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Egypt: Dec 08 to Jan 09

Cairo, the capital of Egypt. The population is about 20 million, roughly a quarter of the total population of Egypt.

The building in the bottom left of the picture is the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. The King Tutankhamen exhibit is housed here. We stayed across the street in the honking, people filled mayhem of downtown.

The only remaining member of the seven ancient wonders of the world and over 4000 years old, the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.

Built on the orders of pharaohs by teams of workers tens-of-thousands strong. It is believed the pyramids were built as a tomb for Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and constructed over a 14 to 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC.

Surprisingly, the urban sprawl of Cairo goes up to about 100 feet within the front of the site and desert stretches out behind it. There are 2 large pyramids and 3 smaller ones on the site.

The picture to the right is of the Sound and Light show at Giza at night.

The Pyramid of Khafre is the second largest of the pyramids of Giza and the tomb of the pharaoh Khafre (Chephren).

The pyramid has a base length of 215.25 m (706 ft) and originally rises to a height of 143.5 m (471 ft). For perspective a football field is 360 feet long. The Pyramid is made of Limestone blocks (weighing more than 2 tons each).

The picture to the right is of me, Amber and some young Egyptian girls who asked to take a picture with us. Afterwards I said the one word in Arabic I knew, Shokran (thank you), to which they giggled and clapped.

A group of Egyptian men in front of a mosque in Cairo near the marketplace of Khan al-Khalili

The marketplace of Khan al-Khalili, established in the 14^th century. You could buy many items: clothes, scarves, household items, alabaster pyramids, etc.

The site of Abu Simbel, overlooking Lake Nasser and located about 25 miles north of the border of Sudan.

The twin temples (see the second one below) were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari. Amazingly, the complex was disassembled and relocated piece by piece in the 1960s, to an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan dam reservoir.

The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan dam on the Nile River.

The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, also known as the Small Temple, was built about one hundred meters northeast of the temple of Ramses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. This was in fact the second time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple was dedicated to a queen. The first time, Akhenaten dedicated a temple to his great royal wife, Nefertiti. The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The statues, slightly more than ten meters high, are of the king and his queen. What is truly surprising is that for the only time in Egyptian art, the statues of the king and his consort are equal in size.

Nubian mummy from the Ptolemaic period in the Nubia Museum in Aswan.

When the Aswan Dam was built to expand and control the Nile and use the energy generated by the dam, the lands of Nubia were flooded, so this museum had a collection of many of the artifacts that were rescued from Nubia before it was flooded.

The city of Aswan on the Nile with a population of about 1.18 million. In ancient times it was a garrison town for the military campaigns against Nubia; its quarries provided the valuable granite used for so many sculptures and obelisks.

You can see the Tombs of the Nobles on the hill of the west bank which are rock-hewn tombs of princes from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period.

The pace of life is a little slower and more relaxing than some of Egypt’s larger cities. Along the waterfront you can find Egyptians to take you on a felucca ride (the boat pictured here) or on a horse drawn carriage ride.

For New Year’s we rang in 2009 in Aswan at a dinner show that featured traditional Nubian singers, musicians, and dancers.

Obelisks were sometimes put in front of or into temples, where they acted as "antennas", drawing cosmic energy down to Earth.

One of the really ambitious ones, which was however never finished because of a fatal crack, is the unfinished obelisk at the ancient granite quarry at Aswan. If finished, it would have been 41.75 meters (app. 137 feet) high - higher than any Egyptian obelisk ever actually erected.

To the right is an obelisk cut from this same site in Aswan and transported by boat on the Nile to Luxor where it now stands in front of the Luxor temple.

Amber, Josh and I boating out to the Philae Temple in Aswan.

Philae Temple was dismantled and reassembled (on Agilika Island about 550 meters from its original home on Philae Island) because it was flooded with the building of the High Dam.

Philae temple. Although antiquities on the island date between the 26th Dynasty and the Roman Period, most of the work is from that of the Roman. This was a time of immense popularity of the Goddess Isis, and this was her island, where pilgrims would come from all over the Mediterranean. Construction on the island took place over an 800 year span, and it was one of the last strongholds of Ancient Egyptian Religion which continued to flourish here into the 6th Century.

To the right is a part of the wall from inside the temple. Many Egyptian temples were covered from floor to ceiling in these impressive carved reliefs of the gods and the pharaohs.

Two dams straddle the river in Aswan: the newer Aswan High Dam and the older Aswan Dam or Aswan Low Dam. The aim of this water project was to prevent the river's flooding, generating about 60% of Egypt’s electricity and providing water for agriculture.

