong belief system, the Pharaohs and nobles built many temples, tombs and pyramids on the walls of which were carved the stories of the faith. Today, those ancient religious structures connect us with the people who lived all those years ago and help us understand their beliefs and practices.
Country Comparisons
If half of our group had not just been in 2 other North African countries (Tunisia and Morocco), this comparison would not be necessary. However, Kay and I had spent about 5 weeks divided between the two nations in May this year, so the contrasts were bound to be fresh in our memories.
The caveat I must state before going any further is that all these thoughts will be based on our personal observations of the places we visited in all three countries. Places we did not see could have revealed totally different impressions than the ones I will discuss here. We cannot claim to have seen even a majority of any of the three countries. However, I still believe that our perceptions of the differences and similarities have validity in seeking to understand this visit to Egypt.
Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco are all part of the Maghreb, the part of the Mediterranean conquered by the Arabs and Islam. All three were also made part of the Greek expansion under Alexander the Great and together became an important colony under the Roman Empire. And in more modern times, all three have been influenced by French incursions as well as British invasions and occupations. Morocco and Tunisia also underwent periods of heavy influence by the Spaniards and Portuguese.
World War II brought the people of these countries into the swirling conflicts of colonization and then the end of colonial influences with many disruptions. Both France and Britain, though they had “won” that War, emerged greatly weakened and were forced to give up most of their colonies in all of Africa. Those departures left their former colonies vulnerable to civil conflicts as different men rose up to claim the right to govern them. Interestingly, all three have emerged in modern times as kingdoms ruled by dynasties, even if they are not so labeled.
Topography And Weather
Physically, all three countries should look much alike since all of them contain wide swaths of the Sahara Desert and their climates and geography are ruled to a great extent by the desert conditions in each. However, both Tunisia and Morocco have mountain ranges which give their topographies a more varied appearance.
Egypt on the other hand is pretty much as flat as the famous Sun Disk which is the symbol of their god, Ra. There are three exceptions - all found on the Sinai Peninsula: Mt. Sinai, Mt. Catherine, and Mt. Serbal. But there are no mountain ranges.
The Sahara itself is more beautiful in Tunisia and Morocco because of the high, rolling, red orange sand dunes. There are places in both countries where the desert is stonier, sharper and more desolate. Light tan sand peppered with salt flats, dark sharp rocks and boulders, and endless wastes to the horizon are the prevalent forms in Egypt.
The Sahara in Tunisia and Morocco looks as if it could support life of various kinds, but the Egyptian desert is inhospitable and even hostile. Where oases spring up in the first two countries allowing plants and animals to survive, in Egypt the only life-sustaining land is the thin thread of greenery lining either side of the Nile to a width of about 5 miles each direction.
We were surprised to hear the Egyptians speak of their importance to Rome as its “breadbasket” whereas in Tunisia, those people believed that their land bore that epithet! To our eyes, Romans would have been pretty hungry depending on the small amount of arable land in Egypt. We were more inclined to believe the Tunisians! Though considerable desertification has taken place in North Africa since Roman times, it is difficult to believe that Egypt has changed that much. At present, 19% of Morocco's territory is arable, 17% of Tunisia, but only 3% to 7% of Egypt's can be cultivated.
All three countries are torrid as you would expect in North Africa, but Egypt afforded us much the hottest weather we had ever encountered. At one point, we were in the 125 degree range with a searing and unrelenting sun overhead and no shade anywhere. That never happened while we were in Morocco and Tunisia, though people there were afraid that Ramadan in August would be brutal in both places. When flying over Morocco and Tunisia, we could see a surprising amount of green growing things so that those countries did not appear as barren as Egypt where the only green is alongside the Nile.
City Life
Cairo is a much bigger, and more congested city, than the largest ones in Morocco & Tunisia, Cairo with its 22,000,000 inhabitants is one of the largest in the world with Rabat at 3,500,000 and Tunis at 1,670,000. All the more amazing is this population differential when you consider how little inhabitable land Egypt contains compared with the others.
Seeing women in the streets of all three countries does not produce different impressions. In all three, women are seen in every kind of dress from Western casual wear to full coverage in burkas and niqabs. The majority in all three are equipped with head coverings like scarves regardless of what else they might be dressed in. It is difficult for a foreigner to assess how much all this dress is a requirement of religion, custom, region, or tradition. The guides in all three countries stated that women have the choice of how they want to dress, but acknowledged that family traditions and peer pressure in different areas of their countries have significant input into how “free” the women really are to choose their own mode of dress. And of course, age differences in dress are
manifest even to a visitor: old women in all three societies are the most covered up though not even most of them wear the niqab; middle-aged women are less covered and less likely to be masked, and the youngest women appear in all manner of apparel.
Seeing women in the streets of all three countries does not produce different impressions. In all three, women are seen in every kind of dress from Western casual wear to full coverage in burkas and niqabs. The majority in all three are equipped with head coverings like scarves regardless of what else they might be dressed in. It is difficult for a foreigner to assess how much all this dress is a requirement of religion, custom, region, or tradition.
The guides in all three countries stated that women have the choice of how they want to dress, but acknowledged that family traditions and peer pressure in different areas of their countries have significant input into how “free” the women really are to choose their own mode of dress. And of course, age differences in dress are manifest even to a visitor: old women in all three societies are the most covered up though not even most of them wear the niqab; middle-aged women are less covered and less likely to be masked, and the youngest women appear in all manner of apparel.
As mentioned before, one of the most startling observations we made in Egypt was true to a much lesser extent in both Morocco and Tunisia the number of armed men everywhere! In Egypt we were constantly in the presence and under the protection (we hoped) of policemen, soldiers, and bodyguards. Guns of all sizes bristled from jackets, protruded from behind armor plated barriers, and stared down on us from turrets above the streets and on the sides of buildings. It was truly intimidating until we decided that
these armed fellows were really there to prevent terrorists from preying on tourists and from causing mayhem among their own citizenry. So we relaxed and appreciated them and finally forgot they were there.
Both Morocco and Tunisia had a good many armed men on the streets as well, in the form of palace guards, military police, city police, and guards at all the tourist sites. However, they were not as noticeable or as numerous as those in Egypt except on the island of Djerba where the Tunisians were expecting a huge pilgrimage of Jewish folks from around the middle east and the world who annually convene at a very old synagogue with one of the oldest Torahs in the world inside. The Tunisians were not taking any chances of terrorism on that island and among those pilgrims.
There was armed protection seething all over the island and cars were subject to search both inside and underneath their chassis. Machine guns were carried casually but obviously at the ready. This was the only site that the Tunisians protected so completely. Egypt was protecting all its treasures while Morocco just seemed armed for any trouble that might arise.
One last observation regarding the Islam practiced in all three of these north African countries. While Egypt has 10% Shia Muslims and 90% Sunni, it does contain a small
fundamentalist organization bent on establishing “sharia law” in the country. Morocco is 99% Sunni with only 1% Shia and very little problem with fundamentalists. Tunisia is 98% Sunni and 2% Shia and it has little problem with fundamentalism. Tunisia and Morocco do not use sharia law in their legal systems, while Egypt utilizes it in issues of personal concern, such as marriage, divorce, and other family matters. All other civil and criminal law is secular there. There does not seem to be much enthusiasm in Morocco or Tunisia for the imposition of “Sharia Law” and indeed both countries seem to be further along in liberalization of the societal norms over all.
Empires of Influence in North Africa
The Early Dynastic Period (3100-2686 BC)
To both historians and Egyptologists this 5000 year old period is important because it is generally recognized as the time frame in which King Menes (also called Narmer) unified Upper and Lower Egypt into a single country.
In the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, the only artifact we saw from this ancient time was a 25 inch long piece of greenish slate carved in the recognizable shape of a cosmetic palette (a triangular form) used as an aid to applying make-up. This palette is called the Narmer Palette because it contains carvings on both sides depicting the battles of that king in uniting the two parts of Egypt. Most other such artifacts are smooth with indentations to hold the cosmetic materials rather than decorated with this type of carving.
The Narmer Palette contains the earliest hieroglyphs yet found and is beautifully preserved and displayed in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, the “palace” of Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of Egypt's Supreme Council on Antiquities. Actually, its position at the museum is informal and surprising since it is one the first things you see, inside a protective glass box, as you enter the building. When you look at its green sheen and study the fine carvings, you begin to realize how ancient and important this relic from 5000 years ago is. What a miracle it is too, having been created so long ago, having lasted through the centuries unbroken, and then having been found in the early 20th century!
