King Tutankhamun most likely died of Malaria

The results of a new DNA study on King Tut (Tutankhamun) reveal that he was a frail pharaoh, beset by malaria and a bone disorder—and possibly compromised by his newly discovered incestuous origins.

The findings of this study that seem the most interesting to me are.
1. The murder and posioning rumors will now have to be put to rest as Malaria seems to be the most likely cause of his death.
2. This is now the oldest known genetic proof of malaria.
3. They found more than one strain of malaria parasite, indicating that King Tut caught multiple malarial infections during his life.
4. Tutankhamun is the son of Akhenaten and his Sister Queen (a minor queen perhaps, but not his chief wife Queen Nefertiti whose beauty and bust have been subject to much debate)

   

5. The identity of Tutankhamun's mother has not been confirmed yet, but DNA tests prove that his parents were both the children of King Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye
6. The mummy KV55 has been positively identified as that of Akehnaten (the 'so-called' Heretic King who wanted the populace to worship only one God)
7. The speculation that Akhenaten suffered from gynecomastia - a genetic disorder that causes men to have female features like wide hips, potbelly, and breasts - has been put to rest.

The feminized features found in Akenhaten's depictions (the few that have survived) seem to have been done for religious and political reasons.

If you would like to read a more detailed report, it is available on National Geographic

Weekend Breaks from Cairo

Living in Cairo can be an extremely stressful experience. Weekend breaks with family and friends are an ideal way to de-stress and Egypt has plenty of options for every kind of weekend break, no matter what your interests are, or how hot or cold the weather is.

If relaxing on a beach with a book or building a sand castle is your idea of a holiday, you can choose from a range of options. Ain Sukhna is the closest beach retreat from Cairo. If you opt for Alexandria, you can also catch up on some Greek history while visiting the catacombs, the Roman Theater and the museum. The Bibliotheca Alexandria is definitely worth a visit and the kids may love the planetarium.

Marsa Matrouh is a bit of a drive away, but has the calmest lagoons and softest sand of all the beaches that I have visited in Egypt. Halt midway, at the International memorials in Alamein where soldiers from all over the world who died here during World War II are buried.

If you have even the slightest interest in diving and snorkeling, Sharm el Sheikh, Dahab, Hurghada, Nuweiba and Taba offer a range of diving spots of varying difficulties. There are PADI institutes at these areas which can train and certify you for dives. But do check their credentials and equipment before entrusting your life in their hands. While these spots may seem a bit of a distance from Cairo, you can easily drive there Thursday evening and be back by Saturday evening. Some of these towns have their own airport and you have the option of catching a domestic flight from Cairo. If you book in advance, its easy to get Cheap Flights to travel within Egypt.

Whether you are a history buff or not, you cannot leave Egypt without doing the mandatory Luxor-Aswan Nile cruise. There are 3, 4 and 7 day options to this cruise and cruise ships to fit a variety of budgets. Normally all meals, entry tickets, transport and guide fees are included in the package and this is a convenient way to visit all the main Pharaonic monuments in Egypt

If sailing is not your thing, but you still want to catch up on some history, then a 2 day trip to Luxor (the largest open air museum in the world) is a wonderful appetizer. Spend one day on each bank. The East Bank has the must-visit Karnak Temple and Luxor temple. The Luxor museum is exceptional: uncluttered, well lit and with short printed descriptions to accompany most of the major pieces, it is easy to navigate on your own.

On the West Bank you can choose between the Valley of the Kings, Queens, Nobles or Workmen and visit underground tombs that are beautifully decorated. Deir el Bahri (Hatchepsuts Temple) is a popular attraction as are the Ramesseum and Medinat Habu.

If you have an extra day free, you may like to make the trip to Abydos and Dendera where the reliefs and construction are in much better condition than those in Luxor.

There are direct flights from Cairo to Abu Simbel, but in case they are booked, you can fly to Aswan and then travel by the 4am or 11am convoys. The original temple itself was a marvel, but combined with the international relocation effort to higher ground, it makes the very existence of these temples nothing short of a miracle.

If you would like to get back in touch with nature, then desert camping is an option that you could explore. Egypt has 5 Oases in the Western Desert, Bahariyya, Farafra, Dakhla, Kharga and Siwa. Follow basic precautions when offroading or camping in the desert. Always travel in more than one car. Have someone familiar with the desert in your group. It is very easy to get disoriented when you can see the horizon 360 degrees around you. Carry enough fuel, food and water.

Having a good guide to the desert, will make the difference between you enjoying your camping trip and wanting to return again and again. Sleeping in a 5 star can never be compared to sleeping under a million stars with the occasional shooting star or comet.

If a quick day trip to an oasis is all you have time for, then Fayoum is the place for you. Bird Watchers will revel in the multitude of birds which hover around Lake Qaroun. Fayoum also has a number of hotels and eco lodges, if you would like to spend the night. The water wheels, ancient Pharonic temples and pre-historic fossils at Wadi Hitan are just some of the sites you can visit at this oasis.

The Sinai Plateau offers hiking and trekking opportunities aplenty no matter what difficulty and stamina level you are looking for. From the Colored Canyon to Gebel Musa (Mount Moses).

Towns like Port Said, Suez, Damietta and Rosetta are great options for picnics from Cairo if all you have is one day off each week.

If you are interested in Monasticism and Coptic History, the monasteries of Upper Egypt and Wadi Natrun are worth a visit. While it may be more difficult to organise permits to visit Upper Egypt on your own, Wadi Natrun is a day trip from Cairo. Just be sure that you don’t visit during one of the many fasts in the Coptic calendar, otherwise you may just find everything closed.

