| Submitted by: Evelyn C. Leeper, United States |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
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This son, Horus, eventually grew up and avenged his father by killing Set (shades of Hamlet in all this). In the battle, however, Horus lost an eye, which became the udjat, or eye of wisdom. Nephthys is often portrayed as a woman with a vase on her head; Isis as a woman with a throne on hers. Isis is also often shown with Horus in much the same way that Mary is shown with Jesus. In fact, many (most?) scholars claim that the early acceptance of Christianity in Egypt (by the Third Century) was due to its emphasis on Mary, which made it very similar to the Isis-worship which was so prevalent. Its monotheism had already been tried by Akhenaten (Amon-ho-tep IV) who ruled around 1350 BC. He replaced the pantheon of gods with one-- Aton, the sun. When he died he was succeeded by Tut-ankh-amen, who changed his name *from* Tut-ankh-aten. This didn't appease the Amon priests enough, though, and they apparently murdered him.
Which provides a lead-in to the next part, the Tut-ankh-amen rooms. These are filled with objects from, not surprisingly, Tut- ankh-amen's Tomb. Although robbers seem to have reached the antechamber shortly after the burial, they were discovered and the tomb resealed. I will not try to describe or even list everything that was found. Suffice it to say it was everything the pharaoh might need in the afterlife. For example, there were a set of 365 ushabtis (or shawabtis), one for each day of the year, as well as overseers. An ushabti is a statue of a servant--these were to serve the pharaoh in the afterlife. There were also a famous statue of Anubis, boomerangs, the golden throne with the king and queen on the back (along with the cobra of Lower Egypt and the eagle/vulture of Upper Egypt), a folding camp bed, couches decorated with Taweret (the hippopotamus goddess and goddess of pregnant women, proving the ancient Egyptians had a sense of humor), and the 'Osiris bed,' a tray in the shape of a man in which soil and seeds were placed. The whole was placed in the tomb where the germinating seeds would represent life after death. The central room of the exhibit contains the inner coffin, jewelry, and other personal items. Some of the jewelry was gorgeous, with remarkably detailed work in gold, stones, and faience. Finally we saw his chariots and the four nested shrines--the size of a small room--found in the tomb.
It was now getting late, since the Museum closes for prayers from 11:30 to 1:30 on Fridays, so we rushed through the rest of what we were to see: the diorite statue of Khefre, the wooden statue of Sheikh el-Beled (a realistic-looking, somewhat chubby fellow), the amazingly well-preserved statue of Rahotep and his wife Nefret (still retaining all their color after over 4000 years), the cleverly designed group of the dwarf Seneb and his family in which he is shown seated cross-legged to minimize his shortness. In general, the statues of men were painted darker to represent their color after working in the sun; those of women were lighter.
We left the Museum wishing we had several more hours there and went back to the bus. Since we would have been early for lunch, Jane Vermuellen (our tour manager) suggested we go to the Khan-al- Kalili Bazaar before lunch rather than later. This was perhaps a mistake--we had only fifteen minutes, time enough to walk through a few alleys but not to stop to shop or even really to see anything. We also managed to lose a couple of people who were eventually found, but the whole thing took longer than expected by a large factor. While waiting for people and the bus, we did get to see people going about their everyday business.
Finally we collected all the people and got back on the bus. The bazaar (or souk) was on the whole cleaner and smelled better than the souk in Jerusalem (though the latter may have improved over the last eight years). In fact, it smelled better than many parts of New York.
We went to the Arabesque Restaurant for lunch, passing many groups of men praying in the streets (it being Friday, the noon prayers were longer than normal). Traffic, normally bad, was made worse because the prayer groups made the streets narrower and closed some off entirely. This was fine with me, since it gave me more chance to look around.
For lunch I had the grilled lamb (a small steak and a sausage) with tomato soup; Mark had veal and lentil soup. For dessert we had om ali, a sort of bread pudding, and Turkish coffee. You know all that silt the Nile brings down? It's used to make Turkish coffee. Actually after the grounds settle it's not bad, though extremely strong--good for staying awake.
Lunch, like all meals here, was a long affair and it wasn't until about 2 PM that we finished and got back on the bus. Then it was east to the Citadel of Salah-ad-Din (Saladin), built in 1176. This is atop a high hill and gives you a view of the entire city and the Pyramids of Giza. It was a bit hazy (from pollution, since Cairo has the highest pollution index in the world, according to one book--though I thought Mexico City claimed that 'honor') and the view was not as dramatic as it might have been, but it would certainly suffice. Even from this distance (thirty miles? I'm not sure but it's across town and a way beyond that) the Pyramids tower over the city.
The main feature of the Citadel is the Muhammed Ali Mosque. No, not Cassius Clay, but Muhammed Ali Pasha, who ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1849 and is credited with founding modern Egypt. He started his modernization by inviting the opposing Mamelukes to a banquet in the Citadel and then slaughtering them on the way out. (Shades of Scone here--does it seem like history and literature repeat themselves a lot?) The mosque was built during the end of his rule and is also called the Alabaster Mosque. Before going in we had slippers put over our shoes or removed our shoes. I chose the latter, as the slippers line was very long. In the courtyard was a clock given by France in exchange for a Rameses II obelisk which had been given to them. There was also a washing area consisting of a dome with taps around it, presumably fed from a well, since I doubt that the original builders could or would have piped water up this high from the river.
