In The Quest Of Ancient Egypt

Acknowledgement

Ancient Egypt has always been awe-inspiring to me. Ancient Egypt is the ocean of mysteries & I feel like drowned in it. This book is just a little descriptor of the most elaborate & wonderful civilisation on the Earth. I’ve tried to put all my efforts into this book. It is not so easy to write something you don’t know anything clearly about. But still, it was really good for me to write this book. Many of the things gave me pretty good goose bumps when I came to know about them for the first time. I wish, you would feel like that too. I would like to thank everything that supported & helped me to write this book. Most of those things included Arabic songs & tunes, which gave me an essence of Ancient Egypt while I wrote the book. I feel elated having completed this book & writing something for my most favourite civilisation.

In the end, I wish that you like this book & that’s all... Happy Reading!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To my world’s best siblings

and the wonderful parents who created

them*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“To ancient Egyptians, Death is the end of one Journey and the beginning of another. They believe that after the death, they would embark a long & dangerous journey, to an everlasting paradise. That is why, when the wealthy ancient Egyptians died, their bodies were mummified & the mummy was placed in a tomb with a special object to protect it. The mummy stayed in the tomb, but its ba spirit could fly away & explore the netherworld. Nephthys was the sister of Egyptian god Osiris and a goddess to protect the dead Egyptians” the uncle beside me spoke in a ceaseless tone.

“How do you know all that?” I was stunned to see him speaking that so fluently.

He giggled shortly and then answered, “I think I should know all these things very clearly.”

“Why?” I was puzzled again.

He shifted his luggage near him & took out a large, brown covered book.

“This is Book of the Dead, which is known by all Egyptians” he said after a minute time.

I then understood that he was an Egyptian.

We talked no more after that. I was just in a hurry to reach Egypt, ‘The land of ancient Pharaohs’.

After a few minutes, I asked him where he was going to land in Egypt. “Aswan” He said.

“Where do you live in Aswan?” I asked.

“El-Wasut & where are you going to land?”

“Al-Minya” I answered.

“Any relative there?” he questioned.

“No, no, I am doing Egyptology and it’s very important for me to gain knowledge about ancient Egypt, so I decided to visit some ancient-cultured parts of Egypt.”

“You are going to have fun then,” he replied.

I nodded and smiled.

I am Rosalie Dutch, from Las Vegas, U.S.A. Since my childhood till now, when I am 28 years old, I am a great fan of Egypt.

It still took 4 hours to reach Asyut International Airport in Egypt near Al-Minya for us by the airplane.

My heart started bouncing with extreme joy and excitement as I came to know that I was in ‘Egypt’ now.

Quickly, I took my luggage and started boarding off from the airplane.

“Rosalie dear, take this, you need it more than me. It’s a gift!” the uncle who was beside me offered me a book.

I flipped the pages of the book and spotted the same title which he told me.

“Book of the Dead, A book on Ancient Egypt” I read out.

“Thank you so much, dear uncle” I thanked him and smiled.

“I shall love to see you becoming an Egyptologist. Hope we will meet again.” He nodded.

“Sure” I giggled again and left.

 

I & my heart were feeling no boundaries as I stood on the Asyut International Airport. From my childhood only, I wanted to be an Egyptologist.

I think, Egypt is the perfect place where one of the world’s greatest civilizations took root & flourished. I was extremely excited to visit Petra in Egypt which is listed in ‘28 places to see before you die’.

I was staring to the airport when Arthur, my partner to the trip of Egypt came and stood in front of me.

Arthur too was very much interested in Ancient-Egyptian culture & he was doing Egyptology too.

“Arthur!” I said getting happy.

“We are ready now.” He shouted joyously.

We carried our bags on our shoulders & began walking to a lodge which we had arranged in Salaam Nagar.

 

“I’m just so excited, Arthur” I wasn’t able to control my emotions.

“Rosalie, I’m sure that we both are going to have very much fun here” Arthur laughed.