We visited the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities on the 2nd full day of our trip and saw many things dating from every period of Egyptian antiquity. Poor Kathy was sick with what we called “Pharaoh's revenge.” She only made it through this experience on sheer guts and determination. She was nauseous, semi-delirious with fever, dizzy and weak. But she soldiered on and saw, probably as well as the rest of us did, everything that the pyroclastic flow of human beings would permit. Being in Egypt was a longstanding dream of hers and she was not going to miss anything, especially the iconic and fascinating Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.
This huge pink building encompasses so many marvelous treasures that you begin to understand the informality of the display. Things are exhibited chock-a-block with no particular emphasis on a chronology or even the importance of a particular object. No more than 10% of the holdings are on display at any one time.
But as closely packed as the objects are, the people visiting are even more tightly compacted. There is no air conditioning in most of the building and the people just slide past one another on a veneer of perspiration; otherwise the crowd would be unable to move through the halls and rooms of this incredible museum and its magnificent holdings. It is nearly impossible to study an object in any detail because the crowds of people just keep pushing through and you move past statues, displays cases, and signage in a relentless flow. The crowd dynamic is almost as amazing as the museum's holdings. AND our guide told us that we were lucky because we were not here during the high tourist season!
We honestly could not believe that any more people could be crammed into this must-see museum!
The Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC)
The most famous and iconic sites in Egypt come from the Old Kingdom - the three Pyramids of Giza:
1.The Great Pyramid (AKA the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu),
2.the smaller Pyramid of Chephren and
3.the modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure Son of Chephren and Grandson of Khufu
We were all amazed to find that Giza is practically within the city limits of Cairo! Obviously the city has grown out to meet them since they must have been fairly remote from the ancient city. In certain parts of Cairo you can see them clearly floating above the skyline buildings, in a dreamlike vision like Mt. Rainier hanging above Seattle's cityscape.
These three pyramids are not the oldest. Pharaoh Djoser's Step pyramid holds that record. It is also the largest stone monument in the world. Originally about 62 meters high, it consisted of six ever decreasing layers built one on top of the other. The brilliant architect for this ruler was Imhotep, about whom quite a bit is known as he had an important tomb of his own due to his position with Djoser. Carvings on the walls of his tomb give pertinent information about his life and works.
The Pyramids
Djoser Step Pyramid
Djoser was Pharaoh in the 3rd dynasty of the Old Kingdom. His famous pyramid tomb is in Saqqara, another huge burial site for pharaohs and noblemen. Other Pharaohs had apparently built their tombs and mortuary temples in an architectural form known gas “mastabas.” These were basically long rectangular buildings of one story designed around a large lintel type opening. It was Imhotep's brilliant idea to use that rectangular style to create a pyramidal shape for Djoser's monument. He made six layers of what were “mastaba”-like constructs and piled them one atop the last with smaller and smaller rectangles. So the Step Pyramid looks like it could be climbed like stair steps if a person were giant with seven-league boots. This first pyramid has lasted through the ages, a testament to Imhotep's architectural genius.
Djoser's Step pyramid - picture from touregypt.net
The Sed festival (also known as Heb Sed) was an ancient Egyptian ceremony which was held to celebrate the continued rule of a pharaoh. The festivals were held to rejuvenate the pharaoh's strength and stamina and prove his capacity for continued rule. Djoser showed his vitality by running around the periphery of his step pyramid.
The Bent Pyramid
Pharaoh Sneferu (1st in the 4th dynasty) built three large pyramids which still stand and some smaller ones. His are the first true pyramids with smooth sides, no steps or layers involved. The two most famous ones are “The Red Pyramid” and “The Bent Pyramid.” Neither is in Giza but about five miles south of that location. The “Bent Pyramid” is quite unusual because it appears to have a bent top. The pyramid was started as a 55 degree angle structure, but near the top the builders changed to a 43 degree angle, thus creating the “bend” in the shape.
Bent Pyramid
Many are the conjectures covering the reasons for the switch, but the most acceptable one says that the pyramid was showing cracks in the structure which seemed to presage collapse. So the builders found it necessary to change the angle to avoid further damage to the structure. The Bent Pyramid is 344 ft. tall and it is has two entrances, on the North side and the other on the West. Two entries is unusual in pyramid building too.
The Red Pyramid
Sneferu's largest pyramid is called “The Red Pyramid” because of the color the limestone used in its construction. It is a lesser quality limestone than that usually employed by builders and it takes on a reddish tinge in certain lights. It is the 3rd largest pyramid, after Cheop's and Cephren's at Giza. This one is 340 ft. tall and rises at a 43 degree angle.
The Red Pyramid
The three pyramids at Giza were built by Pharaohs Khufu, Chephren, and Menkaure: grandfather, father and son in that order. All of these Pharaohs ruled in the 4th dynasty of the Old Kingdom following after Sneferu.
The Great Pyramid
Khufu built the Great Pyramid of Giza for himself. It is the most famous of all the pyramids of Egypt. It is also the largest, as denoted by its nickname. For 3800 years it was the tallest structure in the world at 480.6 ft. in height. Today it is only 455.4 due to erosion and loss of its cap (pryamidon). What we see today when we gaze awestruck at this amazing mountain of stone is its inner core. The outer casing stones have been lost over the centuries, though some of them remain at the foot of the pyramid where they fell. They show that the Great Pyramid would have had smooth sides rather than the rubbly appearance we see today.
The bases of the pyramid are 755.9 feet long and there is only a 58 mm. average error in the construction. The mass of this enormous monument is estimated at 5.9 million tons of stone. No wonder the Great Pyramid is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; it is also the oldest of the seven. The angle of ascent of the walls of the pyramid is a little more than 51 degrees.
There are three known chambers within the structure and tourists are allowed to enter one of them. John did the duck walk (or Groucho Marx Crouch) that it takes to descend into the chamber. Though it was difficult, he thought going inside was definitely worth the strain on his back and legs. This is the only pyramid with both ascending and descending corridors. At present there is nothing left in the chamber though there is some carving on the corridor walls.
Khufu's son, Chephren, built the 2nd oldest of the Giza Pyramids and the associated Sphinx.
The Chephren Pyramid
Chephren's pyramid is 450 ft. high and its base length is 708 ft. Its angle slope is a little steeper than 53 degrees. Its most characteristic feature is the cap of casing stones which has remained in place over the centuries. It allows us the clearest depiction of how the pyramids covered in casing stones would have looked in ancient times. This pyramid looks taller than the Great Pyramid but that is because it is built upon bedrock 33 ft. higher than that of Khufu's monumental pyramid.
Much more famous than his tomb pyramid is Chephren's other structure the Great Sphinx of Giza.
It is said that while his workmen were building a causeway to connect the pyramid with its surrounding temples they encountered an enormous monolith in the intended pathway. Rather than attempt to remove it, Chephren ordered his workman to carve the Sphinx.
Traditionally sphinxes have the haunches of a lion, the wings of an enormous bird and the face of a woman.
In many cultures (such as that of ancient Greece), Sphinxes were considered evil, but in Egyptian tradition, the creature was benevolent and most often wore the face of a male figure.
This Pharaoh requested that his Sphinx wear his own face as well as the ceremonial pharaonic beard.
Of course, through the centuries both the Sphinx's nose and his beard have been lost. But modern Egyptologists have exonerated Napoleon and his men of this dastardly deed. Most believed that the Sphinx was defaced by Turks in the 1700s well before Napoleon hove on the scene. Chephren's Sphinx is the largest monolithic stature in the world at 241 ft. in length, 20 ft. in width, and 66 feet in height
The Menkaure Pyramid
The third Pharaoh to build his pyramid at Giza was Chephren's son, Menkaure (remember, he was also Khufu's grandson). This is the smallest of the three major pyramids at Giza. It originally stood 218 ft. but has eroded down to 204 ft. in the present day. It has a base of 366 ft. The angle of include is about 51 degrees. This pyramid is somewhat different in that its lowest section was made of granite while the upper sections were of the typical limestone.