The mosque itself was square. Like all mosques it had no seats--just carpeting throughout. Prayers are said standing or kneeling so seating is unnecessary. Hoda explained the basic tenets of Islam: prayer, the creed, the fast, the pilgrimage, and alms- giving. Prayer is five times daily: at sunrise, mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon, and sunset. The creed is, 'There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet.' The fast is the sunrise to sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. The pilgrimage is to Mecca and Medina and Jerusalem, though the latter has been dropped by most Muslims lately. Those who can afford it can make up to seven pilgrimages (why not more, I wonder?). Everyone must also give alms to the poor.
The decoration in the mosque was mostly Turkish, with little or no Egyptian influences. There was some floral decoration, but of course no animal or human representation.
After the mosque we returned to the hotel and frantically wrote in our logs until 6 PM when we went downstairs for our briefing. We heard all the details about our tour in Egypt, which would certainly bore you all, so I won't bother to recount them here. After the briefing we had a cocktail party in which we had a chance to meet everyone (more or less) and then dinner. Unfortunately, dinner was in a French restaurant in the hotel rather than one serving local cuisine and the food was less than thrilling. (Maybe the other people liked it.) Then back to the room to write until midnight, then to sleep.
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Up at 6:30, breakfast at 7:30 in the Felucca Buffet. There was a combination of American and Middle Eastern cuisine so I concentrated on the latter and had felafel, hummous, yogurt, tomatoes, cucumbers, fool (a bean dish), watermelon, fresh figs, fresh dates, and so on. After breakfast we boarded the bus for Memphis. No, not Memphis, Tennessee!
Memphis (Egypt) was the first capital of the united Upper and Lower Egypts (around 2700 BC). It's fifteen miles south of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile--one of the very few cities on that side. It was built on the east side, then the Nile was rerouted around it to create a city protected by water on one side and desert on the other. Time and subsequent invasions, however, have resulted in all the buildings of the complex here being dismantled and their materials used to build on other sites. The main attraction remaining at Memphis is a giant fallen statue of Rameses II (the guy got around!) and a limestone sphinx transported from Saqqara. There are also some other partial pieces of statuary, but like the two major pieces they date back to only about 1300 BC. The sides on which the statues lay are eroded, but the upper sides remained well-preserved. The setting for the pieces other than the statue is a small garden; the statue is in a building which has a balcony that lets you view it from above. (I tipped the doorkeeper a pen-- everyone seems to want pens.) The garden also has many vendors. We bought ten postcards for a pound (about forty-four cents).
Our next stop was Saqqara. Between the two (and before, on the way to Memphis) we passed through several small villages where much hadn't changed in thousands of years. People still dired dung on their roofs to use for fuel. Women still washed clothes in the river (in this case, it was actually in a wide irrigation ditch). Men still sit together and drink coffee. (Oh, I found out you're supposed to let the silt in the Turkish coffee settle first.) You see more long robes in the villages (percentage-wise). The farms we passed were using donkeys, oxen (water buffalo), horses, and even camels. We also saw a waterwheel. Rice seems to be a popular crop. Now that the High Dam has been built and irrigation is possible year-round, farmers get (usually) three crops a year. (Of course, as I said earlier they no longer get the silt that came with the floods, so they now need to use chemical fertilizers.) Where before, food crops dominated, now cotton is the major crop, and as a result Egypt must import things like wheat.
The first thing we saw at Saqqara was the desert. The road forms the boundary between green fields on one side and desert on the other. We began with the Step Pyramid of Zoser (a.k.a. Djoser- -spellings vary for almost all ancient names) and the complex it occupies. This is the first known pyramid, dating back to 2686 BC, and was built in three stages. Originally it had only four steps; it was increased to six only by the last addition. The entrance to the complex is a colonnaded court at the southern end. This leads to two courtyards, the larger of which reaches to the southern face of the pyramid. The stones of the pyramid and of the complex in general are smaller than those of later constructions as a transition from the mud bricks builders were used to. At the other end of the courtyard is a ninety-foot-deep pit, possibly intended as another tomb. There were also a large number of mangy dogs who suddenly decided to start barking at each other. We saw these sorts of dogs everywhere, usually just lying in the sun sleeping.
The pyramid itself is closed, as are many, not so much to preserve the interiors as because they are unsafe. Having tourists die in pyramids is considered bad for tourism. So we proceeded to Mereruka's Tomb next to Teti's Pyramid. This tomb, or mastaba, is known for its wealth of illustrations on the walls. Over the entranceway is a lintel carved to look like a rolled-up door curtain. The first room has scenes of fishing and a hippopotamus hunt. The carving is so accurate that ichthyologists have been able to identify fifty different species of fish, some of which are now extinct. |
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