“Yeah” I said losing my eyes in the street.

After walking for an hour time, we finally reached our lodge.

I kept my luggage on the dressing table and eagerly took out the ‘Book of the Dead’.

“What is this?” Arthur asked.

“It’s a complete book on ancient Egypt!” I said.

“Wow!” he exclaimed and sat on the mattress with the book.

“This book was the first religious document in the world.

This book contains spells to preserve the bodies of the Egyptians who had recently died & about the ba spirits that remained in the tomb with the dead bodies. The ba spirit in this book is depicted by a human-headed bird which could fly away from the dead bodies into the outer world. Egyptians preserved the hearts of the dead bodies as they believed that they stored one’s memories and intelligence in them. It is also said that the shut or shadow of the dead was preserved by the spells 91, 92 and 188 of this book.” Arthur read from the book.

“But why did they preserve all those things?” I questioned.

“If all these aspects of the person could be variously preserved, remembered, and satiated, then the dead person would live on in the form of an akh. An akh was a blessed spirit with magical powers who would dwell among the gods.” He answered.

“Wow!” I exclaimed.

I just felt that how wise and great those ancient Egyptians were.

“The nature of the afterlife which the dead person enjoyed is really difficult to define. The journey after the death for them was quite difficult. They had to pass a series of gates, caverns and mounds guarded by supernatural creatures. The dead person had to recite all the spells to secure him from the creatures…” I read and closed the book.

“This book is amazing…” I said and kept it safely in my jute bag.

“I’m really excited to visit the streets of Al-Minya.” Arthur said and looked at the wall clock.

It was 9:50 pm.

“Yeah, sure…We are going to visit each & every corner of the Egypt!” I smiled.

“I think we should have a quick sleep now…!” Arthur said.

I nodded.

Next bright morning, when we woke up, I saw a brochure on my dressing table.

“Egypt tourism” I read it and kept in my bag.

Arthur and I dressed ourselves in a little traditional costume and left the lodge.

After walking some distance, we spotted most of the houses were fragile and were made up of woods.

Vegetation & spring were very little there; or we can say just no.

“Look to that hut, Arthur!” I exclaimed as I saw the hut.

A woman was cooking something on a sand burner inside the hut.

Arthur asked her in Arabic whether we can come inside or not. She permitted us. I noticed that she did not know English. The people there spoke Arabic language which only Arthur knew.

We took off our shoes and entered inside. I observed her; she wore a large gown called sebleh. She looked very friendly.

As soon as we entered her hut, we saw a large statue at the doorstep.

“Who’s this?” Arthur asked her in Arabic.

The woman answered in Arabic.

Arthur explained me that the statue was of Egyptian god Osiris, the powerful king of the underworld.

The statue depicted a mummy-shaped human wearing the atef crown made up of ostrich’s feathers & holding a crook and a flail in his hands.

“Are there more Egyptian gods?” Arthur asked her.

She told us that there are thousands of gods that the ancient Egyptians worshipped.

We introduced ourselves and told that we were very much interested in ancient Egypt.

“Can you give us more information about these gods?” Arthur asked.

She joyously agreed.

Her hut had two rooms. She went into the second room for a while and came with a book.

She handed over the book to Arthur and asked to read the English-translated part of it.

 

“At first, there was only nun. Nun was the dark waters of chaos.

One day, a hill rose up out of the waters. It was called ‘Ben-Ben’.

The first god, ‘Atum’, stood on the hill.

Atum coughed and spat out ‘Shu’, the god of the air, and ‘Tefnut’, the goddess of moisture.

 

Shu and Tefnut had two children. First, there was ‘Geb’, the god of the Earth. Then, there was ‘Nut’, the goddess of the sky.

 

Shu lifted up Nut so that she becomes a canopy over Geb. Nut was a woman wearing a blue dress decorated with ‘stars’ whose body arches across the sky.

 

Nut and Geb had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys.

 

Osiris was the king of the Earth and Isis was the queen. Osiris was a good king, and he ruled over the Earth for many years.