Egypt offers a wealth of travel opportunities for every kind of traveler. There are tour agents who can manage every aspect of your travel, so you don’t have to worry about anything. With a little planning, you can ensure that you recharge your batteries in different locations regularly, to help you face the coming week in a better frame of mind.

Karishma Pais (Kim) is an expat trailing wife in Cairo. She has a Masters Degree in Human Resources and Behaviour. She consults on HR projects, delivers intercultural training at the CSA, counsels new and experienced expats, writes for several magazines – online and offline, she runs whazzupcairo@yahoogroups.com and whazzupcairo@googlegroups.com among other activities. Her Social Commentary and blog about life in Egypt can be read at http://whazzupegypt.blogspot.com
Pictures are by her and her husband Brajesh Bajpai

Published in The Oasis, April 2009 issue and desicritics.org

Fatimid Walk

It was such a pleasure to be able to attend a PTP walk again (Its been over a year since I could last attend a walk) yesterday.

As added bonus, my husband was able to come along too and he too got to see the beauty and history of Islamic Cairo through Camel's eyes.

We started at Bab Zuwayla (entry 15LE for foreigners, 1LE for Egyptians) where the gate itself was built by the Fatimids, but the minarets were added about 300 years later. We climbed up the gate and some PTPians even climbed up the minarets. The view from here is lovely. Unfortunately today was not a very clear day, so it was hard to take long range pictures of the skyline.

Our next stop was at the Fakhahini mosque where we heard the stories behind Al Hakim the "eccentric" 3rd Caliph in Egypt.

We then crossed the road to reach the Mausoleum of Al Saleh Nagm ad Din Ayyub which is built on the site of a Fatimid palace - Beit Al Qasreen (which lent its name to one of the books from the Naguib Mahfouz trilogy).

Most PTPians then headed back for some refreshments, but since my husband had come to the area after so long, the 2 of us decided to carry on walking down Sharia al Muizz ud Din towards the Northern Gates.

We looked for some of the other Fatimid monuments that were mentioned during the presentation. We identified the Al Aqmar mosque and Al Hakim mosque before arriving at the Northern wall.


We also wandered into the Beit al Sihaymi which is a beautiful Ottoman house (actually 2 houses), not as well furnished as the Gayer Anderson museum, but some rooms are semi furnished.
We had a wonderful time. The weather was comfortable for walking, the pace relaxed, we met old friends, made new ones, learned a lot, ate roasted batatas, some wonderful local bread stuffed with dates(boreik - sometimes also stuffed with cheese) and some interesting pink and white sweets (moz halawa) and fell in love all over again with Islamic Cairo.

On another note, I would also recommend that you visit the Bein Al Qasreen area in the evening when it is all lit up. It transforms into something mystical in its beauty.

Mummy of female pharaoh uncovered

From BBC

The discovery of such an old mummy is extremely rare, Egyptologists say Egyptologists have discovered the remains of a mummy thought to belong to a queen who ruled 4,300 years ago, Egypt's antiquities chief has said. The body of Queen Seshestet was found in a recently-discovered pyramid in Saqqara, Zahi Hawass announced. She was mother of King Teti, founder of the Sixth Dynasty of pharaonic Egypt. Her name was not found but "all the signs indicate that she is Seshestet". Such old royal mummies are rare. Most date from dynasties after 1800 BC. Historians believe Queen Seshestet ruled Egypt for 11 years - making her one of a small number of women pharaohs. It took five hours to lift the lid of a sarcophagus, according to a statement by Mr Hawass. It contained a skull, legs, pelvis, other body parts wrapped in linen, pottery and gold finger wrappings. The burial chamber was raided in antiquity by grave robbers who stole everything, including most valuables from inside the sarcophagus.

More Luggage

A short while ago, I wrote on Basics of Traveling - Luggage.

Cairo Typo reminded me on a point that I hadn't mentioned in my post, which is the weight of your luggage. Always check the weight of your luggage in store, because new flying regulations severely limit the weight you are allowed in your carry on baggage. And the heavier your luggage, the less you will be able to put into it.

In this post, I'd like to consider the options of Designer Luggage. Most famous designers have their own luggage lines too. We ourselves did not go extremely high end, but we did pick up a set of matching Giordano suitcases. Unfortunately in less than 6 months, the baggage handlers between Egypt and Morocco managed to break the handle of the suitcase. We do not know if it was a non-sturdy handle or the baggage handling process was bad. Getting the handle replaced in Egypt was close to impossible.

On our trip to India, we did get a new handle put in, but it couldn't match the shape and size of the original. This is one of the problems of being frequent travelers with minimal roots.

Talking about India, another tip is that with the recent attacks, airports in the country have stepped up their security and for some reason known only to them, require you to completely remove your laptop from all packaging when sending it through the hand baggage scanner. I normally put my laptop bag inside another strolley so I can include some basic toiletries and a change of clothes (we have tons of personal stories about luggage gone missing and never arriving, so everything expensive, important or which cannot be replaced is always carried in our hand baggage) I'm not sure about other countries yet, but if you are flying out of any airport in India, do keep your laptop in an easily accessible pocket, so it can be scanned separately.

Coming back to designer luggage, Hartman Luggage and Vera Bradley Luggage are very interesting brands to consider. I particularly like the Victorinox range of luggage, which I find very smart in its finish.


But what I really need now, given the weather in Egypt is a walker like my grandma used to use. The cold is killing my back and sagging sofa springs aren't helping the matter any :(

Saqqara: Tombs over 4,000 Years Old Discovered

Again,

This was in the news about a week ago.