Without impoundment, the River Nile would flood each year during summer, as waters from East Africa flowed down the river as they did in ancient times. These floods brought nutrients and minerals that made the soil around the Nile fertile and ideal for farming. As the population along the river grew, there came a need to control the flood waters to protect and support farmland and cotton fields. In a high-water year, the whole crop may be entirely wiped out, while in a low-water year there was widespread drought and famine.

From Aswan we took a 2-day cruise north down the Nile to Luxor (the Nile flows from south to north). There were many 3-4 story boats on the Nile that had a sort of worn elegance with marble floors and wooden interior and a swimming pool on the top deck.

It was very relaxing to sit on the top deck and watch the banks of the Nile go by on either side. The picture to the right shows a typical view from the ship of the green along the Nile shores with desert hills in the background.

The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple built during the rule Ptolemaic dynasty. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period. The building is unique because its “double” design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris, also known as Horus the Elder. The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis.

The Temple of Edfu, in Esna, is the second largest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best preserved. The temple, dedicated to the falcon god Horus, was built in the Ptolemaic period between 237 and 57 BC.

Some of the interior walls of Edfu covered from floor to ceiling in hieroglyphs and carved reliefs.

The picture to the right shows how Christians later defaced what they saw as pagan gods by chipping out either their faces or their whole bodies.

Papyrus was used widely in Egypt and here an Egyptian guy shows us how it is made through soaking and pressing and weaving the papyrus strips together. Then they paint images on the papyrus as seen in the background.

The Karnak temple complex in Luxor (Luxor is formerly known as Thebes), universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings.

The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo.

Young Egyptian girls on a class field trip to Karnak.

The temple of Karnak is famous for its 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows in the Hypostyle Hall. 122 of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters. The architraves on top of these columns weigh an estimated 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers. This would be an extremely time-consuming process and would also require great balance to get to such great heights.

The Luxor Temple on the eastern bank of the town of Luxor (population less than 500,000). "Luxor" derives from the Arabic al-uksur, meaning "fortifications." That name in addition was adapted from the Latin castrum which referred to the Roman fort built around the temple in the later third century AD. The temple of Luxor has, since its inception, always been a sacred site. After Egypt's pagan period, a Christian church and monastery was located here, and after that, a mosque (13th century Mosque of Abu el-Haggag) was built that continues to be used today.

King Amenhotep III, who reigned 1390-53 BC, built the temple of Luxor and dedicated it to Amon-Re, king of the gods, his consort Mut, and their son Khons.

This temple has been in almost continuous use as a place of worship right up to the present day. It was completed by Tutankhamun and Horemheb and added to by Ramses II. Towards the rear is a granite shrine dedicated to Alexander the Great.

We went for an early morning hot air balloon ride over the farmlands of the west bank of Luxor and went up to 2600 feet. We stayed on the west bank which was quieter and less built up than the east bank.

In Luxor, we also visited the Valley of the Queens, with between 75 and 80 tombs that belong to the Queens of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties including the famous tomb of Nefertari, one of five wives of Ramses II.

We also visited the Valley of the Kings (pictured here) where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC tombs were constructed for the kings and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom including Tutankhamun (King Tut) and Ramses the Great. There are about 62 tombs located here.

We got to go inside several of the tombs and many had vivid and colorful paintings adorning the walls and ceilings. One tomb wall can be seen here to the right.

The entrance to King Tutankhamun’s tomb (King Tut). Even though King Tut ruled for only 9 years, his tomb is famous because it was the only one to be found nearly intact with its treasures.

Howard Carter, an English Egyptologist, searched for King Tut’s tomb for seven years. In November 1922, Carter's Egyptian laborers uncovered a series of steps leading down to the sealed door of King Tut’s tomb.

The contents of the tomb can be seen on display at Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.

In Luxor, a major crop is sugar cane and they cut the sugar cane by hand and transport it by donkey cart.

Deir El-Medineh is a village where the workmen of the royal tombs of the nearby Valleys of the Kings and Queens and resided with their families. About 70 ancient houses are surrounded by an enclosure.

Nearby are several ruined chapels. One chapel is built by the Ptolemies (to the left in the picture) and is dedicated to Hathor and Maat. The temple was built in the 3rd century BC and it was transferred into a monastery in early Christian era in Egypt.

The Temple of Hatshepsut (on the right). She was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty.

Many Egyptian men could be seen playing dominoes. Here the guards of the Tomb of the Nobles site (next to The Temple of Hatshepsut) pass the time.