However, everything was not well. Seth was jealous of Osiris because he wanted to be the ruler of the Earth.

He grew angrier and angrier until one day he killed Osiris.

 

Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth remained on the Earth and became king.

 

Osiris and Isis had one son called ‘Horus’. Horus battled against Seth and regained the throne.

 

After that, Horus was the king of the Earth and Osiris was the king of the underworld.” Arthur read from the book.

“Wow!” the word suddenly blurted out from my mouth.

“Horus, who was the god of the Earth, had four children.

They were the gods of different delicate organs of the body like the liver, lungs, intestines and stomach.

Thoth, a moon god, was the god of wisdom and also a guide and helper to the spirits of dead people dwelling and travelling in the underworld.

These gods were usually depicted as having animal-heads like of falcon, baboon & jackal by the Egyptian artists.” Arthur read to the end of the book.

“You both better keep this book with you!” the woman said in a friendly voice.

“Thank you so much, aunt” Arthur said and kept it in the bag.

 

The woman stood up and went into the other room.

After sometime, when she returned, she had two porcelain bowls in her hand.

She served each bowl to both of us.

“What’s this?” Arthur asked in Arabic.

It looked somewhat like cold, yoghurt sauce with nuts.

“Kishk, a traditional Egyptian dessert.” She replied and asked us to taste it.

I took a nibble of it and felt like it was the most delicious dessert in the world.

“Thank you, aunt.” I said, “Can I know your name?”

“Dalila” she answered when Arthur told her what I asked.

“Rosalie, I think we should leave now. Aunt, thank you so much for everything.” Arthur said her.

We bid her goodbye and moved out of the hut.

As soon as we moved out, we saw a huge horde passing through the street, wearing traditional costumes.

“What is this, aunt?” Arthur asked to Dalila aunt.

“Is it twenty- first of March?” she questioned.

“Yes,” Arthur replied after a second, getting confused.

She put on a pair of sandals on her legs & closing the doors of the hut, she said,

“Today is a great day, today is Sham al-Naseem.”

“What is this?” I asked.

“An ancient festive day,” she replied and took us into the huge crowd.

The people looked extremely happy, enjoying impromptu song and dance performances and eating traditional foods.

In a moment, the street was filled up with food vendors, dancers and musicians to entertain the public.

Food-vendors were selling traditional foods of this holy day, including dried or pickled fish and dishes made with kidney beans.

Our whole day went in dancing joyously & eating traditional food of Al-Minya while passing across the streets.

 

“Whoa! Its 10 pm!” I said looking onto the watch, getting a bit surprised.

We finally said a ‘goodbye’, to the aunt who followed with us all day long.

We again went to the same lodge for the night.

“Arthur, we almost visited the whole Al-Minya today!” I said keeping my jute bag on the mattress.

“Yeah, & we are going to leave for Jordan tomorrow…” He said smiling.

“Yes…” I said switching off the lights of the room.

Next beautiful morning, I woke by the sound of the clock which showed 6:30 AM.

We kept our luggage in our bags & took a bus to Jordan, my dream place.

After reaching there, in over 3 hours, we took shelter at the house of our private guide of the visit to Jordan.

My dream of visiting ‘Rose city’ or ‘Petra’, here, was going to become a reality.

After walking a few miles from our guide’s house, we ultimately reached to our destination.

“This is amazing!” Arthur exclaimed.

“Petra is a historical city that is famous for this rock-cut architecture & got it’s another name ‘rose city’ because of the color of the stone out of which it is carved.” Our guide said staring at the monument.

It lied in a basin among the mountains of the valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.

My eyes were just stopped at the marvelous architecture.

“You see, Petra is described as a Rose-Red city, half as old as time!’” Our guide said.

Petra city was in fact a great evidence of the ancient-Egyptian culture; completely breathtaking, beautiful and brilliant.

 

We came back to the guide’s house after dusk.

