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2009-11-11T02:43:00.000-08:00

Karnak in Thebes (Modern Luxor)

2008-07-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

In ancient Egypt, the power of the god Amun of Thebes gradually increased during the early New Kingdom, and after the short persecution led by Akhenaten, it rose to its apex. In the reign of Ramesses III, more than two thirds of the property owned by the temples belonged to Amun, evidenced by the stupendous buildings at Karnak. Although badly ruined, no site in Egypt is more impressive than Karnak. It is the largest temple complex ever built by man, and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. The Temple of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples located about three kilometers north of Luxor, Egypt situated on 100 ha (247 acres) of land. Karnak is actually the sites modern name. Its ancient name was Ipet-isut, meaning "The Most Select (or Sacred) of Places".
This vast complex was built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period. The three main temples of Mut, Montu and Amun are enclosed by enormous brick walls. The Open Air Museum is located to the north of the first courtyard, across from the Sacred Lake. The main complex, The Temple of Amun, is situated in the center of the entire complex. The Temple of Monthu is to the north of the Temple of Amun, and next to it, on the inside of the enclosure wall is the Temple of Ptah, while the Temple of Mut is to the south. There is also the small Temple dedicated to Khonsu, and next to it, an even smaller Temple of Opet. Actually, there are a number of smaller temples and chapels spread about Karnak, such as the Temple of Osiris Hek-Djet (Heqadjet), which is actually inside the enclosure wall of the Temple of Amun.
In the Great Temple of Amun, the Second Pylon of Karnak was built by Ramesses II. The Ptolemies did some extensive repairing and some new building on the center section. Curiously enough, they left the columns and the facade of the First Pylon unfinished and left the mud-brick ramp where it was at. The reason for the work being left unfinished is not clear.The Hypostyle Hall is found after passing through the Second Pylon. The hall is considered to be one of the world's greatest architectural masterpieces. Construction began during Ramesses I's reign. He was the king who founded the Nineteenth Dynasty and was king for only one year. The work continued under Seti I (1306 - 1290 BC). Seti I also built the Temple of Abydos and many other temples. The hall was completed by Seti I's son, Ramesses II. The effects that are produced inside the hall are much different than they were originally. The huge architraves are not above the capitals that tower above. Toward the center of the hall several architraves and windows that have stone latticework still remain.
This small area can give one an idea of the builders' intent for the lighting effects. Some imagination is required here to appreciate what it must have looked like. The walls, ceilings and columns are painted with the natural earth tones. The light that was allowed in originally kept most of the hall in shadows. The hall ceiling was 82 feet high and was supported by 12 papyrus columns. The columns are made of sandstone and set in two rows of six. Each row is flanked on either side by 7 rows of columns that are 42 feet (12.8m) high. Each row has 9 columns, however the inner rows have 7 columns. The reliefs throughout the hall contain symbolism of Creation. The reliefs in the northern half are from the time period of Seti I and are obviously better done than those done by his son Ramesses II, which are in the southern half. Ramesses II's reliefs are cut much deeper than those of Seti's. This gives a much more dramatic light and shadow effect.

Plan of Karnak
The outer walls of the Hypostyle Hall are covered with scenes of battle. Again, Seti I is to the north and Ramesses II is to the south. The scenes have long since lost their color that was painted and the outlines of the scenes have been blurred by the centuries of wind and sun. It is unsure whether the scenes of battle are based on historical fact or of ritual significance. It is thought that when the battle details are very precise, real events are most likely involved. Seti's battles take place in Lebanon, southern Palestine and Syria. The southern walls of Ramesses II have hieroglyphic texts which actually record details of the Hittite king and Ramesses II signing a peace treaty in the twenty-first year of Ramesses reign. This is the first evidence found for a formal diplomatic agreement and is certainly historical.The Transverse Hall lies beyond the rear wall of the Hypostyle Hall. The wall is mostly ruined. With the Transverse Hall is a partially reconstructed Third Pylon of Amenhotep (Amenophis) III. The Transverse Hall has remains of the earliest sections of the Karnak complex that are still in existence.
Leaving the hypostyle hall through the third pylon you come to a narrow court where there once stood several obelisks. One of the obelisks was erected by Tuthmosis I (1504 - 1492 BC) who was the father of Hatshepsut. This obelisk stands 70 feet (21.3m) tall and weighs about 143 tons. During the centuries between Tuthmosis I and Ramesses VI, the kings of the time did more than their share of destroying and dismantling. This obelisk was never touched. The original inscription was left in its place. However, two kings did add their inscription on either side of the original. Beyond this obelisk is the only remaining Obelisk of Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC). It is 97 feet (29.6m) high and weighs approximately 320 tons. Besides the Lateran obelisk in Rome, this is the tallest standing obelisk. The one in Rome is 101 feet (30.7m) high. Hatshepsut was a woman who dared to challenge the tradition of male kingship. She died from undisclosed causes after imposing her will for a time. After her death, her name and memory suffered attempted systematic obliteration. The inscription on the obelisk says, "O ye people who see this monument in years to come and speak of that which I have made, beware lest you say, 'I know not why it was done'. I did it because I wished to make a gift for my father Amun, and to gild them with electrum."
Tuthmosis III (1479-1425 BC) was Hatshepsut's successor. When he came to power, he built a high wall around her obelisk. This wall hid the lower two-thirds but left the upper towering above. It has been thought that this was an easier and cheaper way of destroying her memory than actually tearing it down and removing it. If Tuthmosis III had really wanted to destroy the obelisk, he would have certainly torn it down and removed it. Perhaps that was another reason for his building the wall. The top of the obelisk was visible for 50 miles (80 km). The pink granite for the obelisk was quarried at Aswan, which is several hundred miles south of Karnak. The stone was moved several miles over to the river and shipped down to Thebes. The setting of the stone is shown on reliefs as the pharaoh raising it with a single rope tied to its upper extremity. This is most probably symbolic, but may have been done this way with several hundreds of people pulling together. To the south of the standing obelisk is its companion which has fallen. It was also made of a single block of granite but is broken now.

The Sixth Pylon, which was built by Tuthmosis III, leads into a Hall of Records in which the king recorded his tributes. Very little remains of this archive beyond two granite pillars. Just beyond these pillars lies the Holy of Holies or sanctuary. Originally it was the oldest part of the temple. The present sanctuary was built by the brother of Alexander the Great, Philip Arrhidaeus (323-316 BC) who was the King of Macedonia. The present sanctuary was built on the site of the earlier sanctuary built by Tuthmosis III. The present sanctuary contains blocks from the Tuthmosis sanctuary and still contain Tuthmosis' inscriptions. The sanctuary is built in two sections.
The Karnak Temples are open from 6:30 am until 5:30 pm in winter and from 6 am to 6 pm during summer. Admission is LE1 20 for foreigners, LE 10 for foreign students, LE 2 for Egyptians and LE 1 for Egyptian students. Visiting the open-air museum, to the left of the second pylon, costs an extra LE 10. The museum contains a collection of statuary that was found throughout the temple complex. The ticket has to be purchased at the main Karnak ticket kiosk.
Karnak takes at least a half of a day just to walk around its many precincts and years to come to know it well.
There is also a Sound and Light Show at Karnak. The show starts with a historical introduction covering the birth of the great city of Thebes and erection of the Karnak temple. The show also narrates the glorious achievements of some great Pharaohs. The Spectators listen to a magnificent and poetic description of the artistic treasures and great legacy which the Karnak temple encloses.
Show 1st show 2nd show 3rd show 4th show
Monday English ,French ,German ,Spanish
Tuesday Japanese, English ,French -
Wednesday German, English ,French -
Thursday Arabic, English ,French -
Friday English ,French, Spanish -
Saturday French, English, Italian -
Sunday German, English ,Italian ,French
Show "Winter" 6:00 P.M./ 7:15 P.M./ 8:30 P.M./ 9:45 P.M.
Show "Summer" 8:00 P.M./ 9:15 P.M./ 10:30 P.M./ 11:45 P.M.
Sound and Light Show Pricing
• Ticket fare LE.30 plus LE 3 (Sales Tax) all versions. LE.10 for Arabic version for Egyptians and Arabs only plus LE 1 (Sales Tax).
• Private shows are presented upon previous arrangement, Karnak for 100 spectators for lease (from October to March) and for 75 spectators (from April to September).
• Ticket fare for private show LE 35 plus 3.5 (Sales Tax) plus LE 300 open Expense.
• Russian show at Karnak are presented for 40 spectators by lease upon previous arrangement for the same price or ordinary ticket.
1. LE - Egyptian Pounds

The US King Tut Exhibit Tour

2008-07-14T20:51:00.001-07:00

It will come as no news to most ancient Egypt enthusiasts that the treasures of the New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty pharaoh, Tutankhamun, perhaps better known to the world as King Tut, are coming to the US in June of 2005. This King Tut Exhibition is no small event, and one not to be missed, because the last time these artifacts left the basement of the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo for the US was some 26 years ago. There will be more than 130 objects on display, including Tutankhamun's royal diadem. This gold crown was discovered encircling the head of the king's mummified body that he likely wore while living.
The exhibit is being organized by National Geographic, AEG Exhibitions and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt. The Northern Trust Corporation has entered into an agreement with Los Angeles based AEG to become the National Sponsor of the event.
The layout, flow and scholarly conception of the show is being organized by curator David Silverman, the Eckley B. Coxe Jr. professor of Egyptology and curator-in-charge, Egyptian Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum, who also helped curate the 1970's tour. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities is writing the exhibition companion book, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," and a children's book, "Tutankhamun: The Mystery of the Boy King," both to be published by National Geographic in June 2005. AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation, which has never participated in an art exhibit in the past, but is now betting some $40 million that the company can run this blockbuster.
That $40 million will go to the Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, and will help pay for antiquity site restoration in Egypt, as well as help finance the building of the new Grand Museum in Cairo. However, this type of "for profit" exhibit is also creating waves among museum curators. Several museums, including New York's famed Metropolitan Museum of Art refused the exhibition.
“It's not worth the cost, the hassle, the difficulty of setting up the whole infrastructure,” says Philippe deMontabello, director of the Met. “The Metropolitan has a pay-as-you-wish policy.”
Nevertheless, ticket sales, promoted through radio, print, billboard, television, direct mail, retail tie-ins and electronic marketing, suggest another wave of Tut-mania, despite the world's most famous art museum snubbing the world's most famous mummy. "It is a merging of art and entertainment," said David Stamper, an executive vice president in the Los Angeles office of Chicago-based GolinHarris International, a public relations firm working on the rollout. "When you see these items, they are so incredible and so beautiful, that really all you have to do is to shine a spotlight on them. The Tut Exhibit actually begins on June 16th, 2005 and runs through November 15th, 2005 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, one of the same venues of it's last visit to the US. That first tour of King Tut's artifacts, which was only half the size of this the new one, is widely considered to be the first museum mega-event. It generated eight million visitors nationwide. Since then, such museum road shows have become commonplace and an opportunity for the various venues to generate new members and revenue. Michael McDowell, senior director of cultural tourism for Los Angeles, said that the LA museum expects about one million people to attend the show, topping the Van Gogh exhibit in 1998-99 that brought 821,000 during a 17-week run. Tickets are currently on sale. Afterwards, the exhibit will move on to three other cities where it will be on display at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale (beginning in December 2005), the Field Museum in Chicago (beginning in May, 2006) and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (beginning in February 2007).
The exhibit will include about fifty objects belonging to the boy king that were discovered when Howard Carter unearthed Tutankhamun's Valley of the Kings tomb in 1922. In addition, there will be scans of Tutankhamun's mummy captured through the use of a portable CT scanner and donated by Siemens Medical Solutions. These scans have allowed researchers to see through the mummy's wrappings for the first time and have never been on display in the past. Other documentary media, including videos, will also be on display.The exhibition also will include more than 70 objects from tombs of other 18th Dynasty royals as well as several non-royal individuals. These stone, faience and wooden pieces from burials before Tut's reign will give visitors a sense of what the lost burials of other royalty and commoners may have been like. They include objects from the tomb of Amenhotep II, the tomb of Tuthmosis IV and the rich, intact tomb of Yuya and Tuyu. All of the treasures in the exhibit are between 3,300 and 3,500 years old.
Tickets for the event can be purchased through any number of sources online, such as Ticket Masters, but there are many opportunities for special deals so shop carefully. For example, a number of LA hotels are offering a summer savings spectacular featuring deals and discount packages in connection with the Tut Exhibit. They include the Le Meridien Hotel in Beverly Hills, the Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard, the Doubletree Hotel Westwood, as well as various Holiday Inns and Sheratons.
Interestingly, the excitement of this exhibit seems to be spawning a number of others. For example, various science centers such as the McWane Center in Birmingham, Alabama will be featuring a Tut exhibit featuring 120 high quality replicas of the original treasures.

What's a Child to Do (On Tour in Egypt)

2008-06-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

Egypt is a fine destination for family travel. Many children learn about ancient Egypt in school at a relatively early age, and some become very fascinated by the Land of the Pharaohs. Yet, many travelers wonder what activities, other than visiting ancient sites, are available for their children's entertainment and amusement. After all, a bored child on a vacation is not a pleasant one.
Editor's Note: While one will find many activities and entertaining ideas for children in this story, note that it is by no means comprehensive. By looking about, one will find many other activities for kids in Egypt than are listed here.
Most major hotels are very safe for older kids, and just about all of them have well supervised "clubs" for younger children, so it is not necessary for kids to make every sightseeing tour during a stay in Egypt. However, before giving up on the kids visiting the various sites, consider making it more exciting for them. Make it known that you will not only be visiting the Valley of the Kings or the Giza Pyramids, but you will be taking a donkey or camel ride.
Obviously, what to do depends, at least to some extent, on the child's age, as well as their sex. Younger preteens often seem to be a little easier to amuse than less engaged, sometimes aloof, teenagers. In fact, I have found after traveling on a number of occasions with children of various ages, that younger children will usually enjoy seeing the ancient sites while older teens will have a tendency to want to stay back at the hotel, perhaps to lounge around the pool. Younger boys might tend to like Egypt's Crusader fortresses, such as the Citadel, while young ladies might prefer the jewelry museum, though obviously there are always the exceptions. Also, girls of all ages seem to really enjoy getting a Henna tattoo, which is harmless and painless, applied on top of the skin, and only lasts a week or two. So what's a child to do in Egypt? As a generalization, one of the keys is to mix sightseeing with various activities, such as a camel ride or sailing on the Nile. To begin with, some planning may be helpful. For example, its nice to plan a trip to Egypt amongst friends, perhaps with kids of roughly the same age. If that is not possible, another solution is to find a family oriented tour where other children will be present. People, including kids, rapidly get to know each other during an Egyptian tour. And if one is taking a private tour, spend some time picking a guide who will pitch the tour at the kids as well as the adults. Also, try to visit less crowded sites. Kids tend to get overwhelmed in the midst of a crowd and can't see much.Of course, some tours are naturals for kids. Delta Tours, for example offers a family hosted tour where visitors actually stay with an Egyptian family. They seem to do a fairly good job of matching up families, so that the Egyptian family usually has children about the same age as the tourist family, and we know that a number of good, long term friendships have developed from this sort of tour. Many people with children might wish to start off their tour of Egypt with a visit to the Pharaonic Village. This is a basic theme park that recreates a living, ancient Egypt, and is very instructional for children, as well as adults. It will provide kids with an orientation to life in ancient Egypt with some insight about what they will see later in the tour.
As far as the actual sightseeing, kids in general will be less interested in seeing redundant sites than enthusiast parents. They may be interested in visiting a temple, but they will become bored with visiting every temple on the Nile. They will enjoy the Great Pyramids, but will not want to see many others, unless they have developed a genuine interest in Egyptology.
A few warnings
Kids are reluctant to drink as much liquids as they should in the hot Egyptian climate. Adding a bit of KoolAid to the mineral water can make it taste much better. Most kids who get ill in Egypt do so because they have not had enough water. Also, it is a good idea, especially in southern Egypt, to get an early start on visiting the monuments if possible, finishing up by late morning and thus spending the remainder of the day back at the hotel. Also, beware of the street animals in Egypt. Cats, and even a few dogs roam the streets of some Egyptian cities, particularly Cairo, and it is not a good idea for kids or adults to touch these often feral animals.
In Cairo
However, there will be some places that kids always seem to enjoy. In Cairo itself, the Egyptian Antiquities Museum has too much variety not to be interesting, even to kids who are not big on museums. Furthermore, one is likely to run into a group of Egyptian school kids, who will take an immediate interest in your children. Here one will normally find the Tutankhamun collection (even if some of it is on tour elsewhere), and of course Tutankhamun will be at least one pharaoh that the kids will know from school. It includes something for everyone, from chariots and golden knives to fine pieces of jewelry. Another section of the museum that kids tend to like is the mummy exhibits, and for whatever reason, the model farms.
Islamic Cairo can also be considered medieval Cairo, where centuries past armored knights rode about the streets. Here, one finds the Khan el-Khalili, the ancient market that so strangled east-west trade that Columbus set out to look for an alternate trade route. Today, the market is crowded with tourists from all over the world. Kids usually like the market, and older ones will want to set out on their own with a bit of money. It is safe for them to do so, provided they are good about keeping up with the time. One must arrange for a meeting place at a specific time. It seems almost impossible to locate someone just by walking about this huge market. Another spot that many kids will like is the Citadel, a huge fortress founded by Saladin which was the scene of some Crusader battles. From here, the Burgi Mameluke knights once lobbed cannon balls across Islamic Cairo onto the Bahri Mameluke knights located on Roda Island in the Nile. Later, the English occupied the fortress. Be sure and visit the Mosque of Mohammed Ali while in the Citadel for one of the largest chandeliers you will ever see. Furthermore, this is actually a great place to take a break if the kids need a short nap.
Other than sightseeing, many hotels in Cairo offer considerable entertainment for kids. All of the larger hotels will have very nice swimming pools, some almost water parks, kiddie pools, game rooms and internet cafes of their own, so one really need not venture too far afoot. Some hotels will have kid's clubs for the younger crowd, well supervised areas with games and various activities. Some, such as the Movenpick Hotel in Media City and the Cataract Pyramids Resort will even offer various kids entertainment programs with a DJ.
There are a number of other notable resorts that specifically cater to kids. Pyramids Park Intercontinental Resort, on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, has a petting zoo, the Scoo-Bi-Zoo, located in a haven of shade. While parents relax by the pool or have a cup of tea in the garden, the children have fun with the monkeys, deer, a camel, a pony, flamingos and ducks. There is no need to worry about safety, as there are keepers to take care of the animals, introduce the children to them, and keep the children amused at feeding time. There is also a children's garden with toys, swings, a trampoline and a safe junior pool. Special arrangements can be made for birthday parties.
Le Meridien Pyramids has a play area for children with pint-sized chairs and tables. It includes swings, houses and other toys. There is also a children's paddling pool, a special menu with the kind of food that goes down well with your youngsters, and coloring books and crayons. The hotel sometimes brings in a magician and an aragoz, a sort of puppet show, on Fridays and public holidays.
JW Marriott Mirage Hotel in New Cairo City, in Qattamiya, southeast of Cairo, is a marvelous place for adults and children alike. Here you can enjoy a day at the beach without having to drive to the Red Sea or Alexandria. "The beach", in a desert environment, is the Marriott's latest innovation. In this vast area there are four swimming pools. The one called Cleopatra Bay has waves and a stretch of sandy beach where children can play with their buckets and spades. Here you can have the "sea", sand and sun without leaving Cairo. "The lagoon" is another swimming area with a large central island and water slides to delight junior. A shallow pool is also available for four to eight-year-olds. Water guns, hoses, and tunnels are there to explore, all are safe, and lots of fun. For the youngest guests, the hotel has a paddling pool for the under four-year-olds.
Other activities that might be fun for kids in Cairo, as well as elsewhere, might be described as native, or universal. By native, we mean activities and entertainment that one may not find back home. For example, not only can a ride on a camel be fun, but also visiting the camel market in Cairo. These are obviously native. Kids will also enjoy a ride in a river taxi, one of Egypt's oldest forms of modern transportation, or perhaps even more fun, take a party boat. These are boats that simply go out for a pleasure cruise. Here, one might meet a very ordinary Egyptian family with kids out for their own fun. They are not swank, but lit up with blaring music its an interesting adventure, and one that most tourists to do not get to experience.If parents would really like to give their children a cultural experience, meeting up with Egyptian children, than Fagnoon is one of the rare places in Cairo where both parents and children can take a break and spend a few unforgettable hours. The word “Fagnoon” itself is a combination of two interesting words Fonoon (art) and Gonoon (wild). It is a place for families to play, run, dance, paint, draw, as well as trying out a bouquet of crafts including pottery, word carpentry, agriculture, baking, jewelry making, iron smithy and much more. In fact, this facility has only recently undergone an expansion program.
Another native experience in Cairo is to visit the Cairo Tower. It has a revolving restaurant at the top, and from the observation deck and restaurant, the view of the Nile and Cairo extends over the medieval city to the east and the desert to the west.
The Gabalaya Park and Aquarium is a wonderful little place in the heart of Zamalek, just minutes away from the downtown area. It's a great place to take the kids as the park is pleasant and the aquarium is interesting. The fish swim around in tunnels that look a little like bomb shelters - a fairly original setting. The nice thing about Gabalaya is that it is so very close to the hustle and bustle of the downtown area, and yet, once there you feel as though you are miles away from it all.
If one has a bit of extra time, another great experience, and one better known to locals than tourists, is a boat ride south to Qanatar. Qanatar is an island in the Nile where ordinary Egyptians like to go to have picnics. There are also small amusement parks with bumper cars and ferris wheels and some amazing Victorian stone bridges and locks. To return to Cairo, hop on a taxi or take a minibus.
Parents will find in Egypt a number of very ordinary activities for kids, what we refer to here as universal. Most of the major hotels will have good satellite television systems, with a number of programming options from different countries and in different languages, including American movies and series. There are also a variety of cinemas that show first run Hollywood movies. In addition, there are also game rooms and well equipped internet cafes all about Cairo. In addition, there are also modern, large malls, as always a teen hangout and in Egypt, no exception. Some of the larger malls even have "kid's corners" with entertainment for younger children.
But Cairo is a huge city, full of all sorts of people, some poor, some rich and many in between, and like most monumental cities, the variety of entertainment is almost limitless. Media Production City contains a number of open air shooting areas, as well as the Mubarak studio complex and its own dedicated theme park, Magic Land. Children are sure to love Magic Land, where they can watch dolphin and seal shows, then tour the Dinosaurs' Jungle that depicts a prehistoric environment complete with Tyrannosaurus Rex, exotic birds and even primitive humans. Visitors travel back in time on boats on the waterways surrounding Dinosaur Island. The park also has outdoor and indoor game centers, which will appeal to adults as well as children.
This fantastic 150 acre theme park is one of the largest recreational facilities in the Middle East. There is certainly plenty to do with three areas for children, teenagers and families, all with a multitude of rides and attractions. Don't miss the fantastic condor flight. If you're feeling exhausted after all that excitement, pay a visit to one of the park's 22 restaurants, offering everything from pizza to kebab.Crazy Water is located in the city of Giza. This theme park offers a variety of fun and games such as water slides, a wave pool, a kiddies pool and a playground area with sand, slides and tunnels. The admission fee also includes a delicious meal. Look out for the regular special offers on family tickets.
There are at least two other large amusement parks, Sinbad and Merryland (where there are a number of theme restaurants), which have typical rides and perhaps a few less typical ones. There is, among just about every other imaginable entertainment, even an ice skating rink in Cairo.And don't forget the treats. Cairo is full of very good ice cream shops all over, even within many of the hotels, and ice cream is all the better for the hot Egyptian climate. But Napoleon's gang also brought to Egypt all manner of fancy pastry and the Egyptians have their own flavor of sweets, so one will not go far before running into one of these shops. Take advantage of one of these, and chances are one will enjoy it as much as the kids.
In fact, eating out in Cairo can be a fun experience for children. The city has all manner of fast food establishments, and while parents may seek something a little less ordinary, kids will still want to seek these out. Many of the American chains are present, such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC. But there are other places to eat that both the parents and children will also enjoy. Though there are many upscale restaurant in Egypt, children will probably most enjoy those located on boats, most of which are permanently docked on the Nile. Frequently, if not always, these boats once plied the Nile, often as Nile Cruise boats, and some of them are interesting in their own right. Just about all of the docked boats will have more than one restaurant aboard, and will be open for lunch and dinner. For example, one of our favorites is the Nile City Boat, docked at Zamalek very near the Cairo Marriott, where one has a choice between Alain Le Notre, Bistro Provence, Chilis, Johnny Cario's the Seafood Market and Studio Misr. Obviously several of these are American chains, but, for example, Studio Misr, more of an Oriental restaurant, has old props and pictures from Egyptian movies. Kids will not only enjoy the boats themselves, but the view of passing traffic on the river.
The other type of boat, the dinner cruisers, which actually cruise along the Nile, usually only have one restaurant, which is almost always buffet style. They are not usually billed as entertainment for kids, and are really more like nightclubs than normal restaurants. However, the entertainment is not all that risqué. The real problem for kids is that they leave the docks in the evening, usually staying out for several hours, and return relatively late, usually until 9:00 or later. And of course, if the kids act up, one is pretty much stuck. Furthermore, the entertainment can be somewhat loud, so this is probably not a great venue for very young children.And yet, just a bit older kids may be enthralled by all the entertainment. Good shows will include belly dancers, whirling dervish, various ethnic dancers and other entertainment, many of which the kids will doubtless find fascinating. Furthermore, most of these boats also have observation decks where, if the entertainment gets a bit too much, one can go to watch the lights of the night time skyline pass silently by. There is usually a good variety of food on board, something for everyone, and no shortage of various deserts.
Intermittent Entertainment
Various, periodic events in Egypt will also be fun for kids. Ramadan is certainly one of these events, always festive, though more so in the evening. In the early part of March one may also visit the Cairo International Film Festival for Children, which is really an event for both parents and kids.
Pyramid Fields
All of the better known pyramids are located near Cairo, including the Great Pyramids of Giza. Everyone must see the Great Pyramids. One must take the kids, like it or not, for later bragging rights if nothing else. As the kids grow into adults, they will relish their visit to the famous pyramids. Indeed, these are magnificent monuments, though they will impress just a bit less these days than a hundred or so years ago, before the time of modern skyscrapers. By all means, take a visit inside one of the pyramids, though this might be a bit scary for the youngest of children. This is also a great place to take a donkey or horse ride around the pyramids, which kids will truly enjoy. However, we strongly recommend using a company such as Al Sorat, whose horses and donkeys are well cared for and trained.And absolutely do not forget about the sound and light show at Giza. With English language shows beginning in the early evening, the kids might get bored with the monologue, but they will be thrilled with the laser light show.
Kids with a definite interest in Egyptology will also appreciate seeing Saqqara, not far from Giza. Here, the Step Pyramid of Djoser was the first of Egypt's most famous monuments to be built. Also, just a little further south is Dahshur, where the Red Pyramid is located. It is almost as large as the largest Giza Pyramid of Khufu, but there are not nearly so many people, and it is much easier to go inside this pyramid. The Red Pyramid may have been Egypt's first true pyramid, but there are others, including the bent pyramid, that show the evolution of pyramid building in Egypt.Other than pyramids, there is also, near Giza in Mansouriya, the Sun Bird Gardens. This is a place where you can not only enjoy nature, but also learn: how fruit and vegetables are cultivated and what their seeds and flowers look like. On this living museum of contemporary life one can also observe how farmers live, what their homes are like and the traditions and customs they follow. The display encompasses a glimpse of the life of all the farmers of Egypt, from the Nile Delta in the north to Nubia in the south.

About Family Tours to Egypt

2008-06-29T03:40:00.001-07:00

To a certain extent, taking my family to Egypt recently was an experiment. More and more, whole families are vacationing in Egypt, and that means bringing along children of all ages. So, I wanted to know a little more about how this works out, for both parents and kids. And the answer is...pretty well! Everyone came home happy, from a memorable and enjoyable trip. But we, as a family, made a few discoveries along the way.
Egypt as a tourism destination is all grown up. It has matured into a place with something for everyone, including each member of your family.
A specific member of a family with specific interests often encourages a trip to Egypt. Where tours are concerned, that interest is usually in classical antiquities, though it may also be driven by an interest in mythology, scuba diving, or even New Age discoveries. Regardless, it is probably unusual for every member of a household to have the same reasons, or the same level of desire to visit Egypt. This particularly applies to children, but may also be just as applicable to one's spouse. Therefore, certain allowances must be made to satisfy everyone.
Though our son is interested in Egypt, nevertheless getting him up early for tours everyday not only proved to be a challenge for him, but on a few occasions, a challenge for my wife as well. There were days where I heard the dreaded, "What kind of vacation is this anyway...too much work!", which mostly meant, "leave me alone, I want to sleep a little longer". And while my wife did participate in most excursions, there were even a couple of days that she felt like taking a break. A certain amount of understanding is in order, as well as allowance for some mix of activities. One of the Grand Shopping Malls Going up in Egypt
After the first week, and urging my son not to miss anything, we came to a better understanding, and established a better pace. He was truly interested in the monuments and sightseeing, but sometimes he wanted to relax, wake up late, and go swimming or participate in some other activity. As we allowed this to happen, things went much more smoothly. A few times, my wife opted to sleep in and take in some shopping instead of seeing monuments.
Today, Egypt is more then ancient monuments. In fact, it is unlikely that most of the tourists who come, do so for classical antiquities. Indeed, current statistics point to Egypt's largest draw as being beach destinations on the Red Sea and Sinai, and every day this country seems to add new entertainment adventures.

Golf at the PyramidsFor a typical family, including some of these non-antiquity diversions may be a great idea. Perhaps your husband isn't that keen on the antiquities, but playing on a championship golf course in the shadows of the Pyramids would give him real bragging rights back home. For that matter, what about a game of bowling along the Nile, or even a fishing trip on Lake Nasser, where record breaking fresh water fish have been caught. For many women, Egypt is simply a shopper's paradise and Cairo is one big mall. What makes this all so special is it is easy for a spouse to play golf or shop while the other takes in Sakkara or Old Cairo. For kids, there are always the swimming pools found in most hotels, but there are also amusement parks, Internet Cafes, and even youth clubs at many of the better hotels. Younger kids tend to love shows including belly dancing and whirling dervish, and generally doing the "night thing" with parents. They also seem to love riding camels and horses, as well as sail boats on the Nile. Older kids can enjoy just getting out on their own a bit, as well as visiting the discos and other entertainment found at many hotels.
Sometimes we found a "taste of home" was called for. No problem as a trip to McDonalds, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, or even the Hard Rock Cafe is a good fix. Even my wife, who has a much more exotic taste for foods than I, every so often craved a cheeseburger. She found the McDonalds in Luxor to be exactly like home, of course with the exception that it overlooks the Temple of Luxor.

A KFC in cairo
Building in a side trip to Sharm El-Sheikh was a real bonus for the family. While this is still Egypt, it feels nothing like the Egypt of the Nile Valley. It is a well-organized vacation beach resort, with all manner of water sport, from scuba to parasailing, and with no small amount of shopping and nightlife, including good live shows all along the promenade. And again, one spouse can easily take a side trip to St. Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai, while the rest of the family suntans.
Never underestimate having friends along for the trip. Optimally, it is great to travel with family friends, particularly where families have similarly aged children. This can be a real godsend for the kids, but also for the parents. There is plenty to do at most hotels, but having kids along of a similar age will encourage them to take advantage of every entertainment, as well as giving the grownups a break. Of course, sometimes its nice to have along good adult friends as well.It is all a matter of diversity, and the more diverse the family's interests, the more diverse of a vacation one should plan to Egypt. If you don't leave out Cairo's major league opera and art galleries, the beach, sports of all kinds, chances are that everyone in your family will have the time of their lives.

Egyptian Beach Vacations Part II: Egypt's Mediterranean Coast

2008-06-05T03:44:00.000-07:00

Today, one of the hot spots of tourism development is Egypt's north coast, specifically between Alexandria and Marsa Matruh, and even more specific to the region between Alexandria and Al-Alamein. In fact, this section of the coast is so much under development that it presents a bit of a moving target to discuss, with new vacation oriented beaches seemingly popping up everywhere along the coast. Much of the new development is not unlike the Ain Sukhna area on the Gulf of Suez, where village-like compounds are the common denominator.
It should be noted that the beach region of Egypt's mainland north coast does not really include the region east of Greater Alexandria. For the most part, Abu Qir, which is a bit east of Alexandria proper, but really on the city's eastern edge, signals the eastern end of Egypt's north coast beaches, because of the more marshy Delta coastline. Abu Qir has historical significance as the place were Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Today, it is not a very good location for swimming, but very notable for its many seafront restaurants that serve delicious seafood.
Otherwise, the beaches extend to the west all the way to the Libyan border.
Much of this development revolves around local vacation retreats for Egyptians themselves, but there has and continues to be a big push for foreign tourism to Alexandria, which for many years was largely ignored by tour operators. However, since the antiquity finds along the coast of Alexandria and the construction of the New Library of Alexandria (Bibliotcheca Alexandrina), together with much promotion, Alexandria is indeed becoming much more popular among foreign tourists. It is likely that the northern beaches will also benefit from these efforts. However, it must be remembered that many of the Red Sea beach goers arrive in chartered tours arranged by large European travel agencies, and unless these companies decide to focus more attention on the North Coast, it will probably never be as popular as the Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh regions. Also, while the North Coast resorts may very well be more pleasant during the summer months, they do not enjoy the year round warmth of the more southerly locations.

