LOWER EGYPT - PART ONE

CAIRO

Our first morning we were picked up at dawn.  As we drove through the chaotic and noisy streets Ahmed advised you need three things to drive in Cairo: “good horn, good brakes, and good luck.”  We arrived at the Pyramid plateau expecting hordes of tourists, and were amazed that it was virtually empty; I believe due to Covid, the month (before the main tourist season), and our early morning start.  Whatever you may know, studied, or seen about the Pyramids and Sphinx it does not begin to capture their presence.  With mouths agape in awe, they take your breath away and truly leave you speechless with their scale, purity of form and precision of construction.  You want to be alone to take it in - and fortunately we were. Even more amazing when you consider they were built over 5000 years ago.  (I've included several photos; as you just can't capture it.)

Khafre's Pyramid (looks the tallest because built on higher ground)
All four face were covered with smooth limestone like the cap.  Image it in the sunlight)

Khufu's, The Great Pryamid 
(The lower blocks are five feet high and there's over 210 layers
so climbing it is not easy (and you'll be arrested).  The plaza in front is basalt blocks)

The three Pharaohs' Pyramids, (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkuru)
Their three queens to right.  

Ok, it's cheesy, but the guide made us do it.  

 As you probably know, mummification was believed necessary for an afterlife.  This eternal afterlife was considered so much more important than their current life that nothing remains for how they actually lived, only their tombs and contents.  For the gods to find you after death they had to recognize you, thus, the body was preserved and the tomb chamber was carved with your cartouche (your name), images of action, and stories of your great deeds. To live in the afterlife you also needed the spirit or soul of your worldly goods, transportation, and gold. The spirit was captured in both real and miniaturized artifacts, the physical material was not important - this is for the after-life after all.  The tombs were then sealed to prevent thieves from stealing your body, sustenance, and worldly goods.  Later kings or rivals would scratch your cartouche to prevent your recognition by the gods, and thus reaching afterlife.   But the kings had tricks, they'd put the name of a god with their cartouche and no one would defile a god. Even later, frustrated by thieves or rivals, the mummies were buried away from the tomb in collections which is why we now have so many. 

 

Several of our group decided to pay the extra entry fee to enter the Pyramid.  To reach the burial chamber deep inside, you had to walk hunched over in a tunnel only five feet high for a long distance and it was very hot!  So we decided not to go.  When they returned, they cited that there was a group of western "spiritualists" standing in a trance humming around the sarcophagus.  

New Age cosmic people looking for pyramid power.

As soon as a king ascended to the throne they immediately began building their tomb.  Upon death there was an elaborate ritual to prepare the body for the afterlife. They had only 70 days from death to burial to prepare it.  It was mummified in a temple along the Nile, then transported from the banks up to the pyramid via a long slope through the guardian Sphinx - which represented the kings power - head of a human so therefore wise, but with body of a lion representing their strength.

The the mummification temples along the Nile, the Sphinx at the ramp start, the ramp to the tomb, 
and the Pharaohs' and queens' pyramids.

Sphinx, ramp and Pyramids

Sphinx under restoration

After being awed by the Pyramids, we toured the nineteenth century Egyptian Museum with its fabulous collection of statues, mummies, and sarcophagi.  While impressed by Egyptian art in the Met in NYC, the Louvre in Paris, and the British Museum in London, their artifacts pale by comparison when isolated out of context.  Cairo is building a very large new museum to collect and curate these and other antiquities in storage to provide more modern context and explanation.  

Pharaoh and two wives.  Left leg always forward.
There seemed to be great affection displayed between Pharaoh and wife 

Pharaoh and wife.  Her stylized hair is usually a wig.  
Most high ranking Egyptians cut their hair to avoid lice.

Four thousand year old Hiroglyphics and art on papyrus paper.

Beautifully clear.

Hieroglyphics are both sounds and meaning.  In Tut Ankh Amun's cartouche (oval name plate), the half moon is an T, the zig zag is an N, the feather truth, the Circle is the God Amun, and the cross with a loop is Ankh - the symbol of eternity.  King Tut is famous not just for his found treasures,
but he changed the God to worship from Aten back to Amun.  He was originally Tut Ankh Aten.  

This is the royal scribe.  Note his confidence and hand poised with pen to write what the Pharaoh says.  
His eyes are jeweled inlay and are hauntingly real.

Next Post: LOWER EGYPT - PART TWO