Day Two, Part One - Back to the beginnings

Menna House restaurant

Up not too early, another buffet breakfast and then an organizational meeting with the guide of Ramses Group, Ahmed, who has been doing this for 21 years, after four years studying Egyptology in college.  He and Sira will be our shepherds and information sources.  They prove up to the job on all fronts, including shooing vendors away.  Hassan, who’s been doing this since 1997, is our security officer (for a day) and Mr. Mahmoud is the all important driver, traffic being what it is.  (After a few days, he starts calling me habibi (sweetheart), probably because I always smile at him and say hello every morning.)

       As we ride through crazy traffic, Ahmed introduces us to Egypt and announces that Zahi Hawass and Jehan Sadat will both be on the boat with us from Luxor to Aswan.  He goes down the list of luxuries we’ll enjoy:  entrance to places no one else can go, like right down to the Sphinx or into all the chambers of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which we’ll have all to ourselves before it opens to the public.  (The Temple of Luxor, too, albeit at daybreak!)  Tea with the widow of President Sadat.  Plus seven nights on a new five-star boat.

Farming along the narrow fertile Nile Valley

To understand what we’re about to see, a bit of history is necessary, and Ahmed gives us some invaluable details to help us make sense of all we’re about to experience over the coming weeks.
       For starters, the Nile.  This river, arguably the longest in the world (with the Amazon), is what makes the country work.  Otherwise, it would be all desert.  As it is, only a narrow strip along either bank is green, irrigated by water drawn from it. Egypt’s Aswan Dam ended seasonal flooding while still providing water to the country.  Ninety per cent of the river’s water comes from the Blue Nile, which originates in Ethiopia, and plans there to build the Grand Renaissance Dam are causing serious disputes between the two countries.  Only 10% of the river’s flow comes from the White Nile, which originates in headwaters upstream from Uganda’s Lake Victoria.  (I personally stopped its flow with my finger when I visited Burundi decades ago and visited its farthest source, which is just some water bubbling up from underground in the middle of a meadow.)
       In ancient history, there were two Egypts, based on the flow of the Nile.  Upstream was Upper Egypt; downstream was Lower Egypt.  Mortal enemies, they were finally united in 3100 BCE by King Narmer (also called Menes) of Upper Egypt who defeated Lower Egypt and united the two lands.  “Ancient Egypt” is counted as of this point and ends in 332 BCE when it was conquered by Alexander the Great.

Life in Ancient Egypt as depicted on tomb walls

       There were some thirty dynasties in all.  The Early Period covered the first and second dynasties, from 3100 to 2700 BCE, followed by the Old Kingdom that ran from the 3rd to the 6th (2700-2400 BCE).  During the Old Kingdom, the ruler was very powerful and the government was well-organized.  The capital was established in Memphis, at the border of the two former Egypts.
       To give us an idea of the prowess of what Ancient Egypt built, Ahmed tells us that there was no iron back then, only bronze and copper, making stone-cutting extremely hard work.  There were no horses, only donkeys and oxen... and no chickens (a staple in modern menus).  There were no wheels, which means there were no pulleys - and makes it amazing to think about how the Pyramids were built at all.
       In understanding the multiple carvings on the many monuments we will see, it’s important to grasp a few details that deal with the unification of the two Egypts.  For instance, the symbol of the North was the papyrus plant while the South was represented by the lotus flower.  The king of the North wore a red crown, while the crown of the South was white, and the two were combined to indicate the pharaoh of United Egypt.  Of the 741 gods and goddesses worshipped, the North chose the cobra as its god and the dryer South, the vulture.

(to be continued)

Saqqara, Sstep Pyramid