Map of the Alexandria BeachesMany people probably still consider the North Coast to be "underdeveloped" from the standpoint of tourists. Indeed, in comparison with traditional developed beach regions in the west, it may very well be underdeveloped, unless one considers them to be overdeveloped, which is often the case. Historically, there have always been a few beaches and beach resorts on the North Coast, particularly around Alexandria. In fact, the Corniche (also known sometimes as Sharia 26th of July and Sharia al-Geish) along the shore of Alexandria is lined with beaches, though these are public areas that are not altogether suitable for most western visitors. Specifically, the unofficial dress code for these beaches is decidedly conservative, not to mention the fact that they can be very crowded during the peak season. Nevertheless, some beaches are much more suitable for foreign tourists. Specifically Mamoura Beach, located about one kilometer east of Montazah Palace, is a semipublic beach that requires an entrance fee.
But if you really want to be spoiled, treat yourself to horse-riding and swimming in the absolute serenity and privacy of the King's Ranch, which is operated by Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza and is located on King Mariout Road 10 kilometers from the Alexandria-Cairo Desert Road. King's Ranch is an extravagant weekend venue for North Coast vacationers and an ultimate romantic escape for couples and honeymooners. Although standing away from the beach, the ranch's lush greenery and nice landscaping creates a spectacular atmosphere for those who would like to laze by the swimming pool, ride horses, enjoy all kinds of sports or just exercise in a health club.
Several other older beach regions along the Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria include, specifically Agami, which is an exclusive resort about 20 kilometers west of downtown Alexandria where Cairo and Alexandria elite spend their vacations. Agami actually lies on the western end of Greater Alexandria. Known also as the Egyptian St-Tropez, Agami today also caters to the middle and working class. The resort village was founded in the 1950's, but there are few structures remaining from this period. While most of the housing in the area is simple, there are exceptions, including the Villa Lashin, built in 1962 by architect Ali Azzam and the Beit el-Halawa built by Abd el-Wahid el-Wakil. Most of the upmarket hotels are in Agami, while near here, you will also find the resort villages of Hannoville (about one kilometer further west) and Sidi Kreir, which are also popular summer retreats. Sidi Kreir has a 3 kilometers long private beach. A model tourist village and casino were established there recently. There are a number of small hotels in this region.
After the beaches around Agami there is Sidi Abdel Rahman, just east of Al-Alamein. Actually, this is only a small village, but the stunning white sandy beaches and clear seawater make it one of the coasts most beautiful locations for a little time on the beach. Nevertheless, it seems to remain a somewhat secluded region that has not attracted any horde of tourists to date.Another small village further east, only about 48 kilometers short of Marsa Matruh, is Ras Al-Hikma, which is a land spur jutting out into the sea. It also has some attractive beaches, but little else. One of the main traditional beach resorts, which is like Alexandria, packed with Egyptian tourists during the summer, is Marsa Matruh. Unlike Sidi Abdel Rahman and Ras Al-Hikma, this is a much larger city with a population of around 80,000. It has a charming bay with stunning turquoise waters and clean, white, sandy beaches, but also like Alexandria, it is packed during the summer. Two well known beaches include Cleopatra Beach, where the famous queen is said to have bathed, but is in fact a difficult place to swim. It is located about seven kilometers west of Marsa Matruh. The best place to swim is Agibah Beach, about 28 kilometers west of town. It should also be noted that Marsa Matruh is a frequent stopover for travelers to the Siwa Oasis. In fact, Alexander the Great is said to have founded this city on his way to visit the oracle at Siwa. Later, it served as a port for Anthony and Cleopatra's fleet.
There are a few other older beaches frequented by mostly Egyptian tourists along the Mediterranean coast, but the real story of Egypt's northern coast is the new resorts that are springing up, almost exclusively between Alexandria and Al-Alamen. Unlike Egypt's older beaches, these are mostly resort compounds as opposed to actual villages or cities. Most of these resorts really have only villas, some of which are privately rented out to guests, but many of which are vacation homes for affluent Egyptians. However, there are apparently at least a few villas in each location that can be rented. Some of the newer tourist villages that really have very little or no hotel accommodations, but mostly consist of privately owned villas, include Marakeya tourist village, which lies about 52 kilometers from Alexandria, and is considered one of the largest tourist village on the northern coast, the Al Ahlaam Tourist Village, about 93 kilometers west of Alexandria, Sondos Village about 138 kilometers from Alexandria in the Bay of Gazelle at Sidi Abdel Rahman, the Ibn Sina Village I and Ibn Sina Village II, near Marsa Matrough, which is said to have at least one hotel, and the Marbella Village. Foreigners who do wish to visit these resorts, perhaps renting a villa, will have enjoy a unique experience, mostly surrounded by very upscale Egyptians who are usually well traveled and sophisticated.
Other's have fine, and sometimes very fine hotel accommodations, which is a growing trend.
Map of Egypt's North Coast Beaches
Marakia is one of the first resorts west of Alexandria. Due to its marble-like nature, Marakia was originally known as Marmarina in the old times. The name is extracted from the Arabic word "marmar" which means marble. This is the oldest of the new North Coast Villages, located about 51 kilometers from Alexandria. Clear sea and pure sand are its two main characteristics. It consists mostly of a fine beach, housing units and public service units. The beach is 1500 meters long and there is a pedestrian road that separates it from the housing units. The public service units are in both the middle of the village and at its main entrance, including administrative, emergency, communication, commercial, and entertainment services. The entertainment facilities include restaurants, a cinema and an open theater. There is also an airport that serves this area. Just after the Marakia residential village is the Borg el Arab Hilton HotelMarina is 15 Km from "Marakia", and has a 750 meters long beach. Many service units are constructed on the beach. It has a center for administrative, commercial, medical, religious and entertainment services which can be found in the middle of the village. Marina specifically has had a reputation of opulence, but some of the beaches here are apparently becoming more available as at least semipublic.
Al-Alamein is actually an older beach location, old enough in fact that Romel is said to have used its beaches during World War II for relaxation. However, though it has historical significance, it has never had much in the way of tourist facilities. Now, however, Movenpick has a fantastic resort at Al-Alamein that may change all of that. While there have always been a few hotels in the area, this five star hotel is exceptional. Of course, Al-Alamein has historical importance as the location where, in World War II, a battle between the British Eighth Army under General Montgomery attacked Field Marshal Rommel's German-Italian Afrika Korps. Montgomery won that battle and changed the course of the North Africa campaign. Along with the beaches, there are World War II cemeteries and a War Museum.
Entertainment
There is, of course, all of the usual beach activities at many if not most of the North Coast resort areas. Certainly there are water sports, such as skiing and jet skiing, parasailing, surfing in some locations, snorkeling, sailing, sail boarding, boating and scattered about are even scuba diving centers. There are not many water sports that cannot be found, and many of the better resorts provide a range of such activities. And while the parents play, most resorts offer good facilities for children, with exciting and safe activities so that the entire family can enjoy there holiday. However, the many North Coast resorts, as vacation getaways, also offer many opportunities for fine dining. All villages have open-air cafés with big screens displaying films and video clips, where people can have pizza, fetir (pastry) and zalabya (small balls of sweet pastry) or just go for a soft drink.
But if you would like to stretch your budget a little bit, Marina boasts a number of elegant dim-lit cafés, such as Jomana, which has a strategic location on the lake. Sea Gull, a fish restaurant and hotel in Marina, also has a nice dim-lit café, where tables are elegantly encircled with lush greenery to ensure the privacy of guests. Or you can get an extraordinary fish meal at the Sea Gull restaurant overlooking the lake. There is also a famous street in Marina named the Chanzillezer, where you can find a wide variety of elegant restaurants and coffee shops.
At the Borg el Arab Hilton, you can also enjoy a seaside barbecue while listening to the charming tunes of lutes and singing, or just go indoors where you can eat Italian food.
Other eateries can be found on the road. You can eat grilled chicken with special spices at Andria (which stands in front of Marabella resort, 63 kilometers from Alexandria), or go for oriental food at Al-Tikkeya (65 kilometers from Alexandria). Other food outlets include Al-Safwani, Fish Market (which has a fish restaurant and a number of American fast food franchises, located three kilometers after the Borg el Arab Hilton on the way to Al-Alamein).
In a more active mood? You can dance the night away at Borg el Arab Hilton's or Marina's open discotheques or have an extraordinary night at one of Marina's famous summer parties, Layali Al-Telifizyon, which host famous Egyptian and Arab singers every week.
The Sinai North Coast
Port Said marks the boundary between Egypt's mainline Meterranean coastline and Egypt's Sinai Mediterranean coastline. However, there is not much between Port Said and Rafah on the border of Egypt's Sinai, with the exception of El-Arish. In fact, much of the north coast of the Sinai west of El-Arish is dominated by the swampy lagoon of Lake Bardawil, separated from the Mediterranean by a limestone ridge.
El-Arish is the capital of the North Sinai Governorate and still receives a few tourists, but probably because of its proximity to the Palestinian territories, it has had little opportunity to live up to its potential, at least from the standpoint of westerners. There are reportedly a number of Egyptians who use it for a summer retreat. It does have nice beaches, along with a Bedouin crafts market, some reasonably good hotels and even a Pharaonic fortress, but until some of the regional differences between its neighbors are solved, it is unlikely to progress much as a mainstream tourist destination.

Egyptian Beach Vacations

2008-06-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

Despite Egypt's ancient allure, today the country probably attracts more beach vacationers than any other type of tourists. This is because, for many Europeans, the warm Egyptian beaches are both inexpensive and well appointed. Many European countries specifically lack warm beaches and the alternatives to Egypt are somewhat expensive. Therefore, not only do people come to Egypt's beaches independently, but many arrive by way of chartered airlines that specialize in such vacations from Europe.
Depending on how one looks at it, Egypt can be said to have as many as seven beach zones. These consist of the Mediterranean beaches along the mainline coast from the Suez Canal over to Libya, the Mediterranean beaches along the northern Sinai, the Sinai coast along the gulf of Aqaba, the Sinai coast along the Gulf of Suez, the southern Sinai region which opens onto the Red Sea, the Mainland coast along the Gulf of Suez and the Mainland coast south of that along the Red Sea. Each of these areas vary either somewhat, or extensively from the others. Obviously the biggest differences are between the Mediterranean coast and all of the other regions that connect with the Red Sea. Some of these regions attract extensive tourism, while others are almost void of tourists. Some attract very specific tourists, while others are more generalized.
The North Coast from Libya East though the SinaiIn reality, the various regions are looked upon somewhat differently. For example, on the Egyptian mainland coast along the Mediterranean, there is a vast difference between the area from Alexandria over to Port Said from the region west of Alexandria. East of Alexandria is very populous along much of the Delta and not suitable for beaches until one reaches the northern Sinai. The beaches at Alexandria cater almost exclusively to Egyptians, with the exception of some specific resorts, who either have their own villas or apartments, or who stay in hotel facilities. In fact, probably most Egyptians come to Alexandria not for a beach vacation as such, but to escape the heat of Cairo. West of Alexandria along the coast, thinning out as one proceeds further west, but extending almost to the Libyan border, are resorts that differ from the beach hotels and facilities to the east. These are frequently compounds, as opposed to real villages, some of which are very exclusive and have only recently been built. The main point is that, while indeed some foreign tourists can be found in this region, they are very few in number, other than tourists visiting Alexandria for more classical reasons. This, of course, may change over time. The regions west of Alexandria has been called "underdeveloped". That too is rapidly changing, as new resorts are popping up all along the shoreline, particularly just west of Alexandria.
One of the intriguing aspects of the Mediterranean coast beach resorts is that there is a certain amount of experimentation with various types of Beaches. For example, around Marina, one of Egypt's most exclusive northern beach resort areas, specific beaches have been set aside for women, who wish to enjoy the beach without interference from male eyes, and youth, where the atmosphere is a little more lively and geared to their pleasures.Along the north Sinai coast there is today actually very little tourism. In fact, about the only well known tourist location is Al-Arish, which has tried to make a go of tourism but has not been too successful, even though there are some fairly nice hotels in the village.
The Gulf of Suez
What is not surprising is that the mainland beach along the Gulf of Suez is ever more popular among Egyptians, and may very well become more important to foreign tourists as well. Though perhaps not quite as warm as beaches further south, resort complexes such as Stella Di Mari, which already receives a large number of Italian tourists in particular, are very nice, relatively inexpensive, and an easy visit from Cairo. We have often praised this location, along an area known as Ain Sukhna, for its convenience to Cairo as a quick Red Sea jaunt (though it is actually on the Gulf of Suez), which also allows tourists close access to visit the Suez Canal, and fairly close access to the famous Eastern Desert Monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul. Though this area remains mostly a destination for Egyptians, we expect to see more and more foreign tourists in the future, for which it is well suited.
It is rather interesting that, along with the northern Mediterranean Sinai coast, the Sinai coast along the Gulf of Suez has not much been developed as a tourist destination, either for Egyptians or foreigners. This is not to say that no facilities exist, but they are very sparse.
The Mainland Coast Along the Red Sea
Where we begin to see the most foreign beach goers is as Egypt's mainland coast opens onto the Red Sea. Specifically, the and Hurghada region is one of the most popular beach areas in Egypt among foreign tourists. Hurghada has traditionally been known as one of the most affordable beach resort communities, though there are certainly more luxurious facilities available in the city proper, while El Gouna, just to the north, has strictly an upper class reputation. Just to the south of Hurghada is also the exclusive compound of Soma Bay, with several hotels and a fine golf course. As one travels further south along the mainland Egyptian coast, resorts areas become less dense, and many of the more southern tourist destinations are more scuba diving camps than resorts though, for example Marsa Alam is gaining in importance as a general tourist destination.
The Eastern Sinai along the Gulf of Aqaba and its Southern region in the Red Sea The eastern shore of the Sinai along the Gulf of Aqaba has a number of beach vacation resorts and towns, from the very northern tip of the Gulf all the way down to the southern end of the the Sinai. These areas really are frequented almost entirely by foreign tourists. However, they vary considerably, from Taba, which probably receives most of its tourism from Israel, down to Sharm el-Sheikh, which like Hurghada, is one of the main tourist destinations for beach goers to Egypt. In between Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh are Nuweiba and Dahab, which seem to cater to a mix of foreign tourists looking for perhaps a little less formal resorts and for that matter, less crowded resorts.
Types of FacilitiesIn Egypt, one of the nice things about its beach resorts is that just about every area seems to be interestingly different, and there are a wide range from the standpoint of expense. Facilities range from very rudimentary beach camps to the finest imaginable five star hotels, and include the possibility of villa rentals. In general, in the region south of Hurghada, not including Marsa Alam, beach camps and more rudimentary accommodations seem to be more dominant, but then so too are open beaches with little in the way of crowds. On the east, Aqaba side of the Sinai, while Taba and especially Sharm el-Sheikh are built up areas with fine facilities to choose from, the area in between these two destinations tend to be more camp-like, though there are certainly a few fine hotels here and there. These areas, south of Hurghada (and south of Soma Bay, and not including Marsa Alam), tend to be very laid back areas of beach with less formal entertainment facilities than the main tourist areas of El Gouna, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba and more and more, Marsa Alam. However, even the grand tourist destinations can be very different. For example, Hurghada is almost two cities in one. There is the downtown area with its less expensive hotels, some with beach front property, and then there are the individual resorts that are really somewhat segregated from the downtown area. The more segregated beach resorts at Hurghada are not all that different from those further north in the area of Ain Sukhna and along the Northern mainland coast west of Alexandria. They are essentially self contained complexes that offer little availability to the main city of Hurghada. Tourists tend to not stray far from the compound where they are staying. On the other hand, El Gouna, just to the north of Hurghada is set up more to allow tourists in the various resorts to roam around in the small village. Sharm el-Sheikh is probably the most open resort area, with a boardwalk that connects most of the beach front resorts and the town center, though there are a few more isolated resorts. What this means for the most part is that the entertainment possibilities in Sharm are much more varied.It should be noted that in many more isolated compounds, such as Stella Di Mari in the north, there may be more than enough activities and entertainment for most people. Many of the individual compounds such as this have more than one hotel, and work hard to include various forms of entertainment and activities for the whole family.
Scuba Diving and other Water Activities
One of the main differences between the the coastal regions that border the Red Sea and those in the Gulfs and Mediterranean Zones is the availability of Scuba Diving. There is some sparse scuba diving facilities in just about every zone, but by far, most Scuba Diving facilities are located from El-Gouna south along the Red Sea, and around Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai. In fact, perhaps as much as 80% of all Scuba Diving activities originate from the immediate region of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. This is not to say that activities such as snorkeling cannot be found at almost all beach areas. Furthermore, other activities such as windsurfing and skiing, while available in many different locations, seems to be very popular along the mainland Gulf of Suez Zone. At various locations on just about all of the beaches there are other water sports available, such as sail boat rentals and parasailing.

Egypt Feature Story

2008-05-29T04:29:00.000-07:00

In Egypt, many of the tour companies are run by people who's families have been in the tourism business for generations. While we may not be able to say that writing was invented in Egypt, tourism almost certainly was. The best of the tour companies are extremely good, and this allows for possibilities that many people never much think about.
Private Tours We have frequently discussed package tours and independent tours, but there are some other options, some of which are more popular than many might believe. One obvious example is the private, packaged tour. Normally when we refer to a packaged tour, we are referring more to group tours, but even though they tend to be considerably more expensive, private packaged tours are an option for many, and not as expensive as many people might imagine.
Private tours are also usually custom tours, where the tourist specifies what they wish to do. Sometimes, this might be little more than the same tour taken by groups, while at other times tourists who have researched Egypt or been there before will be very specific about what they wish to do and see.
In reality, private tours are much like independent travel, but with a little additional help. One can do most anything, but at the same time, arrangements have been made prior to arrival in Egypt and this allows one on a private tour to see as much as anyone in a packaged group tour, and perhaps even more. At the same time, there is much considerable freedom to do as one wishes. Cost wise, the real difference between a group tour and a private tour is, of course, the cost of the guide, the cost of setting up the tour and the cost of transportation. These are what make a private tour more expensive, but one alternative is to take along some friends. Its fun to tour Egypt with people one knows, and including a few friends or family will also spread out the cost of a private tour.
Transport Only
More than a few requests we receive are for people wanting transportation only. This is a good option, because the main problem with completely independent travel in Egypt is getting to the various places one wishes to go. These arrangements can always be made, but in country they take time to arrange and distract from the time allotted to actually touring. However, many of he tour companies will make transfer and transport arrangements only (in advance of arrival). This allows people to visit the ancient sites independently without the worry of getting around.
Of course, hotels can be booked in a similar manner, though most of the larger ones have on-line reservation systems where one may book them directly, as opposed to using a tour operator. Otherwise, many of the smaller hotels, or at least those that are not a part of a chain and do not have significant on-line presence, must be booked by a tour operator.
Hybrid ToursAnother excellent idea, and one that I have personally taken advantage, is combining a package or private tour with completely independent travel. Many of the tour companies provide short tours. For example, Cairo and Environs tours are popular, which will normally take in the major sites in and around Cairo. Such tours usually last for several days. This works out well because Cairo is a big city and getting around to all the sites can take a lot of arranging if one is doing so independently and not very familiar with the city. However, afterwards, it would be a simple matter to fly or take a train to Luxor for some independent time. That city is much smaller and the monuments are more tightly grouped, so touring around independently is much easier.
One might even set up several packaged tours together with some independent time. One good example would be to arrange a Cairo and Environs' tour, then head to Luxor for some free time, and then a Nile Cruise package. The Cairo tour and the Nile Cruise could almost certainly be arranged by the same company, along with the transport to Luxor and back to Cairo for the flight home.
In fact, many tours feature an aspect of this type. For even completely packaged classical tours that offer extensions to places like Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada, once in Sharm or Hurghada, the tourists are frequently left on their own to enjoy the beach and the hot night spots. In many respects, they are completely independent once in one of those locations, though the tour company might arrange for a day tour to places like St. Catherine's monastery. On the other hand, it is also very common for those flying into Sharm, Hurghada or one of the other beach resorts by way of a vacation package to also arrange private or group tours to the ancient sites.
Of course, private tours can be arranged in the same way. One could set up a private, custom tour to almost any location in Egypt through a travel company, and then head off to a specific location for some independent time after that tour. Also, the possibility also exists to arrange a normal packaged tour and then to combine it with perhaps a custom private tour, or even another, perhaps shorter, packaged group tour. This might typically be done if, for example, one wished to take a very standard classical tour and add to it a visit to the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert.
In the end, one must remember that there are literally thousands of tour operators in Egypt, and therefore they tend to be both competitive and aggressive. One must be very careful about which companies they deal with, but even the very reputable companies, such as those listed in our AETBI membership, are forced to compete by offering a variety of different services and options. Hence, the ways in which one may arrange a tour to Egypt are almost endless, with few boundaries other than one's own imagination.

Packaged vs. Independent Travel to Egypt

2008-05-29T03:56:00.000-07:00

Frankly, the last few years has been a time when packaged tours, for the most part, are by far more favorable for many people than independent travel to Egypt. In fact, the main reason that most people would wish to visit Egypt independently is simply for the freedom of scheduling, unless they are very, very familiar with Egypt.
We at Tour Egypt have often promoted independent travel to Egypt, and we will continue to do so. Particularly for well-informed and experienced travelers, an independent trip to Egypt can be fun and fulfilling. But for many visitors, this is not the best way to visit, and for many more, it will certainly not be the least expensive means to view the country. For the first or second time visitor to Egypt, a guided package tour will work much more satisfactory. There are several reasons for this.
A number of readers have been emailing us in order to make rather complex arrangements for travel to Egypt. Independently, they are often attempting to include other areas such as the Holy Land, as well as various European destinations as part of their itinerary. That is all fine and good, and tour companies do this all the time, but it can get very tricky, as well as costly for a private individual.
The typical thinking is that tour companies must charge a profit for their services, and hence, traveling independently saves that money which would otherwise end up in the tour operator's hands. In many, if not most cases, this is an incorrect assumption.
Costs and Pricing
Most of the tour and travel companies bringing tourists to Egypt receive deep discounts from both airlines and hotels. Often, they may pay as little as half of the going rate for such services. This is due to the number of bookings they make, which entitles them to "wholesale" discounts. Package pricing varies among tour and travel operators, but it is safe to say that in some instances, a percentage of this savings is passed on to tourists, making the trip cheaper than they could have arranged it themselves.In fact, recently travel companies have been making some fantastic deals with hotels, particularly on the Red Sea and in the Sinai, but elsewhere as well. We know of instances where, particularly involving large European charter services, the price paid for hotel rooms in some areas is but a fraction of the normal rate. It is not unheard of currently for some of these large agencies to pay as little as four or five US dollars per night for rooms. Otherwise, some airlines and particularly Egypt Air, are also providing tour organizations with deep discount from Europe, the United States and Canada, and elsewhere. Because of the competitive nature of travel to Egypt, many travel companies are passing these discount completely to the tourist. Hence, for example, we have seen many travel deals where offers are being made for ten days or more in Egypt for little more (if any) than what an independent traveler would pay for the air alone. Once inside Egypt, independent travelers must always arrange to visit the antiquity sites that they are interested in seeing. This can be done in one of two ways; either by going it alone completely and only hiring transport to the antiquity sites, or by joining a day tour. Day tours can be arranged from most any hotel in Egypt, those the quality and pricing on these may vary considerably. Particularly from the standpoint of an inexperienced traveler, hiring the transport to sites can end up being as expensive or more so than a day tour. In either case, if one wishes to visit a number of antiquity sites throughout Egypt, day tours or transport can easily add up to more then the cost of a packaged tour. On top of that, making all these arrangements can take time out of the trip. One can easily find oneself spending several weeks in Egypt, but using several full days to make independent arrangements for various day tours or transport. Overall, it it likely that, given the same period of time, one may end up seeing only half the sites that an efficiently run tour would visit.
Aggravating this situation is the fact that many independent arrangements cannot currently be made prior to arrival in Egypt. Certainly one may arrange day tours prior to the trip, but transportation to certain locations can be a real problem. Trains, busses and Red Sea ferries, and of course taxis, are very difficult to book from outside of Egypt. Tour and travel companies receive no commission for simply booking a train, bus or ferry so about the only way for the independent traveler to make these types of transportation arrangements is to do so after arrival.
Other Concerns for Independent Travelers
Tour operators often provide somewhat of a shield for inexperienced travelers from hawkers and other potential tourist ‘snags’, as well as good advice on many aspects of the visit, such as help with visas, entertainment beyond the tour, places to shop, help with taxis and more. In some highly tourist-oriented areas such as Luxor (ancient Thebes), this assistance can be invaluable.
Another aspect of packaged tours is simply the company of others. Traveling far away from home can be somewhat lonely, even for couples. Planned tours bring together people, usually of the same nationality, and very often, with similar interests and can make a distant trip much more enjoyable. In fact, we have seen that people in these tour groups often become long term friends, and even return to Egypt together.
Finally, even for some experienced travelers, there are times when only a good tour or travel operator will be able to efficiently make certain arrangements. For example, certain areas of Egypt, including some major antiquity sites such as Abydos, require a special permit that must be arranged days in advance of the visit. Even if one is a highly experienced traveler, where to go and how to get these permits would end up being not only a problem, but a time consuming one as well. In addition, tour and travel companies often offer opportunities which independent travelers will never get, such as lectures or visits by famous Egyptologists or special entertainment (one tour company arranged dinner for its guests inside the Temple of Luxor).
Hybrid ToursOne possibility for many travelers is to essentially combine a packaged tour with independent travel. This can work out well for many. Essentially, this might include a shorter packaged tour combined with some independent time. Ideally for a relatively inexperienced traveler to Egypt, this might include a packaged tour to areas outside of Cairo such as Luxor, Aswan and the Sinai, with perhaps an initial visit to the sites around Cairo such as the pyramids, followed by some independent time in Cairo for additional sightseeing, shopping and cultural activities. For the slightly more adventurous, it might simply involve a Nile cruise to visit southern Egypt (Luxor, Aswan and some of the temples north of Luxor) followed by independent visits to sites in and around Cairo. For the most part, the independent segment of the trip should occur at the end of the tour, giving one a chance to become a little familiar with the culture prior to setting out on their own.
We love this type of arrangement. Frankly, most people who have the chance to get out and about in Cairo will end up loving the city, and will wish that they had time to see and experience more of this grand metropolis.
Alternatively, and particularly for Europeans who can take advantage of very inexpensive packaged tours to the Red Sea coast and to the Sinai, many visitors may take from there independent "day tours" to Cairo or Luxor. However, because many of these use charter flights, one may be limited to a very specific period of time.
There are several advantages to hybrid travel. First of all, and perhaps foremost is cost. One may take advantage of the cost savings in air travel, transportation and tours provided by tour operators, while at the same time fulfilling their desire to have some independent time away from the tour.
A Word About Packaged ToursOne frequent problem with packaged tours is that they are arranged to make the most out of your visit. The schedule can be, at times, exhausting. It should be remembered that, in many cases, one need not make every tour of every monument every day. In my personal travels to Egypt, and I frequently "tag" along on these arranged tours for the very reasons I have already mentioned, I often encounter members of the tour group who choose to stay behind during a morning or afternoon segment simply to sit around the hotel pool and catch their breath. Alternatively, they may take that time to see a little sightseeing of their own or do some independent shopping. So don't let the pace of the tour overcome the enjoyment of the trip.
Furthermore, for those with the means (financial) to do so, and particularly if their origin is a considerable distance from Egypt (such as the US), consider arriving in Egypt a few days earlier than the arranged tour. Usually this can be arranged by the tour operator, but if not, it will simply require one to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel where the tour will originate and reserving a room there for a day or two earlier.
The reason for this is that many packaged tours really give very little time for the traveler to recover from jet lag. In fact, most packages would allow only a nights sleep, if even that before setting out on the tour. For the very young, this may be fine, and is certainly the most efficient way to see as much of the country as possible for the least cost. However, for those of us who are a little older, I have found that I need a day to recover from what for me, including layovers from the US, is a twenty-four hour flight (though only about twelve hours on Egypt Air direct from New York). Consideration for this initial period of "rest time" might also involve how well one is able to sleep on an airplane, as well as the accommodations (it is far easier to sleep in first class as opposed to tourist class). Obviously, for many Europeans for which Egypt is only about a four hour flight, such arrangements are not necessary.
A Final Word on Independent TravelIn reality, most successful independent travelers to Egypt have made prior visits to the country. Often, they are not intent on seeing a wide range of antiquity sites throughout Egypt, but are rather focusing on specific sites. In many other instances, they may not be that interested in antiquities at all, taking instead beach vacations, or experiencing the culture of Cairo. For those wishing to travel to Egypt independently, the material presented in Tour Egypt will enable you to do so, but this material must be studied thoroughly. Without question, one of the best resource anywhere, under any circumstances, is our own conferencing system (message board). There, one finds Egyptians, people who love Egypt, ex-pats living in Egypt, and a number of people who travel to Egypt very frequently. "Hanging out" in the conference system and learning from these people is a great, and for someone not experienced in Egyptian travel, an absolute necessity for successful independent travel to Egypt, and of course it is even beneficial for someone taking a packaged tour.
I personally love traveling to Egypt independently, and I always enjoy myself. Yet indeed, I mentioned earlier, even I frequently tag along with a tour when outside of Cairo, frankly, both to save money and to enjoy the company of others. But, no matter how one chooses to see Egypt, please do go and have fun, as there is no more fabulous place on earth.