We met there the whole family of our guide, Abdul.

He had a daughter and his wife.

“Come here,” I asked his little daughter.

“What’s your name, dear?” I said.

“Akila.” she replied.

“That is a very nice name, right?” I kissed her cheeks.

After a few hours, we thanked our guide & left his house.

“So, what’s now, Arthur?” I asked him after a few seconds.

“Giza!” he replied joyously.

Giza is the ultimate place in Egypt where the ancient-Egyptian culture flourished.

Then, that night only, we again took a public bus to Giza.

Our journey to Giza from Jordan was of 12 hours which we had to complete during the night time only.

Even though we did not spend much time at Jordan, still our minds were fully satisfied & delighted by the beautiful Petra City.

Next morning, when we boarded off from the bus, we saw the entire Great Giza was covered in desert.

I took a profound breathe & lifted my jute bag from the bus.

“Arthur, where are we going to stay?” I asked him.

“Hilton pyramids Golf resort- just a few steps away!” he replied.

We walked & reached there in over 25 minutes.

“Marhaban! (Welcome!)” A beautiful woman welcomed us as we entered through the large door into the hotel.

The resort had a traditional Egyptian theme.

“Shokran jazeelan! (Thank you, very much!)” Arthur replied in Arabic.

They served us a welcoming dessert- ‘Roz- Be- Laban’ which was basically a rice pudding with a hint of vanilla.

We thanked them and walked to our suit.

The entire room was filled up with Ancient-Egyptian paintings & pottery.

“Whoa!” I said looking to a muddy, old vase which showed it was of around the period of Queen Hatshepsut’s rule.

 

We took rest for over an hour and went downstairs.

“Salam! Hal beemkani mosa’adatuk?

(“Hello! Can I help you?”)” The same woman asked me.

“Sorry, I cannot speak Arabic!” I justified.

“Oh! Okay dear, that’s nothing.” She immediately replied in English.

We introduced ourselves to her & told her that we were doing Egyptology.

“Brilliant! Then you are our special guests!” She laughed.

We both smiled. The woman wore a very beautiful gown.

She stared to our clothes for a while and then, took us to a very large hall.

The whole room looked like a traditional dressing room of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and Queens.

“Dear, would you like to have an Ancient-Egyptian make-up? - I think this would help you to gain knowledge about the cosmetics used by Egyptians!” the woman said pleasingly.

“Yes, of course!” I said instantly, getting happy.

She was very friendly; or we can say that everyone there was very amiable.

She gave me a large gown called ‘Bedouin’.

She made me wear it & asked me to sit on the dressing chair.

“Arthur, men of Ancient-Egypt also used to wear make-up!” that woman told him.

“Wow!” he uttered.

She started from my Eye make-up. She first applied a green shade of kohl to my eyelids. She gave shades of black on my eye brows & eye lashes.

“What is this kohl?” Arthur asked.

“Basically, it is a mixture of soot & galena. You know, The Ancient Egyptian eye makeup was extremely elaborate & complicated.” She replied.

Then, she used a thin layer of rouge on my cheeks & lips.

“You now look like a traditional Egyptian maiden, Rosalie!” Arthur exclaimed.

I smiled.

She applied a paste of Henna dye which was obtained from the leaves & shoots of the Henna shrub on my hair.

She painted my nails with the nail polish made from the same Henna shrub.

After some minutes, she washed my hennaed hair in cold, running water & then dressed up my hair in a traditional style.

She dabbed an aromatic perfume made with frankincense & myrrh over my shoulders and neck.

She also told us that the Ancient Egyptians used numerous perfumes obtained from the fragrances derived from flowers, plants & seeds.

“You are looking perfect, dear!” the woman said happily.

“Thank you!” I thanked her & looked myself into the mirror.

I was really looking like an Egyptian Queen. I wished I could see those Ancient Egyptian ladies in this type of makeup.

“What was the reason behind this makeup, aunt?” Arthur asked her.