Each of the three pyramids at Giza have or had stone terraces surrounding their bases, each was accompanied by at least two temples, and each was surrounded by the rectangular mastabas (the tombs for the noblemen close to the Pharaoh The temples which are almost entirely in ruins were of two types: a mortuary temple where the Pharaoh's body was mummified and a valley temple where the Pharaoh could be worshiped and venerated. The first was usually near the pyramid and the other was close to the Nile.
What fascinates most Egyptologists and surprises most first time visitors to Egypt is the fact that these pyramids plus Djoser's Step Pyramid are the only ones built in Egypt! After Menkaure, the Pharaohs stopped building pyramids for themselves. It may be that since grave robberies started in those very ancient times, the Pharaohs who saw their forebears tombs being robbed decided that they did not want to lose their own immortality to such depredations. After the Old Kingdom, Pharaohs had their tombs built into solid rock faces and tried to disguise them and their entrances. Hence, many more Pharaohs are buried in the Valley of the Kings.
Another surprising fact we encountered when we toured the pyramid sites: contrary to Hollywood movies, popular legends, and even some religious ideas, slaves were never involved in the building of pyramids - not Jewish slaves or any other of the captive peoples like Nubians, Syrians, or Ethiopians. The Pharaohs had a country full of workers who could not farm during the season of the year where the Nile flooded - about 3 months. During those months every year the people worked for pay on the pyramids and other monuments commissioned by the Pharaohs. There are written records of the money paid as well as other remunerations such as foodstuffs, metals and semi-precious stones. So don't believe everything you see at the movies.
First Intermediate Period (2181-1787 BC)
This period was a time of disintegration of the accomplishments of the Old Kingdom. The country fell into various factions with petty potentates challenging the leadership of the Pharaohs Religious ties that bound the people's together began to fray as citizens in various parts of the country chose their own gods and goddesses (from the Egyptian pantheon) to emphasize. Because of the internal weakness in the nation, there were incursions by foreigners as well. Art & architecture were not as important or as formalized as when Egypt existed as a cohesive state. Though we saw artifacts from this period in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, we did not visit any sites associated with that long era.
The Middle Kingdom (1787-1705 BC)
Our visit to Egypt did not really include any important sites relevant to the Middle Kingdom either. The necropolis during that period was at Memphis which we did not see. The historical importance of the Middle Kingdom does not lie so much in the monuments or records of its Pharaohs Though there are a couple of familiar names such as Sesostris and his sons, what made this period interesting is that it encompassed the rebuilding of the Egyptian nation after it had fallen into a state of disintegration with civil wars and dissolution of the bonds between various parts of the country.
Sesostris and his heirs spent the period between 2055 and 1985 rebuilding the country, repelling its outside enemies and reuniting the fractious sections into a strong, prosperous and united nation once again. These Pharaohs were warriors and politicians rather than monument builders. Their energies were spent in fighting the enemies hostile to a powerful Egypt. Therefore, there are not as many records of their careers carved in various sites to record their triumphs. But win the victories they sought they definitely did and brought Egypt back to another Golden Age.
The Second Intermediate Period (1704-1540 BC)
Just as the accomplishments of the Old Kingdom were followed by the disastrous and chaotic First Intermediate Period, so the rebuilding and reforming of the unified nation which occurred in the Middle Kingdom disintegrated again into an anarchic and disorganized Second Intermediate Period. This was characterized by dynasties where the names of the Pharaohs are mostly unknown. Egyptologists are forced to delineate this period as a time of “many kings” rather than important individuals. The 14th , 15th , 16th and 17th dynasties are assigned to this period but very few of the names that are known are familiar to other than serious students of Egyptian history.
Therefore, we encountered the same situation with this period of history as with the First Intermediate Period. We probably passed by artifacts and statues from this time when we visited various Museums in our travels but none were pointed out to us as particularly important or characteristic of Egyptian historical evolution.
The New Kingdom (1540-1069 BC)
The three dynasties which comprise the New Kingdom are the most well-known to visitors to Egypt, casual readers of Egyptian history, and amateur historians. The Pharaohs who ruled during these three dynasties have the names which roll across the pages of Egyptian history for most of us. Pharaohs like Ramses II (Ramses the Great), Tutankhamen (The Boy King), Amenhoteps I, II, and III, Thutmose I, II, III, and IV, Akhenaton (The Heretic Pharaoh), and Hatshepsut (The Female Pharaoh).
First time visitors to Egypt are taken to the sites associated with these names most often and most commonly because these are names that resonate. And our trip was no different: these are the Pharaohs we “visited” often in their various sites and monuments and tombs and temples.
Most Egyptologists agree that the most glorious period in the history of Ancient Egypt is comprised of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom. Egypt was at the height of its powers, the country was at its most unified, religion was strongest among all the people, prosperity reached the most people, the greatest monuments and structures were built and the art was at its highest development. The New Kingdom time frame was the true Golden Age of Ancient Egypt. And because of all this building and artwork, we have the most written records and examples of the civilization of Egypt during this period. We know the most about these Pharaohs because they left so any monuments and tombs with magnificent carvings depicting their lives, their victories, their families, their religious beliefs and practices.
It is unnecessary to say that we were most moved and impressed with the things we saw from this period because we felt most familiar with these names and the events in their lives. All up and down the Nile were the legacies of these Pharaohs so it was not difficult to see their histories spread out before us. Temples and tombs are everywhere on the West Bank from Cairo to Abu Simbel, the farthest point south on our tour
Among the wonderful things from the New Kingdom that we saw in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities were: a bust of Hatshepsut, King Tut's treasures in a specially airconditioned room, statues and figures of Akhenaton, three Amenhoteps and 4 Tuthmoses. All of these are elegant, evocative and true miracles of survival.
And though we were grateful for the opportunity of viewing everything connected with the New Kingdom at the Museum, nothing really prepared us for the marvels of the architectural treasures we saw in Luxor, Karnak, Aswan and Abu Simbel.
The Nubian Museum
In Aswan, we saw modern and well-appointed Nubian Museum, built in the l980s. Though it was principally devoted to exhibiting and explaining the Nubian culture along with its kings and warriors and relationship with its power northern neighbor, Egypt, we did see connections with various Pharaohs there because the Egyptian leaders so often raided Nubia for treasure and slaves. These raids were not limited to the New Kingdom however. From the earliest times in Egypt's existence, Nubia was regarded as a “treasure house” for Egypt, to be attacked and pillaged whenever Egyptian leaders felt the need of an infusion of money, valuable gems, gold, and slaves.
Because this was the Nubian Museum, we felt more ignorant here than in any of the other places we visited, even though we were certainly made aware of our superficial knowledge about Egypt everywhere we went. Names of Nubian kings and their minions, their cities, and their culture were totally unfamiliar to us, but we greatly enjoyed learning something about this place and its importance to Egyptian wealth and power.
Attached to the Nubian Museum was a terraced garden with views of the city. From the top of the Museum's gardens we could see an unfinished obelisk still in situ at an ancient quarry. The obelisk was being carved out during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut for her building project at Karnak in Luxor. According to archeologists of the period, the stone cracked during the quarrying process, so the projected obelisk was abandoned. Still
today, it is fairly easy to make out the huge stone block in its position even though the female Pharaoh (Queen) Hatshepsut lived and ruled from 1479 to 1457 BC. That whole site really made a huge impression on all of us. We could see in our mind's eye the rock carvers swarming around the huge granite stone, patient digging and carefully bracing and supporting the rock as it took shape. And then to have it crack before it could be removed from its “birth site” had to have been devastating.
The extant Temples at Karnak and Luxor Temple were all New Kingdom structures although Alexander the Great also had an impact on Karnak much later in its history.
Karnak
This is the largest temple complex in the world, even accounted as larger than the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia. It is connected with the Luxor Temple by a mile long causeway lined on both sides by Ram-headed Sphinx figures.
Karnak sits on 247 acres and consists of 4 main areas (called “precincts”) only one of which is open to the public - the Precinct of Amun-Re. Construction of the temple complex probably started in Early Dynastic times with small temples but it reached its height of building in the New Kingdom. Thebes (modern day Luxor) was now the center
of the spiritual life of Egypt as well as its government. Since the temples were believed to be the residences of the gods, the correlative belief was that if building every stopped at Karnak, the temple would “die.” Therefore, some 30 Pharaohs contributed to the construction. Sandstone and granite are the major building materials in this enormous complex.