Mount Sinai

2008-05-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

A Walking Trail Guide

Contents
Saint Katherine Protectorate – How to use this guide
Preparation
What will I see?
Exodus
Site 1 The Plain of El-Raha and Aaron’s Hill
Site 2 The Golden Calf
Site 3 The Askar – Barracks of Abbas Pasha
Site 4 Roman Quarry
Site 5 Monastery of Saint Katherine
Site 6 Camel Path
Site 7 Jebel El-Deir Path Junction
Site 8 Saddle between Wadi El-Deir and Wadi Isbaiyah
Site 9 Galaktion and Episteme
Site 10 Camel station and Cutting
Site 11 To tread on Holy Ground – The summit of Mount Sinai
Site 12 Elijah’s Basin
Site 13 The Stairway of Repentance and Elijah’s Gate
Site 14 Shrive Gate (The Gate of Forgiveness)
Site 15 Chapel of Our Lady of the Steward (Oikonomissa)
Site 16 Spring of Symeon
Post Script
Mount Sinai
Saint Katherine Protectorate
Introduction
The Monastery of Saint Katherine and Mount Sinai (Jebel Musa) are the most famous sites within the 4,350 square kilometers Saint Katherine Protectorate. The Protectorate was established in 1996 and contains a wealth of cultural, natural and religious history. The unique high altitude desert ecosystem and the religious landscape are intertwined with treasures of Bedouin life and culture. Several guidebooks including this one have been prepared for half day walks in the spectacular and beautiful local area.
How to use this guide
The site numbers in this booklet correspond to the numbers engraved on the small sandstone markers located at particular points along the path. At each site you will have the opportunity to read a little about what you see, and discover more of the history, nature and culture of the area.
Read the Biblical account of Exodus summarized on page 5 and use the numbers to identify those sites at which some of the events are widely believed to have occurred.
Preparation
.Wear sturdy shoes and a hat, take matches or a lighter, sunscreen, and a warm jacket for early mornings and evenings. Be aware of the season, as winter will require much warmer clothing and do not underestimate how cold it can become.
.If you stay overnight sleep only in Elijah’s Basin not on the summit.
.Respect the right of pilgrims to a quiet, peaceful experience on the summit.
.Respect the religious rights and the sanctity of the landscape and leave no trace of your visit.
.Do not collect or destroy plant or animal life or leave graffiti.
.Please dispose of your litter in the bins provided
.Please use the available environmental and hygienic toilets.
.Be very aware that the climb can be most difficult for the elder, and those with medical conditions that might be affected by climbing, such as heart problems, emphysema and related illnesses.
The interpretative trail begins at the mouth of Wadi El-Deir at Aaron’s Hill (Nabi Haruun) and continues past the Monastery up the camel path to the top of Elijah’s Basin, then follows the stairway to the summit of Mount Sinai. The trail descends back to Elijah’s Basin and then continues down the stairway of Repentance to return to the Monastery.
The length of the trail is approximately 7 kilometers and you should allow 5 to 7 hours to complete it depending on your fitness level. The trail follows the least strenuous route but is rocky in places and care should be taken especially descending the stairway. The traditional route for pilgrims to prove their worthiness of the ascent is to climb the Stairway of Repentance.
"I found I had got to the top of Jebel Musa, a grand mountain commanding grand views, but not the top of Mount Sinai. For the Holy Mountain is a spiritual, not a physical experience."
What will I see?
You are one of thousands who have set out to climb Mount Sinai, or Jebel Musa. Pilgrims, travelers and visitors have been attracted to the religious landscape of Mount Sinai for centuries. As you ascend the path the guide will help you identify the chapels, mosques and the other sacred sites you will see and also describe the dramatic events such as the Burning Bush and the receiving of the Ten Commandments that happened in this part of the Sinai desert between 3500 and 3200 years ago. For some the ascent is merely a physical experience but those who choose to understand the history of the "God-Trodden Mount", and respect its 1600 year old monastic tradition will undoubtedly discover something more spiritual.
From the path you will see churches, chapels, mosques and sacred sites nestled in basins and standing peaceably on summits. These places represent a common link in the faith of Christians, Jews and Muslims. Biblical and Quranic accounts describe the exalted events that occurred "in the Sinai desert" (Exodus 19:1) between 1500 and 1200 BC.
The local Jebeliya Bedouin also have a particular regard for Mount Sinai as a holy mountain and over the centuries the Jebeliya have developed a unique relationship with the Monastery.
The monastic tradition grew from the 3rd century when many early Christians sought refuge from the persecution of pagan Rome in the holy mountains of south Sinai. Relics of these Roman and Byzantine times can still be seen on the mountain in ancient quarries, paved paths and stairs, hermitages and water conduits.
The Monastery of Saint Katherine continues today in Orthodox tradition; however, the pressures of secular tourism threaten to change this. Your efforts to appreciate the significance of this unique landscape and understand the history of the Monastery are important to their conservation and continuity.
Please treat the area with respect and encourage others to do the same. Do not damage or remove anything from the area and stay on the paths. There is a book on the summit to record your visit.
Exodus
Moses was discovered as a baby in a papyrus basket floating amongst rushes at the edge of the Nile. The Pharaoh at the time had cammanded that all newborn Hebrew boys be thrown into the Nile, but his daughter found the baby, rescued him and brought him up on the Pharaoh’s court, naming him Moses.
As a young man Moses was sentenced to death for assaulting and killing an Egyptian foreman who had beaten up an Israelite labourer, and to escape execution he fled to the Sinai mountains. Here he met and married one of the seven daughters of Jethro and lived for forty years with his father-in-law, tending his flocks and cleansing his soul. One day god revealed himself to Moses in the Miracle of the Burning Bush and ordered Moses to save the children of Israel from captivity.
God parted the Red Sea to allow the six hundred thousand Israelites to be led to the plain beneath Mount Horeb (now Jebel Musa/Ras Safsaafa). Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai, during which time God presented him with two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. While waiting for Moses to return, they were visited by Moses’ brother, Aaron, who made them a statue of a golden calf to worship. On returning from Mount Horeb, Moses was so outraged at this worship of an idol that he smashed the tablets. He then returned to the mountain where God instructed him to carve two new tablets. At Moses’ request God also revealed himself in a flash of light, but first He cut a cleft in the rock to shield Moses from His blinding glory.
Exalted, Moses descended the mountain with the new tablets and with instructions from God to lead the people to the Land of Canaan (present day Israel). The Israelites built the Ark of the Covenant to house the tablets, and the Ten Commandments of the Lord became the basis of Jewish and Christian religion and social organization.
"Now this is the great and flat valley wherein the children of Israel waited during those days when holy Moses went up the Mount of the Lord and remained for forty days and forty nights…" Etheria, a Spanish pilgrim circa AD 400
Site 1The Plain of El-Raha and Aaron’s Hill
The walk starts from the top of a small hill, Nabi Haruun, where a white Christian chapel and a Muslim shrine stand, both of them dedicated to the Prophet Aaron. Orientate yourself with the sketch on the previous page. The hill is at the mouth of Wadi El-Deir opposite the Plain of El-Raha (the resting place) also called Wadi Muka’das, the Holy Valley. The site is reputedly where Aaron and the Israelites made the golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai.
The view of the Monastery from this point is outstanding. The view northwest looks to the El-Raha plain or Wadi Muka’das (the Holy Valley) believed to be where the Israelites waited for Moses.
The arrangement of rocks and small circular buildings in the south-western side of Aaron’s Hill is a Jebeliya Bedouin cemetery. Traditionally the graves were shallow and marked by a single upright rock but today they are more elaborate.
Site 2
The Golden Calf
Walk about 250 meters, past the cemetery and across the road towards a small walled garden. On the rock face to the right, near the foot of Megalo Manna Garden is a rock in the shape of a calf. The Bedouin call it the Cow (El-Bagara) and believe that the Israelites used it as a mould for their idol.
Follow the road for 500 metres towards the Monastery.
Site 3
‘The Askar’: Barracks of Abbas Pasha
These stone ruins on the road to the Monastery are the remains of the mid-19th century barracks built for Abbas Pasha’s soldiers and workers. (Learn more about Abbas Pasha at Site 6). The barracks were organized around two main courts and a mosque. The mosque was located on the side of the ruins closest to the Monastery.
Continue past the tourist police station, and along the dirt road which gradually ascends towards the Monastery of Saint Katherine which is reached in about 10 minutes.
Site 4
Roman Quarry
As you walk up the road look carefully at the lower slopes of the mountains on your left. These were stripped of loose stones to expose solid granite for quarrying. This quarry was the source of the first building blocks for the foundations of the monastery, the church and its fortification in the 6th century. The architecture of cut stone seems to have been gradually abandoned after the Arab conquest in the 7th century, although loose stones were taken from this quarry as late as the 19th century.
Look for the cut faces, chisel marks on flat rock surfaces and horizontal trenches used to wedge the blocks of granite away from the rock.
Site 5Monastery of Saint Katherine (Catherine)
In 1822 Burkhardt recorded a monk telling him that if the Monastery of Saint Katherine "had been subject to the revolutions and oppressions of Egypt or Syria, it would have long ago been abandoned; but Providence has preserved us by giving us Bedouin for neighbors."
The Monastery and the Jebeliya Bedouin share a very close and interdependent relationship. In the past, the Jebeliya depended on the supplies and services that the monastery provided while the monastery was reliant on the local people for manual labor and protection. The Jebeliya are descendants of soldiers and servants who were sent by Emporer Justinain to build and maintain the monastery 1400 years ago. Intermarrying with local nomads and converting to Islam, the Jebeliya maintain beliefs about the sacred landscape which derive from both Christian and Muslim tradition.
Today the Jebeliya continue to be employed by the monastery as gardeners, stonemasons, groundsmen, bakers, blacksmiths, carpenters and general labourers. Traditionally, all disputes not settled by Jebeliya people have been presented to the Archbishop of the Monastery to resolve.
Since the 3rd century, Christian monks and hermits settled in small monastic communities around Mount Sinai to escape persecution and follow a life of prayer and devotion in the holy mountains.
In AD 330 Saint Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, erected a small church at the site of the Burning Bush, to commemorate the spot where God appeared to Moses, and a tower to serve as secure shelter for the monks. In the 6th century, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian ordered the building of a fortified monastery encompassing the church and tower.
Tradition relates that the relics of the martyr Saint Katherine were borne by angels to the summit of Mount Katherine where they were discovered and transferred to a reliquary in the basilica in the 9th century. From that time the place has become known as the Monastery of Saint Katherine.
Frequent attacks between the 15th and 17th centuries caused the gates of the monastery to be walled up by rope and pulley. Evidence of this system can be seen on the northeastern wall of the Monastery.
Notes
Jebeliya Bedouin and the Holy Mountain
A Jebeliya Bedouin man, Mahmuud Mansuur explains the significance of Mount Sinai to his people: "My family has been on the Mountain for 1400 years. It is a holy place to us. Not only do we depend on it for our livelihood, but our sick people climb the mountain to talk to God and ask for health or fertility. I’ve been climbing this mountain since I was fourteen- the mountain and I know each other well."
Site 6
Camel PathThe camel path begins from behind the Monastery near the camel station where Bedouin cameleers offer rides up Mount Sinai, stopping just short of Elijah’s Basin. The remaining 750 steps must be climbed on foot. The camel path was constructed by Ibrahim Abbas Pasha, ruler of Egypt from 1849-54. In 1853 he visited Sinai with plans to build a palace on Mount Sinai. The palace eventually was built on the summit of Jebel Abbas Pasha, a mountain west of Saint Katherine village, from where its ruins can be seen. The Stairway of Repentance begins about 200 metres to the right of the camel station and can be seen winding up the steep, rocky gorge. The remains of ancient walls can be seen in the mound to the right of the path; this archaeological site has not been excavated.
Continue up the path for about 900 metres to Site 7.
Site 7
Jebel El-Deir Path Junction
Facing the engraved stone number the red granite massif rising to your left is Jebel El-Deir – the mountain of the Monastery. You can see several shrines, hermitages and gardens in the mountain crevices. A zigzag path leads to a small monastery, Magafa, which nestles amid date palms and Byzantine stone walls. It can be seen more clearly from Site 9.

MagafaThe small mountain to the south, i.e. on your right, is called Jethro’s Mountain or Jebel El-Muneijah (Calling of God). This site is where Jethro and his daughters were supposed to have lived when Moses first came to Mount Sinai and where he saw the Burning Bush and spoke to God. The small white church on its summit is dedicated to both Saint Theodore the Commander and Saint Theodore the Tyro, or Recruit, Roman soldiers who were martyred. Behind you, to the southwest, the furthest peak is your first view of Mount Sinai’s craggy double summit. Continue up the path for about 1km to Site 8. The Monastery disappears behind you as you ascend.
Site 8
Saddle Between Wadi El-Deir and Wadi Isbaiyah
To your left at the top of the pass you look south into the wide, sandy valley of Wadi Isbaiyah which formed part of the ancient trade route connecting the Monastery to both Palestine and Cairo. Camel caravans came over the pass below, marked by a pile of stones and colloquially called Nagb’I Deir, bringing food and supplies as well as pilgrims, scholars and other travelers, to the Monastery from the port of El-Tur on the Gulf of Suez. Below you can also see a small Bedouin village and gardens which are stone walled to keep out animals.
Follow the path for a further 600 metres to Site 9.
Site 9
Galaktion and Episteme
Site 9 is located on a bend in the camel path. Looking across to Jebel El-Deir, you can see a green tree midway up the mountain. To the left of this is the Monastery of Saint Episteme, a nun, and Saint Galaktion, a monk, who lived in the fourth century.
To your right you have a good view of the switch-back path leading to Saint Theodore’s chapel on the green tinged mountain of Jebel El-Muneijah.
Historical Notes
Lives of Galaktion and Episteme
Galaktion was the son of pagan parents who, in spite of sacrifices to idols, had been childless until they were advised by a priest to pray for a child to the God of the Christians. Galaktion was born and brought up as a Christian, he later married Episteme, also a Christian. They devoted their lives to God and became monastics. They settled in Sinai along with their followers to follow a life of devotion and to escape religious persecution but were captured by the Romans and martyred in the arena of Alexandria.
Continue on for about 1.2 kms passing 4 separate cafeterias to Site 10.
Site 10
Camel Station and Cutting
From the camel terminus, you climb through a narrow pass in the mountain which was cut through to continue to Abbas Pasha’s path to the summit. Evidence of the holes drilled for the explosives to blast open the way can be seen on the sides of the path. On some rock faces a black plant like pattern can be seen. After the pass the path leads left to the summit of Mount Sinai and right to Elijah’s Basin. Turn left and climb the final 750 steps to the summit – which takes about 25 minutes.
Nature NotesRays of God or Dendrites
On some rock faces a black leaf-like pattern can be seen. Some people believe that the patterns were caused by divine light so intense that it imprinted the shadows of living plants on stone and that it is reminiscent of the leaves from the Burning Bush.
Geologists call this pattern dendritic pyrolusite and say it is formed by a chemical reaction which leaves a manganese deposit.
Site 11
To Tread on Holy Ground – The Summit of Mount Sinai
"Nothing can exceed the savage grandeur of the view from the summit of Mount Sinai. The infinite complication of jagged peaks and varied ridges, and their prevalent intensely red and greenish tints…" (Edward Hull 1885)
The final steps of the Stairway of Repentance take to 2,285 metres above sea level and the lofty summit of Mount Sinai; the view from here has been likened to "an ocean of petrified waves". Sometimes it is possible to see the hazy blues of the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba from this point. The northern and eastern boundaries of the Jebeliya territory are demarcated by the dark volcanic circular dyke and the peaks of Jebel Um Alawi. Use the panoramic sketch to orientate yourself and locate landmarks.Christians and Muslims have long regarded this summit as the sacred Mount Sinai although Jewish tradition is more guarded in ascribing an earthly location to Mount Sinai. In early Christian times, it was only the pious who walked up the mountain in barefooted reverence who were permitted to visit the summit. Pilgrims rarely slept here and to this day the Bedouin respect the Holy Mountain by leaving with their flocks before sunset. The practice of sleeping on the summit to watch the sunrise is recent and the problems caused by waste and overcrowding disappoint many visitors. If you are camping please sleep at Elijah’s Basin.Use the sketch opposite to orientate yourself. The altar of the Church of the Holy Trinity is said to be built over the rock where God created the Tablets of the Law. Adjoining its northern wall, behind an iron fence, is the cleft of rock from where Moses beheld God’s glory. Many people believe that the marks inside the crevice are the imprints of Moses’ back, hands and head where he "shrank back into the rock while the glory of the Lord passed by".
At the end of the 4th century Etheria, a pilgrim, writes of worshipping in a chapel atop Mount Sinai. In the 6th century, under Emperor Justinian, a new basilica-type chapel, with two aisles, was built of cut granite. It was much larger than the present church, extending to the edge of the present mosque. The basilica was destroyed in the 11th century along with many other Christian shrines by the Fatimid ruler al-Hakim. The Monastery was spared because of the letter of protection in which Prophet Mohammed declared "a secure and positive promise" to defend the Christian establishment and because it also had a mosque inside the walls.
The extent of the 6th century church can be easily traced on the western slope of the summit. The altar of the basilica is thought to have been incorporated into the existing church of the Holy Trinity (built in 1934). Many of the large pink granite blocks from the 6th century church were used to construct the existing church, others lie scattered about. It is thought that these granite blocks were quarried from Elijah’s Basin. The circular Christian cross in stone relief found on some of the blocks is indicative of the Justinian era.
Next to the church is a mosque which also incorporates some of the blocks from the earlier church. Beneath the mosque is a small grotto with a prayer niche which was probably a crypt of the original basilica. Neither the church nor mosque are normally open to visitors. A book is available for you to record your visit. About 40 metres below the summit are the remains of a Byzantine water conduit which fed the cistern between the two small rock knolls. Other conduits can be found on the mountain.
Return by the stairs. Approximately 200 metres down from the chapel to the left of the Stairway and marked by a ring of rocks, is an impression which resembles the footprint of a camel in the rock. Some Jebeliya Bedouin claim it is the mark of the She-Camel (El-Bohraq) of Prophet Mohammed; others say that this is the footprint of the She-Camel of the angel who brought the Ten Commandments to Moses.
Site 12
Elijah’s BasinFrom the bottom of the Stairs, you follow the path left down to Site 12 and Elijah’s Basin. This is a sandy flat surface which lies between the northern extension of the mountain, Mount Safsafa, and the summit and which breaks the 750 steps to the summit from the 3000 steps which descend to the Monastery.
A large thousand year old cypress tree, bare branched at the top, together with six younger cypresses and an olive tree surround an ancient well which is fed by snow melt and occasional rainfall. Below the well is a Byzantine dam which has been repaired recently. Constructed primarily to prevent flood damage to the Monastery, it also serves to recharge springs below. A lone Sinai hawthorn tree, frequented by small birds like the white crowned black wheatear and Sinai rosefinch, stands near the dam wall.The chalky white Church of Elijah commemorates the place where Elijah fled after killing the prophets of Baal and is mentioned be Etheria in the 4th century. Inside the church is the stone beneath which Elijah sheltered when he spoke with God (see I Kings 19:1-18). Incorporated beneath its roof is the Chapel of Elisha, an acolyte of Elijah. Opposite this is "Daniel’s Room", the shelter of the guardian of the church and summit in previous centuries. The Church of Saint Stephen is located in the southern neck of the basin approximately 200 metres from the other churches. The church marks the cave where Saint Stephen lived; he was one of the confessors for pilgrims in the 6th century and his cloaked remains are in the ossuary at the Monastery.
The stairway down starts to the right of the dam and the Monastery can be reached in about one hour from this point. The path is spectacular but steep and should not be attempted at night.
Nature NotesWhite crowned black wheatear (bag’aa)
A small black bird, the male with a white crown and rump and a fluty call. Very common; prefers rocky slopes.
Sinai rosefinch (gazam)
Spending the warmer months in the high mountains and wintering in the wadis, this small seed-eating bird is often seen on Mount Sinai. Identified by its stout bill and melodious song, the male plumage is pink, the female is brown with a pinkish tinge.
Historical Notes
Story of Elijah (874-853 BC)
Prophet Elijah warned the King of Israel that God would punish him with a drought for worshipping Baal; the worship of Baal was encouraged by Jezebel, daughter of the King of Sidonia and wife of Ahab. When the drought came Jezebel had God’s prophets killed. Elijah then ordered that 450 pagan prophets prepare and altar to Baal, while he himself prepared one to God, saying "and the God that answers by fire, let him be God". The pagan prophets called upon Baal to no avail but when Elijah called upon God, fire descended and burned up the sacrifice. At this sign the people rose up and Elijah slew the 450 priests of Baal. On hearing this Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah who fled "unto Horeb the mount of God" ( a Biblical synonym for Mount Sinai). There God commanded him to anoint the new kings of Syria and Israel and Elisha to succeed him as a prophet.
Site 13
The Stairway of Repentance and Elijah’s GateEtheria records that in the 4th century the "Stairs of Repentance" only extended part way up the mountain. Monastery records reveal that the stairway was completed by an anonymous monk under the patronage of Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. Monks have always believed that the mountain should only be ascended by those with the proper spiritual preparation and endurance for this steep but direct climb up the Stairway of Repentance. Bedouin call this route "the Path of our Lord Moses" (Sikkat Sayyidna Musa).
A hundred metres down the steps is Elijah’s Gate; a faint inscription around the top of the arch reads "John the Abbot" and is believed to date from the 6th century.
Continue down 450 metres to Site 14.
Site 14
Shrive Gate (The Gate of Forgiveness)In past time pilgrims confessed their sins to a priest at this gate and before ascending to the summit were asked: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in this holy place?". The pilgrim’s response was from the succeeding verse in Psalm 24 – "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Pilgrims were then granted a certificate, a practice which continued until the 1880s.
Through the gate at waist level on the right is an inscription in Greek, possibly the word "Stephanus" and an image of a hand.
Site 15
Chapel of Our Lady of the Steward (Oikonomissa)A little further on you overlook the white-washed Byzantine chapel which stands approximately half way down the summit. The chapel is dedicated to a miraculous event which was reported in the 6th century.
The oikonomos, or Monastery steward, unable to obtain sufficient supplies to sustain the Fathers, climbed Mount Sinai to pray for the monks who had decided to leave the Monastery. The Virgin Mary appeared to him and promised that the storeroom would be filled. Descending from the mountain he saw a caravan of camels arriving laden with supplies from Palestine.
Another account explains that at one time the Monastery was so overrun with fleas, flies and ants that the monks could not "keep their corn or comfort there". All but two of the monks had left the monastery and they also had decided to leave after a final prayer on the summit of Mount Sinai. On their ascent they encountered at this spot an apparition of the Virgin Mary who promised that they "would not lack what they needed for living" and that the insects would not torment them any longer. Following this the monastery became free of these pests and until recently, pilgrims attested to this miracle, claiming that "Cretain unclean creatures like flies, wasps, hornets, fleas and others of that sort, cannot live there, nor come into the monastery from the outside. And it has been observed that if such creatures are introduced into the monastery, they instantly die."
The remainder of the Stairway is flanked by eroded granite walls and massive boulders. Take time to appreciate the changing colors, the extraordinary rock shapes and different views of the Monastery as you descend.
Site 16
Spring of Symeon
After 20 minutes you reach the Spring of Symeon, wedged between two large granite boulders and marked by a small poplar tree. A stone bench looks onto the small dripping spring surrounded by delicate mats of moss and maidenhair fern. This spring is reported to be the place where Saint Stephen baptized Jews in order that they pass the Shrive Gate and ascend the Holy Mount. The Jebeliya remember when this spring used to be much deeper and cleaner. The spring is now contaminated with rubbish and human waste; attempts are being made to clean and restore it.
You are near the bottom of the Stairway – continue down the remaining steps to the Monastery.
Postscript
The religious significance and the long history of Mount Sinai and the Monastery have attracted visitors in the past and will continue to do so in the future. However these sites are not primarily tourist attractions but the home and a place of worship for monks and pilgrims. The Monastic tradition of hospitality means that all visitors are welcome, but the increasing number of secular visitors is placing a great strain on the monks and their religious lives. If you decide to enter the Monastery, please dress and act in a respectful way and remember that visiting hours are strictly between 9 am and 12 noon daily, except on Friday, Sunday and Feast days when the Monastery is closed to all visitors.

Climbing Mt. Sinai.

2008-05-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

Mt. Sinai…”Moses Mountain” as it’s know locally…it’s about a 3 hour drive from Sharm El Sheikh and virtually all climbers do it to see the sunrise. So you leave at night. Around 8:00 PM the evening of 25 January we set out, driver, guide and the two climbers: Barbara, our newest Egypt sales consultant, and me. We dozed wherever possible on the trip following decent roads and through the blackest night. There was a tiny crescent moon and a million stars.
We had contracted for camels for the first two-thirds of the climb…had to get the full impact of both the available transport options: camel feet and our own. When we arrived around 11:00 PM we needed to wait a while. We’d set off around 1:00 AM, our departure timed such that our arrival at the summit would culminate with the sun’s first rays.
Expecting cold conditions we layered virtually everything in our luggage that was layerable. Barbara had donned 8 layers and I could only come up with 6: a weird conglomeration of t-shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts and jacket. Her sweatshirt was hooded and she wisely donned thick socks…both proved to be invaluable. I turned my turtleneck collar all the way up, over the mouth and covering most of the ears. It would have to do.
The Bedouin camel boys came to collect us and we left the warmth of the van behind, along with our driver and guide both of whom would wait our return sometime in the morning. The adventure begins. We were paired with camels, light colored camels which was fortunate as it was so dark you could hardly see where to throw your leg for the mount. In the blackness the spectral glinting from the walls of St. Catherine’s Monastery should have called for eerie silence, BUT our climb was taking place during the 2 weeks of Egypt’s school vacation, and hordes of teenagers with energy to burn laughed, sang and joked all around us. No sleep for St. Catherine’s monks during the last part of January, I’m afraid.But we soon left the noisy hordes behind, traveling the gradual slope of the trip’s first leg. The cold was biting, stinging and the only sounds were crunching camel feet on stones. My beast was in the lead, Barbara’s following and our 2 Bedouin guides bringing up the rear guard. We traveled up switchbacks with angles that got more acute the further up we went. I tried to keep one foot warm, and then the other, with the crossed leg posture favored by longtime camel riders. Even though barely 10 feet separated us, we were each in our own world of icy silence.
Around 3:00 AM we reached the rest hut, the end of the line for our transport and a chance to warm up and drink some tea. First Barbara, then I, was escorted to the “facilities,” given a flashlight to keep us safe from a wrong foot in the “long drop” and we did what we needed to do in record-breaking time. Back at the hut we gladly paid 10 Egyptian pounds to rent heavy gray Bedouin blankets and by huddling together under them we slowly regained feeling in the extremities. And reminded ourselves that this was another fun-filled adventure. But at that point, it was easier not to talk.
We would wait until 5:00 AM for the final trip up…either 1500 or 800 steps remained to the summit (I was never sure which). The hut filled gradually with 2 large groups, Christian pilgrims, one group American and the other South Korean, both in exceptional spirits. Their contagious enthusiasm, not to mention welcome body heat, warmed the hut and we all wished each other a successful climb.
So promptly at 5:00 we set off. Gratefully promising to return the blankets on the downward route we both folded and wrapped ourselves head to toe in “fragrant” well worn wool. Using one covered hand to keep the blanket closed and the other firmly gripped to a sturdy Bedouin arm we began the stone steps. I don’t know and never found out if it was 800 or 1,500…and I didn’t care because it felt like a thousand. Our escorts chain-smoked the entire way, while we had all we could do to draw consecutive breaths. Barbara and I are both Floridians, both sea level, thick air people and we could feel the atmosphere lose density as we climbed.Up and up and up, each step an achievement, every 6-7 minutes a rest break required. The wind howled, the stars shone and we concentrated on planting each foot on terra firma. There have been accidents on the mountain; there is no “guard rail” and it’s definitely a “do this at your own risk” venture. Darting lights from our guides’ flashlights gave us a hint of where to put the next foot, strong hands guided us and we made excruciatingly slow progress up. At one of the final breaks before the summit our air gasps were silenced immediately by the sight of a shooting star…common on Moses Mountain. Common perhaps, but glorious nonetheless.
Right on schedule we hauled our way up the final steps just at 6:30 AM, just as the breaking rays illuminated a low-lying cloud. A river of pink fire surrounded the cloud, the sun rose higher, and never, never more beautifully did it break. More beautiful just wasn’t possible. In this atmosphere of thin air, perfect clarity, crystal cold and stark spectacle, the world begins each day newborn. We were privileged to share it…worth every single painful, freezing minute.
Recuperating with more tea, filled with self-congratulation we realized that we “ladies of a certain age” were the oldest climbers on the mountain by about 15 years. There’s a real sense of accomplishment in that! Noticing a stone plaque set at the highest point we read the simple inscription: “11” Gathering at once what MUST have been its meaning we laughed. It was of course the Eleventh Commandment, to wit: “Thou shalt tip thy guide GENEROUSLY.” And believe me, we did.
The walk down in warming sunlight was a piece of cake, stopping en route to return the life-saving blankets. We took the same route back that we did up as we had the sun the entire way. When we got to the bottom our guide informed us that it had been around –15 degrees Fahrenheit air temperature (NOT factoring in wind chill) on the mountain…we were happier knowing this after the fact. On Fridays the Monastery doesn’t open for tours until 11:00 AM but business called for us back in Sharm and we had to skip the tour. Besides, you have to leave something to see for the next visit
Some Climb Caveats: I would not recommend this climb to anyone over 60. And between 50 and 60 I would specify that climbers need to be in excellent shape. I would not recommend a cold winter night for climbing. Taking the camels partway saved wear and tear and I think is part of the adventure, but you cannot always count on them being available. Things to take along, even if you climb in the summer months: warm socks, excellent walking/hiking shoes, gloves, hat/scarf, sweater, jacket. Thin air at altitude (about 7,400 feet) can be a problem for some people. Bring 5 and 10 Egyptian pound notes for tea purchases along the way. Average tip per person for your Bedouin guide: 50 pounds.

Ain Soukhna

2008-05-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Ain Soukhna (Ain Sukhna, Ein Soukhna, Ein Sukhna, Ain Sokhna, el-Soukhna) on the Egyptian Red Sea Coast (actually on the Gulf of Suez) has often been referred to as a town, but is really not. Ain Soukhna can be translated as "hot spring" and the name originates from sulfur springs in Gebal Ataqa, a nearby Eastern Desert mountain. It is a region that stretches from just south of Suez down the coast for about sixty kilometers, and mostly consists of a port along with a series of resort complexes, with a few independent restaurants, gas stations and other facilities scattered along the coastal road. It seems only natural for this region to be so developed, considering that it represents the closest beaches to Cairo, one of the largest cities in the world.Traditionally, Ain Soukhna is a purely Egyptian retreat, only recently becoming an international destination. In fact, most of the the resort complexes consist mainly of vacation villas owned by Upper and Upper Middle Class Egyptians. However, many though certainly not all of the complexes also provide hotel accommodations. These range from rather quaint facilities for Middle Class Egyptians and probably some Europeans to International Five Star Hotels, which we may expect to see more of for a number of reasons. As an international tourist destination, Ain Soukhna makes considerable sense.First of all, it is very convenient, not just for the population of Cairo but also for international tourists, particularly if a beach vacation is secondary to other tourism. Typically, classic tours of Egypt travel primarily along the Nile Valley, notably visiting sites in and around Cairo, Luxor and Aswan. Traditionally, if they venture to the Red Sea, it is to Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea or Sharm el-Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai. Both locations can be reached by air, which is a short flight, but by the time one checks into the airport, boards, lands at the destination and finally retrieves any baggage, the journey will likely take several hours. Other tours travel by bus from Luxor to Hurghada, which is about a five hour trip. However, these tours must join a security convoy, which may require additional time to organize, and a common complaint is that such convoys travel dangerously fast along the road to Hurghada, though this is considered probably the most inexpensive method of visiting the Red Sea.On the other hand, Ain Soukhna is a leisurely two hour drive from Cairo, and when a new highway that is currently under construction is completed, the ride will probably take only an hour. Once someone arrives in Hurghada, tourists are limited to normal beach resort activities, of which there are many. However, there is no real sightseeing available. In fact, many international tourists coming from Europe for primarily a beach vacation in Hurghada make somewhat complicated arrangements to visit the Great Pyramids in Cairo.Obviously, for sightseeing, Ain Soukhna is much more reasonable. Europeans with a beach vacation in mind would fly into Cairo, see some of the sights, and then take the short journey to Ain Soukhna for the remainder of their visit to Egypt. However, whether a beach vacation is primary or secondary to a more classical tour, Ain Soukhan can offer a convenient itinerary to several other nearby sites. The Suez Canal is just to the north, while a ninety minute drive takes one to the Eastern Desert Monasteries. Of course, many extended classic tours travel to Sharm el-Sheikh specifically as a base for visiting St. Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai, which is an extraordinary location. However, St. Anthony's in the Eastern Desert is significant as the world's oldest functioning monastery founded in honor of the Saint given credit for founding monasticism. Much of this monastery has recently been restored, and nearby is also the ancient monastery of St. Paul. Furthermore, St. Catherine's is much further away from Sharm el-Shiekh then St. Anthony's is from Ain Soukhna. A well arranged tour around Ain Soukhna could allow a visit to the Suez Canal and the Eastern Desert Monasteries in the same amount of time required to visit only St. Catherine's from Sharm el-Sheikh, with time left over at the beach, all at a much lower cost more comparable to a Hurghada holiday. In fact, at least for now, in comparison to Sharm el-Sheikh, most of the costs at Ain Soukhna are more reasonable given equal facilities (such as four or five star hotels).
Finally, we should also mention Ain Soukhna's reputation for having pristine beaches and coastal waters. Here, the beaches are very well kept, and the water is crystal clear. Only a few years ago, Ain Soukhna would not have been capable of really accommodating large tour groups with good facilities, but today, that no longer applies. Today, there are at least two very fine, large resorts with others under construction. Palmera Beach resort with 264 guest rooms and 18 suites is one of these, offering very reasonable accommodations, while on the high end, though not all that costly, is Stella di Mare, with both a four and five star hotel, a PlanHotel and Swiss Inn respectively, that together have just over 500 rooms including about 15 suites.Though typical of the resort complexes at Ain Soukhna, Stella di Mare is atypical in its fine accommodations and upscale atmosphere. Besides the hotels, there are also many fine private villas within the compound. Common facilities include just about every beach activity one might expect at the best of the Red Sea resorts, together with all manner of shore entertainment including a soon to be completed golf course. It actually has one of the largest and finest Spa and Therapeutic centers in the Middle East. In addition, there are currently, spread between the two hotels, seven restaurants, and about four bars, though just outside the complex we also noted a KFC and Pizza Hut. When we visited and reviewed this complex, we were very impressed not only with its facilities, but also the management and personnel.While we very much like the idea of Ain Soukhna as an international tourist destination, it does have a few drawbacks that we might point out. First of all, it is not known as a center for scuba diving and only in the very south of Ain Soukhna is one likely to find any facilitation of scuba diving, though of course most of the hotels carry snorkeling equipment. Currently, the best of the hotels in the region have no scuba diving centers. This is probably due to the lack of famous dive sites found further south. However, it is geared somewhat more to deep sea fishing then Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh. Second of all, there is no airport here as there is at Hurghada or Sharm, and there may never be because actually Ain Soukhna is a short trip indeed from the Cairo Airport. Finally, there is little in the way of off-premises facilities such as independent restaurants and shops. We image that this will also develop, but for now, most visitors must rely on the entertainment, bars and restaurants within the various complexes, though compounds such as Stella di Mare offer a good variety of choices.
Ain Soukha is a rising star for Egyptian tourism. The new road from Cairo, together with other new facilities that are presently under construction will doubtless make this one of Egypt's premiere beach communities. Tour operators should begin now to gear up for its popularity, adding it to standard itineraries because, simply put, it has so much to offer tourists seeking either a primary or secondary beach vacation.