From The BBC

Two tombs dating back more than 4,000 years have been discovered in Egypt at Saqqara, south of Cairo.

The head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, Dr Zahi Hawass, said the burial sites belonged to a pyramid builder and a singer.

Although archaeologists have been exploring Egypt intensively for more than 150 years, Dr Hawass believes only 30% of what lies beneath the ground has been uncovered.

New Pyramid discovered in Saqqara plateau

A new pyramid has been "discovered" in the Saqqara plateau. It is being hypothesised that this 4,300 year old pyramid belongs to Queen Sesheshet the queen mother of King Teti, the founder of Egypt's Sixth Dynasty.

The pyramid is the 118th discovered so far in Egypt, and the 12th to be found in Saqqara.

See pictures on BBC News

News Report at yahoo.com

Watch Slide show at yahoo.com

Ancient Egypt Settlement Sheds Light on Everyday Life

From National Geographic News

Andrew Bossone in Cairo
for National Geographic News

July 2, 2008

A well-preserved mud-brick settlement in southern Egypt is providing a rare glimpse into nearly 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian daily life, archaeologists announced Tuesday. (See photos.)

The Tell Edfu site includes a public town center that was used for collecting taxes, conducting business, recording accounting, and writing documents.

Enlarge Photo

The discovery paints a picture of a relatively advanced system of society during ancient times, with commerce playing an intricate part of daily Egyptian life, according to the University of Chicago and the Egyptian Supreme Council on Antiquities.

Until now, information on common life in Egypt had come mostly from scrolls of papyrus and other documents. Part of the cause is that archaeologists have long focused on monuments and gold artifacts associated with royalty.

"Town settlements have not been excavated very much, and people were not very interested in it," said mission leader Nadine Moeller, an assistant professor in Egyptian archaeology at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.

"These towns were all made of mud-brick, so that's obviously not as glamorous as stone architecture."

(Related: "Egypt's Earliest Farming Village Found" [February 12, 2008].)

Heart of Things

The settlement was discovered several years ago next to the Edfu Temple, one of the best-preserved large temples from ancient Egypt.

The town center contains an open hall with eight silos, partially used to collect grain taxes from farmers.

Ranging from 18 to 21 feet (5.5 to 6.5 meters) in diameter, the silos are the largest ever found in an Egyptian town center, archaeologists say.

Above the silos are rectangular storage containers containing gray ash to protect them from pests. The silos hail from the 17th dynasty, which lasted from about 1570 to 1540 B.C.

The whole complex was attached to a 16-column hall, part of an old governor's palace that eventually was transformed into a center of commerce and administration, the archaeologists say.

Overlooked

Part of the reason so little is known about ancient Egypt's basic settlements is because there are so few.

Many were destroyed during thousands of years of construction or from farmers who used the ancient Nile mud for fertilizer at the turn of the 20th century.

Archaeologists also say that interest in studying ancient Egyptian settlements has only bloomed in the last 20 or 30 years.

"This has been changing, and people are more and more interested in how settlements were organized and how normal people lived," Moeller said.

Vivian Davies is an archaeologist at the British Museum who is excavating at a nearby site in Edfu.

"[The Tell Edfu settlement] rectifies the imbalance in our picture of ancient Egypt, which is largely derived from tombs and temples," Davies said.

"We need to complement that picture with archaeology in the places where Egyptians lived, as opposed to the places where they worshiped and where they were placed when they were dead."

Complex Politics

The find also helps illuminate the complex political relationships during the 17th dynasty. At the time pharaohs were based in the city of Thebes south of Edfu, where they were beset by aggressive neighbors such as the Hyksos in the north and Nubian Kushites in the south.

"We do know something about these people, but it's one of the more obscure periods of ancient Egyptian history," Moeller said.

Local authorities wielded considerable power, due to the pharaohs' eagerness to recruit allies.

For instance, Queen Sebekemsaf, wife of pharaoh Antef Nubkheperre, was actually the daughter of the governor of Edfu, Moeller said. "We know that from bracelets that have been found with her name as well as her husband."

The pharaoh's remains have been found in the Valley of the Kings near Thebes, but records indicate that Sebekemsaf was buried in Edfu.

Archaeologists say the queen must not have been royalty if she was buried locally, supporting the idea that Theban kings made ties with local governors.

Shajar al-Durr - the only Sultana of Egypt

Also posted on desicritics.org

The only female Sultana to have ruled Egypt for 80 days.

She was of Turkish origin and was originally a slave in the harem of the Caliph of Baghdad. She was later gifted to the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt & Syria who fell in love with her and married her.

On the sultans death, his son took over. The son alienated the Mamluk slaves, who soon assassinated him and the step mother Shajar al Durr was proclaimed as Sultana.

Several months later— due to political pressure for a male sultan— Shajar al-Durr married an important Mamluk officer, Aybak. Together, they initiated the first Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt and Syria. They shared power in a combination of cooperation and suspicion for seven years. She thus was a sultana of Ayyubid Egypt and also the co-founder of the Mamluk dynasty

She later murdered Aybak - her second husband when she discovered that he had been plotting against her. She was subsequently beaten to death with shoes by the rest of Aybak's concubines.

To date, to the best of my knowledge, she has been the only female ruler of Egypt other than Cleopatra & Hatchepsut.

Her tomb can be visited even today in Cairo. My friend Camel, who is extremely knowledgeable on these matters (location & history of various monuments in Cairo) gave me these directions:

Dear Kim,

I visited the Tomb of Shajar al-Durr before, and it sure is around Ibn Tulun Mosque, a walking distance from it.