The Triad of Thebes
The Triad of Thebes, the God Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu, was the primary object of worship during the New Kingdom. There are a vast number of temples, chapels, and pylons all over the complex, but the largest and the one open to the public is The Great Temple of Amun. Though its features are not unique to Egyptian architecture, the size and number of features is overwhelming. The dimensions of the Hypostyle Hall for Amun's temple gives a good idea of the scale of the edifices at Karnak. It is 50,000 feet long with 134 massive columns in 16 rows. 122 of the columns are 33 ft. high and the other 12 are 69 ft. high and 10 ft. around. Their “architraves” (top sections) are estimated to weigh 70 tons! We all wonder how the Egyptians built pyramids, but we have to be awestruck as well in contemplating what it must have taken to raise these enormous columns!
Amun’s Temple - Hypostyle Hall
There is also a sacred lake associated with the Temple Complex, to keep water available for purification ceremonies for the priests. However, the lake at Karnak is huge (426 ft. by 252 ft.). In recorded history, it has never gone dry despite Egypt's arid climate.
Luxor Temple
The earliest standing parts of this large temple, associated with Karnak and connected by a giant causeway, were small chapels built by Hatshepsut and then appropriated by Tuthmosis III.
Ramses II (the Great) built the enormous pylons fronting the whole temple and the two obelisks which stood before them.
There were six huge seated statues of Ramses in the entrance as well but only two of them remain. Even Alexander the Great make an impression on Luxor Temple by building a temple inside the greater complex. As a matter of fact, one of the most astonishing experiences we had in Luxor was in standing between a wall erected by Alexander and carved with events from his life and another wall built by Amenhotep III a thousand years before, engraved with his exploits, and yet we were able to touch both walls at the same time because the passage between them was so narrow.
Night Visit
The overall size of this temple is insignificant compared to the whole complex at Karnak. This temple is 623 ft. by 181 ft. Remember that just the main hall of the one temple in Karnak was 50,000 square feet. Nonetheless, the visit to Luxor was in some ways almost more enjoyable because it was smaller and easier to comprehend. The experience was also enriched by the fact that we visited Luxor Temple at night with its excellent lighting scheme and with a quarter moon hanging in a blue velvet sky above the pylons and the obelisks. The effect was deeply satisfying and even moving. The night was still hot hot on our skin but the feelings evoked by this experience were magical and transported us away from the heat and the crowds.
A curious factoid from the building of Luxor concerns the fate of one of the obelisks which had been erected in front of the temple by Ramses the Great. One of them still stands, but the other is in Paris at the center of La Place de la Concorde.
AbuSimbel-Ramses II and NefertariTemples
This is probably the most famous New Kingdom construction because of the enormous task so much of the world undertook to save it from the flooding that would follow the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the l964-68. The United Nations and many individual countries and people contributed money and technical assistance in moving the statues from its location on the banks of the Nile up 213 ft. higher and 656 ft. back from the waters of what would become Lake Nasser following the closing of the dam. The total cost at the time was 40 million dollars. One cannot even imagine what the cost would be today! It is rightfully a UNESCO World Heritage site today and is open to the public.
The entire complex was sliced from its original site and moved to an artificial domed structure to house the interior temples and support the outside statues and pylons. The entire site was carefully cut into huge blocks weighing from 20-30 tons each, then dismantled, lifted and reassembled at the new position. Pictures of the procedures used to accomplish this stupendous relocation act are as awe-inspiring as the ancient statues and temples themselves. The site's modern name comes from the young Nubian boy
who showed the European archeologists in the late 1800s where the great statues stood Ramses II (the Great) ordered the construction of this complex for several reasons, foremost among them to intimidate the Nubians to the south of the site. He also wanted to commemorate his victory in the Battle of Kadesh and to insure that the religion of Egypt was known and honored in the south of the country.
Ramses temple is the largest and most complex but the second one for his favorite wife, Nefertari, is also monumental and beautiful! Furthermore, Ramses ordered that the statues of himself and Nefertari at the front of her temple were made the same size. Ordinarily, statues of Pharaohs were always much larger than those of their consorts.
Ramses Temple on the Left - Nefertari's on the Right
Ramses Temple
The facade (pylon) fronting Ramses' temple is 125 ft. wide and 102 ft. high. There are four seated statues of Ramses guarding the entrance. Each shows Ramses wearing the double crown of Egypt united and is about 65 ft. tall. One of the statues “lost its head” during an earthquake and the remains are seen on the ground around the huge feet. Below his knees are much smaller statues of some of his 150 + children, his wife Nefertari, and his mother. A statue of the god, Ra, is carved into a niche above the entrance doorway.
Good Gracious! It is SO HOT!
There are 22 baboon statues in the frieze with their arms raised to the sun in worship. The whole temple is dedicated to the gods Ptah, Ra-Horakhty, and Amun. Ptah is a creator god who was supposed to have created mankind and the world through thought combined with spoken names. Ra-Horakhty is a combination of the god Ra (another creator god) and Horus (the Falcon-headed god) to become the “Solar Force.” Amun is the “hidden god” above all the others.
The interior of Ramses' temple is in triangular shape with the rooms decreased in size until the sanctuary is reached. This is the usual formation of Egyptian temples. What is unusual about this one is the many side chambers off the main corridor. The main hall is 59 ft. long and 54 ft. wide and it is supported by eight huge pillars formed in the shape of Osiris, god of the underworld. The walls are caved with scenes of Ramses' great battles, his divine birth, the religious rites he practiced, his devotion to the gods, his treatment of his enemies. The most famous depicts Ramses in his chariot riding into battle with his bow drawn and his pet lioness racing alongside the chariot. It is a brilliant carving and retains some of the original colors with which the carvings were often painted.
Nefertari's Temple
Nefertari's temple is 328 ft. farther along the same escarpment and is somewhat smaller but still stunning in its size and beauty. Her temple is dedicated to Hathor, mother and wife goddess to Horus. She is often depicted as a cow since she nursed the infant Horus, son of Isis and Osiris. When carved as a human figure, she wears cow horns as her crown. In the entire small temple Nefertari is linked with Hathor in several ways—she is shown performing religious rites honoring Hathor, she is carved playing the sinistrum, a musical lyre-like instrument associated with Hathor, she is with her husband in scenes where he is being attended by Hathor and Horus.
The inner part of the temple is much smaller than Ramses' with only a single columned (hypostyle) hall and an inner sanctuary. However, the carvings and paintings of scenes of Nefertari's life and her adoration of the Hathor and many other gods are just as elegant and beautiful as those in the larger temple. The There are six columns upholding the ceiling of the hypostyle hall but instead of being made in the figure of gods or goddesses, they are decorated with carvings of scenes with Hathor.
The overall impression that these two great monuments of the New Kingdom make on a visitor can only be described by me using my own reaction. As Kathy and I rounded the escarpment from the area where the tourists begin their walk to the shores of Lake Nasser, we were both intimidated into silence by the grandeur before us and tears burned our cheeks. We were so grateful to be able to see this wonder for ourselves that we were pretty much overwhelmed with emotion. Even the pyramids did not produce such a reaction from us. Perhaps it was not only nobility and magnificence of the site itself but also our recollection of the enormous effort people from around the world had made to save it for posterity! It was as though it had been created twice - first by Ramses The Great himself and then by the “better angels” of 20th century mankind.
Valley of the Kings
Temple of Hatshepsut
This was the last of the New Kingdom sites we visited. The Valley of the Kings is located on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor. We actually took a wonderful balloon ride over the area and learned to our surprise that you really can see nothing in the Valley itself because the tombs are all carved out of rock walls and the entrances are hidden. There have been discovered so far 63 tombs and all of them were carved out during the New Kingdom period. The earliest tomb is believed to be that of Tuthmosis I and the last of Ramses XI final Pharaoh from the New Kingdom.
This temple appears quite modern and rather like an ancient Greek Parthenon or other such harmonious and balanced structure. There is a long ramp leading up to the 3 story structure and its huge statues of the Queen Pharaoh in excellent condition. Tuthmosis III, her nephew and stepson, may have wanted to wipe the female Pharaoh from history but this wonderful temple alone has preserved her memory and her repute among all the New Kingdom rulers.
Mortuary Temple of Ramses II
This temple would have been dedicated to the worship of the god-Pharaoh after his passage from this life into eternity. Like all the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom, Ramses II wanted to outdo all previous kings with his enormous buildings. The Ramasseum probably would have won any prizes for complexity and size when it was built over 20 years. However, time and position of the temple in the very floodplain of the Nile have conspired to destroy the sandstone structure and left it a colossal ruin. Even in its devastated condition, it is an awesome sight from the basket of a balloon.