The Pyramid Text

2008-05-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

In the Pyramid Text we find the oldest collection of religious spells known to us from ancient Egypt. This collection forms the basis of much of the later religious theology and literature of ancient Egypt. The passages were eventually separated and categorized, as well as illustrated and eventually evolved into the Book of the Dead, or more properly, "The Book of the Coming forth by Day". The oldest of these text come from that Pyramid of Wenis, or more popularly these days, Unas at Saqqara. However, the first Pyramid Text that were actually discovered were from the Pyramid of Pepy I. From Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty, varying selections of spells were carved in all the royal pyramids of the Old Kingdom, particularly the sarcophagus chamber and antechamber. There were some 227 spells in the Pyramid of Unas, and each subsequent pyramid provided fresh new additions, though no single pyramid contained the whole collection of spells. The maximum number was 675 utterances from the pyramid of Pepy II. With Teti's pyramid, the text also appeared on the sarcophagus itself, and in the pyramid of Pepy I the inscriptions extend beyond the antechamber. During the rule of Pepy II we begin to find the text in the tombs of queens, and after the Old Kingdom, they even appear on the walls and coffins of officials. Specifically, in the Old Kingdom the text appears in the pyramids of Unas, Tei, Pepy I, Merenre I, Pepy II and Ibi, along with those of queens Wedjebten, Neith and Iput. Recently (March 2000), the discovery of a tenth pyramid containing texts was announced at the 8th International Congress of Egyptology in Cairo by the Head of Egyptian Antiquities Dr. Gaballah and the Director of Excavations, Prof. Jean Leclant.We have difficulty really dating the text. The Pyramid Texts have aroused much speculation regarding their origin because they emerge, as a fully-fledged collection of mortuary texts, without any precedent in the archaeological record. The fact that the texts are made up of distinct utterances which do not have a strict narrative sequence linking them together has led scholars to believe that many of them were not composed specifically for the purpose of being inscribed in the pyramids but may have had earlier uses. In fact, spells such as Utterances 273-4, called the Cannibal Hymn, and which only appears in the Pyramids of Unas and Teti, refer to aspects of the funerary cult that seem to no longer been in practice at the time the pyramids were built. Early analysts attempted to date the text as early as possible; even from the predynastic period. A very early dating of these texts remains a strong possibility, though today, scholars place the text's origins with the date of the monuments where they reside. In reality, we have very little idea of the date of their initial invention, perhaps other than the antiquated language employed.
What might also be called Pyramid Spells, were discovered when Gaston Maspero was working on the pyramid of Teti. He began publishing translations of the text as early as 1882, starting with those of Unas. Kurt Sethe also published pyramid texts in his "Dictionary of the Egyptian Language" in 1899. In 1924, a further translation was rendered by Louis Spleleers in French. Gustave Jequier advanced our knowledge of pyramid text considerably during his investigations in southern Saqqara between 1924 and 1936. He added many spells from the pyramid of Pepy II, and also discovered the versions in the pyramids of Wedjebten, Neith, Iput and Ibi. A systematic investigation of the 6th Dynasty pyramids was initiated by Jean-Philippe Lauer and Jean Sainte-Fare Garnot in 1951. Later, Lauer teamed with Jean Leclant to unearth an additional 700 spell fragments from the tomb of Teti and over 2,000 more from that of Pepy I. In 1952, Samuel A. B. Mercer delivered a full English translation of the text then known, but that has since been superseded by a translation of Raymond O. Faulkner. In addition, the extensive commentaries and translations of Sethe were published after his death, appearing between 1935 and 1962.
The Pyramid Text differ considerably in length, and were not illustrated. Individual spells are not titled, with the sole exception of spell 355, the "Opening the Double Door of the Sky". The individual signs are outlined in green, hopeful for the regeneration of the deceased. Each column begins with a notation "words to be spoken", though in the tomb of Unas this only appears at the beginning of the composition. The spells are separated by a hieroglyph for house, in all the pyramids with the exception Unas, where they are marked by a horizontal line. All together, Sethe found 714 spells, while Faulkner increased the number to 759, though with some duplicates. We call these spells, "utterances", because we believe they were meant to be spoken by priests in the course of the royal mortuary rituals. They are usually numbered by their position within the pyramid, progressing from the burial chamber outward.
We are not really sure in which order the spells are to be read. Sethe started with the north wall of the sarcophagus chamber, but other scholars such as Siegfried Schott and Alexandre Piankoff thought they began at the entrance to the antechamber. There seems no correlation with the text and the four coordinal points. In fact, considerable debate exists as to their actual use and the associated rituals, though there seems to be no question of their ritualistic content. It has been assumed that they were selected from a larger collection of spells for very specific reasons and arranged according to a distinctive point of view.
The language, while Old Egyptian, does seem antiquated, displaying differences from other text of the period, including highly redundant language. It is the earliest use of what is referred to as retrograde writing, where the normal sequence of columns is reversed. There is an avoidance of complete figures of animals and people, believed due to the fear that such signs might come to life and pose a danger.
The main theme in the Pyramid Texts is the king's resurrection and ascension to the Afterworld and this is described in many different ways. In some of the texts, the king boards the sun-boat of Re and passes through different regions in the sky, encountering many gods. In other texts, the king reaches the sky by flying up as a bird, such as a falcon or a goose. At other times the king climbs up the ladder of the sky. What all these texts have in common is an emphasis on the eternal existence of the king and the location of the sky as the realm of the Afterlife, which is dominated by the sun-god Re. The night sky is also described, particularly the imperishable stars.Generally, the text is supposed to provide services to the deceased king in his ascent into the sky and with his reception in the world of the divine. Every possible means is given for this assistance, including a ladder or ramp leading to the sky, clouds, storms hail, incense and sunlight. The god, Shu, who holds up the sky is there for his assistance, while the text communicates knowledge to the pharaoh of the customs and places in the hereafter. It also warns him of dangers. There are dialogues with gatekeepers and ferryman where the king is given the specific knowledge that he will need in order to name the correct names and answer all the questions needed to prove his legitimacy and make his way though the afterlife.
Many of the locations remain unclear to us, but the Field of Reeds, the Field of Offerings, the Lake of the Jackal and the Winding Waterway are clearly important. The waterways of the heavens are navigated by boat, so the king is dependent on the efforts of his ferryman. Though the afterworld is celestial in nature, it does not seem to be all that desirable of a place to stay. Not even Re is happy here, only seemingly able to bear out the time before sunrise when he could be freed. The king arrives in this realm violently, and then is repeatedly identified with the creator god Atum.
There are many references to various problems such as repelling the attacks of various supernatural beings and we find, for example in spell 244, the "smashing of the red pots" specifically intended to annihilate one's enemies. But more mundane topics are also approached. On earth, the king had needed a boat to travel throughout Egypt along the Nile; in the next world, he would need a boat as well. Some of the prayers call for food and provisions; some assert that the king will not lose the power of his limbs, that he will still move, breathe, eat, and copulate in the next world.
We find an expressed plea for the king to overcome death by entering the eternal course of the cosmos together with the sun god in his solar barque, but we also find the king with a strong, general association with Osiris. Here, we find the earliest known reference to Osiris as the ruler of the underworld. In spell number 239 this relationship is especially evident, and we find considerable reference to the Osiris legend. Almost all of the myth's elements may be found within this text. Osiris' son, Horus, along with Osiris' two sisters, Isis and Nephthys, search for the murdered god (Osiris). Horus finds his father and revives him. It also provides a version of the contention of Horus and Seth.
A number of specifically ritualistic text stand out, such as the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, which to the best of our knowledge is here presented for the first time. There are also offering and statue rituals. A few selected utterances include:
(See also selections from the Pyramid of Pepi I)
Utt. 173-4
The Dead King Hunts and Eats the Gods
The sky is overcast,
The stars are darkened,
The celestial expanses quiver,
The bones of the earth-gods tremble,
The planets are stilled,
For they have seen the King appearing in power
As a god who lives on his fathers
And feeds on his mothers;
The King is a master of wisdom
Whose mother knows not his name.
The glory of the King is in the sky,
His power is in the horizon
Like his father Atum who begot him.
He begot the King,
And the King is mightier than he.
The King's powers are about him,
His qualities are under his feet,
His gods are upon him,
His uraei are on the crown of his head,
The King's guiding serpent is on his brow,
Even that which sees the soul,
Efficient for burning;
The King' neck is on his trunk.
The King is the Bull of the sky,
Who conquers at will,
Who lives on the being of very god,
Who eats their entrails,
Even of those who come with their bodies full of magic
From the Island of Fire.
The King is one equipped,
Who assembles his spirits;
The King has appeared as the Great One,
A possessor of helpers;
He sits with his back to Geb,
For it is the King who will give judgement
In company with Him whose name is hidden
On that day of slaying the Oldest Ones.
The King is a possessor of offerings who knots the cord
And who himself prepares his meal;
The King is one who eats men and lives on the gods,
A possessor of porters who dispatches messages;
It is Grasper-of-topknots who is Kehau
Who lassos them for the King;
It is the Serpent with raised head
Who guards them for him
And restrains them for him;
It is He who is over the blood-offering
Who binds them for him;
It is Khons who slew the lords
Who strangles them for the King
And extracts for him what is in their bodies,
For he is the messenger whom the King sends to restrain.
It is Shezmu who cuts them up for the King
And who cooks for him a portion of them
On his evening hearthstones.
It is the King who eats their magic
And gulps down their spirits;
Their big ones are for his morning meal,
Their middle-sized ones are for his evening meal,
Their little ones are for his night meal,
Their old men and their old women are for his incense-burning.
It is the Great Ones in the north of the sky
Who set the fire for him
To the cauldrons containing them
With the thighs of their oldest ones,
Those who are in the sky serve the King,
And the hearthstones are wiped over for him
With the feet of their women.
He has traveled around the whole of the two skies,
He has circumambulated the Two Banks,
For the King is a great Power
Who has power over the Powers;
The King is a sacred image,
The most sacred of the sacred images of the Great One,
And whomsoever he finds in his way,
Him he devours piecemeal.
The King's place is at the head
Of all the august ones who are in the horizon,
For the King is a god, older than the oldest.
Thousands serve him,
Hundreds offer to him,
There is given to him a warrant as Great Power
By Orion, father of the gods.
The King has appeared again in the sky,
He is crowned as Lord of the horizon;
He has broken the backbones
And has taken the hearts of the gods;
He has eaten the Red Crown,
He has swallowed the Green One.
The King fees on the lungs of the Wise Ones,
And is satisfied with living on hearts and their magic;
The King revolts against licking the...
Which are in the Red Crown.
He enjoys himself when their magic is in his belly;
The King's dignities shall not be taken away from him,
For he has swallowed the intelligence of every god.
The King's lifetime is eternity,
His limit is everlastingness
In this his dignity of:
"If he wishes, he does;
If he dislikes, he does not,"
Even he who is at the limits of the horizon forever and ever.
See, their souls are in the King's belly,
Their spirits are in the King's possession
As the surplus of his meal out of the gods
Which is cooked for the King out of their bones.
See, their souls are in the King's possession,
Their shades are removed from their owners,
While the King is this one who ever appears and endures,
And the doers of (ill) deeds have no power to destroy
The favorite place of the King among those who live in this land
Forever and ever.
Utt. 221
The king's prayer: "Ho crown of Lower Egypt! Ho red-crown! Ho Great Crown! Ho Crown great of magic! Ho Fiery Serpent! Grant that the dread of me be like the dread of you; grant that the fear of me be like the fear of you; grant that the acclaim of me be like the acclaim of you; grant that the love of me be like the love of you! Set by aba-scepter at the head of the living, set my sm-scepter at the head of the spirits, and grant that my sword prevail over my foes. Ho red-crown! If you have gone forth from me, so have I gone forth from you."
Reply by the crown: "If Ikhet the Great has borne you, Ikhet the Serpent has adorned you; if Ikhet the Serpent has borne you, Ikhet the Great has adorned you, because you are Horus encircled with the protection of his Eye."
Utt. 222
§ 205
Provide yourself with the Great of Magic, (even) Set dwelling in Nubet, Lord of Upper Egypt; nothing is lost to you, nothing has ceased for you; behold, you are more renowned and more powerful than the gods of Upper Egypt and their spirits. O you whom the Pregnant One ejected, you have terminated the night, being equipped as Set who broke forth violently, (even) you whom Aset has favoured.
Utt. 262
The King, newly dead, appeals to the Gods not to forget Him
Be not unaware of me, O God;
If you know me, I will know you.
Be not unaware of me, O God;
Of me it is said: "He who has perished."
Be not unaware of me, O Re;
If you know me, I will know you.
Be not unaware of me, O Re;
Of me it is said: "Greatest of all who have been completely destroyed."
Be not unaware of me, O Thoth;
If you know me, I will know you.
Be not unaware of me, O Thoth;
Of me it is said: "He who rests alone."
Be not unaware of me, O Har-Sopd;
If you know me, I will know you.
Be not unaware of me, O Har-Sopd;
Of me it is said: "Miserable One."
Be not unaware of me, O Dweller in the Netherworld;
If you know me, I will know you.
Be not unaware of me, O Dweller in the Netherworld;
Of me it is said: "He who wakes healthy."
Be not unaware of me, O Bull of the sky;
If you know me, I will know you.
Be not unaware of me, O Bull of the sky;
Of me it is said: "This star of the Lower Sky."
Utt. 264
The Dead King Ferries across the Sky to Join the Sun God
The reed-floats of the sky are set down for Horus,
That he may cross on them to the horizon, to Harakhti.
The reed-floats of the sky are set down for me,
That I may cross on them to the horizon, to Harakhti.
The reed-floats of the sky are set down for Shezemti,
That he may cross on them to the horizon, to Harakhti.
The reed-floats of the sky are set down for me,
That I may cross on them to the horizon, to Harakhti.
The Nurse-canal is opened,
The Winding Waterway is flooded,
The Field of Rushes are filled with water,
And I am ferried over
To yonder eastern side of the sky,
To the place where the gods fashioned me,
Wherein I was born, new and young.
Utt. 269
A Censing Prayer
The fire is laid, the fire shines;
The incense is laid on the fire, the incense shines.
Your perfume comes to me, O Incense;
May my perfume come to you, O Incense.
Your perfume comes to me, you gods;
May my perfume come to you, you gods.
May I be with you, you gods;
May you be with me, you gods.
May I live with you, you gods;
May you live with me, you gods.
I love you, you gods;
May you love me, you gods
Utt 273
The sky rains down.
The stars darken.
The celestial vaults stagger.
The bones of Aker (1) tremble.
Those beneath them flee in terror.
At seeing Pharaoh Unis rise as a Ba (2).
A god who lives on his fathers and feeds on his mothers.
Pharaoh is Lord of wisdom whose mother knows not his name.
Pharaoh's glory is in the sky, his might is in the horizon.
Like his father, Atum, his begetter.
Though his son, Pharaoh is mightier than he.
Pharaoh's Ka's are behind him.
His Hemuset(u) (3) are under his feet.
His gods are over him.
His uraeus-serpents are on his brow.
Pharaoh's guiding-serpent is on his forehead :
she who sees the Ba (of the enemy as) good for burning.
Pharaoh's neck is on his trunk.
Pharaoh is the Bull of the sky,
who shatters at will,
who lives on the being of every god,
who eats their entrails,
even of those who come with their bodies
full of magic from the Island of Flame (4).
Pharaoh is one equipped,
who assembles his Khu's.
Pharaoh appears as this great one,
Lord of those with (helping) hands.
He sits with his back to Geb,
for it is Pharaoh who weighs what he says,
together with Him-whose-name-is-hidden (5),
on this day of slaying the oldest ones.
Pharaoh is Lord of offerings, who knots the cord,
and who himself prepares his meal.
Pharaoh is he who eats men and lives on gods,
Lord of porters, who dispatches written messages.
It is 'Grasper-of-the-top-knot', who is Kehau, who lassoes them for Pharaoh.
It is 'Serpent Raised-head' who guards them for him and restrains them for him.
It is 'He-upon-the-willows' who binds them for him.
It is Khonsu, slayer of Lords, who will cut their troats for Pharaoh,
and will extract for him what is in their bodies,
for he is the messenger whom Pharaoh sends to restrain.
It is Shezmu (6) who will cut them up for Pharaoh,
and cooks meals of them in his dinner-pots.
Utt 274
It is Pharaoh who eats their magic and gulps down their Khu's.
Their big ones are for his morning meal,
their middle-sized ones are for his evening meal,
their little ones are for his night meal,
their old men and their old women are for his incense-burning.
It is the Great Ones in the North of the sky (7) who light the fire for him
to the cauldrons containing them,
with the thighs of their eldest (as fuel).
Those who are in the sky serve Pharaoh,
And the butcher's blocks are wiped over for him,
with the feet of their women.
He has revolved around the whole of the two skies.
He has circled the two banks (8).
For Pharaoh is the great power, that overpowers the powers.
Pharaoh is a sacred image, the most sacred image
of the sacred images of the great one.
Whom he finds in his way, him he devours bit by bit (9).
Pharaoh's place is at the head of all the noble ones (10) who are in the horizon.
For Pharaoh is a god, older than the oldest.
Thousands revolve around him, hundreds offer to him.
There is given to him a warrant as a great power by Orion (11), the father of the gods.
Pharaoh has risen again in the sky.
He is crowned as Lord of the horizon.
He has smashed the back-bones,
and has seized the hearts of the gods.
He has eaten the Red Crown (12).
He has swallowed the Green One (13).
Pharaoh feeds on the lungs of the wise.
And likes to live on hearts and their magic.
Pharaoh abhors against licking the coils of the Red Crown.
But delights to have their magic is in his belly.
Pharaoh's dignities will not be taken away from him.
For he has swallowed the knowledge of every god.
Pharaoh's lifetime is eternity.
His limit is everlastingness.
In this his dignity of :
'If-he-likes-he does. If-he-dislikes-he-does-not.'
He who is at the limits of the horizon,
for ever and ever.
Lo, their Ba is in Pharaoh's belly.
Their Khu's are in Pharaoh's possession,
as the surplus of his meal out of the gods.
Which is cooked for Pharaoh from their bones.
Lo, their Ba is in Pharaoh's possession.
Their shadows are removed from their owners,
while Pharaoh is this one who ever rises and lasting lasts.
The doers of ill deeds have no power to destroy,
the chosen seat of Pharaoh,
among the living in this land.
For ever and ever.
Utt. 308
§ 489
For I have looked on you as Heru looked on Aset,
I have looked on you as the Snake looked on the Scorpion,
I have looked on you as Sobk looked on Nit,
I have looked on you as Set looked on the Two who are reconciled.
Utt. 310
The Gods are warned not to curse or hinder the Dead King on His way to Heaven
If I be cursed, then will Atum be cursed;
If I be reviled, then will Atum be reviled;
If I be smitten, then will Atum be smitten;
If I be hindered on this road, then will Atum be hindered,
For I am Horus,
I have come following my father,
I have come following Osiris.
Utt. 432
The king prays to the sky-goddess
O Great One who became Sky, You are strong, you are mighty, You fill every place with your beauty, The whole earth is beneath you, you possess it! As you enfold earth and all things in your arms, So have you taken this Pepi to you, An indestructible star within you!
Utt. 440
The king asks for admittance to the sky
If you love life, O Horus, upon his life staff of truth, Do not lock the gates of heaven, Do not bolt its bars, After you have taken Pepi's ka into heaven, To the god's nobles, the god's friends, Who lean on their staffs, Guardians of Upper Egypt, Clad in red linen, Living on figs, Drinking wine, Anointed with unguent, That he may speak for Pepi to the great god And let Pepi ascend to the great god!
Utt. 442
The king becomes a star
Truly, this Great One has fallen on his side, He who is in Nedyt was cast down. Your hand is grasped by Re, Your head is raised by the Two Enneads. Lo, he has come as Orion, Lo, Osiris has come as Orion, Lord of wine at the wag-feast. "Good one," said his mother, "Heir," said his father, Conceived of sky, born of dusk. Sky conceived you and Orion, Dusk gave birth to you and Orion. Who lives lives by the gods' command, You shall live! You shall rise with Orion in the eastern sky, You shall set with Orion in the western sky, Your third is Sothis, pure of thrones, She is your guide on sky's good paths, In the Field of Rushes.
Utt. 446
The sky-goddess protcets the king
O Osiris Pepi, Nut, your mother, spreads herself above you, She conceals you from all evil, Nut protects you from all evil, You, the greatest of her children!
Utt. 454
The king's power embraces sky and earth
O Osiris Pepi, You enfold every god in your arms, Their lands and all their possessions! O Osiris Pepi, You are great and round Like the ring that circles the islands!
Utt. 486
The king is a primordial god
Hail, O waters brought by Shu, Which the twin springs raised, In which Geb has bathed his limbs, So that hearts lost fear, hearts lost dread. Pepi was born in Nun Before there was sky, Before there was earth, Before there were mountains, Before there was strife, Before fear came about through the Horus Eye.
Pepi is one of that great group born aforetime in On, Who are not carried off for a king, Who are not brought before magistrates, Who are not made to suffer, Who are not found guilty. Such is Pepi: he will not suffer, He will not be carried off for a king, He will not be brought before magistrates, The foes of Pepi will not triumph. Pepi will not hunger, His nails will not grow long, No bone in him will be broken. If Pepi goes down into water, Osiris will lift him up, The Enneads will support him, Re will take Pepi by the hand, To where a god may be. If he goes down [to earth] Geb will lift him up, The Enneads will support this Pepi, He will be led by the hand to where a god may be.
Utt. 505
§1089
(An 'ascension' text)
I have gone up in Pe to the Souls of Pe, I am girt with the girdle of Heru, I am clad with the garment of Djehuty, Aset is before me and Nebt-Het is behind me, Wepwawet opens a way for me, Shu lifts me up, the Souls of On set up a stariway for me in order to reach the Above, and Nut puts her hand on me just as she did for Wesir on the day when he died.
Utt. 508
Someone ascends, I ascend; the Mistress of Dep rejoices and she who dwells in Nekheb is glad on that day on which I ascend to my place, O Re. I have laid down for myself this sunshine of yorus as a stairway under my feet on which I will ascend to that mother of mine, the living uraeus which should be upon me, O Re. She will have compassion on me and will give me her breast that I may suck it; "My son," she says, "take this breast of mine and suck it," she says; "Turn about, O you who have not yet come to the number of your days."
The sky thunders, the earth quakes, the gods of Heliopolis tremble at the sound of the offering in my presence. My mother Bastet has nursed me, she who dwells in Nekheb has brought me up; she who dwells in Dep has put her hands on me, and behold, I have come; behold, I have come; behold, I have gone up on high, I will make for myself my meal of figs and wine which are in the vineyard of the god; the butcher of what is under his finger(s) makes a meal for me from it....
My sweat is the sweat of Horus, my odor is the odor of Horus. To the sky! To the sky among the gods who shall ascend! I am bound for the sky among the gods who shall ascend! "My brother is here at my side here," says Geb; he grasps me by my hand and guides me into the gateways of the sky. The god is in my seat, the god is happy in my seat, and Satis has cleansed me with her four jars from Elephantine.
"Ho, whence have you come, my son?"
"My father, I have come to the Ennead which is in the sky that I may propitiate it with its bread."
"Ho, whence have you come, my son?"
"My father, I have come to the Ennead which is on earth that I may propitiate it with its bread."
"Ho, whence have you come, my son?"
"My father, I have come to the Dnddndr-bark..."
"Ho, whence have you come, my son?"
"My father, I have come to these two mothers of mine, the two vultures long of hair and pendent of breasts who are on the Mountain of Shsh, that they may extend their breasts to my mouth and never wean me."
Utt. 517
The king addresses the ferryman
O Boatman of the boatless just, Ferryman of the Field of Rushes! Pepi is just before heaven and earth, Pepi is just before this isle of earth, To which he has swum, to which he has come, Which is between the thighs of Nut! He is that pygmy of the dances of god, Bringer of joy before his great throne! This is what you heard in the houses, What you overheard in the streets On the day Pepi was called to life, To hear what had been ordained. Lo, the two on the great god's throne Who summon Pepi to life, eternal, They are Well-being and Health!

Ferry this Pepi to the Field, The great god's beautiful throne, That he may do what is done with the revered: He commends them to the ka's, He assigns them to the bird-catch; Pepi is such a one: He will assign Pepi to the ka's, He will assign Pepi to the bird-catch.
Utt. 535
§1280-1
Thus said Aset and Nebt-Het: The 'screecher' comes, the kite comes, namely Aset and Nebt-Het; they have
come seeking their brother Wesir, seeking ther brother the King.... Weep for your brother O Aset; weep for your
brother, O Nebt-Het; weep for your brother! Aset sits down with her hands on her head, Nebt-Het has grasped
the tips of her breasts because of her brother the King...
Utt. 570
§1464 (The king is one with the sun-god)
I am the redness which came fort from Aset, I am the blood which issued from Nebt-Het; I am firmly bound up(?)
at the waist(?), and there is nothing which the gods ca do for me, for I am the representative of Re, and I do not
die.
Utt. 572
§1472
'How lovely to see, how pleasing to behold!' says Aset, when you ascend to the sky, your power upon you, your
terror about you, your magic at your feet;....
Utt. 573
The king prays for admittance to the sky
Awake in peace, O Pure One, in peace! Awake in peace, Horus of-the-East, in peace! Awake in peace, Soul-of-the-East, in peace! Awake in peace, Horus-of-Lightland, in peace! You lie down in the Night-bark, You awake in the Day-bark, For you are he who gazes on the gods, There is no god who gazes on you! O father of Pepi, take Pepi with you Living, to you mother Nut! Gates of sky, open for Pepi, Gates of heaven, open for Pepi, Pepi comes to you, make him live! Command that this Pepi sit beside you, Beside him who rises in lightland! O father of Pepi, command to the goddess beside you To make wide Pepi's seat at the stairway of heaven! Command the Living One, the son of Sothis, To speak for this Pepi, To establish for Pepi a seat in the sky! Commend this Pepi to the Great Noble, The beloved of Ptah, the son of Ptah, To speak for this Pepi, To make flourish his jar-stands on earth, For Pepi is one with these four gods: Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, Kebhsenuf, Who live by maat, Who lean on their staffs, Who watch over Upper Egypt.
He flies, he flies from you men as do ducks, He wrests his arms from you as a falcon, He tears himself from you as a kite, Pepi frees himself from the fetters of earth, Pepi is released from bondage!

The Egyptian Wedding

2008-05-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

You may ask why am I writing an article about Egyptian weddings. You may think that an Egyptian wedding is like any other wedding, but I can assure you that an Egyptian wedding is a very special historical ceremony. It is the most important ceremony for Egyptian females. I am sure that there are certain rituals for marriage in many parts of the world but the Egyptian wedding ceremony has been carried on from generation to generation since the times of the Pharaohs. While there are many western aspects, the enthusiasm and grand festive atmosphere of an Egyptian wedding is simply amazing.
The ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to regard marriage as a legal relationship. Marriage in ancient Egypt was a religious imposition. The ancient Egyptian laws organized the marriage relationship and indicated all rights and duties for the couples. Many of the old marriage contracts have been found, and they were registered and signed by three officers. The ancient Egyptian laws gave the right of divorce to women as well as men, and the wife had great respect and a high degree of prestige.
Before marriage in ancient Egypt, there were many chances for men and women to meet in places such as the temples or at the common feasts. There was a custom in the Egyptian family which allowed the adult daughter to welcome guests who came to visit her parents. Even today there remains in some parts of rural Egypt a custom that the eldest daughter is to marry before the youngest. The ancient Egyptians had an engagement period in order for the couple to become familiar with each other. The groom-to-be and his parents would go to the bride’s house and meet the head of the family. They would negotiate an agreement where the groom would pay a dowry and buy the bride a gift of precious stones or gold. On the day of the wedding there would be a great banquet where all the guests would eat, sing and dance. Then the bride and groom would be led to their home and on the way, green wheat would be tossed in the air as a symbol of fertility.

While time has altered modern Egyptian weddings, many of the traditions remain. Christian and Islamic custom now dictates that the official wedding must take place in a church or mosque. However, the reception after the official wedding remains much the same as in ancient Egypt. Reception parties differ from place to place in Egypt but they all hold common features including singing, dancing, a banquet and a lot of guests. Most often the wealth of the family of the bride and groom dictates the number of guests invited to the reception.
Certain aspects of Egyptian weddings in urban cities are not unlike weddings anywhere in the the world. The bride wears an ordinary bridal dress and the groom wears a black suit or a tuxedo. The ceremony starts with a car parade. The wedding car (as prestigious as possible) will be decorated with flowers and ribbons. Cars of both families move together in a noisy parade of continuous sounding of car horns to a wedding hall most often in a hotel. The honking is to announce that there is a wedding taking place. When the bride and groom reach the hotel they are received by a “Zaffa”. The Zaffa is another human parade of belly dancers and drummers surrounding the bride and groom, singing happy songs. The bride and groom will occasionally join in the dancing but the main aim is to walk as slowly as possible to the wedding hall. Some Zaffa’s will last an hour!

When the bride and groom finally reach the their destination in the hall they sit in the “Kosha”. The Kosha usually consists of two comfortable seats in front of the guests where the bride and groom reign as though king and queen. As soon as the bride and groom are seated in the Kosha a rose sherbet drink is passed to the guests and all drink to their health. Then the bride and groom will switch rings from right index fingers to left index finger. This is probably an old Christian tradition but it is done whether the couple is Moslem or Christian. With this ritual, the festivities begin. The bride and groom have the first dance after which the other wedding guests join in. Usually a belly dancer or a singer entertains the guests but in more luxurious weddings there is more than one entertainer. Guests will dance and sing with the newly wed couple, and the groom will occasionally be tossed in the air by friends. The more the tossing of the groom the more his popular! After the formal entertainment, a disc jockey is used to extend the festivities.
Then comes the cutting of the cake. As elsewhere in the world, the bride and groom cut the cake, which is several layers high. The bride then tosses her flower bouquet behind her back to other hopeful females. Who ever catches the bouquet is lucky because she will be next to marry. Next, the couple opens the buffet for the guests, which is usually a wide variety of salads, meats, stews, and sweets. Actually the list might go on forever in some weddings. Food is considered one of the factors that reflect the wealth of the families of the bride and groom. After every guest has “stuffed” his or her stomach, the wedding party is over. In some weddings there may be some more entertainment. Then the bride and groom usually get a complimentary night or two at the hotel.
Modern urban weddings are obviously affected by western traditions. For example, the cutting of the cake and tossing of the bouquet. This is not the case with rural areas of Egypt. In rural areas, after the Zaffa, the wedding ceremony will usually take place in a big clearing of land where a huge Arabic tent called the “Sewan” is set up. Entertainment includes a belly dancer or singer and sometimes both. Drinks are passed to guests and food comes in huge plates to be served to guests. The customary food is “Fattah” which is pieces of lamb meat embedded in rice and bread dipped in stew. The bride and groom will leave the wedding early but the guests continue the festivities.
Whether rural or urban, weddings reflect the image of the families that have come together. Both families show off their wealth to their wedding guests. From this, it would be concluded that Egyptian weddings are not just an announcement of marriage but also an announcement of the economic positions of the families..
If you visit Egypt keep an eye out for weddings. In many seasons, there will be weddings almost every night in hotels such as the Nile Hilton. Do not hesitate to ask permission to join the wedding. I guarantee you that you will be welcomed. Sing, dance and enjoy the culture of Egypt.

Dance and Dancers in Ancient Egypt

2008-05-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Music was a lucrative career open to both men and women in ancient Egypt. Musicians and dancers could work freelance or be permanently attached to an estate or temple. Leisure hours were filled with singing and dancing, as farmers danced to give thanks for good harvests, and all-female song and dance troupes were standard entertainment after dinner.
A suitably gifted woman could choose an honorable career as a dancer. In the Old Kingdom period the female performing duo of Hekenu and Iti, were commemorated in the tomb of Nikaure, who was an accountant. Although secular dancers appear on the walls tombs at this period, and these two dancers may have delighted Nikaure during his lifetime, this celebration of specific dancers was unheard of. But it does indicate the popular standing in which dancing was held.
Dancing was an accepted part of life, a part of religious ritual even before it became secular. The Dancer of the Muu was enacted at funerals by male dancers wearing tall head-dresses made of reeds. The Sed-festival, the Opet Festival, Processions of the Sacred Barques, and other festivals, were all accompanied by dancers. A chant from the Temple of Hathor at Dendera even goes: "The King comes to dance, he comes to sing. Sovereign lady, see how he dances, Wife of Horus, see how he leaps."
Women who danced (and even women who did not) wore diaphanous robes, or simply belt girdles, often made of beads or cowrie shells, so that their bodies could move about freely. Though today their appearance may be interpreted as erotic and even sensual, the ancient Egyptians did not view the naked body or its parts with the same fascination that we do today, with our sense of possibly more repressed morality.
The movements of the ancient Egyptian dancers, particularly the women, are called by scholars such as J. Gardner Wilkinson in his 1837 essay, and by Eugen Strouhal in his book Life in Ancient Egypt, "elegant, graceful, even acrobatic." A classic painting shows a lithe female doing a splendid backbend with apparent ease.
Nothing is known of the kind or extent of the training that professional male and female dancers received, though training probably began in early childhood. Reliefs on tombs and temples show dancers running, leaping, pirouetting, sinuously bending, with weighted hair-plaits swinging side to side, using tambourines.

One scholar classifies ancient Egyptian dance into several categories.
1. The purely movemental dance. A dance which was little more than an outburst of energy, where the dancer and audience alike simply enjoyed the movement and its rhythm.
2. The gymnastic dance. Some dancers excelled at more strenuous and difficult movements, which required training and great physical dexterity and flexibility. These dancers also refined their movements so as to move delicately.
3. The imitative dance. These appeared to be emulative of the movements of animals, only obliquely referred to in Egyptian texts while not actually being represented in art.
4. The pair dance. Pairs in ancient Egypt were formed by two men or by two women dancing together, not by men dancing with women. The movements of these dancers were executed in perfect symmetry, indicating, at least to the author of this treatise, that the Egyptians were deeply conscious and serious about this dance as something more than just movement.
5. The group dance. These fell into two sub-types, one taking place took place with perhaps at least four, sometimes as many as eight, dancers, each performing different movements, independent of each other, but in matching rhythms. The other sub-type was the ritual funeral dance, performed by ranks of dancers executing identical movements.
6. The war dance. These were apparently recreations for resting mercenary troops of Libyans, Sherdans, Pedtiu (peoples who formed parts of the so-called Sea Peoples) and other groups.
7. The dramatic dance. From the examples used herein, the author is considering a depicted familiar posture of several girls as being performed to commemorate a historical tableau: a kneeling girl represents a defeated enemy king, a standing girl the Egyptian king, holding the enemy with one hand by the hair and with the other a club.
8. The lyrical dance. The description of this dance indicates it told its own story, much as a ballet we may see today. A man a girl dancer using wooden clappers which gave their steps rhythm danced in harmonious movement, separately or together, sometimes pirouetting, parting, and approaching, the girl fleeing from the man, who tenderly pursued her.
9. The grotesque dance. These were apparently primarily performed by dwarves such as the one Harkhuf was asked to bring back to dance "the divine dances".
10. The funeral dance. These formed three sub-types. One was the ritual dance, forming part of the actual funeral rite. Then there were the expressions of grief, where the performers placed their hands on their heads or made the ka gesture, both arms upraised. The third sub-type was a dance to entertain the ka of the deceased.
11. The religious dance. Temple rituals included Musicians trained for the liturgy and singers trained in the hymns and other chants.
No notation has yet been found, if any in fact existed, to provide information as to how the dances actually were performed. Perhaps as more texts, reliefs and paintings are uncovered, more information will be found.