It is not the most pleasant of neighbourhoods, but the locals know the place, and they call it “Obbet el-Sitt Shagaret el-Durr”.

Just before Ibn Tulun, there is a street called al-Khalifa. Ask anyone to point the direction. If they don’t know, ask them for the Mosque of al-Sayyeda Sakina (it’s in al-Khalifa Street).

Walk that street till you reach al-Sayyeda Sakina Mosque, then go on straight ahead in the same street, and you will find the Tomb of Shajar al-Durr to your left.

If you go on in this street, you will reach Midan al-Sayyeda Nafisa, and you can visit her mosque too.

Enjoy!
Camel – Keeper of the Temple

A short trip to Egypt

Also published on desicritics.org

Being in Egypt for the last 18 months, I receive a lot of requests from friends asking what they should plan in their itinerary in Egypt. We have been here for ages and manage to do a lot more than an average tourist can hope to accomplish unless they are the type with endless vacation time)

This article is written in my 18 year old sisters voice. So it may not read like anything I have written before, but please bear with me. Its a new style, I'm experimenting with. Comments on the style are welcome :)

I approach the city of Cairo from the air and the first thing I see is the river Nile, which shimmers and glistens catching the rays of the rising sun. I am lucky enough to be on the left of the plane and catch my first view of the Pyramids of Giza, right outside the city which still stand majestically even after 5000 years – a silent testimony to the grandeur and glory of ancient Egyptian civilization. We circle and then land. It's been over 5 hours since I got on this flight & I’m ready to come back to earth. I rush through Customs and baggage claim, eager to meet my sister (who currently lives in Egypt with her husband)

We then drove back to my sisters house, while she pointed out a few statues, an obelisk and some other famous constructions along the way. Cairo pretty much resembles Bombay. The Shanty towns, crowding, pollution and above all non-observance of any rules related to traffic.

Our first visit was to Saqqara, the site of the Step Pyramid. The Step Pyramid is the oldest and the first of the Pyramidal Structures from which all other Pyramids evolved (Tombs of early Egyptian kings were flat mounds called mastabas) The step pyramid was designed to serve as a gigantic stairway by which the soul of the deceased pharaoh could ascend to the heavens.


We then proceeded to Giza, the place of THE Pyramids. The pyramids of Giza are the only remaining wonder of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. The Pyramids were built by Khufu, his son Khafre and Khafre's son Menkaure. The biggest and tallest Pyramid of all (the Great Pyramid, as it is referred to) is the Pyramid of Khufu. The Sphinx (built by Khafre) was supposed to guard the pyramids.


The next day we went to the Egyptian Museum. This place is filled with artifacts taken from various ages. Most notable of what I saw were the innumerable gold treasures taken from King Tut-Ankh-Amun’s tomb and the mummies of about 30 famous kings and queens.

We spent the next few days visiting the Citadel, which is the old city enclosed by a huge wall built by Saladin. We climbed inside the wall and visited the beautiful Mohammed Ali Mosque (Incidentally Cairo has the most number of mosques compared to any other city in the world).

We visited quite a few old Coptic Churches (Egypt has a lot of significant churches along the path taken by Mary and Joseph when they fled to Egypt after the birth of Christ) and a Synagogue .


We finally went to the Khan-el-Khalili market. We climbed the Bab Zuwayla – one of the 3 remaining gates of the original walled city – and both its minarets (about 8 floors high) and had a wonderful view of the whole city around. You get all sorts of hand crafted items in this market – hookahs, colourful tents, Pharaonic souvenirs, galabeyas and belly dancing outfits to name just a few

We also went to Fayoum Oasis and took a boat ride to observe the water birds. I also rolled down a sand dune thrice near the Oasis which was loads of fun (It was the only safe place to do this as there were no scorpions in this part of the desert)

The next day we took a flight to Luxor to embark on a 5 day cruise on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan stopping along the way to see places of Interest. After breakfast, we boarded a Bus to go to the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. (The Ancient Egyptian Kings built temples to Glorify the Gods / themselves) One of the biggest reasons these temples / monuments are almost intact is weather oriented. As it hardly ever rains in Egypt, the low humidity has protected the structures except for the ravages of time over 5000 + years.

After Spending around 2 hours at Karnak, we drove to the temple of Luxor. The Temples of Karnak & Luxor are about 3 Miles apart. During the reign of the Pharaohs they were connected by an avenue lined with Sphinxes on both sides. The Pharaoh used to go in a grand procession from one temple to the Other. Today you can find about 40-50 metres of Sphinxes before each temple. Civilization has crept in in-between with Houses and roads.


We left on the next day to the West Bank & started with the Valley of the Kings where most of the Pharaohs are buried. King Tut's tomb and treasure was found here. We visited the 3 tombs opened for that day. These tombs are shafted deep into the mountains and are decorated with a lot of paintings from the book of the dead on the walls and ceilings. Some of the colours can still be seen today .

Next stop was the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. She is famous for declaring herself as Pharaoh and ruling as one, depicting herself as male (with a false beard) in all the representations around her temple. She was recently in the news for her mummy being successfully identified.


After that we got back and set Sail for Edfu where we visited the Temple dedicated to Horus.

From here we sailed to Kom Ombo crossing the locks at Esna which was an interesting experience to say the least. As we waited for our turn to cross the locks at Esna, we were besieged by rug sellers in tiny boats who surrounded our moored boat and engaged everyone on board with hectic and loud bargaining and banter.

After dinner we had a "Galabeya Party". Galabeya is the long gown traditionally worn by most Egyptians. Almost all of the tourists, had bought Galabeyas from the boat salesmen and got all dressed up. We had some singing and dancing to the melodies of Nubian Music.