All of these were simply flabbergasting in their complexity of wall and ceiling paintings and carvings as well as the construction of the rock corridors, and in the presence of so much color from the ancient times. It would be very difficult to say which of these three tombs was the most impressive because all were magnificent. No wonder “Pharaoh” Hawass keeps such tight control of the number of visitations in any one tomb and in how often any individual tomb can be open to the public in a year.
Mortuary Temple of Ramses II
Colossi of Memnon
The last major installation from the New Kingdom which we visited was the Colossi of Memnon, close enough to the entrance to the Valley of the Kings that it is believed to be statues of Amenhotep III which would have stood at the entrance to his enormous mortuary temple, the largest in the New Kingdom which even Ramses could not rival with his Ramasseum. However, it was later dwarfed by the Temple of Karnak.
The statues are twins sitting about 50 ft. apart and are made of quartzite sandstone, believed to have been quarried in Cairo. Since the statues are estimated to weigh 700 tons each, modern Egyptian scholars have not been able to agree upon a method by which the ancient Egyptians could have brought the stones from upriver against the current down to Luxor. The statues are 60 ft. tall and the 13 ft. pedestal adds more height to the huge sculptures. Smaller figures are carved below the knees of Amenhotep and are believed to be his wife and his mother.
There is a complicated story about why these vast monuments are named after a Greek warrior from “The Iliad” rather than continuing to bear the name of Pharaoh AmenhotepIII. In 27 BC, a powerful earthquake shattered the easternmost stature, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower half. From then on, that statue was reputed to “sing” about 2 hours before sunrise, usually at dawn. The sounds was described in many different ways after Greeks and Romans began to be tourists in the area and testified to hearing the “song.” Some said it was more like a “pounding sound,” others thought it was more “screechy” and some even said it sounded like a broken lyre being played. At any rate, because of the sound occurring only in the dawn hours and usually on in February and March, the Greek and Roman tourists like Pliny and Herodotus named it Memnon since his name means “ruler of the dawn.”
In later years, the Romans tried to repair the broken statue with a different kind of sandstone and then the song disappeared totally. Many speculators feel that the weight of the sandstone repairs stopped the noise created by the earlier rock contracting and expanding. At any rate, Amenhotep and Memnon are both silent sentinels to the glory that was this Pharaoh's temple complex.
The Third Intermediate Period (1069-525 BC)
This was another of those times in the history of Egypt when it went into decline and was nearly subsumed by other cultures. It was a time when too much power apparently went to the priests so the Pharaohs were undermined. There was great division politically and geographically as the formerly united Egypt fell into petty kingdoms and satraps with no Pharaoh able to bring back control under one government. Former enemies of Egypt took advantage of this weakness and invaded the country with impunity. The Nubians got revenge for all the years they were conquered and subjugated by invading from the south and taking over territories formerly under the control of a united Egypt.
As Egypt declined in international reputation, the power and influence of Assyria became stronger and it too invaded Egyptian territories and conquered.
Continuing civil wars among the weakened Pharaohs further sapped the country of its strength and vitality. And finally the Assyrians asserted full control and Egypt was ruled by client kings appointed by the Assyrians. During this long period, there were some lengthy times of peace and some prosperity but Egypt was not a dominant and selfdirected nation during the Third Intermediate Period. Like the Nile itself, Egypt's history seems written in periods of great flux and inundation of fertile and life-giving waters and then an ebbing back into aridity and sterility after the great bloom of growth.
The Late Period (525-331 BC)
Conditions in Egypt during this period really mirrored those in the Third Intermediate Period. Some historians place the 26th Dynastic in the Late Period and other put it in the Third Intermediate Period. That confusion alone reveals how similar the situation was. All Egyptologists agree that the 26th Dynasty was the last in which Egypt was ruled by native kings (Pharaohs). After that time, the rulers often adopted and mimicked leadership styles and traditions of earlier Pharoanic times but this was the time in Ancient Egypt where the country was led by native rulers. After a brief interlude in which the Assyrians were driven out, the Persians came in and conquered the country. It took Alexander the Great to dislodge the Persians from their control of the country.
We were not taken to see any monuments or buildings related to the Late Period as construction was not a primary concern of the rulers coming from other countries even though they did honor many Egyptian traditions. It is probably true that we saw artifacts and art works at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities which dated from the Late Period but they were not pointed to as having great significance for our visit.
Egyptian art during this period became much more centered on individuality of subjects both human and animal. There was greater emphasis on specific details of animal bodies in sculptures, in an effort to create exact likenesses of the creatures rather than generalized formations. Human beings, even from lower social strata than the kings and noblemen, were particularized in carvings and paintings. We definitely saw some statuary in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities that reflected that shift in artistic goals.
Interestingly enough, though Egypt was the most powerful and long lasting ancient civilization, it never became an Empire in that the Pharaohs were never interested in establishing colonies or expanding their territories beyond the Nile. Many Egyptologists credit this reluctance towards expansionist activity to the power of the ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that made the people, from Pharaohs on down the societal ranks, afraid to live anywhere but Egypt. Their strong conviction that they must be buried on the west bank of the Nile in order to enter the afterlife and eternity made them very poor candidates as colonists
The Thirty-first Dynasty (331-323 BC)
Alexander the Great (336-323 BC)
Alexander the Great has a dynasty all his own in the Egyptology timeline. Of course, that shouldn't be a surprise since he conquered the known world during his time, including Egypt. When he defeated the Persians in their own lands, he also took control of Egypt. Though his reign was short in time, it was much longer lasting in influence. His successor rulers would be the Ptolemaic kings, those Pharaohs of Greek ethnicity, whose defeat during Roman times (30 BC) would conclude the story of Ancient Egypt. Six months is the amount of time that Alexander actually spent in Egypt. During that time he studied Egyptian philosophy and religion, ordered the reconstruction of the temples at Karnak and Luxor, founded the city of Alexandria, and was anointed Pharaoh in Memphis on November 14, 332 BC.
Because his mother, Olympia, had inspired him with stories about Egyptian civilization and culture, he easily assimilated his beliefs in his Greek gods into the Egyptian pantheon. For instance, he accepted Amun as the counterpart of Zeus. Since earlier times Greeks such as Herodotus, Pliny, Thucydides, and Plato had been conversant with things Egyptian through travel and study. Aristotle would have added to Alexander's knowledge of Egypt and he was primed to become a convert.
Furthermore, the towering monuments of Egypt's ancient Pharaohs, things like the pyramids of Giza, Karnak and Luxor, overwhelmed him with their larger than life construction and art work. Even Athens did not possess such glorious buildings and statuary. Thus, while Alexander brought Hellenization to the Egyptians, they filled him with awe and respect for their great civilization.
Alexander's presence and influence in Egypt is recorded everywhere. First of all, he actually laid out the plans for his city of Alexandria streets, drainage systems, port facilities, the great library, water supplies, and some administrative types of edifices. Carved scenes of his battle exploits are found in the temples at Karnak and Luxor, statues of him stand all over Egypt and even his cartouche is found in delicate relief all over the country. (Cartouches were created for all Pharaohs to document their kingship: it is an elongated oval pattern filled with the hieroglyphs which spell out the king's name.)
Pictures of Alexander making offerings to the Egyptian gods abound and the story of his consultation with the Oracle of Amun at Siwa was a well-known one to Egyptians. It was there that he was greeted as a “son of god” by the priests of Amun and his deification was accepted by the Egyptians because of this recognition by their own priests.
When Alexander left Egypt to further his conquest of the world, he would never return alive to this land. However, when he died 10 years later, his embalmed body was returned to his namesake city of Alexandria for burial. The burial site has been lost to history. Because he had recognized the many conflicts between areas in Egypt and the complexity of governing such a large country, he left the governorship in the hands of many of his followers rather than in the power of any one person. However, after he left one of his appointees became Ptolemy I Soter I, the first Ptolemaic Pharaoh, in 323 BC. This dynastic line continued until Cleopatra VII was defeated by Octavian of Rome in 30 BC. There were a total of 18 Ptolemaic Pharaohs in this ethnic Greek dynasty.