To Dance in Ancient Egypt

2008-05-23T05:03:00.000-07:00

Party boats are small craft that cruise out on the Nile, usually for thirty minutes or as long as an hour, carrying typical Egyptians for a bit of cheap entertainment. Music blares loudly, and part of the fun is the spontaneous dancing. Women in modern Egypt seem to love to dance and it is said that every Egyptian woman knows how to belly dance. Moments of joy and leisure are evoked by dancing today, as they were in ancient Egypt. Dancing is perhaps the most straightforward expression of joy.
That dancing has a very long history in Egypt is clear from predynastic clay figures with hands raised above their heads and in some scenes with women in this posture accompanied by others shaking rattles on predynastic vessels.

Some of the most beautiful tomb scenes are of banquets with young dancing girls, particularly dating to the New Kingdom tombs at Thebes. Other scenes depicted throughout Egyptian history of dancing are all fascinating, particularly given the ancient Egyptian artist's structured approach to depicting their actions. We find countless depictions, within these tombs, of dancing that accompanied celebrations, feasts, religious services and funeral rites. Beyond these, there were also specialized dances of a military, dramatic, lyrical or grotesque character.

For the most part, dance groups consisted of either male or female, but not both. There is actually no known depictions of pair-dancing between a male and female. Within the performance, dancers could execute particular movements solo or in unison with one or more other dancers. However, all dancers were part of the same choreography even though they might execute different movements at the same time, just as in modern dance. There appears to have been no clear borderline between dancing and acrobatics or gymnastic performances.

Unfortunately, body gestures of the ancient Egyptians are not well understood. Undoubtedly, many of the dance movements had specific meaning, but alas, this aspect of Egyptian dance is difficult to ascertain. One must remember that the depictions are but a snapshot of a dance movement.

Surviving scenes of female dancers usually wore brief, open-fronted, or fringed, skirts or at other times, loose tunics (diaphanous in the New Kingdom) with shoulder straps. They were also sometimes simply draped in long shawls, or wore nothing at all except a narrow ribbon across the belly. From the muscular thighs of some dancers it has been inferred that they were professionals and indeed, they are mentioned under the name of khebeyet, particularly in the royal harems.

The etymology of dance in ancient Egypt is rather confusing, and frequently of little assistance to us in understanding dancing during pharaonic times. Actually, the ancient Egyptian language contains no generic word, that we know of, meaning dance, just as there was no single word that exactly corresponds with the overall concept of art. From the very beginning, there were several words for dance, of which the most common was ib3 which might me properly translated as "caper". In writing the word, a game piece was frequently included in its hieroglyphics, suggesting that there might be some resemblance between the movement of the game piece and the dancer. Another common word usually considered to describe an acrobatic dance was hbi. The rwi, which may mean "run away", dance involved performers who frequently bear clappers ending with animal heads. Another dance, the ksks, perhaps meaning "twist", was practiced mostly by non-Egyptians or even animals. During the Old Kingdom, the trf dance was usually only performed by a pair of men. After the New Kingdom, a proliferation of new words appear, which only confuse matters. Though it might seem that each term would apply to a different dance, graphic evidence fails to confirm this view.

Interestingly, tombs scenes bring into question the relationship between instrumental music and dance. In most cases, dancers and musicians, other than percussion musicians, are shown in different registers, indicating that their activities may not have been as related as we might think. Even when musicians and dancers are depicted in the same register, there is usually some element that separates the two groups. The only musicians directly associated with the dancers are those clapping their hands, using clappers or playing tambourines, drums, sistrums or other percussion instruments to beat out tempo and rhythm. Only very rarely are wind or stringed instrument players closely associated with dancers in the same scene. However, it must also be noted that typically, whenever musicians are found depicted, dancers are not generally far away.

It is not surprising that the oldest records of dances in ancient Egypt are related to funerary practices. There could have certainly been many types of dances in the earliest times not related to funerals, but our best source of information from these most ancient of times are tombs. During the Old Kingdom, just after the mummification process was completed, dances were performed by a specialized group of ladies known as "the acacia house". Their function seems to have been the appeasement of the dangerous lion goddess Sekhmet and the rejuvenation of the dead. They were responsible for mourning the dead, but also celebrating the regeneration of the body. The dancers performed what is termed the "offering table" dance, which lured the dead, born to a new life, to his first meal. However, there were variations of this dance that did not always include the ladies of "the acacia house". There are scenes depicting other groups of women and even men, and a range of dances, particularly during the Old Kingdom, that are loosely associated with the dead sitting at an offering table. A group of dance performers known as the hnrt are known to be associated with childbirth ceremonies, but might have also been associated with funerals in helping the deceased enter a new life.

There were also dancers associated with the funerary procession. On the way to the tomb, those carrying funeral equipment and the statues of the dead were followed by dancers. At Beni Hasan, Middle Kingdom tomb scenes depict groups of dancers performing acrobats, looking more like circus performers than dancers. The images at Beni Hasan are particularly striking, though less vivid scenes also occur during the New Kingdom.

Also, a special kind or variant of the funeral dance dating to the Middle and New Kingdom was performed in honor of Hathor. It was characterized by leaping or skipping and was meant to celebrate the coming of that goddess. Hathor could represent the comely aspect of the dangerous Sekhmet, but she was also the goddess who met the dead at the entrance of the underworld. She was responsible for helping the deceased enter the underworld and was the main agent of their rebirth, so an appeal to her was recited or sung, accompanied by the clapping of hands and sticks and the use of other percussion instruments.

Another group of funerary dancers were the mww (muu)-dancers, known from the Old Kingdom through the New Kingdom. In the less detailed tomb scenes, they danced once the funeral procession reached the tomb. They are distinguished by their special headdress, consisting of woven papyrus stalks. These identified them as marsh dwellers and, more precisely, as ferrymen. Their role was to symbolically ferry the dead across the waters leading to the netherworld, a route that lead from Memphis to Sais, then to Buto and back. In more sophisticated scenes, the dancers are depicted in a more complex setting that includes lightly built chapels, pools surrounded by trees and religious symbols. Such scenes appear to recreate on a small scale and near the tomb, the sacred precincts of this journey.

These dancers should not be confused with the dwarfs who danced "at the entrance of the shaft". Dancing dwarfs were known from the Old Kingdom and were prized for their rarity. The pharaoh, Pepi II, commended his official Horkhuf for bringing back a dwarf for "god's dances" from an one southern expedition. The dances performed by the dwarfs were only mentioned in text from the Middle Kingdom onward. The dances they performed were clearly farewell performances associated with the departure of the sun for its nightly journey into the underworld. Dwarfs were considered a representation of the sun, never growing old, because their size never hardly ever exceeded that of children. Dwarfs also danced at the funerals of the sacred bulls, Apis and Mnevis, who were closely related, respectively, to the rebirth of Osiris and the sun god.

Though most of our representations of dances come from tombs, and there is thus less documentation on non-funerary dances, this does not mean that they did not exist. Even in the tombs, we find depictions dating to the Old and Middle Kingdoms that appear to be set in the context of daily life. Nevertheless, these dances also undoubtedly had some religious significance. Banquet scenes represented in New Kingdom tombs brought together both the ritual and domestic sides of a family feast, where musicians and dancers performed. In these, food was much less important than wine. During these banquets, musicians sang happy songs while guest made toasts to one another for "long life". They drank until drunk, a condition that allowed them to communicate with Hathor, "the lady of drunkenness". These events offerings were frequently made to the gods of the necropolis or to Sekhmet, to satisfy them and keep them at a distance. Such banquets celebrated the present and allowed one to forget how short their lives were. Wise men such as Anii taught that one should celebrate in due time the feast of one's own god by a banquet to which family and other relatives are invited. He went on to say that during the feast, offerings should be made, music and dance should be performed, and one should drink until drunk.

After the New Kingdom, dance scenes in tombs virtually disappeared. This does probably not mean that funerary dances ceased to exist, but rather that the manner of tomb decorations had changed. In fact, mortuary texts of the Late Period confirms that dances continued to be an important aspect of these ceremonies. Interestingly, dancing scenes in temples were only depicted from the New Kingdom onward. Of course, temples prior to the New Kingdom are very rare so there may very well have been older dancing scenes in some. The dancing in temples appears to concern both royal and divine ceremonies.

We know, for example, that there were dancing activities during the jubilee ceremony, known as the sed-festival, for the king. This was a renewal event for the king, and we also know that dances were performed during religious ceremonies related to various turning points in the year which may also be related to renewal. The variations of dances performed on these occasions can mostly be explained by their religious context and by the way they had to conform to or reflect the local mythology of the god to whom they were directed. The common factor in most of the scenes depicting such dancers is the solemn procession of the sacred barks carrying a god.

As an example, during the Valley festival at Thebes, the god Amun left his temple at Karnak to visit the tombs on the West Bank, after crossing the Nile on his bark. Accompanying the priests who carried the bark over land were musicians and dancers. This festival took place on the occurrence of the new moon of the tenth month of the year. It is likely that families were probably awaiting the procession in the courtyards of the tombs, preparing the banquet, and rejoicing when the procession passed by. The procession proceeded to the sanctuary of Hathor, situated at Deir el-Bahri, where the deity was honored as a child-giving goddess and protectress of the dead. A vigil, where dancing almost surely took place, known as "the inebriation feast" was important on this occasion.

Another event was the Opet festival, when the bark of Amun was accompanied by much the same retinue on its way from the Karnak temple to the Luxor temple to meet his wife, the goddess Mut. One of the most characteristic features of these processions were groups of women executing acrobatic dances. In addition, dark and exotic dancers, perhaps Nubians, jumped and weaved to the beat of drums.

During the feast of Min, the god of fertility and regeneration, dancers specifically attached to his cult took part in ceremonies and processions. There were also dancing monkeys pictured, at least during the Late Period, although some scholars believe this imagery was symbolic. Monkeys are depicted executing farewell and greeting dances to the setting and rising sun, and priests of Min are sometimes shown dancing with monkeys. However, it is very likely that much of this activity did not actually take place as represented.

In all of these ceremonies, as in the funeral rites, dances announced or celebrated rebirth in all its possible aspects. This was particularly true of the important new year's feasts. Throughout the land, in most temples during the last five days of the year, music was played and dances performed to appease Sekhmet in order to protect the ancient land from her diseased and deadly demons. The new year was marked by the coming of the Nile flood. At the southern border of Egypt, joyful and noisy feasts were organized to greet the first manifestations of "the new water", as it was called. The coming of the flood brought with it the dangerous Sekhmet, who through music and dancing was transformed into the mild Hathor. All manner of performers were involved in these feasts, including acrobats and foreigners with their exotic dances.

Hence, in ancient Egypt, dance marked time. It evidenced the moment of radical change, when something ends and something else begins. It protected the ancient Egyptians from various dangers as well as celebrated what was to be born anew. However, our understanding of these Egyptians is perhaps biased by the lack of secular documentation. Hence, we

Classical Egyptian Tours

2008-05-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

To a large extent, Egyptian tours are not so very complicated, but it can seem that way because of the seemingly thousands of companies offering them. With regards to Egypt, classical tours are basically antiquities tours that visit various site in Egypt that have often been popular with tourists since classical times. Typical, classical tours almost all hit the same major spots, with with minor tourist attractions making up their largest variations. Originating in Cairo due to the international airport there, one usually spends a few days either at the beginning, at the end or split between the beginning and end exploring Cairo's heritage. From Cairo they go south, usually to Luxor or Aswan, but one way or the other visiting both cities. Sometimes they include a Nile Cruise in this arrangement. They will frequently visit a few of the other temples above Luxor, between Luxor and Aswan, and just below Aswan. Add-ons might also extend the tour further south to Abu Simbel, or east for a short beach vacation at Hurghada, or across the Gulf of Suez to Sharm el-Sheikh, and perhaps some sightseeing at St. Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai. Recently, many classical tours are also purchased with an Alexandria add-ons. More exotic add-ons may carry tourists into the Western Desert, or the Eastern Desert, but all in all, the basic classical tour is not all that complicated. Yet, when looking from tour operator to tour operator, there often seems to be a whole maze of confusing options for many people.
Lets take a look at what some of this really involves.

Full classical tours usually last from between four and fifteen days. One can, of course, find shorter tours, and longer tours. Shorter tours are common, but are generally very limited in scope. They may only visit the environs of Cairo, for example, and so they are not really full classical tours. They are, however, useful, mostly to people passing through Egypt on their way to someplace else, there on business or at a conference, or for people with limited time visiting from ocean cruise ships. Tours longer than fifteen days are less common, as people simply do not have that much time. They must also either wish to have a very comprehensive tour of Egypt, or a special interest in some aspects of ancient Egypt to justify a longer tour.

On these tours, one usually has one or more tour leaders. Some tours will travel throughout Egypt under the same leader, and frankly it is wise to choose such a tour. Others may shift the tour leader responsibilities off between various regions. For example, there might be one tour leader in Cairo, another in Luxor and/or Aswan, and a third if, for example, on a Sinai addition. Economically, this makes some since, as the tour company is not having to pay for the guides' travel, which would frequently be by air, and he may go home at night to his own home, rather than having to stay in a hotel with the group. Also, a tour leader who specializes in a specific region may be able to better deal with local hotels, restaurants, tourist authorities, etc.

On the other hand, not having one person on site and responsible for the tour throughout its stay in Egypt has at times caused some problems, though not all that frequently. The biggest complaint comes when a tour leader drops the ball, for example, being late to pick up the tourists at an airport as the group moves from one area of Egypt to another. This is, however, rare. It is perhaps more common, in fact, for larger tour operators to use multiple tour leaders. Smaller tour companies may in fact be led by the owner of the company, and this is particularly true for some foreign arranged tours, where the company selling the tour arranges for land services from a local Egyptian agency, but the tour is led by the company selling the tour from an outside country. It should also be noted that, in some instances, there may not be a visible tour leader at all. Sometimes, the guide will also be the on-sight tour leader, while behind the scene in the tour operator's offices, others monitor and control the tour. In fact, most of the time there will be employees of the tour company in the background monitoring and managing the tour.

All of this can seem, and is somewhat complicated, and even more so due to the guides. For smaller companies, the tour guide may in fact also be the owner, as well as the tour leader. Even in the larger companies, the guide may act as both, with others managing the tour from the company's home office. However, unless the company is very small, there will almost surely be more than one guide during a classical tour, though the guide will almost certainly be Egyptian. If the tour has been arranged from a foreign country, the leader may by foreign, but they must use local, licensed guides. And guides are frequently specialized, meaning that they are not really equipped to provide tours to every location in Egypt. There is one not so obvious reason for this.

Smaller tour companies, or even larger tour companies who arrange more fluid tours could have a single guide. But for large tours, there is a time table. Its not just that a guide must know most of the information about a single site, he or she must also be practiced in conducting the tour of a site in a very specific period of time. There is little margin of error. The guide will have practiced the speech to be given in every section of a specific site, and will have little time to deviate. They will have specific stopping points at each site, and a specific time at each.

In many respects, this is a good thing. One tourist complaint that we see is when sites on an itinerary are, for some reason, skipped, and if the guide cannot keep to a good schedule, this may very well mean missing the next stop on the tour. In a small, custom tour, where the traveler is somewhat more intimate with the guide, this may be no problem if the tourist wants to linger at a specific place, while informed that it may mean less time at the next, but in larger tours, that may have fifty or more people, such arrangements simply cannot be made.

Much of the time, the tour leader will be an employee of either the company selling the tour, or the Egyptian ground tour operator, though this is not always the case. Some may be independent contractors, but this is much more rarer than it is for guides. Many guides do not specifically work for the tour operator. For very small tour operators in Egypt, the owner may be the guide, or a family member who is licensed to be a guide. For larger companies, they may employee a few guides, but most usually, at least some of the guides they use will be independent. These independent guides may be hired by request, particularly if they are very, very good as both guides and in working with the tourists. Other guides basically bid on tours, and at times, they may even pay the tour company to lead a tour! Why would this be? It is mostly because they expect to make big commissions at the stores where they lead their tourists during the tour, and sometimes because they may expect to receive large tips. There is a reason the tours stop at the Khan el-Khalili, at "carpet schools" on the way to the pyramids, and at alabaster shops in Luxor. Certainly many tourists rather enjoy visiting these places, but the reason the tours stop is for the guide to earn a little (or a large) commission from the store owners. This is a practice of just about all the tour guides in Egypt, and they expect such commissions as a normal part of their earnings.

Tour transportation should also be an issue considered by most people. There are only four basic forms of transportation, by land, either in tour busses or by train, by water, meaning specifically Nile Cruises, or by air. Of course, some small custom tour could only employ a car, but this will not be the case in any sizable tour. Short tours will almost always use air for most long distance transportation between sites such as Cairo and Luxor/Aswan, Luxor/Aswan and Abu Simbel, or between the Nile Valley and Sharm el-Sheikh, for obvious reasons. It is the fastest way to get from point a to point b. A second option between Cairo and Luxor/Aswan exists, which is not unreasonable. By using the overnight train, one really misses very little, and the cost of the transportation is made up by the elimination of a night's hotel stay. These leave late in the evening and arrive early in the morning. I have to think that the night train can be more fun for a group than for an individual, though, as you will spend a rather uneventful evening on board without otherwise enjoyable company. Another fine option, though missing for some years now, may soon be reemployed. Nile Cruisers have for some time only been allowed to cruise from Aswan to a few of the antiquity sites north of Luxor, but have not been allowed to go or come directly from Cairo. We understand that this may soon change, however, giving another means of transportation between northern and southern Egypt. The only other way to travel from Lower to Upper Egypt and back for larger groups is by bus, which must be considered the least favorite way to go. First of all, the Nile Valley roads are crowded, and thus dangerous for driving, and it is also a fairly long trip While this may be one of the least expensive ways to make the trip, it is also the slowest and most uncomfortable.

But we must take a little closer look at busses anyway. One way or another, tour groups will travel at least locally, if not for longer distances, aboard busses. They are used for local transportation between sites, as well as often between regions such as Luxor and Hurghada, Luxor and Aswan, Aswan to Abu Simbel, and throughout the Sinai. In fact, there is really no other way to travel about the Sinai, or practical ways to reach other areas such as some of the Western Oasis, etc. For these we must consider the tour bus itself. First and foremost, make sure that the tour busses that will be used are well air conditioned! Not just one of them, but all of them. Be sure to ask about the age of the tour bus as well, but the second most important factor might be a clean, onboard restroom, particularly if the buss is used for long distance travel. In many parts of Egypt along the roads, there is simply no good facilities, and an onboard restroom may be much more important than many people realize. The best of the tour busses may even have onboard video and other high tech features to make the trip even more enjoyable. As a side note, many of the tour operators rent or lease busses and other transportation from specialized companies.

Now while trains are trains, and airliners are airliners, both having few options, the other form of transportation, Nile Cruisers, may vary considerably. However, it might be best at this point to make an observation. Typically, we call these Nile Cruisers, but Egyptians have another name for them. They are often referred to as "Floating Hotels", and this is an apt name. Nile Cruisers really do very little cruising, except to dash fairly short distances from one dock to another. They spend most of their time in dock, while tours are conducted at various temples and other archaeological sites.

This allows for a fairly comfortable tour. As opposed to packing and unpacking between hotels and not having much of a chance to settle in, which is an annoyance on many tours, a Nile Cruise boat is more simply a means of taking the hotel along for the tour.

Almost any Nile Cruise boat of any size will have certain features and services. Normally, they will have, beyond guest cabins, at least one restaurant and a deck area. I've seen some pretty horrible looking contraptions floating down the Nile, but surely even those have these basic elements. Even on these ships, there is probably at least some form of entertainment that takes place on the deck or in the restaurant during the evening. But most of our readers with budgets beyond that of a backpacker are probably going to want much more. In fact, I doubt that the poorest of the Nile Cruisers are ever even offered to westerners. Typically, the more reasonable Nile Cruise boats will have a deck swimming pool, probably a hot tub, a bar that may be integrated into one of perhaps more than one restaurant, or even another area specifically set aside for entertainment. They will almost certainly have one or more onboard store, where one may purchase necessities or even a few souvenirs. They will usually also have televisions in the rooms with, for example, various video's available. These boats will almost certainly offer a little more sophisticated entertainment, dancing and other activities. Some of the best boats will also provide internet access, though it may be a bit expensive. These boats will have more extensive room video systems, from which one can often even watch the shore. By the way, the newer, better boats will also have an automatic fire suppression system, rather than a red bucket of water by each door

What separates many of the best boats from the other five star boats is the level of service and the room size. Many nice boats even have very small cabins, not large enough to have even a table and sometimes not even an extra chair. But this is certainly not always the case. Some boats have very nice, roomy cabins, and when booking a Nile Cruise, one should ask about this, even though not much of one's time is expected to be spent in the cabin. Of course, appointments and appearance can also be important, but otherwise we must look at the service to distinguish some ships from others. Many Nile Cruisers will be all inclusive, some even including alcoholic beverages.

As a last consideration, hotels can play an important part in any classical tour. We have already written about some of the peculiarities of the Egyptian hotels and their star rating system, which is worth reading, but there are two other aspects of hotels that need to be addressed. However, both aspects depend more on the tourist than the hotels, and both are somewhat related. One is the security of the hotel and the other is the location.

For example, many of the Sheraton hotels in Egypt make it appear that their builders specifically sought out both tourist isolation and security. The Sheraton Gezirah is one fine example. Though it sits on Zamalek, a good location, it is in a district of the island that makes it difficult to access, and for that matter, walk away from. This makes it more secure, but at the same time, inconvenient if one wishes to browse about, for example, to shop. For many tourists who come to Egypt to see its heritage, but are not all that interested in local culture, this is probably a benefit. For others, and I am one, it is an inconvenience. This certainly does not make the Sheraton a bad hotel. All of them are in fact very comfortable and pleasant. Another of their hotels, the Sheraton Royal Gardens, appears to be almost a fortress in Cairo, though in reality if one wishes, it is easier to get away from and take a walk about. It's just not in a part of town I like that well. Nevertheless, I have to say that it had some of the most comfortable beds that I have ever slept in in Egypt, as well as being a very grand hotel. Even in Luxor, the Sheraton sits in a location that seems isolated from most of the rest of the city, though there it is easier to reach some of the shopping districts.

Other hotels in Cairo will equally appeal or not appeal to various tourists. For example, many tourists who have never been to Egypt enjoy the Mena House, and other hotels within the view of the Great Pyramid, but at the same time, they are far removed from Cairo's downtown district and its many shops, restaurants and other sites.

Attention should also be paid to the location of hotels in Aswan and Luxor. I must admit that in Aswan, the Basma is certainly one of my favorites, but it is also a bit isolated, though not that bad. In general, hotels along the downtown sections of these cities adjacent to the Nile are most convenient, but not always the finest hotels (or the most secure).

So basically, travelers should consider two issues, how safe they need to feel and the location of the hotel. The two issues are not mutually exclusive, but not the same either. More isolated hotels do provide a safety factor, but at the same time, do not provide much else in the way of local culture. Considering that many travel organizations now consider Egypt one of the safest of all world destinations, being overly concerned for one's safety at the expense of shopping and enjoying the local flavor doesn't work for me, but then some people just can't get it safety out of their minds (actually until they are in Egypt and all the arrangements have already been made. Then they find out how safe they feel). All in all, I personally prefer the more open hotels on Zamalek, and those along the Nile in Downtown Cairo, including the Cairo Sheraton, but to each his own.

One final word about hotel and classical tours. One will almost certainly not be placed in any cozy small hotels, such as the Hotel Longchamps, one of my favorite located on Zamalek. The reason is that they are simply to small for tour operators to contract with for larger tours.

Now the reason for me writing this article, and its follow-up on specific sites on a classical tour, is really to allow our readers to ask the proper questions, so don't be shy when dealing with a tour company.

The Christian Monasteries of Egypt

2008-05-17T04:09:00.000-07:00

As some of our readers may have noticed, we have been running a series on monasteries in Egypt. This is a long term project to track down, record and provide as much information on as many of Egypt's monasteries as possible. Our research is ongoing, and as we explore each monastery, there will be a link to the research from Tour Egypt under our feature stories.
Before writing this article, I asked myself why tourists should be interested in visiting monasteries. Of course many people travel to Egypt specifically because it is part of the holy land and they wish to see holy monuments. But Egyptian monasteries have become very popular tourist destinations, and not just for people on religious tours. There are a number of reasons for this. First of all, due to the ancient monasteries' natural tendency to be isolated, many are original structures, unlike churches and other buildings of the same era that have often been rebuilt time and again. And while pharaonic monuments may be much older, they are typically shells, or at best, empty buildings deplete of their ancient furnishings and fixtures. In monasteries, we find daily, modern life often surrounded by icons, furnishings and the trappings of the living that sometimes date almost to the time of Christ. And, of course, Egypt's monasteries are the oldest in the world.

Prior to Christianity, there were Essenes, who withdrew from society and formed monastery style communities in order to pursue a contemplative life. We know of these from the Dead Sea Scrolls, but doubt that they had much influence on the development of early Christian monasteries in Egypt. The more probable causes were the early persecution of Christians in Egypt (by the Romans, who controlled Egypt at that time) and the heavy taxation that caused many people to loose their homes and land. In fact, the word anchorite which was used to refer to Christian monks, originally referred to people who left their land rather than face imprisonment for non-payment of debt.

Regardless of the reason, the earliest monasteries were in Egypt, and even today, some of these original monasteries remain inhabited. Near the Red Sea coast of Egypt, in a cave 270 meters beneath the monastery named for him lies the tomb of St. Anthony. His followers established what many believe to be the world's first monastery in the mid-fourth century AD. Today, many ancient monasteries continue to flourish in Egypt, and many of these do so because of tourism. Beyond the pyramids and ancient Egyptian antiquities, these bastions of the Christian religion are some of the most interesting places to visit in Egypt. And we should mention at this point that there are also a number of equally interesting convents, or monasteries for women.

While St. Anthony's Monastery is billed as the worlds oldest monastery, probably St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai, a Greek Orthodox community, is the most famous in Egypt. There are many reasons for this, including its interesting history, visits by the Catholic pope, its well preserved state, its location at the foot of Mount Sinai and the considerable media coverage it receives. Neither of these monasteries are probably Egypt's most important religiously. That distinction might likely go to the Monastery of St. Macarius in Wadi Al-Natrun, from which many of the Coptic Christian popes were selected. From the standpoint of density, it would appear that the area around Sohag abounds with at least ten monasteries.

Classical Tours will very often visit several of the Monasteries as a matter of course. These will include St. Simeon Coptic monastery, which is an ancient, abandoned fortress monastery mostly built during the 7th century and located near Aswan. Some classical tours have also been know to visit the two ancient monasteries near Sohag Egypt. These are the White (Deir el-Abyad) Monastery and the Red (Deir Amba Bishoi) Monastery. But sometimes visitors will be unaware that they are even visiting an ancient monastery. This is often the case with Deir el Bahari, originally the temple of Hatshepsut, but at one time converted into a now uninhabited monastery. Still at other times, the focus of the tour may be on an ancient church, with little mention by the guides that it is part of a monastery. Regardless, most of the major monasteries will not be visited on a standard short tour, though frequently Sinai add-ons will make a stop at St. Catherine's Monastery. All other monasteries will require a special add-on, or a complete, specialized religious tour.

Certainly the information in this article references just about all of the major communities, but it should be noted that there are probably some inhabited monasteries and many ancient monasteries that we have missed. Nevertheless, the purpose of this article is to provide the most comprehensive guide currently available. Those interested should bookmark this page. As we research each monastery, links will be provided.

None Specific Monasteries

*Christian Churches and Monasteries of Luxor and the West Bank
*Christian Antinoopolis (Antinoe, or Ansina) and its Environs
*Christian Ruins of the Kharga Oasis
*Christian Oxyrhynchus (modern al-Bahnasa) and its Environs
Monasteries near Naqada
Specific Monasteries

Near the Red Sea

Traditionally, the oldest monasteries are located between the Nile valley and Egypt's Red Sea coast in the Al Zaafarana area.. These include

*4th century St. Anthony's (Deir Mar Antonios) - Coptic
*St. Paul's (Deir Mar Boulos) Monastery - Coptic
Monasteries at Wadi Al Natrun

There are four active monasteries near Cairo at Wadi Al Natrun. Of these, probably the Monastery of St. Macarius is the best known. These include

*Monastery of the Romans (Deir Al Baramus) - Coptic
*Anba Beshoy (St. Boshoi's) Monastery - Coptic
*Monastery of the Syrians (Deir al-Surian) - Coptic
*Monastery of St. Macarius (Deir Abu Magar, Abu Maker) - Coptic
There are also three uninhabited ancient monasteries that we know of. These include:

*Monastery of St. John the Little
*Armenian Monastery
*Deir Anba Mussa al-Aswad (Monastery of Moses the Black, but possibly the old Baramus monastery)
Monasteries Near Wadi Al Natrum (Uninhabited)

*Christian Nitria, Kellia (and the Life of their Ancient Monks)
Monasteries Near Sohag

White (Deir el-Abyad) Monastery - Coptic
Red (Deir Amba Bishoi) Monastery - Coptic
Monasteries far from Sohag

*Monastery of the Martyrs (Deir as-Shuhada)
*Monastery of St. Matthew the Potter
*Monastery of the Holy Virgin
*Monastery of St. Michael at as-Salamuni
*Monastery of St. Thomas at Sawamiah Sharq
*Monastery of St. Pachomius the Martyr
*Monastery of St. George (Dair al-Hadid)
*Monastery of St. Bisada
*Monastery of the Seven Moutains at Bir al-'Ain
The Sinai

*St. Catherine's Monastery (Greek Orthodox)
*The Seven Girls' Monastery (Greek Orthodox) at Wadi Firan

The Fayoum Oasis

The Fayoum Oasis was, and really continues to be a center for Coptic Christians. Therefore there are a number of monasteries in the area, which include the

*7th century El Malak Ghobrial Monastery (Monastery of the Archangle Gabriel)
*Dier Anba Samwail (Monastery of St. Samuel)
*Monastery of the Virgin Mary (Deir al-Hammam) - Fayoum
*Deir Mari Girigis Monastery (Monastery of St. George)
Cairo

*The Convent of St. Merkorius (Abu-Sefein)
*The Convent of St. Mary (Old Cairo)
*The Monastery of Saint Simon the Tanner (Modern Monastery_
*The Convent of St. Theodorus (El-Amir Tadrus, Haret el-Room)
*The Convent of St. Mary (Haret Zuela)
*The Convent of St. George (Haret Zuela)
*St. Barsoum El-Erian Monastery (Helwan)
Monastery of Saint George (Old Cairo) - Greek Orthodox
Monastery of Saint Menas (Deir Abu Mina) (Old Cairo)
Saqqara

*Monastery of St. Jeremiah (uninhabited)
Alexandria Monasteries

*Holy Monastery of St. Savvas (Greek Orthodox)
El Minya (or Near)

*Deir Al-Adra (sometimes referenced as Deir al-Adhra
*The Monastery of Apa Bane (Deir Abu Fana, or the Monastery of the Cross)
*Monastery of al-Sanquriya (Near Oxyrhynchus)
Monasteries Near Assiut

*Monastery of Apollo at Bawit (deserted)
*Monastery of St Mary 10 Km from Assuit (Deir Dronka)
*4th Century El Moharek Monastery (Virgin Mary Monastery, Deir Al-Muharraq)
*Deir El-Mualaq (The Hanging Monastery)
Monasteries Near Aswan

*Qubbat al-Hawa, Monastery at
*St. Simeon monastery (uninhabited) Near Aswan)
The Nile Delta

*St. Damiana Convent near Damietta (inhabited)- Coptic
*Enaton Monastery between Alexandria and Mersa Matruh (uninhabited)
*Abu Menas Monastery Between Alexandria and Wadi Natrun (uninhabited)
There are also a number of monasteries and convents scattered about.

*St. Mena Monastery at Mariotis (Maryut) built by Pope Kyrelloc 1 (But a young monastery)
*Deir Abu Hinnis South of Antinoe (St. John's Monastery) (uninhabited) - Coptic
*Deir Al-Adra (sometimes referenced as Deir al-Adhra near Minya
*Naga ed-Deir (ancient monastery excavation site near just north of Girga
*St. Pachomius Monastery at Edfu
*St. Demyana Monastery at Barary
*St. George of Rozaikat at Luxor

The Pyramids of Egypt

2008-05-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

There are no more famous ancient sites within Egypt, or for that matter elsewhere in the world, than the Great Pyramids at Giza. They are, without question, the icon most associated with the Egypt. They have been both the main destination for tourists, and a source of imaginative thought to the world for over three thousand years.

