Egypt
By Greg Petty
April 2008

Most, if not all of us have seen pictures of the Pyramids of Giza. They were burned into my permanent memory from years of reading about them, looking at pictures and watching television programs. To travel there seemed a far-off dream.

Barbara's and my interest was piqued when we learned that a group from our church was planning a journey to Egypt. We promptly signed up because we realized that there would not be many more opportunities in our lives to go. We would also have the added benefit of going with fellow church-members.

The flight was a long one, but our excitement was palpable as the pilot announced we were approaching Cairo. It was a bright day and I craned my neck to see out the window to take in as much of the huge metropolis of Cairo as possible. On the second turn of the plane the announcement came on that we would circle the Pyramids. Out of the Plains of Giza emerged three large Pyramids, and the sight was magnificent. We could not wait to begin our adventures in this ancient land that is the source of many legends and has had so much influence on the social, political and religious evolution of humanity.

The Great Sphinx is flanked by Menkaure, the smallest pryamid, and Khafre

There are advantages and drawbacks to being a member of a travel tour group, but I have no doubt that Egypt is best to experience with a group. Egypt is so full of history and important sites on which you could not focus if you were continually trying to navigate your way through the day. A tour guide will take care of you, translate when needed, but also bring you a wealth of knowledge that you may not otherwise obtain. Our tour guide, Osama Tawfik, was the best guide many of us have ever had. We will share his contact info at the end of Part Two next month. If you take our advice and go with a group, try to join a tour that is composed of no more than 20-22 members.

Cairo is the third most populous city in the world and the trip from the airport to our hotel opened our eyes to this fact. The airport is in the Northeast quadrant of the city and our hotel, the Pyramids Park Intercontinental in Giza is in the Southeast quadrant. We were very pleased to be in a large bus and not trying to make our way through the traffic! Five marked lanes, but at one point I counted 10 cars wide - this is what I call white-knuckle driving. We all looked with amazement at the wide variety of housing, shops and businesses all seemingly thrown together haphazardly. Close to beautiful housing you would find shops, cafes and high-density housing. Go a little further, turn a few corners and voila there is a dead horse in the canal, followed shortly thereafter by a man living in a small homemade barge in the same canal. The image that remains with me from over all of Egypt is that many buildings just did not seem to be finished. Unlike America, generations of extended families in Egypt live together, so there probably is near continuous construction going on.

The Step Pyramid of King Djoster

Most amazing to us was the 10-mile-long so-called "City of the Dead." A Muslim cemetery, the above-ground grave monument buildings are now homes for thousands of very poor Egyptians. It has become its own city with all the usual services; schools, stores, etc.

On our first day of sightseeing, we visited ancient Egypt's first capital, Memphis and burial sites at Saqqara. Many sites and city names we know by their Greek names. In Egyptian, Men-nefer meant "beautiful temple;" the Greeks named it Memphis. In Egypt the temples, palaces and cities were built on the east bank of the lush Nile Valley… referred to as kemet, the black land, land of the living protected by the God Horus. In Egyptian mythology, Horus was the good son and vindicator of his father Osiris. The burial monuments are in the deserts, from the Egyptian word Deshert, on the west bank, receiving each days "dying" setting sun. It is the land of the dead, the land of evil Seth who killed his brother Osiris. The Egyptian government has built attractive community facilities, canals and made generous offers of land in the desert to try to lure people away from overcrowded Cairo. The efforts have not been too successful because, even after all these years, it is still the land of Seth and is considered dangerous.

Not much of the temple complexes from Memphis remain as the water table and Nile silt have obscured the ruins. Our first stop was the Ramses II (1304 -1237 BC) Museum in Memphis in the town of Mit Rahina. It contains a toppled colossal statue of the great Pharoah of the biblical Exodus. The statue, which once stood at the temple of Ptah, weighs 125 tons and was found in this spot in 1840. The museum also includes the Sphinx of Memphis and stela (monument tablet) to Apis, a bull diety. After a good-natured bargaining exchange with one of the merchants, Barbara came away with a handsome polished soapstone cat statue.