The Next morning we docked at Kom Ombo and visited the temple dedicated to two Gods. Sobek (the Crocodile God) and Horus. This temple is located at a bend in the Nile where crocodiles used to congregate until their movement downstream was stopped by the construction of the dam at Aswan. Hence the need for a God to protect the Egyptians from the crocodiles.

At Aswan the next day, we took a motor boat from a small ferry landing, to the Island of Philae. This is one of the many monuments that was affected by the building of the ASWAN dam. This temple was submerged (partially) under water before it was moved block by block to its current place on the Island of Agilika. The project was one of the two funded by UNICEF. The other was the masterwork of moving the temple of Abu Simbel.


The temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis, contains a lot of Greco-Roman and Egyptian architecture. As these lands changed hands frequently in ancient times, you tend to find some of these temples containing influences of various cultures. (Greek, Roman & Egyptian) There are even some Coptic crosses etched in some of these temples from the days when the Copts hid from Muslim raiders on these premises.


We then proceeded to the Aswan dam and then took a bus to Abu Simbel. This is the second temple that was moved to a higher ground to avoid being submerged by the water from the Aswan Dam. This temple is dedicated to Ramses II and his queen Nefertari. The Main temple dedicated to Ramses, has four 18 Metre statues of Ramses in a seated posture at the entrance. A couple of metres higher than the Gomaeshwara at Shravanabelagola! This is followed by a hallway lined with eight standing statues of Ramses (4 on each side). The Inner sanctum contains the statues of Ramses and 3 other Gods. Twice a year, on Ramses' birthday and on the day of his ascension to the throne, (February 22nd, October 22nd) the rays from the rising sun stream all the way into the inner sanctum about 100 metres deep inside the temple.


This happens to this day, even after the temple was moved from its earlier place. A work of sheer genius on the part of the ancient architects and the modern ones who shifted it. The modern architects constructed a huge dome before relocating the temple over it, to ensure that the phenomenon would continue.

The adjacent temple of Nefertari, has Six 15 Metre statues at the entrance (4 of which are of Ramses and 2 are of Nefertari). Ramses, just did not get tired of his face !!! The notable feature was that for the first time, a Pharaoh depicted a wife at the same height as himself. Otherwise wives and children were always shown below knee level to emphasise the Pharaoh as a God and everyone else as his subjects.
We then took the 4.5 hour bus ride through flat arid desert back to Aswan and boarded the flight back to Cairo.

The last day we drove to Alexandria (A port built by Alexander the great) explored the complex Catacombs a couple of feet below the ground, visited the Bibliotheca Alexandria (One of the largest libraries in the world, at the site of the original Library of Alexandria) the Qaitbay fort - built over the site of the Ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria (another wonder of the ancient world) and we admired the wonderful Mediterranean sea and its many shades of blue.


We returned to Cairo the same night and packed our bags and left to the airport. As I looked out of the window I felt despondent to leave Egypt with its 7 millenia of historical monuments, its wonderful feteer, koshary and Cinnabon rolls and my darling sister.

Basic intro to Pharaonic Egypt

My sister & I were writing this article for a bunch of young students who have no idea about Pharaonic Egypt.

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country in North Africa that includes the Sinai Peninsula, a land bridge to Asia. Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south and the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. The Northern coast borders the Mediterranean Sea; the Eastern coast borders the Red Sea.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx.

Life in Ancient Egypt

Daily life in ancient Egypt revolved around the Nile and the fertile land along its banks. The yearly flooding of the Nile enriched the soil and brought good harvests.

The people of ancient Egypt built mud brick homes in villages and in the country. They grew some of their own food and traded in the villages for the food and goods they could not produce.

Most ancient Egyptians worked as field hands, farmers, craftsmen and scribes. A small group of people were nobles. Together, these different groups of people made up the population of ancient Egypt.

Pharaoh

The most powerful person in ancient Egypt was the pharaoh. The pharaoh was the political and religious leader of the Egyptian people, holding the titles: 'Lord of the Two Lands' and 'High Priest of Every Temple'.

As 'Lord of the Two Lands' the pharaoh was the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. He owned all of the land, made laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt against foreigners.

As 'High Priest of Every Temple', the pharaoh represented the gods on Earth. He performed rituals and built temples to honor the gods.

Many pharaohs went to war when their land was threatened or when they wanted to control foreign lands. If the pharaoh won the battle, the conquered people had to recognize the Egyptian pharaoh as their ruler and offer him the finest and most valuable goods from their land.

Pyramids

The ancient Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for the pharaohs and their queens. The pharaohs were buried in pyramids of many different shapes and sizes from before the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the end of the Middle Kingdom.

There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt. The three largest and best-preserved of these were built at Giza at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. The most well-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu. It is known as the 'Great Pyramid'.

Historic development of Pyramids

Tombs of early Egyptian kings were flat mounds called mastabas. Around 2780 B.C., King Djoser's architect, Imhotep, built the first pyramid by placing six mastabas, each smaller than the one beneath, in a stack to form a pyramid rising in steps. (The step pyramid at Sakkara) It was designed to serve as a gigantic stairway by which the soul of the deceased pharaoh could ascend to the heavens. Like later pyramids, it contains various rooms and passages, including the burial chamber of the king.

The transition from the Step Pyramid to a true, smooth-sided pyramid took place during the reign of King Snefru, founder of the Fourth Dynasty. At Medum, a step pyramid was built, then filled in with stone, and covered with a limestone casing.

The largest and most famous of all the pyramids, the Great Pyramid at Giza, was built by Snefru's son, Khufu, known also as Cheops, the later Greek form of his name.