“Well,” she laughed, “Dear, there are many sorts of reasons behind this- traditional, religious, magical & medical reasons.”

“What are they?” Arthur asked again.

“Actually, medical reasons were that Kohl, applied by them in the Eye makeup, shielded their eyes against the sun & also had the disinfectant qualities. The magical & religious reasons were that the green Eye makeup was believed to evoke the eyes of Horus, the god of the Earth & the traditional reasons were that the Egyptian mothers applied kohl to the eyes of infants as soon as they were born believing its application would strengthen the child’s eyes & would prevent the child from being cursed by an ‘Evil Eye’.” The aunt explained.

“That is superb!” I got impressed by the beliefs of those Egyptians.

“You look gorgeous, Rosalie. You reminded me of Ancient Egyptian Queens. I want to give an Egyptian name to both of you. Can I?” The aunt questioned after sometime.

“Yes, of course!” I was overwhelmed.

“Rosalie for you it is ‘Aziza’ & Arthur for you it is ‘Akil’!” She smiled.

“Thanks aunt, for such beautiful names.” Arthur said happily.

We thanked her finally & left the Resort.

Now, our next destination was the ‘Great Pyramids of Giza’!

People say if you have not visited ‘The Great Pyramids of Giza’ for at least once in your entire life, then your existence is not at all valuable.

Now, my dream of visiting ‘one of the world’s most spectacular creations ever’ was going to be true.

We took a car to the site of Giza Pyramids.

Egypt’s main Pyramid sites in Giza are accessible to the general public every day, all year long & people are allowed to visit inside the Great Pyramids. But, only 300 tickets are sold per pyramid, per day.

We reached there early to secure our visit inside the pyramids.

When I reached there, along with Arthur, I was amazingly happy & felt myself wee against the very tall, extremely tall Pyramids.

For a second, my eyes were bond by the mega structures which showed their existence was truly remarkable.

I had visited the Ancient Pyramids in Mexico and even the modern ones in Memphis & Las Vegas, but then too I was safely able to say that the Ancient Pyramids of Giza, their size and age, really took my breath away.

“Rosalie, the Ancient Egyptians built these tombs to last for eternity & in my opinion they’ve succeeded because I can’t imagine them ever crumbling!” Arthur said, smiling.

“Yes, Arthur. I think that ‘Man fears Time…but the Time fears the Pyramids’!” I exclaimed.

“Certainly!” he laughed.

We saw that the Great pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu on our left was the tallest and the greatest. It originally stood 482 feet high & remained the tallest building in the world for more than 3000 years.

The pyramid on the center belonged to the pharaoh Khafre which stood 470 feet high. Khafre built his pyramid shorter, out of respect for his father, Khufu. But he cleverly built it on a higher part of the plateau; this makes his pyramid appear to be the tallest at Giza.

The pyramid on the right belonged to the pharaoh Menkaure which was not even half the height of the Great Pyramid; it was just 215 feet high.

 

We rushed to take tickets of getting inside of the Pyramid.

There, we also got a guide for the visit inside the Pyramids.

 

People were not allowed to enter in funerary complex of the Pharaohs, just in Pyramids.

We entered inside the pyramid through the opening facing on the north of the Great Pyramid which was 56 feet above the ground.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is also the most mysterious structure ever built.

After descending a brief entry tunnel, we climbed upwards through another tunnel leading into a larger gallery & finally to above-ground funerary vaults.

This chamber was generally acknowledged as the spot where Khufu was interred for all eternity which still contained the remains of pharaoh’s sarcophagus.

We assumed that the internal structure of the pyramid was highly complicated.

“A few time ago, the commonly accepted theory was that the Great Pyramid’s elaborate features were the result of a succession of changes in plan, perhaps to accommodate Pharaoh’s increasingly divine stature as his reign went on, but the American Egyptologist suggested with evidence that the design was fixed before the construction began. If so, the internal layout of the Pyramid becomes even more mysterious…” Our guide explained.