The Tomb of the Nobles of Deir el-Bahari, a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile and next to The Temple of Hatshepsut.

The guards pictured above took us into some of the dark underground tombs here. In some, we had to crawl through tunnels to get through. Some had colorful painted walls. Inside one was an actual mummy (pictured to the right).

A temple on the west bank of Luxor built in honor of Ramses. To the right is a structure made of mud bricks which was used for storage.

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and have stood on the west bank of Luxor for 3400 years.

The twin statues depict Amenhotep III (fl. 14th century BC) in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze turned eastward toward the river and the rising sun. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs: these are his wife Tiy and mother Mutemwiya.

Dahab, a small town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, located approximately northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab is still considered to be one of the Sinai's most treasured diving destinations. The Bedouin style can still be seen in the restaurants with pillows on the floor with low tables to eat on.

Following the Six Day War, the town was occupied by Israel and known in Hebrew as Di-Zahav, a place mentioned in the Exodus from Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula was restored to Egyptian rule in 1982.

The monastery of St. Katherine on the Sinai peninsula at an elevation of about 1600 meters from sea level, at the foot of the Sinai High Mountains. St. Katherine's Monastery is the oldest continuously inhabited monastery in the World built on the site where it is said that Moses (Prophet Musa) talked to God in the miracle of the Burning Bush.

It is told in the Book of Exodus that, in advance of the great catastrophes that preceded and accompanied the flight of the Israelites from Egypt, the first sign of the things to come was the experience of Moses in Sinai when he saw a burning bush. The bush, to his amazement, was burning, yet the flame did not consume it (Exodus 3:2-4). Pictured here is the bush located in St. Katherine’s Monastery.

In about 3 hours, we climbed to the top of Mt. Sinai (the Biblical Mt. Horeb, known locally as Jebel Musa) where it is said that Moses received the Ten Commandments.

At the top of Mt. Sinai is a church and a mosque. We watched a very chilly sunset from the top and then hiked back down by moonlight and with flashlights.

The bustling city of Alexandria, northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean sea with a population of about 4 million.

In ancient times, Alexandria was one of the most famous cities in the world. It was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 334 BC by Alexander the Great. It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo).

In Alexandria, one of the many open air fruit stands. There are also many traveling fruit stands that are wheeled around on donkey cart.

The Pillar of Pompey is the biggest memorial column in Egypt. It is a huge column of red granite, its total height is about 28 m with a diameter at the base of 2.7 m, and towards the capital at the top it tapers to 2.3 m.

The Roman ruler of Egypt, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, erected this memorial column between 284-305A.D in honor of the Roman Emperor, as a sign of gratitude.

The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages). This well is at the entrance of the Catacombs and was used to lower in the bodies of the mummies to be entombed in the catacombs. When the Aswan Dam was installed, it raised the water table flooding the lower regions of the tomb.

The catacombs are unique both for their plan and for their decoration which represents a melding and mixing of the cultures and traditions of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The catacombs are a mass burial site. In its final stage, the complex contained over one hundred loculi and numerous rock-cut sarcophagus tombs.

Kom El-Dikka, a Greco-Roman Amphitheater that was recently discovered in 1967 when work was planned to construct a modern building on its site. It is the only Roman Theater in Egypt.

Built in the 2nd century AD in the Roman era, the theater has 13 semicircular tiers made of white and gray marbles imported from Europe. This can accommodate about 800 spectators.

The acoustics in the amphitheatre were amazing. There was a round stone marking the place for a speaker to stand in the center of the amphitheatre and when you stood on this spot and spoke, your voice was amplified.

Students heading to and from class outside the University of Alexandria.

The Biblioteca of Alexandria, a truly impressive library located next to the University of Alexandria and built in 2002 for $235 million dollars. The Bibliotheca Alexandria is a revival of the legendary ancient library built in classical Greek times. The design of a slanted roof allows natural indirect light into the main reading room which can accommodate up to 2,000 people. On the site is also a Planetarium and several small museums within the library.

In the Biblioteca of Alexandria is the Ancient Books and Manuscripts museum which houses many ancient texts including letters written by Muhammad, born in 570 AD, who is the central human figure of the religion of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God.

Egypt is 90% Muslim and 10% Coptic (Christian). The Muslim women cover their hair and dress in loose fitting shirts with sleeves to their wrists, and long skirts all the way to the ground.

Some women dressed so that no skin, not even their hands, was showing except for a slit for their eyes. The idea is to protect the women from the lustful gaze of men.

According to the Quran women must guard their modesty: "Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof. " [Quran : 24.31]