As if I thought my 2 AM wake up call the prior week was the
earliest I would ever get up, the German tourists making their way back to
their rooms from the bar at 12:40 AM provided a sufficient alarm, five minutes
before my scheduled wake up call at 12:45 AM.
I do not even think it is right to call 12:45 AM a wake up call, but
rather more of a nap. The phone rang
shortly after I awoke; I was ready to begin my six hour journey by bus to Cairo.
Located near the Nile Delta, in the area known as lower Egypt (I will mention why later), Cairo is the city in Africa
with a population over 9 million people. Founded in 969 AD, and nicknamed
"the city of a thousand minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic
architecture, Cairo
has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life. The recent demonstrations occurring in Tahrir Square today
(same site two years ago) occurred after I had visited a couple months ago.
On the outskirts of Cairo,
with the city providing an interesting comparison of the new world and old
world, you will find the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the
pyramids of Giza. There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt
as of today, and were built by 20,000 workers (and up to 100,000 in some cases)
as tombs for the country's Pharaohs. The
Great Pyramid (or Pyramid of Khufu) was the tallest man-made structure in the
world for over 3,800 years. Originally, the pyramids were covered by casing
stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying
core structure. The shape of a pyramid
is thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun, and most
pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective white limestone, in order
to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed from a distance.
Adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza lays the largest and
most famous sphinx. The Great Sphinx of
Giza is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a
human. Egyptologists have proposed numerous
theories surrounding the date the sphinx was completed and the method of
construction used; however, it may always remain an unanswered question. The pyramids and sphinx are very nice to see,
however, more must be done to maintain their existence in history and for
everyone to enjoy as people are constantly climbing on the pyramids, and with
the constant bombardment of items to purchase, it takes away from the true
meaning of the site.
Located just over 300 miles to the south in Upper Egypt is
the city of Luxor. The terminology of “Upper” and “Lower” Egypt
derives from the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa northwards
to the Mediterranean Sea, thus Upper Egypt lies to the south of Lower Egypt
(even though geographically it is the opposite). Luxor was the
ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Egypt during the New
Kingdom, and the glorious city of the god Amon-Ra. Luxor has
frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air
museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the
modern city. Build from sandstone, Luxor Temple
is the large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River
in the city today known as Luxor
and was founded in 1400 BC.  |
| Crossing the Nile |
Immediately west, across the River Nile, lie the monuments,
temples and tombs on the West Bank Necropolis, which include the Valley of the
Kings and Valley of the Queens. With the
sun rising in the east, and setting in the west, the tombs of the dead were
built into the west side of the city in mountains to symbolize death and the power
of restoring life by giving immortality to the dead owner. Many years could be spent on building and
preparing tombs, some of which went incomplete as the future occupant might have died
prior to completion. The art work and
paintings in the tombs is beautiful, and very well preserved, most likely due
to the dry, desert climate. Also, the art technique used was known as egg
tempera, which a color pigment was mixed with egg white (or yolk depending on
the desired effects) which resulted a mixture that was fast drying and
permanent.