However, there are actually over 100 pyramids in Egypt, many of which are relatively unknown to anyone who is not an ancient Egypt enthusiast. All but a very few are grouped around and near the City of Cairo, just south of the Nile Delta. Otherwise, only one royal pyramid is known in southern Egypt (at Abydos), that being the one built by Ahmose, founder of the 18th Dynasty and Egypt's New Kingdom. It may have also been the last royal pyramid built in Egypt.

Hence, major pyramids were not built throughout Egypt's ancient history. The Pyramid Age began with a burst of building, starting with the 3rd Dynasty reign of Djoser. Some of the early kings, most specifically Snefru, built more than one pyramid. Almost all of the kings added to their number through the end of the Middle Kingdom, with the possible exception of the First Intermediate Period between the Old and Middle Kingdoms. After the first Pharaoh of Egypt's New Kingdom, Ahmose, royal pyramid building by Egyptians ceased entirely. Somewhat abruptly the kings of the New Kingdom chose, rather than making their tombs completely obvious, to hide them in the hills of the West Bank of Thebes (modern Luxor).

However, smaller pyramids were constructed, for example in the Deir el-Medina necropolis, by private individuals. The Late Period Nubians who ruled Egypt also built relatively small pyramids with much steeper sides, though these were in fact constructed in Nubia itself. This tradition was carried on in Nubia after these southern rulers lost control of Egypt, and eventually, more pyramids were actually built in Nubia than Egypt, though on a much smaller scale.

Other pyramids in the world certainly exist, but their purpose, for the most part, was different than those of ancient Egypt. The most famous outside Egypt are probably those located in Mexico and to the south of Mexico, but these appear to have been built more as temples. In Egypt, all but a select few of the pyramids were built as tombs, sometimes to hold the physical body of a pharaoh (as well as other individuals), or to hold the soul of the deceased (as in the case of the small cult pyramids built next to the larger ones). Otherwise, the purpose of only a few small, regional stepped pyramids remains elusive.

While pyramids were, for the most part, tombs for the Pharaohs of Egypt, one must nevertheless question the reason that Egyptian rulers chose this particular shape, and for that matter, why they built them so large. Today, we believe that they chose the shape in order to mimic the Benben, a pyramid shaped stone found in the earliest of temples, which itself is thought to symbolize the primeval mound from which the Egyptians believed life emerged. This also connected the pyramid to Re, the Sun God, as it was he, according to some of the ancient Egypt mythology, who rose from the primeval mound to create life.

As far the great size of many of the pyramids in Egypt, we can really only surmise that the Pharaohs were making a statement about their own power and perhaps, about the glory and strength of their country. However, it should also be remembered that many of the latter pyramids were not nearly as large as the Great Pyramids at Giza (and elsewhere).

Pyramids evolved. The first of them was not a perfectly formed pyramid. In fact, the first Pyramid we believe that was built in Egypt, that of Djoser, was not a true pyramid at all with smooth sides and a point at the top. Rather, its sides were stepped, and the top of the pyramid truncated with a flat surface (as best we know). As the Egyptian pyramids evolved, there were failures as well glorious failures until finally, they got it right with what was probably the first smooth sided true pyramid built at Meidum. In fact, pyramids continued to evolve throughout their history, perhaps not always in outward appearances, but in the way that they were built and in the theology surrounding their construction. For example, towards the latter part of Egypt's Pyramid Age, Osirian beliefs seem to have had more and more impact on the arrangement and layout of the subterranean chambers.

However, soon after the first pyramids were built, their form became somewhat standardized. Royal pyramid complexes included the main pyramid, a courtyard surrounding the main pyramid, a much smaller cult pyramid for the king's soul, a mortuary temple situated next to the main pyramid, an enclosure wall and a causeway that led down to a valley temple. Some pyramid complexes included subsidiary, smaller pyramids for family members, and most were surrounded by some sort of tombs for family members.

Our thinking on pyramids has evolved considerably over the years. Many of us who are a bit older were taught that the pyramids were built using Jewish slave labor, which is a fabrication of immense proportions. Most of the pyramids were built long before the Jews made their appearance historically and currently, many if not most scholars believe they were not built using slave labor at all (or perhaps a nominal number of slaves).

Otherwise, we can also dismiss offhand alternative theories related to aliens or some lost culture being responsible for pyramid building. There is just far too much evidence, including tools, drawings, evolutionary changes, and even worker villages that rule these farfetched ideas obsolete.

However, some mysteries remain, even in some of the best well known Pyramids. The most famous of them all, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, continues, year after year, to give up a few more secrets, and there doubtless remains much to learn from these Egyptian treasures. There may even be one or more pyramids yet to be discovered.

The Solar Boats (The Boats of Cheops)

2008-05-12T18:14:00.001-07:00

The Ancient Egyptians carved spacious areas in the rock, near the Pyramids. There they placed wooden boats, to be at the disposal of the king when he went on his journey of Day and Night with the Sun God, Ra, in the after world.
Early excavations have discovered three such sun boat sites, on the east side of the Great Pyramid. Two other sites were discovered on the south side. When the huge stone slabs were removed, they revealed parts of a large boat, made of cedar wood, in a very good condition. There were also other implements, such as oars, ropes and a kiosk for sitting. The boat was 43.5 meters long, the prow and stern were 5 meters and 7 meters high respectively. The boats are now housed in a special museum, south of the Pyramid of Cheops. The museum is open from 9-4 daily, for a fixed fee.

The Life of Ancient Egyptians

2008-05-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

In modern Egypt, a cruise on the Nile or a bus ride through the countryside along this great river of live can be very enlightening. One will see urban sprawl, some modern factories, lots of traffic, but in the countryside, one will also see people living much as they did many thousands of years ago. There will be small mudbick buildings, Oxen pulling archaic plows, donkeys and donkey carts laden with all manner of produce and other agricultural products and various other trappings of a bygone era removed from most of he modern world by millenniums. Visually, the countryside often leaves one with an impression of antiquity, but socially and culturally, much of Egypt's rural population are also remains steeped in ancient tradition, and in fact this attribute carries over into a considerable part of the country's urban population. Many of their traditions look back to ancient times, though warped by a series of cultural intrusions and the influences of our modern era. To some extent, particularly in rural areas, modern Egyptians represent a laboratory from which we can pick out many ancient Egyptian customs and observing them, even from the comfort of a cruise ship swimming pool, gives one some idea of ancient Egyptian life.

Egyptology has to be considered the oldest discipline to study ancient man. We find references to several people who are sometimes considered to be founders of this science, such as W. F. Petrie and Champollion, but in reality, the study of ancient Egyptians is much, much older. It can, in some respects be said that Herodotus and Strabo were Egyptologists, if not actually archaeologists, as was Manetho before them, but even many of the ancient Egyptians themselves studied, and were proud of their own history. Prince Khaemwese, a son of Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great) was interested in Egyptian history, and during many periods, particularly when times were troubling, the ancient Egyptians looked back upon their predecessors and took up at least some of their more ancient traditions. Perhaps unfortunately, from ancient times into our present day, this science has mostly focused on the grander side of life, exploring great kings and their fabulous temples and tombs. The life of common Egyptians has often been ignored, and even when it was investigated, the evidence is frequently skewed in a funerary context.

Of course, there are several reasons why the life of the common Egyptians, and even the everyday life of the nobles has not received the attention we might like to see. Grand temples and tombs have offered up spectacular finds and treasures, and indeed it is the great pyramids, temples and tombs that most visitors to Egypt find alluring. However, evidence of day to day life is also more obscure, as their houses and other objects of used in daily life were not built to withstand the ages, or for that matter the inundations of the Nile River. Communities were built close to the river for access to the water, and often of mudbrick and both of these factors contributed to their early demise.

Nevertheless, there have always been a few scholars that have focused on the life of ancient Egyptians and over the years we have come to learn a great deal about their customs and culture, even outside of the funerary context. Ancient workers villages on the West Bank at Thebes (Deir el-Medina), at Giza, Kahun, and and even cities such as Akhetaten, if only their foundations, have risen to see the light of day once more, and from these and other sources, such as the wealth of private tomb paintings, we find a rich source of knowledge.

What immerges from this evidence is a people who, fundamentally, are not unlike people today. Men and women fell in love, united, created families that became the center of their lives, worried about their children, worked, struggled, sought security and had moral concerns from which some deviated to became criminals. It is true that they sometimes fought savage wars, but our modern society seems not yet to have outgrown that very ancient tradition. The young played with toys, while older children and adults played games and competed in sports, partied, danced, sang, rejoiced on special occasions and were sad when death took a loved one. They sued each other, divorced, paid taxes, fought with their neighbors and their wives, but also believed in the concept of our modern Bible's golden rule, to love thy neighbor. Some common Egyptians excelled in life, rising to become great officials, while others failed miserably, but in general they survived and lead ordinary lives for their time. They adapted to their landscape, and appear to have been patriots of their country.

The ancient Egyptians showed most of the traits of modern man, though in an ancient context and with ancient pressures. Rather than putting locks on their doors, they built walls and surrounded themselves with fellow countryman for security. Rather than central refrigerated air conditioning, they built fountains and naturally cooled houses for their comfort. Though lacking huge motorized cranes and heavy trucks, they nevertheless managed to build monuments that even today are very impressive to us, using ancient technology that has sometimes become lost in the tracks of time. And like today, many of these large, public programs such as the building of the great pyramids spawned technology that was useful in everyday life, such as geometry, which was used both to plot the foundation of Khufu's monument, but also to lay out and mark small tracks of farm land. Yet, while it would be fun to report that they held ancient and almost supernaturally mysterious knowledge, a belief often held by our more recent ancestors, they functioned much as we do today and most of our investigations center around small details of their lives which, in the end, have little bearing on their overall humanity.

In fact, if one could walk into a typical ancient Egyptian home, he or she would find many of the trappings of modern life, recognizable yet ancient. There would be mirrors and makeup, pots and pans, ovens and shelves for storage, beds and comfortable sitting areas, lighting to ward of the darkness of night and heat to chase away the cold of winter. It is easy to forget how recent our modern world is, with our computers, televisions, stereo systems, refrigerators and cars, but one need only look back a hundred years are so to find a similar way of life to the ancient Egyptians, when people had to contend themselves with social activities and live performances for entertainment and animals for transportation. While the ancient Egyptians may seem far removed from our modern world, in reality, we are fooled by our own recent and rapid technical advances. Actually, the early Egyptologists such as Champollion who sailed to Egypt, rode donkeys to visit the ruins, recorded their investigations using pen and paper rather than a laptop computer and cooked their food while there on an open fire rather than a butane burner lived in a society closer to that of the ancient Egyptians than to our modern world today.

With technology, our modern era has indeed ushered in cultural changes. It would seem that our elders are no longer as respected as they were a hundred years ago, or four thousand years ago in ancient Egypt. Marriages fall apart, children move to far corners of the world, alienating family units, we communicate at lightning speeds and with people throughout the world while national and international news arrives at our doorsteps with ease. But all of these changes have occurred very, very recently relative to the history of mankind.

So finally, when we study the ancient Egyptians' way of life, we examine their clothing, which differs from our own, but was nevertheless clothing, we investigate how they worshipped their gods, which are different than our god, but they were nevertheless worshipped, we want to see how they married and raised their kids, though we know they did unite in love, have sex and struggled with the resulting children. We want to know about their health care, their education and what they considered humorous, but we know that they had doctors, educators and a since of humor. Only the details vary from our modern way of life, and sometimes even the details are the same. Women wore perfume which is still used today, wore makeup not so very different than makeup of today, and had their hair done in fashions that sometimes look completely modern.

An Overview of Mummification in Ancient Egypt

2008-05-12T05:06:00.000-07:00

Mummies is a term that today is used to describe natural or artificially preserved bodies, though traditionally the word was used specifically to describe the bodies of ancient Egyptians where dehydration of the tissues was used to prevent putrefaction. The word is derived from the Persian or Arabic word mumia (or mumiya), which means "pitch" or "bitumen". It originally referred to a black, asphalt-like substance, thought to have medicinal properties and eagerly sought as a cure for many ailments, that oozed from the "Mummy Mountain" in Persia. There was such a demand for this substance that an alternative source was eventually sought and, because the ancient Egyptian mummies often have a blackened appearance, they were believed to possess similar properties to munia. Hence, during the medieval and later times, they were used as medicinal ingredient. The term mumia, or "mummy" was therefore extended to these bodies and has continued in use up until our present day.
Mummification of bodies was originally a natural process in Egypt and elsewhere, where the dryness of the sand in which the body was buried, the heat or coldness of the climate, or the absence of air in the burial helped to produce unintentional or "natural" mummies. These processes have produced mummies not only in Egypt, but in South America, Mexico, the Alps, Central Asia, the Canary Islands, the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. Another type of natural mummification also occurred in northwestern Europe where bodies have been preserved when buried in peat bogs or fens containing lime.

In some of these areas, the natural process was early on intentionally developed by enhancing the environmental conditions. Sun, fire or other sources of heat were sometimes used to dehydrate the bodies, while at other times, the bodies were cured using smoke. Also, natural material such as grass could be used to surround the body, fill its cavities or seal the burial place so that, by the exclusion of air, decomposition and further deterioration was prevented.

Our Sources and Research on Mummification

What we know about Egyptian mummification comes from a number of sources, including the archaeological evidence provided by the mummies themselves, paleopathological studies of the bodies, painted and carved representations in tomb scenes and elsewhere that depict some stages of the mummification process, and textual references in Egyptian and other classical era accounts. However, there exists no known Egyptian description of the technical processes involved in mummification. No paintings or carvings provide an extant, complete record of mummification, though some wall scenes in the tombs of Thoy and Amenemope (tombs 23 and 41 on the West Bank at Thebes, respectively) and vignettes painted on some coffins and canopic jars show some stages in the mummification process. However, the earliest known accounts of mummification that are relatively complete occur in the writings of two specific Greek historians (Herodotus from the fifth century BC and Diodorus Siculus from the first century BC).

Nevertheless, within Egyptian literature, there is scattered references to mummification and the associated religious rituals. In one text, called the "Ritual of Embalming", is provided a set of instructions to the officials who perform the rites that accompany the mummification process, as well as a collection of prayers and incantations to be invoked after each rite. This ritual is specifically set out in two papyri, probably copied from the same source and both dated to the Roman period. They are the Papyrus Boulaq 3, now in the Cairo Museum, and Papyrus 5158 in the Louvre. There are also references to the embalming ceremonies in the Rhind Papyri and in other literary sources, including inscriptions on stelae. However, it is Herodotus's account that remains the most complete regarding the mummification process.

In addition to classical texts and references, a surprising amount of modern scientific research has been conducted in regards to mummies. Sometimes,. these have even included multidisciplinary studies of mummified remains which have supplied new information about the process of mummification itself, as well as disease, diet, living and working conditions and even family relationships. For example, the use of scanning electron microscopes has been used to identify insects that attack mummies, histology and electron microscopy have supplied evidence about the success or failure of individual mummification techniques, and thin layer and gas liquid chromatography have isolated and characterized the substances that were applied to the mummy bandages.

There have also been several techniques that have informed us of the diseases in mummies. As early as the 1970s, radiography, which is a nondestructive method, became a major investigative procedure and later the additional use of computerized tomography (CT) became standard in most radiological investigations of mummies. There are also dental studies of mummies that have provided evidence about age, diet, oral health and disease. Paleohistology, which involves the rehydration, fixing and selective staining of sections of mummified tissue, together with paleopathology, which is the study of disease in ancient people, have developed considerably since the techniques were originally pioneered in Cairo earlier in the twentieth century by M. A. Ruffer.

Today, endoscopy has almost completely replaced the need to autopsy a mummy, since this technique allows the researcher to gain firsthand evidence about embalming methods and to obtain tissue samples for further study without destroying the mummy. Histology, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunohistochemistry and immunocytochemistry can then be used to search for evidence of disease in the tissue samples.

Today, we also use DNA, rather than the older studies of blood groups, to help identify individual family relationships and future studies of this type may even help identify the origins and migrations of ancient populations. DNA analysis may also help identify bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic disease.

In the future, current studies on the process of deterioration may also help curators and conservators in preserving their mummy collections.

Egyptian Mummification

In Egypt, a combination of climate and environment, as well as the people's religious beliefs and practices, led first to unintentional natural mummification and then to true mummification. In Egypt, and particularly ancient Egypt, there was a lack of cultivatable land and so the early Egyptians chose to bury their dead in shallow pit-graves on the edges of the desert, where the heat of the sun and the dryness of the sand created the natural mummification process. Even this natural process produced remarkably well preserved bodies. Often, these early natural mummified bodies retained skin tissue and hair, along with a likeness of the person's appearance when alive.

Prior to about 3400 BC, all Egyptians were buried in pit graves, whether rich or poor, royal or common. Later however, as prosperity and the advance in building techniques improved, more elaborate tombs for those of high social status were constructed. Yet at the same time, these brick lined underground burial chambers no longer provided the conditions which led to natural mummification in the older pit graves. Now however, mummification had been established in the religious belief system so that the deceased's ka, or spirit, could return to and recognize the body, reenter it, and thus gain spiritual sustenance from the food offerings. Hence, a method was sought to artificially preserve the bodies of the highest classes. However, preservation of the body was probably also required due to the longer period that it took to actually inter the body, as grave goods and even the tomb itself received final preparations.

What we sometimes called true mummification involves a sophisticated process that was developed from experimentation. The best example of this process is Egyptian mummification, which involved the use of chemical and other agents. The experimentation that led to true mummification probably lasted several hundred years. Such efforts may have begun as early as the 2nd Dynasty. J. E. Quibell, an Egyptologist who worked in some primitive Egyptian necropolises, found a large mass of corroded linen between the bandages and bones of a body interred in a cemetery at Saqqara that perhaps evidences an attempt to use natron or another agent as a preservative by applying it to the surface of the skin.

Another early technique involved the covering of the body in fine linen and then coating this with plaster to carefully preserve the deceased's body shape and features, in particular the head. In 1891, W. M. Flinders Petrie discovered a body at Meidum dating to the 5th Dynasty in which there had been some attempt to preserve the body tissue as well as to recreate the body form. Bandages were carefully molded to reproduce the shape of the torso. Arms and legs were separately wrapped and the breasts and genitals were modeled in resin-soaked linen. Nevertheless, decomposition had taken the body beneath the bandages, and only the skeleton remained.

Only as early as the 4th Dynasty do we actually find convincing evidence of successful, true mummification. The mother of Khufu, the king who built the Great Pyramid at Giza, also had a tomb at Giza. Though her body has not been found, in her tomb was discovered preserved viscera which could probably be attributed to this queen. An analysis of these viscera packets proved that they had been treated with natron, the agent that was successfully used in later times to dehydrate the body tissue. Hence, this find demonstrates that the two most important components of mummification, evisceration of the body and dehydration of the tissues, was already in use by royalty. Afterwards, mummification continued to be practiced in Egypt for some three thousand years, lasting until the end of the Christian era.

As Egyptian history progressed, mummification became available to people of the upper and even the middle classes. During the Middle Kingdom, the political and economic growth of the middle classes and the increased importance of religious beliefs and practices among all Egyptian social classes resulted in the spread of mummification to new sections of the population. More mummies have survived from that period than from the Old Kingdom, but it is also evident that less care was taken in their preparations. Mummification was actually most widespread during the Greco-Roman period. It was then that foreign immigrants who settled in Egypt began to adopt Egyptian funerary beliefs and customs. Mummification at that time became an increasingly prosperous commercial venture, and it tended to indicate the decease's social status rather than any religious conviction. This resulted in a further decline in the quality of the mummification process. At that time, bodies were elaborately bandaged and encased in covers made of cartonnage (a mixture of plaster and papyrus or linen). However, modern radiographic analysis confirms that these bodies were frequently poorly preserved inside their wrappings. Mummification was never generally available to the common classes of people. Yet, since they could not afford the sophisticated funerary structures, they continued to be interred in simple desert graves where their bodies were naturally preserved.

Today, the method of mummification used to preserve a body, as well as the quality of the work, aids Egyptologists in determining the social status of the deceased. Herodotus, the Greek historian, tells us that there were three primary types of mummification available which ancient clients chose according to their ability to pay for these services.

The most expensive processes included elaborate funerary rites as well as a lengthy and complicated procedure to preserve the body. This process involved a number of stages, though the two most important steps continued to be the arresting of the decomposition of the body through evisceration and dehydration.

The internal organs, called viscera, were normally removed from the thoracic and abdominal cavities through an abdominal incision in the left flank. In some instances, the viscera were not extracted at all, while in others they were removed through the anus. This tissue was then dehydrated with natron, and either placed in canopic jars or made into four packages and reinserted into the body cavities. Some were wrapped in one large packet that was placed on the legs of the mummy. Interestingly, the heart was considered to be the organ associated with the individual's intelligence and life force and was therefore retained in place, while the brain was removed and discarded.

After removal of the internal organs, the body cavities were washed out with spiced palm wine and then filled with a mixture of dry natron (a type of salt) gum resin and vegetable matter. Afterwards, the corpse was left to dehydrate, apparently in a bath of natron, for a period of up to seventy days. However, experimentation has proven that forty days is sufficient for the dehydration process, and he seventy days that Herodotus spoke of may have actually represented the period of time between the individual's death and his burial. natron, believed to be the main ingredient used to pack the body, was found in a dry desert valley called the Wadi Natrun, now famous for its monasteries. It is composed of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate and includes some natural impurities. Originally, there was some discussion in Egyptology circles concerning the use of natron, actual salt (sodium chloride), or lime (calcium carbonate) as the main dehydration agent in Egyptian mummification. There was also a question of whether the natron was used in a solution such as water, or in a solid state. However, Assessment of the Greek texts that describes the process, together with modern experiments on mummification has led us to believe that dry natron provides the most satisfactory results and was probably used exclusively.

After the body was completely dehydrated, the temporary stuffing that was used to fill the body was removed from its cavities and replaced with the permanent stuffing and sometimes also with the viscera packages. Next the abdominal incision was closed, the nostrils were plugged with resin or wax, and the body was anointed with a variety of oils and gum resins, which may have also played some part in preventing or delaying insect attack and in masking the odors of decomposition that would have accompanied the mummification process. However, all of these later stages were essentially cosmetic and had little effect in preserving the tissues.

After the basic mummification process was completed, the embalmers then wrapped the mummy in layers of linen bandages, between which they inserted protected amulets to guard the deceased from evil and danger. A decomposing body will soon begin to swell and loose its recognizable human form. This swelling will effect all of the body, but is particularly apparent in the abdomen, where gasses being produced by bacteria inflate the intestines. Removal of the internal organs of course aids in preventing this process. However, bandaging of the body also prevents or at least restricts such swelling, as well as excluding air from direct contact with the corpse, thus slowing deterioration. Bandaging would also prevent the formation of blisters on the skin, caused by fluid within the body, which appear in the first stages of decomposition.

Next, a liquid or semi-liquid resinous substance was then poured over the mummy and coffin. The mummy and coffin were then returned to the family of the deceased for the funeral and burial.

The two less expensive forms of mummification that Herodotus mentions did not involve the complete evisceration of the body. In a second method, which was also used for animal mummification, oil of cedar was injected into the anus, which was then plugged to prevent the liquid from escaping. The body was afterwards treated with natron. Next, the oil was drained off and the intestines and the stomach, which became liquefied by the natron, came away with the oil. All that remained was actually the skin and the skeleton. The body was returned to the family in this state for burial. However, this was even superior to the cheapest method, where the body was purged so that the intestines came away. Afterwards, the body was treated with natron.

Over the long history of ancient Egyptian mummification, there were only two major additions to the basic procedure. From as early as the Middle Kingdom, the brain was removed in some mummies and by the New Kingdom, this procedure of excerebration had become widespread. This process involved the insertion of a metal hook by the embalmer into the cranial cavity through the nostril and ethmoid bone, and the brain was pulverized to fragments so that it could be removed with a spatula type instrument. However, at times, access was gained to the cranial cavity either through the base of the skull or an eye socket. Obviously, it would have been impossible to remove every small fragment of the brain through any of these methods. Before the mummification was complete, the emptied cranial cavity was packed with strips of linen that had been impregnated with resin, though at other times molten resin was poured into the skull.

The second innovation in mummification was probably not introduced until as late as the 21st Dynasty. Then the embalmers sought to develop a technique that originally had been used during the 18th Dynasty mummification of King Amenhotep III. His embalmers had attempted to recreate the plumpness of the king's appearance by introducing packing under the skin of his mummy though incisions made in his legs, neck and arms. The priests of the 21st Dynasty began to use this subcutaneous packing for anyone who could afford such an expensive technique. Now, the body cavities were packed through a flank incision with sawdust, butter, linen and mud, and the four individually wrapped packages of viscera were also inserted into these cavities, rather than being placed in canopic jars.

Subcutaneous material was also inserted through mall incisions into the skin, the neck and the face was packed through the mouth. Hence, the embalmers attempted to retain the original body contours at least to some extent in order to give the mummy a more lifelike appearance. In fact, artificial eyes were often placed in the eye sockets and the skin was sometimes painted with red ocher (for men) or yellow ocher (for women). False plaits and curls were even woven into the natural hair. However, these very expensive and time consuming processes were not retained beyond the 23rd Dynasty.

The Rituals and Accessories of Mummification

Mummification was attended to in the embalmer's workshop, known as wbt (place of purification). There may have been some such workshops erected near specific tombs, but because mummification had an "impure" nature and was considered to be associated with certain dangers, most workshops would have been situated outside the actual tomb enclosure. Most workshops, and particularly those that dealt with many bodies, were located somewhat close to the necropolises or temples.

There were actually a number of different rites associated with the mummification process. Some of these were performed in the embalmer's workshop, though the most important of these, known as the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, was normally carried out at the tomb itself. Yet, there were many other less important rituals that were probably performed throughout the seventy days that Herodotus and others tell us were required for the mummification process. One question Egyptologists have not specifically answered is whether the rituals, which themselves were long and extensive, caused the need for the lengthy embalming process, or instead whether the rituals were extended because of the time required for mummification.

The embalmers and priests used a variety of tools and accessories in the mummification process and its associated rites. In the actual preparation of the body, the embalmers and their assistants employed a blade of obsidian, sometimes called a "stone of Ethiopia", to make the incision in the side of the mummy. They also used a hooked tool for brain extraction, as noted above, together with various containment vessels which held the plant remains and resin used to anoint the mummy.

Of course, there were amulets placed between the layers of bandages and a cartoonage mask was placed on the face. There were also chest and foot covers placed over the mummy to supply support, and even toe and finger stalls were sometimes utilized to prevent damage to those appendages.

The Embalmers and Others Associated with the Mummification Process

In the mature practice of mummification, there were three distinct groups of practitioners. They included the cutter who made the incision in the flank of the mummy, the scribe who supervised this work and the embalmer himself, who belonged to a special guild or organization and was responsible for leading the mummification ceremonies and for wrapping the mummy in bandages. The latter actually supervised all of the stages of the mummification process and wore a jackal-headed mask to impersonate Anubis, the god of embalming, as he performed the rituals.

The embalmers were actually a special class of priest and were considered to be highly skilled professionals, probably with close ties with the medical doctors. Their office was hereditary. Under their charge might be others, including those who made coffins and wooden funerary figures, as well as other items for the tomb.

On the other hand, the cutters had one of the lowest statuses in society, because of the ritual "impurity" associated with the incision in the corpse and the removing of the viscera. They also obviously faced certain health risks. This class of individual in the mummification process may have even included criminals.

Others included in the mummification procedure and the funeral included priests of Osiris, who performed the rituals, lector priests, who recited the chants and the ritual instructions and the men who washed and cleansed the mummy and the viscera, prepared the natron and resin, and actually wrapped the body with layers of linen bandages. The whole process associated with death became a major industry that employed many workers including mourners and even dancers.

The Kings (Pharaohs) of Ancient Egypt

2008-05-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

The title of "Pharaoh" actually comes to us from the Greek language and its use in the Old Testament. It originates in the Egyptian Per-aa, meaning "Great House", a designation of the palace, which first came to be used as a label for the king around 1450 BC, though it only became common usage some centuries later. For most of the time, the usual word for the king of ancient Egypt was nesu, but a whole range of titles were applicable to any full statement of a king's names and titulary.
According to Egyptian legend, the first kings of Egypt were later some of Egypt's most famous gods. We really do not know whether some of these individuals actually existed in human form or what regions of Egypt they may have ruled over. Only at the end of the Predynastic period, prior to the unification of Egypt, can we recognize specific kings who most likely ruled over either northern or southern Egypt. According to many sources, the first real king of Egypt, therefore ruling over the unified land, was Menes, who would have ruled Egypt around 3100 BC, but we have little if any archaeological basis for this name. Most scholars today believe that he may have been a king named Narmer, or more likely still, Aha, two figures that are better attested in the archaeological record. However, Menes might have also been a legendary composition of several rulers. After these first rulers of a unified Egypt, the Egyptian monarchy lasted in a recognizable form for over three thousand years, basically ending with Cleopatra, though even Roman emperors attempted to style themselves as Egyptian pharaohs. We know of 170 or more specific pharaohs during this period of time. Although many changes occurred during that time, almost all of the fundamentals remained the same.

Kings were not only males, and unlike in modern monarchies, the ruler of ancient Egypt, whether male or female, was always called a king. In fact, Egypt had some very noteworthy female rulers such as Hatshepsut and others.

In ancient (Pharaonic) Egypt, the pinnacle of Egyptian society, and indeed of religion, was the king. Below him were the layers of the educated bureaucracy which consisted of nobles, priests and civil servants, and under them were the great mass of common people, usually living very poor, agricultural based lives. Except during the earliest of themes, when the highest official was apparently a Chancellor, for most of Egyptian history, the man or men just under the king were Viziers, (tjaty), a position that was roughly similar to a modern Prime Minister.

In many if not most accounts, the king is viewed as an incarnation of Horus, a falcon god, and the posthumous son of Osiris, who himself was a divine king slain by his brother, Seth. Horus fought his uncle for the return of the throne, and part of the accession process of the king was the proper burial of his predecessor, as Horus carrying out the last rites of Osiris. In fact, there are a number of cases where such an act may have been the legal basis for a non-royal figure's ascent of the throne. However, more usual was the succession of the eldest son, whose status as heir was frequently, if not always, proclaimed during his father's lifetime. Furthermore, there were a number of instances where this was taken a step further by the heir's coronation as a co-regent prior to the father's death. This has actually led to much confusion among scholars, because in some cases, the young heir began to count his regnal years only after the death of his father, while in other instances, he started to do so from the moment of his coronation. The ancient Egyptians did not use era dating as we do today (BC or AD), but rather relied on regnal dating of the king's rule, and therefore potential difficulties for modern, if not ancient, historians can easily be imagined.

The king himself (or herself) was the figure upon whom the whole administrative structure of the state rested. These god-kings usually commanded tremendous resources. The Pharaoh was the head of the civil administration, the supreme warlord and the chief priest of every god in the kingdom. All offerings were made in his name and the entire priesthood acted in his stead. In fact, he was himself a divine being, considered the physical offspring of a god. The myth of the ruler's divine birth centered on the god assuming the form of (or becoming incarnate in) the king's father, who then impregnated his wife, who accordingly bore the divine ruler.

Of course, the king was also subject to some rather grave responsibilities. Through his dealings with the gods, he was tasked with keeping the order, or ma'at of the land, and therefore keeping out chaos, often in the form of the enemies of Egypt from foreign lands. But he was also responsible for making sufficient offerings and otherwise satisfying the gods so that they would bless Egypt with a bountiful Nile flood, and therefore a good enough harvest to feed his people. When he failed at these tasks, he could bear not only blame, but a weakening of the state and thus his power. In drastic cases, such as at the end of the Old Kingdom, this could actually lead to a complete collapse of the Egyptian state.

Even today, many questions remain about the kings of ancient Egypt. We have a fairly good idea of their order through time, though often scholars disagree about specific dates related to our current form of the calendar. Our evidence of their order comes mostly from various "kings' lists, that almost exclusively were made during the New Kingdom. Another source is the Egyptian history written by Manetho, an Egyptian priest, but over the years, there have been modifications to both the kings' lists and Manetho's history made through archaeological discovery. Nevertheless, there are periods of Egyptian history, particularly those known as intermediate periods, where very little information exits on who ruled (usually only a part of) Egypt.

Basically, Manetho divided up ancient Egyptian history into thirty dynasties, though this division is a bit difficult, and modern scholarship has proven it to be not completely (and sometimes not at all) accurate. Most of the time, a dynasty consisted of a related family of rulers, though sometimes dynasties seem to have been broken up due to the establishment of a new capital. In a number of instances, modern Egyptologists believe that he may have been incorrect about the end of a family line.

Even today, the power that an ancient Egyptian pharaoh commanded in ancient Egypt and the resources under his control can seem staggering. One need only think in terms of the Great Pyramids, the wealth of gold and the grand temples to gain some understanding of their power. They commanded resources that many modern day states would be hard pressed to emulate, and they did so at a time when much of the remainder of the ancient world were struggling for a foothold in history.