Also located at Giza is the famous Sphinx, a massive statue of a lion with a human head(possibly that of the Pharaoh Khefrem himself whose pyramid it stands in front of). Pyramids did not stand alone but were part of a group of buildings which included temples, chapels, other tombs of nobles and massive walls.

Mummification

The earliest ancient Egyptians buried their dead in small pits in the desert. The heat and dryness of the sand dehydrated the bodies quickly, creating lifelike and natural ‘mummies'.

Later, the ancient Egyptians began burying their dead in coffins to protect them from wild animals in the desert. However, they realized that bodies placed in coffins decayed when they were not exposed to the hot, dry sand of the desert.

Over many centuries, the ancient Egyptians developed a method of preserving bodies so they would remain lifelike. The process included embalming the bodies and wrapping them in strips of linen. Today we call this process mummification

The level of mummification depended on what one could afford. The most fully developed form involved four basic steps:

1. All of the internal organs, except the heart, were removed. Since the organs were the first parts of the body to decompose but were necessary in the afterlife, they were mummified and put in canopic jars that were placed in the tomb at the time of burial. The heart was believed to be the seat of intelligence and emotion and was therefore left in the body. The brain, on the other hand, was regarded as having no significant value and beginning in the New Kingdom, was removed through the nose and discarded.

2. The body was packed and covered with spices and natron-a salty drying agent- and left to dry out for forty to fifty days. By this time all the body's liquid had been absorbed and only the hair, skin, and bones were left.

3. The body cavity was stuffed with resin, sawdust, or linen and shaped to restore the deceased's form and features.

4. The body was then tightly wrapped in many layers of linen with numerous good luck charms or amulets wrapped between the layers. The most important amulet was the scarab beetle which was placed over the heart. Jewelry was also placed among the bandages. At each stage of wrapping, a priest recited spells and prayers. This whole procedure could take as long as fifteen days. After the wrapping was complete, the body was put into a shroud. The entire mummification process took about seventy days.

Once preserved, the mummies were laid to rest in a sarcophagus (coffin) inside a tomb, where it was believed that the mummy would rest eternally.

Temples

The ancient Egyptians believed that temples were the homes of the gods and goddesses. Every temple was dedicated to a God or Goddess and he or she was worshipped there by the temple priests and the pharaoh.

The large temple buildings were made of stone so that they would last forever. Their walls were covered with scenes that were carved onto the stone then brightly painted. These scenes showed the pharaoh fighting in battles and performing rituals with the Gods and Goddesses.

There were two main categories: the cult temple, dedicated to the worship of one or more deities and the funerary temple, in which rituals were celebrated to ensure the well-being in the afterlife of a dead king.

Gods and Goddesses

The ancient Egyptians believed in many different Gods and Goddesses. Each one with their own role to play in maintaining peace and harmony across the land

Some Gods and Goddesses took part in creation, some brought the flood every year, some offered protection, and some took care of people after they died. Others were either local gods who represented towns, or minor gods who represented plants or animals.

Wadi el Hitan on UNESCO World Heritage List

From ansamed.com

EGYPT: WADI AL HITAN SITE LEADS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO,
February 11 -
In the frame of the Egyptian-Italian cooperation, Wadi Al Hitan (Whale Valley) became the first natural site on Unesco World Heritage list in Egypt and the Arab World the event was attended by the Italian Ambassador Claudio Pacifico.

The Italian cooperation since 1998 granted one million euros to protect Wadi Al Hitan and offered technical assistance, equipment, infrastructure and trained 13 rangers and 30 forest guards.

The Egyptian Minister of Environment, Maged George plans to turn the Wadi-Al Hitan area to an open museum. Wadi Al Hitan, located in the Egyptian Western Dessert, is the most important site in the world to demonstrate one of the iconic changes that work as a record of revealing life on earth through the evolution of whales. The site shows the form of whales during their transition from land animals to marine animals. The value of the site exceeds other comparable sites in terms of number, concentration and quality of fossils. Also, their accessibility and setting in an attractive protected landscape work as an added value. Wadi Al Hitan is the only place in the world where the skeletons of families of archaic whales can be seen in their original and geographic setting of the shallow nutrient-rich sea which dates back to some 40 billion years ago.

From ArabianBusines.com

Ancient city uncovered in Egypt

by AFP on Wednesday, 30 January 2008

A team of US archaeologists has discovered the ruins of a city dating back to the period of the first farmers 7,000 years ago in Egypt's Fayyum oasis, the supreme council of antiquities said on Tuesday.

"An electromagnetic survey revealed the existence in the Karanis region of a network of walls and roads similar to those constructed during the Greco-Roman period," the council's chief Zahi Hawwas said.

The remnants of the city are "still buried beneath the sand and the details of this discovery will be revealed in due course", Hawwas said.

"The artefacts consist of the remains of walls and houses in terracotta or dressed limestone as well as a large quantity of pottery and the foundations of ovens and grain stores."

The remains date back to the Neolithic period between 5,200 and 4,500 BC.

The local director of antiquities, Ahmed Abdel Alim, said the site was just seven kilometres from Fayyum lake and would probably have lain at the water's edge at the time it was inhabited.

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo

The The Egyptian Museum, Cairo was established by the Egyptian Government in 1835.



The present museum building at Tahrir Square near Downtown Cairo, was built in 1900 in the neo-classical style by the French Architect Marcel Dourgnon.

The museum pieces are scheduled to be shifted to a new venue closer to the Giza Pyramids as soon as the building is complete.