Our guide told us that there might be three thousand seven hundred chambers in the pyramid, each equal in size to the sarcophagus chamber.

“Boo!” I was a little alarmed.

“Uncle, is the mummy of Khufu, here?” Arthur asked.

“No!” he laughed, “The tomb inside the Great Pyramid was plundered by the tomb-robbers who had no respect of the dead. The upper chamber of the pyramid remained sealed until it was opened under Arab rule in 9th century A.D. When these intruders first entered in the King’s chamber, the royal sarcophagus was open & Khufu’s mummy was nowhere to be seen… Some say that the mummy of Khufu was never interred inside the Pyramid & if the Pyramid was not a tomb, it must have been intended as a storehouse for ancient wisdom.”

“This is extremely mysterious!” I shivered in fear.

“And always will be- Khufu’s greatest mystery will always be a secret.” Our guide replied.

 

After roaming for at least an hour time inside the Great Pyramid, discovering more & more mysteries about the pyramid, we finally came out.

 

“Hush! I don’t think that Khufu’s mummy was ever interred there.” I hushed.

“Maybe” Arthur said.

Behind the Pyramids, there were some boats which were believed to transport the bodies of the Dead to the underworld.

But whatever the mysteries of the Pyramids were, the pyramids were truly mind-boggling.

 

We now looked at the east of the pyramids. And there laid the symbol of holiness & protection of the Egypt- the Great Sphinx of Giza.

A sphinx is a mythical creature which has a lion’s body and a human’s head.

It is described as treacherous & merciless in the Greek mythology. Unlike the Greek sphinx which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is an androsphinx. The Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent but having a ferocious strength.

“The Greek sphinx is slightly different from the Egyptian one- She is believed to guard the entrance of the royal tombs and religious temples & devour those people who were unable to give correct answers of her riddles. The riddle goes thus- ‘What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon & three in the evening?’ The Greek legendary hero Oedipus managed to destroy the Sphinx who is named as Sekhmet by giving the correct answer-‘Man’. Sekhmet devoured herself when Oedipus gave her the correct answer.” Our guide explained.

“Okay and what about the Egyptian Sphinx?” I asked.

“I’m going to tell you that later.” He replied.

“Okay!” I smiled.

Surrounding the Egyptian Sphinx was a temple complex, most likely a place of worship for either Horus, the god of Earth or Ra the sun god, since the Sphinx faces the sunrise.

We observed that this Sphinx is huge, measuring 241 feet in length & 65 feet in height. It was located directly at the east of the Pyramid of Khafre.

“Most Egyptologists agree that the Egyptian Sphinx was built at roughly the same time as the Pyramids of Giza, at around 2500 BC. This is primarily because the face of the Sphinx bears a very strong likeness to Pharaoh Khafre, who built the 2nd Great Pyramid.” Our guide said staring at the sphinx.

We entered inside Khafre’s valley temple that surrounded the Egyptian Sphinx which was carved out by a single rock formation, composed of various types of limestone.

The temple was just a place where Ancient Egyptians worshipped their gods. There were only ruins of the temple.

The head and paws of the Sphinx contained stronger limestone and therefore escaped much wear and tear. However, the body had eroded extensively.

Between the front paws of Sphinx rested a tablet, commonly known as ‘Dream Stela’.

We went near it & saw that there were some writings inscribed on it.

“What’s this?” Arthur asked.

“This is a story dating back to the 18th dynasty that tells about the time when Pharaoh Akhenaten was still a prince. Sphinx was at that time buried up to the neck in sand. During a hunt, the prince fell asleep under the jaw of the Sphinx. He then dreamt of the Sphinx telling him that if he cleared all the sand and released the Sphinx, he would become Pharaoh. He cleared the sand, and true enough, become Pharaoh, even though he had an older brother.” Our guide said.

“That is so amazing!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah…” The guide smiled.

Some people demonstrate its origin as the Egyptian god of the Dead, Anubis & also clarify the existence of underground chambers beneath the Great Sphinx.