The Ptolemaic Kings Period (323-30 BC)
Though Alexander lived in Egypt only six months, the dynasty established by one of his seven deputies ruled Egypt for 275 years. This dynasty is numbered 32 and is the last. The males of this lineage all took the name Ptolemy with additional names added to distinguish them from their forebears and heirs. For instance, the first Ptolemy was dubbed Soter (meaning savior) since the Egyptians accepted him as the new Pharaoh, successor to the earlier Pharaohs from earlier independent times. Later Ptolemies used names such as Philadelphus, or Philopator, or even Alexander. The female rulers who were often wives and sisters of the males from whom they inherited the throne usually designated themselves by numbers; i.e., we have Berenice IV, Cleopatra III, and our most known personage from this period, Cleopatra VII. However, this last Egyptian Pharaoh also added “Philopater” (one who loves his country), to her title.
We know this Ptolemaic ruler best for many reasons: First, she was involved heavily in Roman politics as the Romans fought among themselves for leadership of the Roman Empire. Particularly, she was a player in the struggle between Julius Caesar and Pompey and then again between Octavian and Mark Antony. Second, she has been extensively written about, not least by Shakespeare himself in the 15th century and then by George Bernard Shaw in the 20th
Many other authors, historians, Egyptologists, archeologists, novelists and poets have also written of her life and influences. Even this year (2011) a new biography of this Queen has appeared on our bookshelves. Third, many movies have been made of her life and times, making her very familiar, in myth if not in fact, to moviegoers all over the world. And Fourth, she has been painted and sculpted through the centuries as well.
Most of us in the West think of her as a femme fatale, lover of both Caesar and Antony, a beauty like Elizabeth Taylor, and a pawn used by powerful men. Our Egyptian guide had another view of this Queen. He said she was dumpy and overweight, like most family members in the Ptolemaic line, with a hooked nose and protuberant eyes. How on earth did she get the reputation for being such an irresistible temptress? The other misconception he dispelled for us was the one which describes her as a foolish woman, captive of her heart instead of her head, and tool of men. Actually, according to most recent research, she was intelligent, wily, politically skillful, and not anyone's catspaw.
We were fortunate enough to visit four major sites connected with this period of Egyptian history: Kom Ombo (a town along the Nile), Edfu (another town along the Nile, Esna Temples and the Philae Temple at Aswan. These four sites testify to the return of a building culture in the ruling family of Egypt. The Ptolemies were also bent on leaving marks of their kingship and their devotion to the traditions and gods of Egypt. They chose the methods used by pharaohs in the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms: they built big temple complexes. We would learn during our visits that later Roman rulers and even Christians and Muslims would leave their marks on some of these Ptolemaic structures.
Philae Temple
The first such complex we visited was Philae Temple, on an island in the Nile. It had been saved from inundation by Lake Nasser at around the same time that Abu Simbel and many other riverside monuments had to be moved to avoid flooding. However, it had been partially flooded after the construction of the first Aswan Dam by the British in 1906. When it was realized that the High Aswan Dam would completely cover the island, UNESCO coordinated a rescue plan for the area. A new island was built high than the new Nile shoreline after the completion of the High Aswan Dam. Then the temples and other structures were dismantled piece by piece, numbered and reassembled on the new island, which had been made in the shape of the former one. This process took 7 years and the site was reopened in 1980. The reconstruction is magnificent and the site awesome. All constructs but one small ruined temple date from the Ptolemaic Dynasties, though there are some later Roman structures as well.
The largest temple is dedicated to Isis and is built in the traditional style of the New Kingdom. The two pylons guarding the entrance are deeply carved with pictures portraying the goddess herself as well as others including Hathor and some minor figures associated with midwifery. There are temples devoted to Osiris with carvings
depicting his birth, death and resurrection. Philae has been associated with Osiris as one of the burial places for his separated body parts. There is a temple depicting the divine birth of Horus, the Falcon-Headed god as well. Roman ruins include one called Trajan's Kiosk which appears to be a ceremonial arch. There are evidences of the use of the Temple of Isis by early Christians who defaced some of the carvings and added paintings of their own.
Kiosk of Trajan
Philae is a wonderfully evocative complex with its many ruins from various periods of Egyptian history though most date from the Ptolemaic king-ships.
A pleasant boat ride is required to reach the island
Temple at Kom Ombo
Our next look at monuments from the Ptolemaic Period was The Temple at Kom Ombo, a unique double temple, the only one of its kind extant.
The southern half is dedicated to the crocodile god, Sobek, who is revered as a god of fertility and as one of the creators of the world along with Hathor and Khonsu. The northern half is dedicated to Horus the Elder, the god who was the child of Isis and Osiris and husband of Hathor. He is represented as a falcon-headed figure whose eyes are the sun and moon. He is the god of truth, war, victory, and justice.
The double temple has two separate entrances, two different interior courts, two colonnades, two columned halls and two sanctuaries. On the walls of the temples can be found carvings of early medical instruments such as scalpels, curettes, forceps, dilators, scissors, and medicine bottles. There is also a carving of “our” Cleopatra VII on one of the columns.
Another significant feature of this temple is the presence of a beautifully preserved “nilometer.” This structure is like a huge open well into which poured the waters of the Nile inundation. Steps carried the taxmen down into the well to ascertain the height that the waters reached. Upon this finding was calculated the amount of taxes which farmers should be charged. If the waters rose high and provided good silting, taxes would be higher because it was presumed that the crops would be good. If the waters were low, taxes were lower as well.
Another interesting feature of this site is little museum next to the temple which contains the mummies of some 300 crocodiles found during excavation of the temple complex. Some mummies were on display. The cache of mummies suggests how greatly revered the crocodile was in this section of the Nile.
The third temple from this era we were privileged to visit was The Temple at Edfu. This site is the second largest complex in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best preserved of all such sites. It is dedicated to Horus and was built between 237 and 57 BC. The strange and seemingly contradictory explanation for its excellent preservation resides in the fact that it was buried under 39 feet of sand and silt for centuries until it was excavated in 1860 by French archeologists. This “burial” preserved not only the structure and carvings and statuary but also the brilliant colors of paint used on columns and carvings. Architectural detail is clean and elegant and the carvings seem to be as deeply etched as they were originally.
The “burial” of the temple also protected the temple from the depredations of the Christians and Muslims who came in later centuries. No one even knew there was a temple here until 1798 when the top was seen in the sand. But no excavation occurred until 62 years later.
One of my favorites sights at this temple were the many intact statues of Horus. Statues almost as tall as I am were scattered around the complex and they were wonderfully evocative of the reverence in which the Egyptians held this powerful and very early god. In the sanctuary of the temple, the French archeologists found a larger statue of Horus, but they carted it off to France where it now stands in the Louvre.
We visited the little agricultural town of Esna at night and toured the market area before reaching the 4th of the Ptolemaic temples we saw.
The Temple at Esna is only partially excavated and it stands in its “digs” almost 30 ft. below modern ground level. It is dedicated to a god, Khnum, who had gone out of favor through the centuries but was “resurrected” in importance by the Ptolemies. Though he had earlier been revered as the god of the source of the Nile, the Ptolemies believed him to be a creator god responsible for shaping the human body and the bodies of animals as well as the conformation of other gods. Since we were not allowed to go down into the pit and because it was dark and there was no direct lighting on the temple, we did not see much detail in this structure. We could see only the partially columned half wall at the front of the structure in very dim light. The columns seemed to start at the top of the wall and extend up to an intact ceiling for the rest of the structure. The tops of the columns appeared to be done in the usual styles with papyrus leaves and other flowers.
OUR TIMES
Though the main focus of any visit to Egypt must be the antiquities, there is modern Egypt to consider. And we had many activities that helped us enjoy the here and now. OAT (Overseas Adventure Travels) plans other kinds of “discoveries” that take the visitor into modern markets, a papyrus factory, a Foundation supported elementary school, a women's sewing center, a working farm along the Nile, and a Nubian family homehosted meal in Aswan. We visited several important sites such as the place of Anwar Sadat's assassination and the memorial to him and the unknown soldier right across the street.