The current museum exhibits over 1,20,000 objects, some of the important groups of these objects are : Artifacts from the tombs of kings and members of the royal families of the Middle Kingdom found at Dahshur in 1894. The contents of the royal tombs of Tuthmosis III, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III and Horemheb and the tomb of Yuya and Thuya. Artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun, consisting of more than 3,500 Pieces, of which 1,700 objects are displayed in the museum (the rest are in storerooms)

Some of these objects can be viewed online on the museum website.

Entry to the museum is 50LE for tourists.
Students with ISIC cards can avail a 50% discount.
Entry for locals is 1/2 LE.

Entry to the mummy rooms (1st Floor) is an additional 100LE.
You get to see about 30 mummies of Pharaonic Royalty. These are split across 2 rooms at opposite wings. So do remember to visit the mummies in the opposite wing too. There is no prominent marking about the second room.

(If you aren't that serious about mummies but want to see at least one Egyptian mummy on your trip to Egypt, then the museum at Sakkara has one on display & entry to the museum is included in your entry ticket at Sakkara)

The museum is open from 9am to 5:45pm everyday.
Washrooms are reasonably clean, but better to carry your own kleenex.

Cameras aren't supposed to be used inside.
Food can't be consumed inside.
You can carry in water and small chocolates/nutrition bars.
There is a left luggage counter outside the museum where you can leave your cameras
and food stuff. This service is complementary.

There is a Cafeteria on the museum premises which is overpriced.
The ticket that you buy for the day, allows you to go out on a break to eat lunch and return back on the same day.
A better option for food is one of the many Koshary joints downtown, which are just across the road.

Avoid the tourist trap souvenir & book shops in and around the museum. Most of the books they sell are from the AUC Press which you can buy at source across the circle for less than 1/3rd the price.

Souvenirs you can get dirt cheap at the Khan el Khalili depending on your bargaining skills.

There are plenty of licensed guides available inside the museum in case you do not want to carry a guide book along with you. My personal favorite guide to navigate the museum is the Lonely Planet, Egypt. (Please note : Not Lonely Planet, Cairo) The Lonely Planet, Egypt succinctly and quickly captures the highlights of the museum in an orderly manner.

The exhibits are grouped in historical sequence. But to avoid museum fatigue, I would recommend visiting the Tutankhamun galleries on the first floor right in the beginning. The BBC Galleries have a lovely photo collection as a trailer of what to expect.

Then you can go back to the start of the First Floor or to the ground floor to finish up the rest of the museum.

If you are following a book guide, don't be worried if you can't find things exactly in the rooms were they are mentioned to be. Articles are often temporarily loaned out to other museums.



Browsing the museum could take anywhere between 1 hour to several weeks depending on interest levels. Hitting the highlights would take about 2 hours.

After the Pyramids of Giza, this is the second most visited site in Cairo and is definitely worth a visit.

Note : Summers can get very hot within the museum as only some rooms like the Tutankhamun galleries & the mummy rooms are airconditioned.

This article was originally published at Desicritics.org

Ramses Statue, Giza

The huge granite statue of Ramses II arrived at its new home near the pyramids outside Cairo a liitle over a year ago on 24th August 2006.

For 50 years, it had stood near the Ramses Station surrounded by bridges, train lines and mosques. There were worries that heavy pollution was damaging the 3,200-year-old statue, which is 11 metres (36 feet) high and weighs about 83 tonnes.

It took 10 hours for the colossus to travel the 2km to its new home.

The statue was moved through Cairo at a stately pace on two flatbed trucks in one piece. A steel cage was built around the statue to hold it steady.

The whole operation was broadcast live on Egyptian television.

The statue's new home is a site on which a new museum of antiquities is being built.

"Ramses will be happy now," said Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's antiquities council. "He would have been unhappy in his tomb knowing that the statue was staying in such a mess where nobody can see him any more."

Mr Hawass said the statue originally stood in Memphis, one of the ancient capitals of Egypt, more than 3,200 years ago. It was found in excavations in 1882. In the mid-1950s it was cut into eight pieces and moved to Ramses Square in central Cairo.

Ramses II ruled Egypt for more than 60 years during the 19th dynasty of pharaohs 3,200 years ago. He was one of ancient Egypt's most prolific builders. Statues and temples dedicated to him have been found all over Egypt, but the huge figure that once adorned central Cairo is the best known of his monuments.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5282414.stm

Egypt Copyrighting the Pyramids!

Here's a Christmas gift for Egypt, Egyptians & Egyptian Antiquities !

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7160057.stm

Egypt's MPs are expected to pass a law requiring royalties be paid whenever copies are made of museum pieces or ancient monuments such as the pyramids.

Zahi Hawass, who chairs Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told the BBC the law would apply in all countries.

The money was needed to maintain thousands of pharaonic sites, he said.

Correspondents say the law will deal a blow to themed resorts across the world where large-scale copies of Egyptian artefacts are a crowd-puller.

Mr Hawass said the law would apply to full-scale replicas of any object in any museum in Egypt.

Las Vegas' Luxor complex mimics Egyptian monuments

"Commercial use" of ancient monuments like the pyramids or the sphinx would also be controlled, he said.

"Even if it is for private use, they must have permission from the Egyptian government," he added.

But he said the law would not stop local and international artists reproducing monuments as long as they were not exact replicas.

The Luxor hotel in the US city of Las Vegas would also not be affected because it was not an exact copy of a pyramid and its interior was completely different, Mr Hawass told AFP news agency.

But he said claims by the hotel that it was "the only pyramid-shaped building in the world" could no longer be made.