THE QUEENS OF EGYPT

2008-05-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

Though the tradition in ancient Egypt was to honor women and give them legal rights and a remarkable margin of freedom far more than any other contemporaneous civilization, their role in kingship was limited to passing the throne to the next king, not inherit it themselves. The pharaoh was the son of Ra – the sun god - harboring the divine royal blood of Horus. This royal blood was inherited to his successor, only through the eldest princess. In order to be eligible to the throne, the eldest son had to marry his sister, the eldest daughter of the deceased pharaoh.
If the deceased pharaoh had no living son, an illegitimate son from a secondary wife, another prince from the royal house, or even an usurper, had to marry the eldest daughter to obtain legitimacy. In all conditions but a few, the forthcoming pharaoh would be a male. The first non-royal to obtain kingship through such a marriage was "Snefru" who married "Hetep-Heres I", the daughter of "Huni", and thus started the 4th dynasty in 2625 BC. Another example was the army general "Horemheb" who has ended the chaos at the end of the Amarna period during the 18th dynasty through a military coup. In order to ascend the throne, he married "Mut-Negemt", the only remaining princess of Ahmose’s House.
Few queens in history were able to exercise the authority of a pharaoh through regency, when the legal heirs (their sons) were too young to reign. The first known was Queen "Ni-Maat-Heb", who was the regent for her son "Djoser" (Zoser) during the 3rd dynasty. During the 6th dynasty, "Ankh-Meri-Ra" became regent to "Pepi II" after the death of her husband "Pepi I". In the New Kingdom, Queen "Ahmose-Nefertary" (wife of "Ahmose I") was a regent to her son "Amen-Hotep I" during the 18th dynasty.
Theoretically, there was nothing against women becoming pharaohs, since the creator gods themselves were described as having both male and female attributes. However, practically, this was not the case.
Some other queens sat on the throne as pharaohs, the first being "Khent-Kaues", daughter of "Menkau-Ra" during the 4th dynasty. She married her brother "Shepses-Kaf" who succeeded his father to the throne. After his death, Khent-Kaues became the first ruling queen in Egypt. On her tomb, she wrote "Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt. The mother queen and the daughter of the god". She married one of the Ra priests, but he never became king, and the throne was passed to her three sons who formed the 5th dynasty. Khent-Kaues claimed that she has conceived her sons from the god Ra himself, then came Hatshepsut more than 1000 years later to make the same claim.
The same condition happened with "Nitocris", daughter of "Pepi II" in the 6th dynasty, who became queen, while her husband "Meren-Ra II" was not the pharaoh, at least for some time. Nitocris was only mentioned in the Turin Canon, but not in the Abydos Kings’ List.
During the Middle Kingdom, "Sebek-Nefru" became co-regent with her father "Amnemhat III", then her brother "Amnemhat IV". Afterwards, she was able to seclude herself with the throne. Again, she was never mentioned in any Kings’ List.
After the death of "Seti II" (19th dynasty), his wife "Tausert" became co-regent to his son "Ramses-Si-Ptah" (later "Merne-Ptah-Si-Ptah"). After his death Tausert ruled alone for 2 years.
The last queen to sit on the throne of Egypt was the famous "Cleopatra VII" (51 – 30 BC) during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. She has born many resemblances to Hatshepsut.

Cleopatra and Her Son, Caesarion

The death of Cleopatra VII hallmarked the start of the Roman reign of Egypt (30 BC - AD 642), when Egypt was conquered by the Romans. During both reigns, Egypt became a province, not an independent state. With the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate, a central government started to reform in Egypt in AD 868 by the Tulunids, Ikhshids, Fatimids and Ayubids until AD 1250, when the Mamlouk dynasty started. Their reign lasted until AD 1517, when Egypt was invaded by the Ottomans and became part of its empire.
During the Mamlouk dynasty, another queen – "Shagaret el-Dorr" - succeeded to ascend the throne in 1250 in the middle of the war with the Crusades. She remained to reign secretly on behalf of her sick husband (Sultan EL-Saleh Ayoub) until his death in 1249, and then handled the throne to the legitimate heir – Toran Shah, 3 months after her husband’s death, which she kept secret. After few months of struggle, she conspired to kill the new sultan, and reigned officially as the only queen ever known in Islamic history. She did not enjoy the throne much, since within 6 months, a message came from the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and asked, mockingly, if Egypt had become void of men; if so he can send one. Shagret el-Dorr had then to marry one of her generals, Ez el-Din Aybac, who replaced her as the Sultan of Egypt. Conspiracies within the citadel did not come to an end, when she assassinated her husband. In return, his loyal men killed her too, to end the short reign of the last queen to sit on the Egyptian throne, and maybe the most mysterious one.

Cleopatra and Her Son, Caesarion

Music & Singing in Egypt

2008-05-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

The region around the Nile is one of the oldest continually-inhabited areas in the world. Ancient Egyptian musicians are known to have played harps and flutes circa 4000 BC, and double clarinets and lyres from around 3500 BC. Percussion instruments were added to orchestras by 2000 BC. It is probable that no system of musical notation existed at the time, as none have survived. The music of ancient Egypt has not been documented, but some musicologists believe that the liturgical music of the Coptic Church is directly descended from ancient Egyptian music.

Arab musical tradition is usually said to have begun in the 7th century in Syria during the Umayyad dynasty. Early Arab music was derived from Byzantine, Indian and Persian forms, which were themselves very influenced by earlier Greek and Semitic music. In the 10th century, Al-Farabi translated Aristotle's Problems (and Themistius' commentary on them), Euclid's Elements of Music and Ptolemy's Harmonics into Arabic. These works, foundations of Western music, became the basis for Arabic musical theory.

Like African music, Arabic and Egyptian music has strong improvisatory and rhythmic components. The base rhythm of Arabic music is the maqamat, which is formed by dum (downbeats), tak (upbeats) and rests. Arabic music uses microtones, or notes not present in the formal musical scale (half-flats and half-sharps). Arabic tones are divided into thirds, which makes their sound inherently different from most other musical traditions.

In Egypt, religious music is frowned upon, but still common in Muslim celebrations called mulids. Mulids are held to celebrate the saint of a particular mosque, and is related to the Sufi zikr (ritual). A type of flute called the Nay is commonly played at mulids.

Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous, Arabic, African and Western influences.
As early as 4000 BC, ancient Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, as well as two indigenous instruments: the Nay and the Oud. However, there is no notation of Egyptian music before the 7th century AD, when Egypt became part of the Arab world. Percussion and vocal music became important at this time, which has remained an important part of Egyptian music today.

From the 1910s, Egyptian pop music has become increasingly listened to, as has folk music from Egypt's many cultures. This enhances the sense of place which is part of the Arab influence in Egyptian music.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, Egyptian music was a way to communicate social and class issues.

Singing is the most integral part of the Egyptian Music. This may have to do with the impact of both the Ancient Egyptian culture and Islam culture on Arabic Music.

In European and American countries, singing is taught using musical instruments like a piano, on the other hand, in the Arabic Countries, playing instruments starts with the learning of maqams through singing.

As a result of this interest in singing, different genres of singing evolved and changed during the years. Some of these genres are detailed below:
Muashahah (pl. muashshahat)
Mawwal (pl. Mawaweel)
Dawr (pl. Adwar)
Qaseeda (pl. Qasaed)
Nasheed (pl. Anasheed)
Taqtuqah (pl. Taqateeq)

Yoga at Pyramid

2008-05-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

The meaning of the word Pyramid is “fire in the middle”, derived from the Latin Pyra (Greek pur), meaning fire or light. What is this fire in the middle and how is it created? A pyramid structure, with closed or open sides, creates a vital center of electromagnetic energy if it is constructed to the same proportional dimensions as the Great Pyramid of Giza and if one of its straight sides is facing true north. As long as the pyramid is aligned to the north-south magnetic axis it will become “changed”. The space within the pyramid accumulates and intensifies energy, generating an energy field with unusual properties.
In the Secret Power of Pyramid, Bill Schul and Ed Pettit report that people spending time sitting beneath pyramids have claimed relief from many ailments. In their chapter on “Healing Powers” they report that healing has occurred rapidly in cases of sprains, cuts, bruises, toothache, backache, strains, congestion and infections. They mention that people sitting within Pyramids sometimes report seeing a blue light, which research has shown to have cooling, healing properties. In Pyramid power, Max Toth and Greg Nielsen state that people sitting or sleeping near even a model pyramid have reported the alleviation or disappearance of pain or symptoms of illness. Schul and Pettit postulate that the pyramid energy field tends to produce healthier functioning of cells, tissues and organs. They point out that since the pyramid shape offers a heightened energy field, while a cube inhibits energy, it does not serve us to live in cube-shaped homes.
(Not surprisingly, people experience enhanced effects when meditating beneath pyramids. Changes in the mediator’s aura electromagnetic field) have been noted with Kirlian photography-auras become brighter and larger. Mediators report deeper relaxation, an enhanced sense of well-being and increased levels of awareness. The positive energy flow in the pyramid facilitates deeper focus.
Bill Schul and Ed Pettit researched the effects of meditation inside a pyramid by asking people to try it for the first time and describe their experiences. The common feelings were of calmness, peace, harmony and relaxation, as well as mild euphoria, feelings of being “change” with renewed energy and sense of detachment from the physical world and everyday concerns. Some experimenters experienced a focus of energy on their heart. One reported: “The first impression was peaceful silence and I was very aware of my heart. There was a power of some kind going to the heart or coming from the heart. The entire body seemed to take on a vibration –atingle”
People meditating in a pyramid regularly have received strong spiritual and psychic impressions, as well as enhanced dreams and visions, vivid visual imagery and increased memory recall.

Belly Dancing Costumes

2008-04-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Egypt! What a beautiful name, what a beautiful country, what a beautiful place to be. Egyptians! What a warm, kind, generous, and friendly people they are. Egyptian women! One could write forever about their beauty. They are kind, faithful, lovely and very sensual, especially when they are dancing. Not just any dancing, but when they are belly dancing. They can warm you to the depths of your soul when they dance. Belly dancing flowers in every Egyptian girl's blood as she grows up. In fact, there is no Egyptian woman who cannot belly dance.
The name "belly dance" or "raks sharki" has a long and colorful history. Belly dancing does not mean moving only the belly. When women belly dance, they use their entire body including their head, hair, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, belly, hips, bottoms, legs and feet. It is magic!
Belly dancing is not popular only in Egypt; but in many oriental countries. Egypt, however, is the first country to come to mind when one thinks of belly dancing and famous belly dancers like Lucy, Dina, Fifi Abdo and many more. It is the country that most aspiring foreign dancer's hope to visit and possibly participate in festivals, or take classes, attend a show, buy music, and purchase that special, custom made costume of their dreams.
Top: Rectangular Scarf, Bottom: Triangular scarf
A belly dancer can dance wearing any kind of clothing in a casual setting, and may simply tie a beaded hip scarf about her. However, on stage, in a restaurant, or at a party, a dancer will wear a flashy cabaret costume. These colorful, beaded costumes are as important and necessary to the dancer as the music she chooses for her dance. The costume in itself is like a musical instrument. A costume is an extension of the dancer's personality and her abilities. A well made and well fitting costume is what makes the difference between a professional performer and an amateur dancer. For example, an ill fitting costume on the most technically correct dancer can make her look like a beginner, while some belly dancers will wear blatantly sexy costume to redirect the audience's attention to their body and away from their poor dancing. However, some dancers do prefer to wear a plain galabya, a much more plain costume, to prove their dancing ability without relying on the costume decorations to enhance their movements.
Left: a Bra and Belt, Right: a "Top" Style Belly Dancing dress
The foundation of the belly dance costume is the bra and the belt. Belly dance costume designs are divided into styles depending upon the number of pieces in the bra and belt. An "oriental" costume contains several pieces, including a bra and one-piece belt, a skirt, which may or may not be attached to the belt, and a veil. The "Turkish" design contains three or four pieces which include a bra and a two or three piece belt with a skirt and veil. Again the skirt may or may not be attached to the belt. The third kind, called "top", is a one piece costume consisting of a bra connected to the skirt with a lycra mesh which may be the color of the bra and skirt or may be flesh colored, and a veil (there is no belt). The forth design consists of a bra and skirt without a structured belt. In other words the belt is a part of the skirt. This style will also include a veil. Other matching accessories available are gauntlets, anklets, wrist cuffs, upper arm bands, head and hair bands, necklaces, earrings, etc. However, some dancers just buy a bra and the belt separately to match other skirts and veils they may already own. Acquiring a dance wardrobe is an on-going project, particularly for professional dancers.
There are also "ethnic" style costumes. The Se'edy (Upper Egyptian) balady dress or galabya falls to the ankles. It is made of one piece of fabric with long wide sleeves and is open at the sides. The second, called Eskandarany (Alexandrian) has a body made of one piece of solid colored fabric. Attached to this, beginning at the knee, are three pieces of gathered fabric of three different colors sewn horizontally and creating a frilly, mid-knee length dress. From the gulf area there is the "thobe', which is a long, wide, flowing, highly decorated, somewhat shapeless dress. Nevertheless, if used properly and creatively it is the feature of a stunning dance routine. Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria have their own styles though Lebanon and Syria are more like Egyptian styles (oriental). Turkey aggressively competes with Egypt in producing costuming supplies.
In Egypt a costume designer has many people working for him. More than one person can be working on one costume, and generally they are women. Working side by side, some of them make the base of the bras and the belts, others add the decorations, and others do the finishing work.
To make the belt, the designer draws the shape of the belt on a piece of vazlin or pellon, a heavy weight backing much like the material used in shirt collars and cuffs, but heavier. The layout is then usually cut three times to make the same shape to create three layers.
The designer then irons the three layers together to create one strong flexible sheet. Adding the chosen fabric and covering to the sheet of the belt, he then irons the fabric with the vazlin/pellon and sews them together. It is now ready for the decoration process.
The construction of the bras is not much different than that of the belts. The designer first makes the size of the bra cups from leather like material, creating a very hard foundation. The sides of the bra are made from the vazlin/pellon the same way as the belts. The bra is then ready to be covered with the fabric.
Making a belly Dancing Bra and Belt
The decoration process consumes most of the time in costume creation. The items used in the decorations are unlimited, but we can discuss the most popular items used in Egypt:
Beads are of glass or plastic, pre-strung and sold by the meter or separate to be strung by hand and sold by the kilo. Of course, glass beads are better looking and catch and reflects the light very well. Glass beads, though breakable, also hold their color better. The beads come in many sizes, shapes and colors and are usually imported from India, Czechoslovakia, Korea and Japan.
Sequins may be plastic or metallic, and are sold by the kilo. The plastic variety are better than the metallic because they do not loose their color like the metallic. The plastic sequins comes in solid colors, transparent or iridescent (varying in color when seen in different lights or from different angles). Metallic sequins only come in solid colors. They are usually imported from Korea or Japan.
Glass or plastic colored gem stones come in sew-on or glue-on variations. Again, the glass stones reflects light better. They are usually imported from Korea or Japan.
Appliqués are made from the above mentioned items.
After the decorative hand work is finished, the last step is covering the back of the belt and the bra with a lining. Using the same fabric as the front side, or a near colored fabric, the lining of the back of the belt and bra should be sewn very carefully, by hand, on the edge and with close, small stitches.
Of course, it is highly recommended that the dancer talk to the costume designer directly for any details she would like to have incorporated into her outfit, and obviously, for custom made costumes, for the measurements of her body must be taken. Since a foreign dancer may be in Egypt for only a short visit, a custom made costume may be out of the question. Hence, costume makers normally have various sizes of pre-made bras and belts one may choose from. Finding a suitable belt for her is usually not a problem as adjustments in size are easily made by moving the closure hooks on the belt. This is especially true for a two or three piece belt. Often, the problem is in the bra. To have it fit perfectly the dancer has to be careful that she gives the right measurements to the costume maker. If at all possible it is better if she tries on a bra of the style she is having made. Adjustments to a bra can be made, but they are not as easily done as those for the belt. It is far better to have the bra a little too large, rather than too small. The bra should fit snugly, as should the belt, yet have some flexibility to be able to move with the dancer's body.
Several professional dancers had the following comments regarding the care and selection of their costumes:
"I look for costumes that are strong, sturdy and won't fall apart with a lot of use. I like two-piece chiffon skirts with beautiful sequins or appliqués sewn on. I also like the sequined belts with hanging beads and a strong but soft bra top, sequined and with beads also hanging down about just above the belly button. I prefer China Silk for veils to dance with or chiffon veils. I like matching gauntlets for the arms and matching earrings and necklace.
I have a hard time taking care of my costumes. I sew them when they need to be mended but as for washing them, that is more difficult. I make sure not to put my costumes away in the closet right after a show because the sweat on the costume needs to air out. I heard putting the costumes in a steamed room helps to clean them or uses the steam from a steam iron. I wash chiffon veils and some chiffon skirts in Woolite. Many dancers I know put their bras and belts in plastic bags to take care of them, so they last longer and don't fall apart while they are traveling to do shows." Daleela
"I look for several things before deciding to buy a costume (since I make so many of my own to save money!). The fabric must be high-quality, well woven, no skipped stitches, and heavy-duty enough to stand up to the rigors of performing. The seams must be carefully sewn with not a lot of loose threads so that it will STAY sewn! It must fit exactly correctly or at least be easy to alter if it is too big or too long (that is ALWAYS my problem!). Any coins or other ornaments must be firmly attached so that they are not likely to fall off at the first shimmy! I also look for something that is a little harder to describe…it must look classy, elegant, and not too gaudy in colors that will still be fashionable in five years. The last Egyptian costume I bought was a lovely black and gold skirt and top that will never be out of style. I steer away form costumes that are loud or ugly colors or that have big fake jewels on personal places (ask Nancy what I mean…) or are too “cutesy”. Elegance….elegance…elegance! But that is just me..!!" Chris
"I’ve been dancing for seven year and I have many beautiful costumes. Many have come from Egypt and many I’ve made.
"I’ve been dancing for seven year and I have many beautiful costumes. Many have come from Egypt and many I’ve made.
I look for something unique when shopping, something that hasn’t been seen on a lot of other dancers. Also remember the colors that go best with your skin tone and hair color. I have to avoid warm colors. No matter how beautiful the costume, if the color is wrong it won’t look great.
I look closely at the material and bead work. It must be quality strong material and trimmings not too delicate. The sewing should be even and the beadwork tight. I do not buy anything that looks thrown together or glued because it will not last.
After a performance I take my costumes home and inspect them for any damage. I make sewing repairs or bead replacements if needed immediately. I then clean them by putting the pieces of the costume in nylon bags, put them in a Drywell bag with the cleaning sheet (available at grocery stores), put in the dryer for 30 minutes and then hang them back in the closet. They stay looking new." Erica
"One of the things I look at in a costume is the weight of it. A better costume seems to be made of heavier material and there is more beading, so the costume just weights more. Another thing is the stitching, is it small, close stitches, or large ones. A smaller stitch is best.
To keep my costumes in good shape, I always lay them out after I wear them, and let them air out for a few days. Then when I put them away, I store them in a pillowcase, because it is breathable." Vicki
First I look for the style & colors that appeal to me (my preference is cabaret style bra, belt & layered skirt, and I mostly look for a combination of turquoise/gold or purple/gold). I like beadwork as opposed to just sequins (sequins and beads are nice too), and I like there to be a nice thick layer underneath the back side of the beadwork to protect the threads. As far as material, I like sheers, such as chiffon, and tissue lame.
Each time I wear a costume, I check it over before I hang it back up. I look for snags, missing beads/paillettes/sequins, etc. I fix anything before it has a chance to get worse (like fixing a lost bead before it turns into 20 lost beads). I spot clean any dirty spots with a washcloth and cold water; if soap is needed, I use a little bit of Woolite. Also, another way to keep costumes from falling apart is not to sit around in them. I try not to sit around in mine (at a dinner or in the car); that crushes the beads. Traci
One final belly dancer explained that "When I buy a costume, the first thing check out the quality of the material. Like the skirt and veil fabric not to be thin, always touch and look to see if it is Simi sheer, like that kind, but thin is cheap and will not last long. The flounces of the skirt fabric, same for the veil the cut of the skirt, is important also, something that will look good when I twirl and shimming, maybe like a tiered-layered look. The bra, like long hanging beads to the midriff so it can hide the hide the midriff flaws. The bead work should be where it doesn't come off the costumes, I have two costumes now, that has very good sequin and bead work, as of yet have not lost both. Care: Keep mine in each costume has there own plastic large container, every so often I hang them up on a hanger and allow air flow, After wearing a costume, after a performance if the weather permits, hang them outside at night to allow fresh air to freshen, if in the winter just hang indoors. I do not always allow others to wear my best costumes, unless I know that person keeps a clean body. I have an acquaintance all of her costumes smell bad, bought a costume from her, even after dry cleaning, it still had a body smell.
To best go through, about this is good weight in fabric, cut of the skirt for good flow, And how the beads are sewn on."

Egyptian (Arabic) words and Phrases

2008-04-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

See Also:

COMMON EXPRESSIONS

Yes: naam, aywa
No: la
Perhaps: yemken
Possibly: mumken
Impossible: mesh mumken
Necessary: daruri
Please: men fadlak (m.) men fadlik (f.)
Thank you: shukran
Your Welcome Ahlan beka اهلاً بك
Sorry/Excuse Me: assef
Good Morning: sabah el-kheir صباح الخير
Good Evening: masa el-kheir مساء الخير
Good Night tesbah ala kheir تصبح علي خير
Welcome: Marhaba
Goodbye: salam (peace)
My Name Is: esmi
My Name is Jena Ana esmi Jena اسمي جينا
What Is Your Name?: esmak eh? or Ma Esmok? ما اسمك؟
How Are You?: ez zayyak? (masc) ez zayyek? (fem)
Nice to Meet You Saadot belkak سعدت بلقائك
Today: en-nahar da
Tomorrow: bukra
Yesterday: imbarih
I Speak English: ana batkallem englizi
I Don't Speak Arabic?: ma-batkallamsh `arabi?
I Don't Understand: ana mish fahem
Do You Speak English?: int betetkalem inglizi?
Can You Help Me?: mumken tsaa'dni?
Information: istiilaamaat
What Time Is It?: el-saa kam?

ENDEARMENT

I Love You: Ana ohebak أنا أحبك

MEETING PEOPLE

Do you have children? Hal ladyek atfal? هل لديك أطفال؟
Do you have a wife? Hal anta motazaweg? هل انت متزوج؟
Do you have a husband? Hal anty motazawega? هل انتي متزوجة؟
What is your address: Ma enwanak? ما عنوانك؟
What is your Phone Number Please? Momken an toateny raqam telefonak? ممكن أن تعطيني رقم تليفونك؟
Where did you go to School? Ayn zahabt ela almadrasa? أين ذهبت إلي المدرسة؟
How old are you? Kam Omrak? كم عمرك؟
Where do you work? Ayn Taamal? أين تعمل؟
Where does your family live? Ayn Taskon Aelatak? أين تسكن عائلتك؟

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Monday: el-etnein
Tuesday: el-talat
Wednesday: el-arbaa
Thursday: el-khamees
Friday: el-gumaa
Saturday: el-sabt
Sunday: el-had

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

January: yanayer
February: febrayer
March: mares
April: abryl
May: mayu
June: yunya
July: yulyo
August: aghustus
September: september
October: octeber
November: november
December: december

SEASONS

Winter: sheta
Fall: kharif
Spring: rabiea
Summer: sseif

NUMBERS

One: wahed
Two: etnein
Three: talata
Four: arbaa
Five: khamsa
Six: sitta
Seven: sabaa
Eight: tamania
Nine: tesaa
Ten: ashaara
Fifty: khamsin
One Hundred: mia
Five Hundred: khams mia
One Thousand: alf

TRAVEL

Airplane: tayara
Airport: mattar
Bus: auto beas
Ticket: tazkara
Change: sarf or taghieer
Customs: gumruk
Station: mahatta
Porter: shaial or hammal
Train: atre or kittar
Suitcase: shanta
Departure: zehab
Arrival: wussul
Delay: taakhear
Travel Agent: wikalat safar
Bus Station: mehatet el-outobees
When Does The....Arrive?: emta wussul
When Does The...Leave?: emta qiyam...
I Want To Go To...: Ayez arrouh ella...
Stop Here Please: wakeff hena men fadlak
Can I take your picture? Hal yomken an akhoz lak sora? هل يمكن أن أخذ لك صورة
Would you take my picture? Hal toheb an takhoz soraty?هل تحب أن تأخذ صورتي
Can You Wait For Me?: mumkin tantazirni?
Can you get me a taxi? Hal yomken an tohder lee taxi هل يمكن أن تحضر لي تاكسي؟
Wait: intazir
I need a tourist policeman Oreed ragol shorted al seyaha أريد رجل شرطة السياحة
I need a ticket please Menfadlak aoreed tazkara من فضلك أريد تذكرة
Where is a photo shop? Ayn yogad studio el tasweer? أين يوجد استوديو التصوير؟
Where Can I buy Film? Men ayen yomken le an ashtary film? من إين يمكن لي أن أشتري فيلم؟
Can I smoke here? Hal youmken le an odakhen hona? هل يمكن لي ان ادخن هنا؟
I must leave tomorrow La bod an arhal ghadan لابد أن ارحل غداً

FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND

Where are your restrooms (WC)? Ayn dawret al meyah? أين دورة المياه؟
Where Is...?: fein....?
Is It Near?: hal qarieb?
Is It Far?: hal baied?
(On The)Left: shmal
(On The)Right: yamin
Above: fuq
Below: taht
In Front Of/Outside: uddam
Behind: wara
Here: hena
Over There: henak
Before: abl
After: baa'd
South: janub
North: shamal
East: sharq
West: gharb
Street: shari'
Village: qaria
Town: medina
Sea: bahr

GETTING AROUND

Can you take me to this address? Hal yomken an takhozny ela haza alaonwan? هل يمكن أن تأخذني إلي هذا العنوان؟
Please Take me to the Cairo Marriott Hotel Oreed an azhab ela fondoq Marriott al kahera أريد أن أذهب إلي فندق ماريوت القاهرة
I will get my own taxi. Sawf astaqel taxi سوف استقل تاكسي
I will get out here. Sawf akhrog men hona (to taxi driver) سوف اخرج من هنا
Meet me at the Nile Hilton Abelny end el nil hilton قابلني عند النيل هيلتون
Please slow down (to Taxi or other driver) Men fadlak abte' al soraa من فضلك ابطئ السرعة
Go straight please Etageh lel amam اتجه للأمام
Turn left please Etageh yamenan اتجه يميناً
Turn right please Etageh yasaran اتجه يساراً
Can you wait for me here? Hal youmken an tantazerony hona? هي يمكن ان تنتظرني هنا؟
Car: sayara
Driver: sawaq
Petrol/Gas Station: mahattet benzine
Petrol/Gas: benzine
Pump Up: nafkh
Oil: zeit
Hire: ajar/ejar
Bridge: kubri
Gate: bab
Wheel: agall
Road: tariq
Taxi: taxi

AT THE HOTEL

Hotel: fundoq
Room: ghorfa
Key: meftah
Bathroom: hammam
Towel: futa, manchafa
Sheet: melaya
Blanket: Ghata
I Have Reserved A Room: Ana hagazt oda
The air conditioner is not working Al takeef la yaamal التكييف لا يعمل
How Much Does A Room Cost?: bi kam el-oda?
When does the swimming pool open? Mata yaamal hmam el sebaha متي يعمل حمام السباحة؟
Do you have an Internet Cafe? Hal ugad internet café? هل يوجد انترنت كافيه؟
I need room service Ahtag lekhedmet el ghoraf أحتاج لخدمة الغرف
I need a wake up call. Oreed an youkezny ahad أريد ان يوقظني أحد
Can someone get my luggage Hal youmken leahad an usaedny fe ehdar haqaeby? هل يمكن لأحد أن يساعدني في إحضار حقائبي؟
Do I have any messages? Hal laday ay rasael? هل لدي أي رسائل
I need maid service Oreed amelat nazafa اريد عاملة نظافة

AT THE RESTAURANT

Restaurant: mataam
Breakfast: fetar
Lunch: ghada
Dinner: asha
Water: mayya
Mineral Water: mayya maadania
Wine: nebite
Juice: assir
Glass: kas
Plate: tabaq
Bread: aish
Butter: zebda
Olives: zeitun
Cheese: jibna
Salad: salata
Vegetables: khodar
Meat: lahma
Chicken: dajaj
Fish: samak
Dessert: helu
Fruit: fakiha
Ice-Cream: ice cream
Coffee: ahua
Coffee Without Sugar: ahua sada
Fairly Sweet: mazbut
Very Sweet: ziada
Tea: shay
Sugar: sokkar
Milk: halib
Hot: sokhn
Cold: bared
Can you recommend a restaurant? Hal youmken an torasheh mataam? هل يمكن ان ترشح مطعم؟
Do you have beer? Hal ugad ladaykom beera? هل يوجد لديكم بيرة
May I Have The Tab, Please?: momken el-he-ssab men fadlak?
I need a table for four. Oreed trabeza Larbaat ashkhas أريد طرابيزة لأربعة أشخاص
May I have more ice, please? Hal le mazeed min al thalg? هل لي مزيد من الثلج؟

VISITS

Visit: ziara
Open: maftuh
Closed: maqfoul
Ticket Office: shubbak
Ticket: tazkara
Town: medina
Quarter: hhay
House: beit
Garden: hadiqa
Theater: masrah
Cinema: cinema
Museum: mat-hhaf
Mosque: gamea
May I Visit The Mosque?: mumken azur el-gamea?

THE POST OFFICE

Where Can I Telephone?: fein mumken atalfein?
Post Office: maktab el-barid
Postage Stamp: tabea bareed
Telephone: teliphune
Telegram: barqiya

EMERGENCIES

Police: bolice
Fire Brigade: matafy/shurtat el-matafy
Infirmary: mashfa
Hospital: mustashfa
Pharmacy: ssaydaliya
Doctor: doctur
I'm too hot Ashaor bhar shaded أشعر بحر شديد
I'm feeling sick. Ahsaor bel taab أشعر بالتعب
Please Call The Doctor: etlob el-tabib men fadlak

SHOPPING

I want to pay for this. Oreed an adfaa lehaza أريد أن ادفع لهذا
Can I pay in Euros? Hal yomkenny an adfaa bel Euro? هل يمكني ان ادفع باليورو؟
Can I Speak to your Manager? Hal yomkeny al tahadoth maa moderak? هل يمكني التحدث مع مديرك؟
Who is in charge? Man al Masoul? من المسئول
Do you take Master Card? Hal taqbaloun al taamol bel master card? هل تقبلون التعامل بالماستر كارد؟
Leave me alone Etrokny wahdy اتركني وحدي
May I have a Bottle of Water Please Hal yomken an aakhoz zogaget meyah? هل يمكن ان أأخذ زجاجة مياه؟
Bureau De Change: maktab el-sarf
Money: fuluss
I Would Like To Change Some Money: ayez asarraf fuluss
Change (Coins): fakka
Have You Any Change?: andokom fakka?
Price: el-taman
Where Can I Buy...?: fein mumken ashtari...?
How Much?: bekam?
How much does this cost? Bekam haza? بكم هذا؟
How Much Is This?: bi kam da
It's Too Expensive: ghali awi
A Little: shuaya
A Lot: keteer
That's Fine/Perfect: tamam
Baker: khabbaz
Grocer: baqqal
Butcher: gazzar
Butcher's house: Gezzara
Shop: mahal
Photographer's: mesauaraty
Bookshop: maktaba
Newspaper: journaal
Book: kitab
Jeweler: sayegh

MATERIALS

Gold: dahab
Silver: fadda
Iron: hadid
Bronze: bronz
Copper: nehas
Terracotta: fokhar
Silk: harir
Cotton: qotn
Synthetic: synthetic/polyester
Wool: souf
Glass: ezaz
Imitation: taqlead/taa-leed
Original: assli
Paper: waraq

COLORS

White: abiad
Black: asuad
Red: ahmar
Green: akhdar
Blue: azrak
Yellow: asfar
Orange: burtuqali
Pink: wardi
Purple: banafsegy

Egypt Food and Drink

2008-04-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

FOOD AND DRINK

In Egypt, dining out can range from stand-up sandwich bars to luxurious five-course meals. You can find small, inexpensive establishments that serve good Egyptian food for only a few pounds. If you're in a hurry, try the local snack bars. While the cubbyholes off the street (which probably have running water) are generally safe. The larger cities even have Western-style fast-food chains like McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, but they're relatively expensive. In cities both food and water are safe although the change in your diet may produce short-term gastrointestinal upsets.

EGYPTIAN MEALS

Although Egyptian eating habits may seem erratic, most natives begin the day with a light breakfast of beans (or bean cakes), eggs, and/or pickles, cheeses, and jams. Most families eat their large, starchy lunch around 1400-1700 and follow it with a siesta. They may take a British-style tea at 1700 or 1800 and eat a light supper (often leftovers from lunch) late in the evening. Dinner parties, however, are scheduled late, often no earlier than 2100, with the meal served an hour or two later. In restaurants lunch is normally 1300-1600, dinner 2000-2400.

Restaurants

In Egypt, as in the rest of the world, restaurants are only as good as the cooks they employ, and cooks seem to be continually changing. For current information on the best restaurants, the expatriate community is unbeatable, and the magazine Cairo Today includes monthly tips listing places to try, and publishes an annual dining guide. Most establishments use native ingredients and will offer fruits and vegetables in season. Menus are in both Arabic and English except in Alexandria, where they are in Arabic and French. In large restaurants, the maitre d'hotel will speak English, French, and possible German, Italian, or Greek. These establishments serve a mixture of international cuisine but often include Egyptian or Middle Eastern fare as well. Most hotels also maintain 24-hour coffee shops.