The bus left Memphis and headed west across the Nile. After only one or two twisting uphill turns we were in the driest desert I have ever seen. Right out of Lawrence of Arabia! We had come to Saqqara to view the mastaba tomb of Mere-Ruka and the Step Pyramid of Djoser.

The Ramses II (played by Yul Brenner :-) statue, weighs 125 tons and lies on the same spot where it was found

The word mastaba means bench and these style of tombs were the first of the architectural evolutionary steps that would later result in pyramid tombs. Mere-Ruka was the son-in-law and vizier of the Pharoah Teti (2340 BC), and his tomb is one of the best-preserved in all of Egypt. We were amazed at the brightness of the colors painted more than 4,000 years ago. Scenes of everyday life for this nobleman and his family provide one with a glimpse of the professions of the people: hunting, fishing as well as the animals of the Nile. One scene has Mere-Ruka riding in a sacred boat with his wife. To our amazement she is playing a harp, which may be the earliest representation of this musical instrument.

The Temple Complex of Djoser is famous for several reasons. It was designed by the architect, physician, magician, and philosopher Imhotep. He was the ancient equivalent of Frank Lloyd Wright, Merlin and Louis Pasteur all rolled into one. The step-pyramid is considered the world's oldest stone building of its size. King Djoser (2687-2668 BC) ordered a funerary monument, and under Imhotep's direction, built Egypt's first pyramid and largest temple complex. The complex is also renowned for its introduction of a portico, hypostyle hall and colonnade that influenced all future temple architecture. The funerary chamber and sarcophagus were placed in the pyramid so that he could look directly out of the side of the pyramid to view the North Star. Djoser's step pyramid provided the inspiration to perfect the pyramid structure. His 4th dynasty successor Sneferu built the famous Bent Pyramid further south in Dahshur and his dogged determination to get it right helped pyramid engineering to progress. His son Cheops (Khufu) built the largest pyramid at Giza, which ultimately solved the architectural problem of distributing the weight load by not allowing the angle to exceed 53 degrees.

I have only one regret about our trip to Egypt. I did not have enough time to spend in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo! It is so extensive and full of precious archaeological artifacts from the beginning of Predynastic period through the Ptolemaic period that one morning was not enough. If you have flexibility with your own time I think you can easily spend two days here. That said, our guide Osama, did an excellent job of showing us the very best and most important artifacts for the time we had allotted (three hours - whereas training for tour guides require them to spend three months at the museum!) The three most exciting objects we saw were the Tablet of Narmer, the treasures of King Tut, and the royal mummies.

The Narmer Tablet (also called the Narmer Palette) is considered to be the main evidence showing the first ruler to unite Upper and Lower Egypt and found the first dynasty. A beautiful slate palette, it may also be the oldest known object from the dynastic age, and one of the most important masterpieces from that era. Kig Tut's artifacts - the multiple funerary containers, the golden mask, the bed, jewelry… everything was incredible. But what is more astounding is that King Tut was only a minor pharaoh. Can you image what the burial chamber of a major pharaoh would have been like? We will never know…

I went into the room of the royal mummies while Barbara saw the room of mummified animals. The royal mummy room contained every major Pharoah that has been found including the recently discovered mummy of Hatshepsut. I was amazed to view the physical remains of Ramses II and of Tuthmosis III (also known as the Napoleon of Egypt). Hatshepsut's mummy still had red hair attached! Many Egyptians would mummify their pets so they would have companionship as they traveled through the afterlife, and/or they wanted protection. On display was a dog that was preserved to near perfection - the eyelashes were still there. Also fascinating were the mummified crocodiles and baboons.

The Mosque of Muhammad Ali

Before we left, we bought the museum book A Guide through the Alleys of Ancient Egypt. Far into the future we can refresh our memory of this day and the artifacts we saw in this fabulous museum.