The announcement came two days after an Egyptian newspaper called on the hotel to pay a share of its profits to the central Egyptian city of Luxor, which administers the ancient Valley of the Kings burial site.

Cities of the Dead off the tourist route

Cairo's Cities of the Dead houses thousands of tombs and also thousands of people who cannot afford to live elsewhere.
Photo: David Wroe

SUNLIGHT falls through a hole in the crown of the beehive-shaped tomb that Saad Mahmoud and his family call home, illuminating an oblong gravestone that serves as a kitchen table.

Mr Mahmoud's daughter, taking a break from washing clothes that will be strung up between other tombs to dry, stands at the gravestone and pours tea into chipped glass cups.

Nearby, one of the Mahmoud family's neighbours known as Umm Antar — meaning Mother of Antar — tends to the graves of wealthier families.

Thirty years ago, Umm Antar's husband ran off with another woman, leaving her with no money and four daughters to feed. She was forced to go and live among Cairo's dead — and become something of a tourist attraction.

These are the people who have been pushed to the margins of Egyptian society by Cairo's housing squeeze and wealth gap — victims of misfortune and neglect who the Egyptian Government now wants to make invisible.

The Cities of the Dead, the sprawling cemeteries in central Cairo where an estimated 600,000 people live, often in small tombs without electricity or water, are having a "damaging impact on Egypt's civilised image", according to a letter sent out to Egyptian tourism operators.

Egypt's Interior Ministry is threatening to strip travel agents of their licences if they arrange tours to the cemeteries or allow tourists to photograph the necropolis and its residents. It has also closed key tourist attractions within the cemeteries including the Qaitbey mosque — which features on Egypt's one pound note — in a bid to keep foreigners away.

The letter, sent by the tourism peak body to travel agents at the behest of the ministry, says "photos taken and conversations held by tourists with residents" are damaging Egypt's image and states the Tourism and Antiquities Police have "permanently banned" tours and photography.

Despite Egypt's being the darling of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for its pro-business reforms and its strong economic growth, many Egyptians have been left worse off by the country's real estate boom, which has enriched investors while pushing housing further out of reach of the poor, experts say.

"We have nowhere else to go," Mr Mahmoud said. "Houses are expensive. Everything is becoming expensive. Only man is becoming cheap."

While Mr Mahmoud and Umm Antar make meagre livings tending graves, some entrepreneurial tomb-dwellers have carved out a modest slice of Egypt's most prized industry by acting as guides or selling crafts to intrepid tourists.

Residents such as Reda Zaki, 50, whose parents tended graves but who himself guides tourists, are likely to be hit hard by the ban.

Abouzed Rageh, former chairman of Egypt's National Research Centre for Housing and Building, said years of bad urban planning meant overcrowding had reached breaking point, with half of Greater Cairo's 17 million inhabitants living in "informal" housing.

"This city is like a sponge," Mr Rageh said. "It absorbs people from rural areas and squeezes them in wherever they will fit. But it's reaching saturation.

"We now have two societies. The gap is widening alarmingly. When you talk about economic growth, you have to ask, which society are you talking about?"

The Government has provided some services such as schools and a hospital in the cemeteries, but many people still live without electricity or water.

"The Government does not give anybody anything," Mr Mahmoud said.

Mohamed Ali, 60, who has lived in the necropolis for 30 years, said the decision to bar tourists was "stupid". "They do not do us any harm," he said. "They come here and take photos and that is it."

Other residents applauded the ban, agreeing the necropolis gave Egypt a bad image.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "The cemeteries are full of disorganised housing and this is not good for Egypt's image abroad."

With AMR EMAM

The Other World in Ancient Egypt

What has happened to Egyptology in the century and a half since Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphs, back at a time when one studied ancient Egypt only for confirmation of biblical attitudes? The result has been the partial recovery, during the past 150 years, of the languages, histories, and cultures of the high civilizations of the ancient Near East; and these enable the reader to study and understand a country like Egypt from its own documents and monuments and from its own point of view. This first essay deals with "The Other World" theme in ancient Egyptian literature. A fascinating subject which is guaranteed to intrigue many Modern Egyptians as they delve into "The nature of the beyond " this time, strictly viewed expressed by their ancestors. The subject matter is riveting for any Arab speaking audience when it finds how intimate its rich native tongue is, with that of Ancient Egypt. A linguistic fact that has been given a lip service so far, and never fully explored. Ishinan Click on the icon below to view this article: http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/CULTURE/AFTERWORLD.html

Description de l'Egypte

The Description de l'Egypte is now available online in digital format.

The Description de l'Egypte was the outcome of 150 prominent scholars and scientists who accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 with 2000 artists and technicians.

Twenty volumes of text and picture plates depicting aspects of contemporary and ancient Egypt civilisation went down in history as the most comprehensive record of Egypt's land and monuments.

In the first project of its kind, they have been fully digitized and integrated on a virtual browser for the world to view at http://descegy.bibalex.org/

"The Description of Egypt" was typical of European attempts to understand and unravel the mystery of the orient in anticipation of occupying its lands and draining its wealth. "The Description of Egypt" comprises materials that belong more to science than to letters. It is composed of 12 large-size volumes of maps, lists and drawings, and 24 volumes of texts. It is noteworthy that the birth of "Egyptology" owes much to "The Description of Egypt" and was complemented by Champollion's eventual translation of the Rosetta Stone.

Read more about the Description de l'Egypte at Tour Egypt.

Sound and Light Show Timings at Pyramids

Here are the timings for the Sound & Light Show at the Pyramids of Giza.




Tickets are sold starting about 45 minutes before the first show.

The charge for the Non-Arabic shows is 75LE last time I checked.