There is a graceful memorial building holding the tombs of Egypt's Unknown Soldier and Anwar Sadat was buried near that structure across the highway from the huge reviewing stand where he was shot. The joint memorial is triangular in shape, like a hollow pyramid, long the tomb shape of Egypt's leaders. What surprised us was the appearance and behavior of the guards at this memorial. They were sloppily dressed and their hair was unkempt. They were casually lounging around like soldiers on leave. We thought of the pride and sacrifice of the military men in our armed services who volunteer for duty guarding the United States Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Their rigorous training for the duty, their spit & polish appearance, their sacrifice of things other soldiers take for granted—like drinking, smoking, swearing. The Egyptian soldiers we saw that day seemed to take their duty very differently – what a shame.
Memorial to Sadat's Assassination
Tomb Unknown Soldier
Camel Ride to St. Simeon's Monastery
No doubt that our most fraught episode was the visit to St. Simeon's Monastery, following an eventful camel ride starting at a staging area about 150 ft. from the Nile. The walk up to the camels was more accurately described as a “slog” since the terrain was quite steep and composed of loose sand which produced a forward motion consisting of two steps up and one slide back. The heat didn't help either; our guide had told us it was 112 degrees when we were taken off the ship and loaded onto the boat that would take us to the other side of the Nile and would be getting hotter. It probably took about 10-15 minutes to reach the camels with lots of huffing and puffing going on.
We all made the “grade” and were helped onto the camels in various ways some were picked up bodily and placed atop the camels like heavy sacks, others were helpfully boosted up, and taller folks were able to get astride with little or no help. Egyptian saddles were not particularly uncomfortable and there was an large saddle horn to help keep balance while the camel moved along in its rolling side to side fashion. The ride to the monastery entrance took about 20 minutes after we were all “aboard.”
Lois and Kay - Giddy Up
Upon arriving at the gateway into the monastery, the four of us became aware that Kathy was not doing well. She was extremely short of breath, sweating heavily, and quite anxious. Up until now we had not been overly concerned that she had been sick with what appeared to be tourist's diarrhea and had been unable to eat or drink regularly.
By now it was clear that she was severely dehydrated and had not tolerated the walk in the sand at all well. We were all fearful that she might be having symptoms of more serious problems, perhaps even heart-related.
She got off the camel and went just inside the monastery precincts and Kay sat her down, poured water all over her, fanned her, and made her drink as much as she could get down. It took quite a length of time (the whole span of our tour of the monastery) before she felt any better at all. So Kay decided that she and Kathy would not continue the camel ride to the Nubian Village for hibiscus tea. That ride was another 45 minutes into the desert with no shade at all, just blinding sunshine and incandescent heat from the sun and the reflection off the sand. They would wait back at the boat so that she could watch Kathy and make sure she continued to drink copiously.
St. Simeon's Monastery was fascinating to John and I but we certainly did not have our minds focused totally on the tour. Nor did Hany as he explained the facts about the monastery to everyone. We were all wondering how Kathy was faring and Hany kept taking breaks so he could go and check up on her, for which we were grateful. Every time we came to a place with a window or a door or a low wall, we would peer into the terraced where she and Kay were sitting to see for ourselves what was going on.
But a word about the monastery is called for - since everything turned out all right in the end. This large monastery is about 4000 ft. from the Nile on a cliff which allowed it to be constructed as two natural terraces, an upper and a lower. The present name for the complex was assigned by archeologists and tourists. Its real name was Anba Hatre after an anchorite (hermit monk) who later rose to become an archbishop, presumably abandoning his cloistered existence. The complex dates from the 6th century AD but much more construction went on in the 11th century.
At its busiest, there were 1000 monks residing here. The complex includes dormitories with cells containing 6 stone beds each, a church, kitchen and refectory, winery, latrines, a residential tower, kilns for making bricks and pottery, a cemetery with many tombstones, and watch towers on a thin wall which encompasses the whole. The wall
probably stood about 33 ft. high but is now reduced to 20 ft. due to erosion of the mud bricks which constituted the top portion of the wall supported by rough stones on the bottom.
The monks were pretty much self-sufficient in their desert home even though no well or other water source has been discovered in the complex. The weather at the time was such that the monks even grew their own grapes in a vineyard above the Nile. Obviously they were able to grow vegetables and grains and practice animal husbandry. Their only danger in the early centuries was raiding parties by Bedouin tribesmen. However, by the 12th century, larger raids were practiced by Arabs moving in and invading Nubia to the south for its treasures. The “coup de grace” was apparently delivered by Saladin and his men who attacked the monastery in 1173 AD After that devastating raid, the monastery was abandoned. Some archeologists have conjectured that the disappearance of their water supply may have been just as salient in the monk's decision to leave the monastery for good.
After the tour of the monastery, Kathy and Kay boarded camels to go back to the boat and John and I got back on the critters to make the long ride across the desert to a Nubian village. Kathy was better by then so we felt okay about going on ahead.
The ride was not as tiring or painful as we might have imagined beforehand because the saddles seemed stable and the horn provided a sense of security as far as balance was concerned. The desert we crossed was not beautiful at all—just all one color, a faded out tannish hue. But the ride did give us a small sense of the isolation of the desert and the difficulty in establishing and maintaining a route across the featureless land. Naturally, our route was clear and we were with cameleers who were leading us to the village.
The village was very blue many buildings painted with shades of blue including the home we visited for our hibiscus tea. This home had several rooms and all were painted with decorations of various kinds, bright and colorful and happy in character. The tea is the ubiquitous drink presented to visitors at hotels, restaurants and even here in the desert. It is made of brewed hibiscus flowers and is surprisingly refreshing even though it is served hot! We really appreciated it after the oven-like ride we had just finished.
We walked through the village down to the Nile where the boat with Kathy and Kay met us after their ride along the waterfront. We passed children playing in a natural pool of water and saw that the people are very generous in providing containers of drinking water a regular intervals along with roads of the village. The people had small shops catering to tourists with trinkets of all kinds. One lady was holding a live baby crocodile for folks to see, touch and make pictures with. Ashamed of myself, I still succumbed and held the startlingly strong reptile for a picture. He was only about 1 foot in length so there was nothing scary about the experience though he did have many sharp teeth.
John & I enjoyed our experience but it was bettered by the fact that when we saw Kathy and Kay in the boat to take us back to our Nile riverboat, we could see she was much improved!
Others were saved by allowing foreign governments to participate in the relocation projects and then receive a small temple or monument as payment for their efforts. Our help in this project resulted in our receiving the Temple of Dendar for the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.
Some of the unanticipated problems include an increase in the snail population which carries a devastating disease call bilharzia. The irrigation canals harbor these snails where before the annual flooding prevented such standing waters and allowed no accumulation of the snails. Another such problem was the overgrowth of algae and water weeds in the river and the side channels. Solutions to these problems have been found and now the incidence of bilharzia has been reduced from 40% after the first years of dam operations down to 2% today.
Specifications for this mighty dam are impressive: the bulwark is 12,566 ft. long and 3215 ft. wide at its base with 131 ft. width at the crest and 364 ft. high.
Lake Nasser is 342 miles long and 22 miles wide at its fullest. The surface area is 2027 square miles. It is estimated that at the present rate of silting in Lake Nasser, the reservoir will continue to function another 300-500 years.
Egyptian-Russian Friendship Monument
This is the wonderful modern monument to the Russian-Egyptian cooperative project to construct the Aswan High Dam. It is shaped as an elongated lotus flower and contains carvings in Cyrillic letter and Arabic describing the friendship of the two countries. There is a coat of arms on the left of Russia and one for Egypt on the right side of the pictures. Because Nasser died before the dam could be opened, not only is his face present on the walls along with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, so is Anwar Sadat's, President when the dam was officially opened.
The River Nile from a Hot Air Balloon
This topic sounds like a strange transition from the discussion of the dams at Aswan, but actually it is not. Our early morning balloon ride from a base in Luxor revealed to us dramatically the absolute necessity of the Nile River to Egypt. Though we had read and received information about this dependence, seeing the Nile from air about 1000 ft. up was a revelation. The dryness of the Egyptian desert is legend and I have already described our reactions to it. But the slender green band on both sides of the Nile is a miracle. Life in all its forms extends about 5 miles on either side of that tiny string of water. It looks so small from the air and the green space so vulnerable. It is true that you can view this scene from an airplane too, but then you are so high up you lose all perspective. From 600 to 1000 ft. up is very different. The tenuousness of all life in Egypt is quite clear from the balloon basket.