Our next stop was in Old Cairo to visit the Coptic Christian Community. On the way Osama pointed out to us ruins under excavation and informed us, "This is the old Jewish quarter of Cairo founded by Jeremiah." Amazing… we are walking on the same ground as Jeremiah! Old Coptic Cairo is no less amazing. We visited the famous Hanging Church built in the 4th century AD, so named because it was built on top of two pillars from a Roman era building. The tour then wound its way through the ancient narrow streets to St. George's Church. This Coptic church's basement housed the Holy Family for four months during their Egyptian exile. At the entrance to the church is a map of their journey in the country, each of which now contains a shrine. We enjoyed the visit with our fellow Christians.

The tour then progressed to the Citadel of Salah al-Din that contains the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. Sitting atop the Mokattam Hills, it was built in 1183 by the warrior famous for defeating the Crusaders and known to us as Saladin. This site was the seat of power in Egypt through the Ottomans and the founder of modern Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha. The complex contains three Mosques and three museums. The dominant Mosque is the one built in 1830 by Muhammad Ali Pasha. It is a large square building and has a large centralized dome surrounded by four smaller domes. I will not forget taking my shoes off upon entry and looking up at the fabulous crystal chandeliers and the beautiful central dome.

Our first experience with the Pyramids of Giza would be the evening light and sound show. As night fell we were treated to the spectacle of all the Pyramids and the Sphinx being lit from their bases with various colors. A dramatic recording of Egyptian history is played for the audience while the laser lights dance around illustrating the storyline. I must say that the recording was too melodramatic for me. It is the same exact voice and music that was used in the James Bond movie filmed here in the 70's… time for an updated version.

"I'd fly 10,000 miles for a camel..."

The next morning our group was back to the Sphinx and the Pyramids to see them up close and personal. The iconic Great Sphinx was larger than I had imagined and the photos of it with the pyramids in the background are fantastic. Upon exiting the complex, one member of our group found a great T-shirt of the Sphinx. We went to the vendor to see if he had our sizes but his supply was gone. But no worries, he was on his cell phone in a flash to call a friend nearby to see what the inventory was… ah modern marketing even at the Pyramids! (P.S. We never did get another T-shirt.)

The bus then took us to the two largest pyramids, Khufu and Khafre. The pyramid of Khufu contains 2,500,000 stones and is 480 feet tall; the second largest, Khafre reaches 471 feet; and the smallest pyramid, Menkaure, stands at 216 feet. Kafre's pyramid appears larger but it is because he built it on higher ground. Standing up against one of the base stones of Khafre's pyramid (6 ft high , 10-11 ft long, and several tons in weight) you can get a better understanding of how big these structures really are, and what a technologically sophisticated undertaking the construction process was. The stones were quarried 600 miles away in Aswan and brought up the Nile. They were brought close to the site by canals dug from the Nile, then pulled on ramps to their location. The ramps could only go so high up the pyramid; the stones from mid-point had to then be pulled up winding switchbacks until the top was completed. The top was made of gold (later stolen, of course) and the finest white stone was laid down on the exterior while removing the switchbacks and the ramp from top to bottom. The completed pyramids had to have been fantastic, stunning white edifices when first constructed! These visions filled our minds eye as we stood beneath them and tried to put ourselves 4,300 years back in time.

While some in our group went to see Khufu's (Cheops) Solar Boat museum, Barb and I decided to walk around the circumference of his pyramid. The east side of the pyramid had a section cut out so you could climb up to get a better perspective of how large the structure is. The tour was then taken to an overlook of the plateau that provided a great panoramic view of the entire plain and all three pyramids.

This was also the spot where the camel drivers congregated so you could either get up on a camel for a picture and/or also take a brief ride. How could you not have a picture taken with you on a camel and the pyramids in the background?

Our time in Cairo was ending. All of us were looking forward to the second leg of the trip… fabulous Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. The conclusion of our trip to Egypt will be in the May issue of Boom! Stay tuned…


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