Many of the smaller, Egyptian-style restaurants specialize in basic meat and fava-bean dishes. They are simple and inexpensive. Waiters speak little English, so use your phrase book.

Snack Bars

Throughout Egypt, little stand-up shops dispense the Egyptian version of the fast food. Most of these shops in major cities are clean and offer quick, inexpensive, and nutritious meals. Most shops have helpful staff, but during their busy times you may have to push your way into the pack of Egyptians to get waited on. You can buy roasted chickens that the shop will season for you. You can also get shawirma (Gyros), lamb cooked on a vertical split, available most of the day.

Egyptian Home Cooking

If you're lucky, you may be invited to dine in an Egyptian home. There are no set times for dinner; often hours will depend upon your host's profession. Although invitations may be issued for as late as 0100, generally if no time is set, guests are expected between 2100-2200 hours. If you wish, you may bring flowers, chocolates, or a bottle of wine (if you hosts drink--many Muslims do not). You will be introduced to other guests and perhaps the host's entire family, many of whom will not stay to eat.

Dining customs vary throughout the country, so try to follow examples set by your host and any fellow guests. Depending upon the family's own customs and the size of the party, men and women may split up for cocktails (nonalcoholic drinks in strict Muslim homes) and then rejoin at the dinner table, where seating is usually random. All the food is set in the middle of the table at the beginning of the meal. If no silverware is provided, use your bread as a combination fork and spoon. Guests are not expected to clear their plates, and you'll need to refuse more than once to convince your host that you really can't eat anymore. Complimenting the hostess on her cooking skills as well as (for women) asking her for recipes are in good taste and appreciated. After dinner, guests remove from the dining room to drink mint tea or coffee. Wait at least a half-hour from the end of the meal before you take you leave; compliment the cook again, and extend your thanks (alf shokren).

NATIVE FOODS

Egyptian food reflects the country's melting-pot history; native cooks using local ingredients have modified Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian traditions to suit Egyptian budgets, customs, and tastes. The dishes are simple; made with naturally ripened fruits and vegetables and seasoned with fresh spices, they're good and hearty. Food in the south, closely linked to North African cuisine, is more zesty than that found in the north, but neither is especially hot. The best cooking is often found in the smaller towns. Although Egyptian cooking can be bland and oily when poorly done, most of the cuisine is delicious. Enjoy!

Bread

The mainstay of Egyptian diets, aysh (bread) comes in several forms. The most common is a pita type made either with refined white flour called aysh shami, or with coarse, whole wheat, aysh baladi. Stuffed with any of several fillings, it becomes the Egyptian sandwich. Aysh shams is bread made from leavened dough allowed to rise in the sun, while plain aysh comes in long, skinny, French-style loaves. If you find yourself faced with hard, dry aysh, do like the Egyptians: soften it in water, and if you have a fire available, warm it over the open flame.

Beans

Along with aysh, the native bean supplies most of Egypt's people with their daily rations. Ful can be cooked several ways: in ful midamess, the whole beans are boiled, with vegetables if desired, and then mashed with onions, tomatoes, and spices. This mixture is often served with an egg for breakfast, without the egg for other meals . A similar sauce, cooked down into a paste and stuffed into aysh baladi, is the filling for the sandwiches sold on the street. Alternatively, ful beans are soaked, minced, mixed with spices, formed into patties (called ta'miyya in Cairo and falaafil in Alexandria), and deep-fried. These patties, garnished with tomatoes, lettuce, and tihina sauce, are stuffed into aysh and sold on the street.

Molokhiyya

A leafy, green, summer vegetable, molokhiyya is distinctively Egyptian, and locals will proudly serve you their traditional thick soup made from it. The chopped leaves are generally stewed in chicken stock, and served with or without pieces of chicken, rabbit, or lamb. This soup can also be served with crushed bread or over rice. If you're served it straight, it's polite to dunk your aysh.

Mezze

These small dishes of various forms are usually served with drinks. Those resembling dips are made with tihina, an oil paste of sesame seeds. Tihina mixed with oil and seasoned with garlic or chili and lemon can be served alone, but when combined with mashed eggplant and served as a dip or sauce for salads, its called baba-ghanoug. In Alexandria, chickpeas are added to the tihina to make hummus bi tihina. Tihina also forms the base for many general-purpose sauces served with fish and meats and replaces mayonnaise on Egyptian sandwiches. Turshi includes a variety of vegetables soaked in spicy brine--it's always good with beer.

Soups And Salads

In addition to molokhiyya, the Egyptians make a variety of meat (lahhma), vegetable (khudaar), and fish (samak) soups known collectively as shurbah, and all are delicious. Salads (salata) can be made of greens, tomatoes, potatoes, or eggs, as well as with beans and yogurt. Western-type salad bars have come into vogue in larger cities, and here, for a few pounds, you can make a whole meal of the fresh produce. Yogurt (laban zabadi) is fresh and unflavored; you can sweeten if you wish with honey, jams, preserves, or mint. It rests easy on an upset stomach.

Main Courses

Rice and bread form the bulk of Egyptian main courses, which may be served either as lunch or dinner. For most Egyptians, meat is a luxury used in small amounts, cooked with vegetables, and served with or over rice, but meat dishes comprise most restaurant fare.

Torly, a mixed-vegetable casserole or stew, is usually made with lamb, or occasionally with beef, onions, potatoes, beans, and peas. To make Egyptian-style kebab, cooks season chunks of lamb in onion, marjoram, and lemon juice and then roast them on a spit over an open fire. Kufta is ground lamb flavored with spices and onions which is rolled into long narrow "meatballs" and roasted like kebab, with which it's often served. Pork is considered unclean by Muslims, but is readily available, as is beef.

Although native chickens (firaakh) are often scrawny and tough, imported fowl are plump, tender, and tasty. You can order grilled chicken (firaakh mashwi) in a restaurant or buy one already cooked at the street-side rotisseries and fix your own meal. Hamaam (pigeons) are raised throughout Egypt, and when stuffed with seasoned rice and grilled, constitute a national delicacy. They are small, so you will need to order several; the best are usually served in small, local restaurants where you may even have to give the cook a day's notice (a good sign), but beware--hamaam are occasionally served with their heads buried in the stuffing.

Egyptians serve both freshwater and seagoing fish under the general term of samak. The best fish seem to be near the coasts (ocean variety) or in Aswan, where they are caught from Lake Nasser. As well as the common bass and sole, try gambari (shrimp), calamari (squid), gandofli (scallops), and ti'baan (eel). The latter, a white meat with a delicate salmon flavoring, can be bought on the street already deep-fried.

Vegetables

Ruzz (rice) is often varied by cooking it with nuts, onions, vegetables, or small amounts of meat. Bataatis (potatoes) are usually fried but can also be boiled or stuffed. Egyptians stuff green vegetables with mixtures of rice; wara' enab, for example, is made form boiled grape leaves filled with small amounts of spiced rice with or without ground meat. Westerners often know them by the Greek name of dolmadas or dolmas, but beware ordering them by that name; in Egypt, doma refers to a mixture of stuffed vegetables.

Cheese

Native cheese (gibna) comes in two varieties: gibna beida, similar to feta, and gibna rumy, a sharp, hard, pale yellow cheese. These are the ones normally used in salads and sandwiches, but gouda, cheddar, bleu, and other Western types are becoming available. Mish is a spiced, dry cheese made into a paste and served as an hors d'oeuvre.

Fruit

In Egypt a multitude of fresh fruits are available year-round, but since all are tree- or vine-ripened, only those in season appear in suqs (markets) or on vendors' stands. In the winter, mohz (bananas), balah (dates), and burtu'aan (any of several varieties of oranges) appear. Special treats are burtu'aan bedammoh (pink oranges), whose skin looks like most oranges, but their pulp is red and sweet. The Egyptian summer is blessed with battiikh (melon), khukh (peach), berkuk (plum), and 'anub (grapes). Tin shawki is a cactus fruit that appears in August or September.

Nuts

Goz (nuts) and mohamas (dried seeds) are popular snack foods in Egypt, and vendors can be found selling them nearly anywhere. All are tasty; try bundok (hazelnuts), loz (almonds), or fuzdo (pistachios). If you like peanuts, the ful sudani are especially tasty in Aswan.

Desserts

Egyptian desserts of pastry or puddings are usually drenched in honey syrup. Baklava (filo dough, honey, and nuts) is one of the less sweet; fatir are pancakes stuffed with everything from eggs to apricots; and basbousa, quite sweet, is made of semolina pastry soaked in honey and topped with hazelnuts. Umm ali, a delight named for Mamluk queen, is raisin cake soaked in milk and served hot. Kanafa is a dish of batter "strings" fried on a hot grill and stuffed with nuts, meats, or sweets. Egyptian rice pudding is called mahallabiyya and is served topped with pistachios. French-style pastries are called gatoux. Good chocolate candies are likewise difficult to find, though Western-style candy bars are beginning to make their appearance. The Egyptian ice cream runs closer to ice milk or sherbet than cream. Most restaurants and many homes serve fresh fruits for desserts, and it makes a perfect, light conclusion to most meals.

Shopping For Food

The easiest way to stretch your food budget is to patronize the local stands and suqs, buying fresh fruit and vegetables you can eat raw. The prices are normally posted in Arabic and are fixed. Since there is no bargaining involved, you can just point to what you want, indicate how many or how much, and hold out your money; most vendors and small storekeepers are scrupulously honest. Small, local grocery stores occupy nearly every street corner and sell canned goods, preserves, bread, cheese, and soda pop as well as staples at government fixed prices. If the local grocery doesn't stock beer, there is probably a store nearby that does; ask. Here or at the brewery you can buy Stella by the case. Bakeries supply various types of bread and pastries at fixed prices.

DRINKS

Coffee

Developed and popularized in the Middle East, the drinking of ahwa (coffee) remains a national tradition, and local coffeehouses still cater to men who come to drink coffee, discuss politics, play tawla (backgammon), listen to "Oriental" (Egyptian) music, and smoke the shiisha (water pipe). Although the traditional poetry and high-powered politics have migrated to fancy homes and offices, the coffee remains. You will also be offered the thick, strong, but tasty brew in homes, offices, and bazaar shops. Turkish coffee is made from finely powdered beans brewed in a small pot. As the water just begins to boil, the grounds float to the surface in a dark foam; the ahwa is brought to you still in the pot and poured into a demitasse. The heavier grounds sink to the bottom of the cup and the lighter ones form a foam on the top, the mark of a perfectly brewed cup. Sip carefully to avoid the grounds in the bottom of the cup. (If you don't like the foam, you can blow it aside under the guise of cooling your drink.)

Although Turkish coffee has a reputation for being tart, its actual flavor depends on the mix of beans used in the grind; the larger the percentage of Arabica, the sweeter and more chocolate flavor. Ahwa comes in several versions: ahwa sada is black, ahwa ariha is lightly sweetened with sugar, ahwa mazboot is moderately sweetened, and ahwaziyada is very sweet. You must specify the amount of sugar at the time you order, for it's sweetened in the pot. Most people order mazboot, which cuts the tartness; ahwa is never served with cream. Most hotel and restaurant breakfasts include strong French coffee usually called Nescafe; you may have to specially order it with sugar (bil sukkar) or milk (bil laban).

Tea And Other Hot Drinks

Egyptians adopted the custom of formal afternoon tea from the native Arabians, and it's served with milk, lemon, and sugar on the side. The domestic or Bedouin version of shay is boiled rather than steeped and is often saturated with sugar; this strong tea is served in glasses. A refreshing change from after-dinner coffee is shay bil na'na' or mint tea.; dried mint is mixed with tea leaves and the mixture is brewed like regular tea . Kakoow bil laban (hot chocolate) is available during the winter, as is Sahlab, a thick liquid that tastes like a cross between Ovaltine and oatmeal. Karkaday, a clear, bright red, native drink especially popular in the south, is made by steeping dried hibiscus flowers, sweetened to taste, and served either hot or cold; the locals claim this delicious drink calms the nerves.

Cold Drinks

Bottled water (mayya ma'daniyya) is available in all areas frequented by tourists; both large and small bottles are sold on the street and from ice buckets at most of the antiquities sites. Be sure the cap is sealed. Mayya shurb or mayya ahday (drinking water) is safe in most metropolitan areas.

A delectable treat in Egypt are the fresh fruit juices (asiir) available at small stalls throughout Egypt. The shopkeepers blend the whole fruit and small amounts of ice and sugar water and then strain this mash into your glass--the resulting drinks have been described as ambrosia. Juices, which are made from fruits in season, include farawla (strawberry), manga (mango), mohz (banana),and burtu'aan (orange) and are especially welcome in hot weather. In addition to pure fruit juices, you can also get them made of vegetables such as khiyar (cucumber), tamaatim (tomato), and gazar (carrot). For a new experience, experiment with some of their combination drinks: nuss wa nuss (carrot and orange), an unexpectedly delightful concoction, or mohz bi-laban, a blend of bananas and milk; an Egyptian milkshake. Asiir lamoon, common throughout Egypt, is a strong, sweet version of lemonade. In the past few years canned and packaged juices have become common, but their flavor cannot compare with the freshly made varieties.

Western soft drinks are ubiquitous in Egypt, but most are domestically bottled. You can find Schweppes, Fanta, Seven-Up, Coke, and Pepsi; club soda is also available, but Collins mix is nearly nonexistent. If you buy from street-side vendors, you're expected to drink the soda right there and return the bottle; if you want to take a bottle with you, you'll have to pay for it.

Alcoholic Drinks

Although devout Muslims refrain from drinking alcohol, beer, wine, and hard liquor are available in bars, restaurants, and some grocery shops. Imported beer and wine are the most expensive, but the local beer called Stella is a light lager that is quite good, provided it has not sat in the sun too long. It comes in large (about 20 oz.) bottles and runs about LE4-5. Stella Export, available in bars and restaurants, is more expensive (LE4), comes in smaller bottles, and is stronger--closer in alcohol content to most Western beers. Marzen, a dark, bock beer, appears briefly during the spring; Aswanli is the dark beer made in Aswan.

Brandy is drinkable only when diluted, and the local rum is not much better. However, zibib, the Egyptian version of Greek ouzo or Mexican anasato, is good either on the rocks or diluted with water (which turns it milky) as a before-dinner cocktail. Other hard liquors are imported and therefore are limited (the ports at Suez and Alexandria seem to have the widest variety) and expensive. If you drink regularly, plan on stocking up at a duty-free store before you enter Egypt.

Types of Travel to Egypt

2008-04-24T03:36:00.000-07:00

We receive any number of emails from individuals who wish to travel to Egypt, but have no idea what sort of tours or holidays are available. Actually, people go to Egypt for many different reasons and for many different types of vacations. And vacations to Egypt do not have to fall under a specific type of travel, as many visitors mix and match various types of travel.

Classical Holidays to Egypt

The classic tour of Egypt is mostly Pharaonic (Ancient Egypt), though most of the time this will also include some religious and Islamic
sightseeing. The most common classic tour is usually 10 to 14 days, and generally includes Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, though not particularly in that order. Classical tours are often arranged with, or without a Nile Cruise.

Typically, such a tour will begin in Cairo, as that is the major airport where most tourists enter Egypt. However, tours of the Cairo area are frequently split between the beginning and end of the trip. For example, a tour might cover the Giza Pyramids (Great Pyramid), as well as Saqqara (Step Pyramid) and even the Egyptian Antiquities museum on the first day of the tour. Then, after traveling to Luxor and Aswan and returning to Cairo, tours will often visit the Citadel and Khan el-Khalili market in Islamic Cairo and the churches and Coptic museum in Old Cairo. Of course, the tours may not be in this specific order.

After the first day or two in Cairo, such tours usually move on to either Luxor or Aswan, usually by air but possibly by train. However, other forms of travel are often arranged, including bus travel. If this is the case, the bus may stop at antiquity sites along the way, such as some of the antiquities near the Fayoum. The next leg of the tour usually begins in either Luxor or Aswan.

Luxor is often arranged as either a one or two day tour. In the morning, or one day of a two-day stay, the tour visits the West Bank where many monuments and tombs are to be found, including some of the finest in Egypt. This usually takes place in the morning in order to avoid the heat of the afternoon. Then, one afternoon or one day will be reserved for the east bank, where the Luxor and Karnak temples are located, as well as the excellent Luxor museum. Other activities might include a visit to the local bazaar.

For Aswan further south in Egypt, a day tour is usually sufficient for many, and may include visits to Elephantine Island, St. Simeon's Monastery, the unfinished Obelisk, the Nubian Museum, the High Dam and Philae Island, though time may not permit most standard tours to visit all of these sites. However, a frequent addition to the standard classical tour is the temples at Abu Simbel. This will usually add a day to the Aswan tour. Most tours fly to Abu Simbel and back in one day, leaving some of that time open to expand on the visits to Aswan sites. Other less common tours may bus to Abu Simbel, possibly with a stay in a local hotel there.

If, after Cairo, a tour first ends up in Luxor, the next destination will usually be Aswan, or if Aswan is the first stop, the next destination will usually be Luxor. The most common forms of transport between these two destinations are tour bus or Nile Cruise boat. While one may take a train or even fly between the two destinations, this is usually not done due to the antiquity sites such as the temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu, which are located between the two cities.

Religious Tours

One might say that there are four different types of Religious Tours. The first type might be considered Islamic tours, but this is outside of the scope of most westernized tours. While westerners frequently visit a few ancient mosques, they usually do not plan an entire tour around Islamic monuments. The other three types of Religious tours include the Holy Family Route, the Exodus Route and unstructured religious tours. Unstructured religious tours simply have no grand plan, such as following the Holy Family or Exodus Route. On the other hand, they may present a more balanced survey of all religious sites in Egypt, including those of both the Holy Family and Exodus Routes. Simply put, the Holy Family and Exodus tours attempt to follow the routes of these holy journeys, while unstructured religious tours may cover a spectrum of religious sites including those on both the Holy Family Route and Exodus Route. In any event, many such religious tours can and often do include visits to the most important pharaonic sites such as the Pyramids and the Egyptian Antiquity museum. Furthermore, unstructured religious tours and the Exodus tours will often include the Sinai, so even a short beach stay might be included.

Adventure and Specialty Tours

Adventure and specialty tours are very often combined with a classical pharaonic tour, though they need not be, and in some specific cases, rarely are. However, some specialty tours are in fact classical tours with a twist. These types of tours very considerably and we cannot probably name every variety possible. However, they include:

Golfing Tours

Golfing tours almost always include a classical element. This is not a traditional tour at all, so it is difficult to say what the normal tour will include. However, most usually they include one or two courses in Cairo, then perhaps Luxor and possibly the Red Sea coast or the Sinai. Many such tours are set up for a morning or afternoon of Golf, with the remainder of the day spend sightseeing. However, getting in a round of golf in Egypt does not necessitate taking a golfing tour. A round of golf may be arranged at several locations on a classical tour, or for that matter most any other type of tour, as there are now a variety of courses spread out over Egypt.

Fishing Expeditions

One may, of course, fish most anywhere along the Nile, and visitors will see Egyptians doing so even on the bridges and banks in Cairo. However, of growing popularity, as well as being unique, is Lake Nasser fishing. Here, one may find some of the largest fresh water fish in the world, and there are regular fishing expeditions. Because Lake Nasser is just south of Aswan, fishing expeditions to the area may include some classical sightseeing, though often they will not.

While somewhat rare, there are also deep sea fishing opportunities in the Red Sea, though one must look around to find them. Specifically, we know of deep-sea fishing boats in Hurghada on the Red Sea Coast and Nuweiba in the Sinai.

Birding Tours

Bird watching has been more and more popular in Egypt, as Egypt is on the migratory path of many species of birds. While birds may be found throughout the Nile Valley and the Sinai, the most popular areas appear to be near Aswan, and the Northern Sinai. Bird watching around Aswan is almost always accompanied with a classical tour, and may simply be an addition to a standard classical tour. However, there are few ancient monuments in the Northern Sinai, so these tours rarely involve a classical component.

Nature Tours

Most commonly, nature treks occur in the Sinai, and specifically in the mountainous region of middle southern Sinai. Actually, such treks in the Sinai mountains are as much spiritually oriented as nature oriented.

Simple Holidays

Simple holidays in Egypt are a European tradition dating back over 100 years, when people would visit Aswan and Luxor not for the antiquities, but simply to relax around a pool in a nice hotel and watch the traffic slip down the Nile. Obviously, it would be simple to include a classical element to such holidays, but many people who come to Egypt for this purpose have seen the sights before. They usually come for the warm, dry climate and they include mostly mature adults and families. A good example of a hotel that caters to these vacationers is the Movenpick Jolie Ville in Luxor, which is a complete resort including a golf course.

Beach Vacations

We currently believe that more people come to Egypt for beach vacations then for any other reason. This might be a surprise to many who would believe that classical tours would lead the pack. But for many Europeans, Egyptian beaches offer the least expensive means of a sand and sea holiday. Traditionally, the Sinai and Sharm el-Sheikh specifically was for wealthier vacationers, while the Red Sea Coast and Hurghada provided the low-end resorts. However, El-Gouna, just north of Hurghada, has provided the Red Sea Coast with a high-end draw. While these locations are packed with vacationers, a less frantic upper crust vacation can be had in locations such as Soma Bay on the Red Sea, or Taba on the Sinai. Less crowed budget areas include Safaga on the Red Sea and Nuweiba and Dahab on the Sinai.

It is not uncommon for beach vacations to include some classical or religious sightseeing. Many beach goers in the Sinai will take some time to visit St. Catherine's Monastery, as well as some of the other religious monuments located on the peninsula. And from either the Sinai or the Red Sea coast, visitors often arrange day or two-day tours to Cairo, Luxor and/or Aswan.

Egypt's Red Sea has some of the best scuba diving in the world, and people come from everywhere to explore the underwater wonders, including pristine reefs and many shipwrecks. Most destinations for scuba diving are the same as for beach vacations. In Sharm el-Sheik, Taba, Dahab and Nuweiba on the Sinai and El Gouna, Hurghada, Soma Bay and Safaga on the Red Sea coast, one will always find dive shops as well as great places to dive. We have also found that many, many people come to Egypt to receive either initial or advanced diving training. Obviously, scuba diving holidays can and usually do involve an element of a standard beach vacation, and most everything pointed out above about beach vacations can be applicable to a scuba diving vacation.

What makes Egypt really special is the ability to mix and match add-on tours. One may come to Egypt for a classical pharaonic tour, but add a wonderful beach vacation to the itinerary, or come for scuba diving and add a Kenya Safari. Many tour operators are set up to provide almost an endless variety of add-ons to their standard tours.

Add-on tours are most common for either classical or religious tours. However, most any tour or vacation to Egypt may have an add-on, and some add on tours end up being complete tours for some people. Add on tours usually involve a specific destination. They include:

Western or Eastern Desert

The Western desert is becoming more and more popular with tourists. The current rage is the Bahariya oasis, where the valley of the golden Mummies was discovered not too long ago, and where new discoveries seem to be cropping up almost continuously. However, the Siwa Oasis where Alexander the Great visited the Oracle of Amun in 331 BC has been for many years a consistent favorite among the oasis. While the Western desert is sometimes the primary destination for tours, it is more often an add-on for the more common classical tours. The Eastern desert is virtually never a primary destination for tours.

The Sinai

The Sinai is often a primary destination for beach vacations and even occasionally for complete religious and trekking tours. However, it is also often an add-on, particularly for religious tours, to various other tours for the same reasons.
Jordan (Petra)

Add-on tours to Petra in Jordan are common, and usually involve only a day or short tour from Egypt. Jordan is very hospitable to tourists. Tours to Petra are most often an extension of a classical tour.

Kenya

Surprisingly, more then a few people who come to Egypt arrange for a Kenya safari, either before and or after the Egypt leg of the trip.

PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT

2008-04-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Pyramids & the Sphinx‏

The Pyramids

It is the Egyptian pharaohs who have built for themselves from 2630 to 1645 BC. J.C., tombs in the shape of pyramids. Although all the pyramids were built for the same purpose, they differ in their shape, size, internal plans and many other components.

There are four kinds of pyramids:

Pyramids with degrees (The first pyramids called "pyramids primitive" dating from the Third Dynasty.)
The pyramids classics (from the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty and are the culmination of the pyramids in degrees)
The pyramids rhomboïdales
The Pyramids in the shape of a sarcophagus

DEGREES TO THE PYRAMID
DJESER ROI (III DYNASTY) - SAQQARAH

The pyramid, in the Neterikhet, better known as Djoser, was built shortly after 2630 BC. J.C. Djoser is the first pyramid in the history of Egypt and the oldest building in the world built entirely of stone that has these dimensions. According to its poorly defined, we can see that the architecture of the monument was still hesitant. The building was started as a large mastaba and then ended the pyramid to six degrees. It traditionally attributed to the design architect Imhotep (it was found inscribed the name of Imhotep on the pedestal of a statue of Djoser).

One room serdab "close" to the Pyramid of Djoser contained a statue of the pharaoh sitting, this is the first large stone statue royal ever known in Egypt.

The king of Sekhemkhet (successor of Djoser) wanted to be building a monument to greater degrees, but this remained unfinished pyramid and gradually disappeared in the sand. Thus it became known as "pyramid buried."

The whole funeral Shepseskaf, one of the last kings of the Fourth Dynasty, is a pyramid-shaped sarcophagus known as Faraoun Mastaba.

Userkaf, 1st King of the Fifth Dynasty, built his pyramid near the northeast corner of the entire Djoser, but his successors abandoned Saqqara for Abousir. The return to Saqqara was launched by Menkahouker, but the pyramid of Pharaoh no claim has yet been located. The pyramid's successor Menkahouker, Isési, was built at Saqqara south.

The pyramid of Unas, the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, is located near the corner enseinte west of the pyramid of Djoser degrees. The walls of the inner passages of this pyramid cover what is called the texts of the pyramids, incantations to help the pharaoh dead in the afterlife. These incantations should be recited during the funeral. The pyramid of Unas was the first to contain incantations and custom became widespread in the pyramids of the Old Kingdom.

The pyramid Téti, founder of the sixth dynasty, the pyramid is the most royal of northern Saqqara. The other pharaohs of the dynasty, Pepi I, and Merenrê Pepi II, brought their choice on Saqqara south.

The small brick pyramid Ibi little-known pharaoh of the eighth dynasty lies in the same region as the pyramid of Téti. Both pyramids the most southerly of Saqqara belong to the thirteenth roisde dynasty. They are built of bricks dried what characterizes much time model. The owner of one of them was Khendjer, while the other remained in anonymity.

Khéops to Giseh

The pyramid Khéops, named the Great Pyramid, is one of the "seven wonders of the world".

It differs from other pyramids by the giant dimensions and the perfection of its construction. The pyramid has been losing its treasures of origin after the end of the Old Empire, but there is no formal proof. The modern explorers have found the Great Pyramid empty, apart from the massive granite sarcophagi in a burial chamber (which proves its destination first).

The interior of the Great Pyramid shows that the initial plan has undergone at least two changes under construction. It is not difficult to guess the various changes of plans, if one realizes that architects should have finished the job in the death of Pharaoh: gold, which could predict the exact date? Even today, the construction of the Great Pyramid pose considerable problems of management and execution of the work.

The project had to be achévé more or less towards the end of the twenty-third year of the reign of Cheops. Its realization asked each year 100000 large blocks (approximately 285 per day!) Each weighing an average of two and a half tonnes, it was first necessary to extract dégrossir before then be transported to the site and set up. The magnitude of the task, the care with which this pyramid has been designed and built and the fact that we have never found burial in the Great Pyramid pose problems that have not yet been resolved.

The report from the height of the pyramid Khéops by his half-base is the number of gold.

According to Herodotus, Egyptian priests said that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid were chosen such as "The square built on the vertical height exactly equaled the surface of each of the triangular faces"

According Thoth, the Great Pyramid was built according to the geometry of the human body. Just as there are spiral-energy that emerge from the human body, there are spiral-energy emerging from the Great Pyramid. One of these spirals passed by the sarcophagus is in the House of Kings. The authorities in charge of Egyptian antiquities have moved the sarcophagus, because of the "bizarre things" often arriving visitors who slept in the sarcophagus.

After years of intensive training, an insider slept in the shelter so that the spiral-energy pass through the head of the insider. The insider could then connect his conscience with the spiral, and was "thrown" into a higher consciousness. After three days, the insider outside the sarcophagus and was taken to the Queen's Chamber, where the effects of different spiral Energy helped to his conscience restabiliser three-dimensional.

The change that started experimenting, from our level of consciousness to the cosmic consciousness, is the same change that the human race will experiment during ascent planet.

The Sphinx

The Sphinx is the representation of Khéphren, appeared like a lion with a human head, responsible for ensuring its necropolis. Topped the némès with uraeus forehead, it is carved into the rock, living forever and forever the face turned towards the East. Exercises shooting cannon made to the Mamluk era, combined with the effect of wind erosion would be responsible for the destruction of the nose of the Sphinx.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, near Cairo, is Re-Horakhty, a form of the powerful Sun God, and is the epitome of royal power and the protector of the temple doors.

The Sphinx is a sculpture of stone the oldest and longest of the Old Empire. Under the XVIIIth dynasty, it was called "Horus the horizon" and "Horus" in the necropolis, the god of the sun which is held above the horizon. At times later, many representations were carved sphinx, smaller or in cameos with the faces of monarchs rulers. The Great Sphinx is the effigy of Khépren, the pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty who built the second of the pyramids of Giza by size. Like the Sphinx, the pharaoh was regarded as a powerful god.

Carved in a natural limestone outcropping, the Sphinx measure 19.8 meters in height and 73.2 meters in length. It is located within walking distance of the great pyramid.

The huge legs lock in a stele which recorded a dream that Tuthmosis IV did when he was a prince. He dreamt that he had stopped to rest in the shadow of the Sphinx during a hunting expedition in the desert. In his sleep, the Sphinx told him, saying he would become king if he emerged from the sand that buried almost whole. When it became king, Tuthmosis IV désensabla statue erected a stele and telling his dream. Once the work is completed, a chapel was built around the Sphinx to venerate the god of the sun.

The Sphinx are sometimes represented with a woman's face. For example, a sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut was carved with a beard. Queen Tiy, wife of Amenhotep III, the first of which was given traits to a sphinx truly feminine. In addition to a woman's face imberbe, Sphinx had breasts and wings.

2008-04-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

Adventure Travel, Holiday Tour, Traveling Holidays, Adventure Beach, Adventure Mountain, Travel Hot: DIVING IN EGYPT

2008-04-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Adventure Travel, Holiday Tour, Traveling Holidays, Adventure Beach, Adventure Mountain, Travel Hot: DIVING IN EGYPT

DIVING IN EGYPT

2008-04-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Water Paradise
Contrary to what everyone thinks, this is not cultural tourism which is the most profitable for Egypt, the opposite is scuba diving, which is the goose that laid the golden egg. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Tourism, the income from diving tourism as well as water sports has exceeded $ 3.5 billion out of a total of $ 9 billion, which means one third of tourist income. "It's not too much, if one takes into account that 60% of tourists who visit Egypt come specifically for enjoying the Red Sea. And more than 80% are diving with all activities that are related, as the snorkling, sea safari and skiing, "says Hilal Karim, president of the Chamber of diving, which was newly created under the aegis of the Union of Chambers of Tourism. According to figures from the ministry, more than three million tourists come to the Red Sea, known as "the paradise for divers." This number is expected to double, especially after the choice of Sharm Al-Sheikh as the best diving destination in the world by the United Nations World Travel Awards, considered the Oscar of the tourism industry internationally.

Although this international award is given this year to Sharm Al-Sheikh, this does not deny that the number of tourists who go diving in Egypt is still considered low compared with other countries, like the Australian coast or islands Maldives for instance, and many other beach resorts.

This shortage is in fact due to the various problems facing those miles and some diving centers across the country, of which 300 are found only at Sharm Al-Sheikh.

This award has been very well invested in the exhibition dive, which was held last month in Dusseldorf, Germany. "This is the first time that the diving industry in Egypt is represented in the largest exhibition specializing in diving tourism to the world. This will be very fruitful for the whole sector, "says Hilal Karim.

SAFARI IN EGYPT

2008-04-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Safari in Egypt

The wildlife, adventure camps, nature and serenity, all these words express the real meaning of the word''Desert Safari in Egypt''.

The trips to the Egyptians Deserts are the most formidable and most different in the world.

What are the best places Safari in Egypt?

The Western Desert oasis with its 5 is the most famous in Africa (Safari in Africa is between 5 and 10 days). It is one of the legendary places where you can spend an excursion incomparable Safari in Egypt, thanks to its natural landscape formed by the sand, and it also bears witness to the end of the Second World War where you can see the Great Sand Wednesday

Sinai where you get the chance to visit the Monastery of St. Catherine Jeep and climb to the Mount of Moses, it's the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. Remember riding camels as a means of transportation effective in the desert.

Hurghada is regarded as an ideal starting point to the deserts with its mountains and valleys colorful.

The Gilf Kebir is one of the most famous places. Spend several days of discovering the most important sites in the Western Desert and Jebel Uweinat of Uweinat Mountain''and''Gilf Kebir plateau.

What are the best moments for this trip?

The appropriate time for the tour is the summer season (from May to September). But the best times are (October to April).

What you should wear clothes as with this kind of trips?

Of course, you must wear light clothing in hot this tour, but you can also wear a jacket or a sweater for cool evenings