Cairo

Two weeks after our trip to Cairo, I finally find time to sit down and write about it, even though the hectic and cram-packed weekend that was Cairo would never allow for a fully detailed account of everything that happened. I left my bed at 5:00 on Friday morning the 4th of July to meet everyone at the TAFL center and catch the mini-bus to Cairo, which we did rather promptly at 5:30. We got to Cairo around 9:30ish and went straight to Saqqara where we visited the tomb of Mereruka, high priest to the Pharaoh Teti, who has a pyramid close by. In some of the chambers, the color was still visible on the murals, of which their were many, portraying the high priest and his family and their life and them in the afterlife. From the tomb we went to the step pyramid, which, as it’s name would indicate does not resemble the smooth-sided triangular image we tend to associate with pyramids, like the Great Pyramids, but rather has steps. This was my favorite part of the trip, because this pyramid, built for King Zoser in 2650 BC is regarded as the oldest pyramid in the world. From Saqqara we went to Giza to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, which were awe-inspiring. Amazingly or unfortunately, you can drive right up to the pyramids, and there are a lot of Egyptians harraassing you to buy their souvenirs and take a ride on their camel or donkey or horse or whatever kind of beast of burden they happen to have with them. After the pyramids we went to see the Sphinx close by and I finally learned how the Sphinx actually lost his nose. It was not used for target practice by Napoleon’s army, nor did the sculptor make it crack and fall when he saw Aladdin and Jasmine fly by on their magic carpet. No, the Sphinx was purposely defaced in the Middle Ages under the order of one of the rulers of Egypt, to keep the Egyptians from considering it a deity and worshipping it in lieu of Islam. After Giza, we went to a Papyrus museum/store, where we were showed how paper is made from papyrus and we shopped for souvenirs. After our jam-packed day, we finally went to our hotel for the night. The next day we spent at the Cairo museum which housed many of the awesome artifacts from Egypt’s ancient history, such as animal mummies and the infamous King Tut, in addition to other mummies and sarcophagi. There were also myriad statues, doors, chariots, jewelry, canopic jars (the containers used to place the brain, lungs, liver, and kidneys of the mummies) amid countless other treasures. After that I went with Adrienne, Jennifer, and Cara (some of the girls in the program) to the famous Khan al-Khalil souq, which has countless souvenirs and where some of the most intense haggling is to be found in Egypt. We had dinner on board a boat on the Nile, but I wasn’t nearly as excited by that as the wedding going on above us (the boat had two floors), to which I would sneak peeks at as I went up onto the deck. The cruise didn’t last long enough, and the Nile was beautiful, especially at night, when all is distant and quite, except for the inside of our huge tourist boat, of course, which featured dancing and singing. All in all, it was a great end to a great day. The next day we went to see some of the religious sites around Cairo- we visited the Coptic Section, where we visited the “Hanging Church” so called because it is built on top of the Water Gate of Roman Babylon and thus doesn’t really have a foundation. We also visited the church of St. Sergius, which dates back to the 3rd century. Under the church is a cave where it is said the Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived in during their stay in Egypt when the fled to escape Herod. In addition to Christian sites, we also visited Al-Azhar Mosque, part of the university, and by far one of the most spiritual places I’ve ever been in. Founded in 970 A.D., Al-Azhar is one of Egypt’s oldest mosque and is considered the oldest university in the world and it has really lived up to its heritage by remaining a bastion of Islamic thought in the Middle East. In addition to the religious sites we visited the citadel, which contained a beautiful mosque and offered stunning views of the city, with the pyramids in the distance. Looking out over the city, I thought to myself “man, maybe I could live here for awhile”; but hanshoof inshallah (we’ll see, Lord willing).

A Blast from the Past...

This past weekend we finally had the opportunity to explore some of the sights around Alexandria. The city, which has been ruled by the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, and Arab empires to name just a few and has been home to Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Ptolemy, and Napoleon, has existed since its founding by Alexander in the early hundreds B.C. and has been home to one of the Wonders of the World and the ancient library which was considered the largest in its day.
We started out the day visiting one of the Coptic churches, Saint Mark's. Tradition has it that Mark, who was one of the 12 disciples of Christ and the writer of the Gospel of Mark, came to Alexandria in 61 A.D. and founded what eventually became the Coptic Church, thus fulfilling the second part of the prophecy in Isaiah 19:19 ("In that day there will be an alter to the Lord in the heart of Egypt and a monument to the Lord at its border"-the first part of the prophecy is considered to be when Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus fled to Egypt (see Isaiah 19:1)). After visiting the church, we headed to the Pompey's Pillar, which ironically has nothing to do with the ancient Roman city (Pompeii, actually) that was buried under the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D. The Pompey for whom this pillar is named is a reference to the famous General who was killed by Cleopatra's brother and the monument stands in the debris of the ancient settlement of Rhakotis, the precursor to the city of Alexandria. In the remains lie the "sister library" to the great Library of Alexandria, which used to be a great center of enlightenment and learning in the early ages until it was destroyed by Christians in 391 A.D. in an attempt to wipe out all forms of pagan intellectualism. The pillar is actually supposedly the only ancient monument still standing in Alexandria today.
From Pompey's pillar we moved on to the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Shuqqafa, which were, in a word, awesome. This burial site was discovered in 1900 when a donkey disappeared through the ground (yikes!) and is the largest known Roman burial site in Egypt. Although originally intended to be a private burial chamber, there are three tiers of tombs, with chambers cut out the rock, and on the first level are small chambers of a man and a woman, probably portraying the original owners. Cut out sections in the wall reveal where bodies would have been laid, and on some of the coffins and walls you can see the fusion of Greek and Ancient Egyptian burial decoration. Additionally, there was a section which had much larger nooks in the wall, and we were told that this section of the catacombs was intended for larger animals, such as horses. After visiting the Catacombs, we briefly checked out the Roman Amphitheatre and then headed toward the Alexandria National Museum, where we gazed and gawked at Pharaonic, Greek, and Roman objects of antiquity and artifacts.
After the museum, we went to Fort Qaitbey, which was built in AD 1480 by a Mamluk sultan on the place where the legendary Pharos lighthouse used to be. The tower of Pharos was constructed under the order of Ptolemy the First and was erected, after 12 years of construction in 283 B.C. to aid ships coming into the harbor. Although it probably had been topped by a statue as was common in that time, it became a lighthouse around the first century A.D. and was such a phenomenon that it was heralded as One of the Wonders of the World (now the Ancient World). Although the Lighthouse stood for many years and endured many natural disasters, it was finally brought down by an earthquake in 1303. Decades later, a sultan ordered a fort to be built on the remains and the fortress still stands today, offering fantastic views of the Corniche (the coastal region of the city) and out to the beautiful big blue sea.
After the ancient sites, we wrapped up the day with a tour of Mosque of Abu Abbas al-Mursi, and finished the day off with dinner at the University Club/Gymnasium which, in comparison to the rest of the day, was rather anticlimactic. Although we had spent the whole day visiting places in Alexandria, we still have yet to explore more. Alexandria is a goldmine of history, and although is the scene of fantastic historical events, the rapid development of the city often impedes archeological progress and archeologists find themselves in short time frames and limited budgets for the work that needs to be done. However, nautical archeology in the bay has been relatively successful, and it's amazing to see what kind of treasures the ocean yields and how well preserved some artifacts have remained. Inshallah, Alexandria will progress in the uncovering of its valuable history and I look forward to its development.