More Personal Encounters
Our meals and teas shared with Egyptians in their own homes were certainly intriguing chances to meet and hear from citizens in an informal setting where they were comfortable. We are grateful for all the opportunities we were given. Our encounters with the school children at the OAT sponsored elementary school was stimulating and it made us all glad that OAT shares some of our trip price monies with projects that benefit the local people where we are tourists. The children in the school were like school kids everywhere, filled with innocence, eagerness, mischief and humor. The influence of our own culture on these remote school children was evident in one little fellow's Spiderman mask and gestures.
The ladies at the new opened Women's Center also sponsored by OAT were shy but pleased to sell our group some of their sewing craft items. Not only are the women being taught to create items for tourists, but their children are given the opportunity for schooling and childcare services.
The young farm owner who welcomed us into his ancestral home and demonstrated some of the old ways of working a farm along the Nile was charming and generous with his experience.
He introduced us to his mother and his wife and one of his children. The ladies demonstrated bread making and showed us how the flour is ground with an old stone hand-turned “mill.” We saw how he created furniture from bamboo, tables, chairs, bed
frames. He proudly explained a mural at the entrance to his home showing a large black square (the Kaaba in Mecca), a boat, and a plane. He explained that this was the documentation of his and his mother's pilgrimage to Mecca together.
The Nubian family in Aswan welcomed us into their city apartment and told us about their lives as educated citizens who work in offices and schools. Their evening meal offered to our group was delicious and clearly labor-intensive. The lady of the house had worked all day preparing all the different dishes for our enjoyment. Conversation with this family was facilitated by a young man who could speak English. The hostess was not fluent in English but her sons could translate our compliments and gratitude to her
Howard Carter's Home
Another enjoyable person to person encounter was one step removed from face to face.
We visited Howard Carter's home near the entrance to the Valley of the Kings where he did so much of his archeology and made the astounding discovery of King Tut's tomb! Of course, Mr. Carter died in l939 so we did not actually meet him. But his house has been preserved as a historical site and it is maintained as it was when he worked there. It is a fairly modest house in a garden setting with trees and shrubs and even some grass. What a surprise in the middle of the desert! The house is furnished with the same accessories as when Carter lived there during “digging” season.
Personal items sit around the rooms, like his typewriter, his glasses, clothing and books he kept. But what makes the visitor feel as if he is “meeting” Carter is the presence of his diaries, open and readable. He kept very careful notes of his archeological findings and work but interspersed the technical notes with his feelings, his doubts, and his hopes in his work. His delight when something wonderful is discovered and his disappointment when his plans do not produce what he thought might be found. His frustrations and his correspondence with Lord Carnarvon, his sponsor, are also there to see. We all wished we could linger longer in his home so that we read more of these journals. After all his years of work, the sheer joy and fulfillment of finding Tut's tomb, the only one to that day that had never been pillaged by grave robbers, can be read in his own handwriting. A meeting with a fascinating person in a very interesting way a visit to his home and a peek into his journals!
Our Guide
When we travel to foreign countries and have a guide who is a native, that person is definitely our most important link with the country. What we learn, how we interpret what we see and experience, the impression we take away with us of the citizens of that country are most often formed by our interactions with the guide. We were very fortunate in our OAT guide, Hany, a 33 year old University of Cairo graduate in Egyptology. He has been guiding for several years and still retains his enthusiasm for teaching others about his country's long, intricate, and grand history.
His command of English was excellent to the point that he understood sarcasm, could joke and take kidding in English, and he expressed himself easily and fluently in English. He made our trip the fine, enjoyable experience that it was. He was very competent at solving problems, making things happen, and even in getting us out of Egypt early because of Kathy's continuing debilitation; and he made it all look easy. He was personable and kind and attentive even when he himself was ailing. A great guide and good ambassador for his country.
One thing that he expressed to us often was a foreshadowing of what has happened in Egypt since we left: the huge divide between the 10% rich citizens and the 90% who struggle to survive, the thoroughgoing corruption in the government at all levels, the total lack of opportunity to succeed and get ahead in employment and careers, the breakdown of public services, the unpunished aggression of the police, the perverted justice system, the systematic loss of farmland to speculators in housing construction
which makes Egypt more and more dependent on importation of foodstuffs, the failing school system for anyone except the children of the rich.
Our Last Night Out Moghul Restaurant
We ate Egyptian food in local restaurants, in hotels, and a picnic setting on a Nile island. We had Indian Cuisine at the famous Moghul Restaurant at the Oberoi Hotel across from the Giza pyramids.
Dining at this famous restaurant was practically an order given to us by Kathy's former boss and friend, M. Narang, an expert on the cuisine of his native country as it is prepared around the world. Since all four of us love Indian cooking, we were more than happy to comply. We had a free night in Cairo during our short stay in the capital city, so we asked our guide Hany to help us arrange an outing to the Oberoi Hotel which houses the Moghul.
This 5 star hotel was across a wide avenue and a stretch of desert from the Pyramids of Giza We could not ask for a more iconic setting for dining. However, it was a little odd that the cuisine for the evening was Indian. Maybe not so strange when we considered that the Oberoi is an Indian-owned hotel chain. The interior of the restaurant was likewise special too. Spacious, with lots of room between tables, accented with Indian architectural accents and art, deeply carpeted, provided with comfortable chairs, and impeccable service. And perhaps most gratifying of all, the prices were not very pricey. It was good that this evening predated Kathy's bout with “Pharaoh's curse” so she was able to enjoy the food as much as we did. The food was Northern Indian but quite familiar to us and our favorite Indian cuisine Everything was tasty and wonderfully prepared from the samosa appetizers to the gulab jaman dessert. Mr. Narang was right it was a real treat in every way. What a way to end our exciting visit to Egypt!
Conclusion
As though he were a visionary, Hany practically predicted what happened on January 25, 2011, just 3 months after we left Egypt. Representatives of the 90% of the people rose up and demanded to be heard. They took to the streets in their thousands to protest the conditions of their lives, the corruption of the Mubarak government and his presiding over the decline of Egypt during the 32 years of his presidency. Their demonstration has lasted 12 days as of the day I am writing this journal they have stayed in Tahrir (Liberation) Square continuously calling for Mubarak to leave his position.
Some things have actually been accomplished since Mubarak has appointed a VicePresident for the first time in his tenure, he fired his cabinet, and he pledged not to seek re-election in September. His son and wife are in London to escape the possible violence but he clings to his power. He has already sequestered a fortune away from Egypt so he could live like a king, Pharaoh, or president anywhere that would accept him, but he refuses to give up. No one knows how long the peaceful protests (punctuated by thuggish behavior carried out by plainclothes policemen and pro-Mubarak supporters) can last or how long the demonstrators can hold out.
It appears as of today that Mubarak is going to try to wait them out and win through their exhaustion. Several people have died and many hundreds have been injured. There have been calls for his resignation from leaders around the world but Mubarak is still adamant that he is serving out his term. He states that if he leaves early “chaos will come again.” And still the people wait for his departure and hope for reform!
Our visit to Egypt was wonderful despite the torrid and unusual heat wave, despite Kathy's illness, and despite our growing awareness of the sad condition of the Egyptian people and their country. Now we watch the unfolding of events with eyes much wider open than they would have been without our visit. Now we worry over the fate of the many people we interacted with albeit superficially: Hany in particular, but also all the crew of the Royal Rhapsody, our home on the Nile, all the workers in the hotels and restaurants we used during our stay, our drivers and the many tourist police who tried to make our visit a safe and uneventful one. We worry about the vendors in the many markets and shops we visited, about the boatmen who transported us back and forth across the Nile to our activities, even the balloon crew who gave us such a wonderful perspective on the desert and the living waters of the Nile contrasted with the ancient monuments of Pharaohs from so long ago.
And yet, our studies of ancient Egypt taught us that this has always been the way of Egyptian life all powerful Pharaohs and their noblemen vassals and advisers and then the rest of the people, the great majority of human beings in the country. There is no tradition of democracy or equal opportunity for all or even justice under the law in Egypt. Can these desperate and proud protesters really turn the page of thousands of years of history and create something better and fairer for all the people in Egypt?
We loved seeing all the marvelous legacies of the ancient Egyptian rulers, the pyramids, the temples, the tombs and learning something of their way of life and their beliefs. But now we are hoping to see change for Egypt a new story of democracy, religious freedom and tolerance, economic stability, and the freedom to pursue personal happiness for all Egyptians not just “Pharaohs” and their minions.