If they are so, then again it is a thing of mystery.

I observed it a little more closely & found that the Sphinx was lacking a ‘Nose’!

“What is the reason behind this, uncle?” I asked our guide.

“Well, it is widely accepted that it occurred during Muslim Arabs’ invasion.

Since the Sphinx was a symbol of pagan gods, the Arabs defaced it by scratching the eyes and chopping off the nose!” He replied awkwardly.

“Thanks, uncle!” We said and bid him goodbye.

I stared to the beautiful Sphinx once again.

I felt myself fortunate having seen the great creature because due to pollution & increased acid rain, the Sphinx was eroding more quickly, & might not last longer. Still, the Egyptian authorities have taken the responsibility for working to protect the Sphinx. And hope, the enigmatic Sphinx would live on.

But leaving everything, we can safely conclude that the Egyptian Sphinx & the Great Pyramids of Giza are indeed the most popular & most spectacular tourist attractions in the Egypt or in the whole world.

“Let’s go.” Arthur said.

“Yeah…” I murmured.

It was nearly evening. We took the car to the resort again.

We went directly into our suit in the hotel.

“Arthur, I’m feeling very awesome in Egypt. I don’t want to go away!” I said slowly.

“Rosalie, you don’t have to take any sort of tension. We’re not going to leave Egypt until we get taste of everything here!” Arthur said gently.

“Yeah…thank you.” I said.

I thought that if we’ve gone so mad until now only, when we have visited just 3 cities of Egypt, then what is going to happen when we will visit 5 of the most luxurious cities of Egypt?

“We’ll be insane!” I exclaimed & went downstairs to remove my Ancient- Egyptian makeup.

 

“Had fun Rosalie?” the same woman asked me.

“Absolutely, the Pyramids & the Sphinx were just spectacular. We enjoyed there a lot!” I said happily.

“Come, I shall take your makeup out.” She said.

Really, the Bedouin and the entire makeup were very heavy.

“Thanks again for this thing, aunt” I said to the woman as she offered me the gown & the entire box of ancient-Egypt’s cosmetics. I said her goodbye & moved at the other hall of the hotel.

The room was empty and had only photographs on its walls.

There I saw a man & Arthur standing & staring at one of the photographs.

“What’s this?” I went there & questioned.

“It’s a royal sarcophagus.” Arthur answered, “Actually, he is Mr. Ahmed telling me about the ghosts on whom Ancient Egyptians widely believed.”

“I think this was only the major point about the Ancient Egypt that we didn’t discuss with anyone!” I said getting happy.

“Okay, There was widespread belief in ghosts in ancient Egyptian culture in the sense of the continued existence of the soul and spirit after death, with the ability to assist or harm the living, and the possibility of a second death.” Mr. Ahmed said.

“Yes, we have read this in the Egyptian Book of the Dead!” Arthur exclaimed.

“Yeah…All those things related to ghosts of Ancient Egypt are clearly explained in the Book of the Dead. Do you have one?” He asked.

“Yes.” I replied staring at my jute bag.

“In today’s modern times, the fanciful concept of mummies coming back to life and wreaking vengeance when disturbed has spawned a whole genre of horror stories and movies like The Mummy which was a 1932 horror movie.

In early periods, Egyptians believed on the concept of Khu who was a malignant ghost that entered the bodies of the living to torture them. They believed that an Akh that could fly away from bodies of the Dead was a sort of ghost or roaming ‘Dead Being’ & he could do either harm or good to persons still living, depending on the circumstances, such as causing nightmares, feelings of guilt or sickness.” He uttered.

“Okay…” I vibrated.

“The idea of total death was unthinkable to the Egyptians. A belief grew up of a tomb world, a subterranean world where the ghosts still lived and could communicate with each other.

The ghosts of rich men would need servants to attend them. In the first dynasty, the bodies of the Pharaoh's dead slaves were buried around his tomb chamber. They believed on the concept of Afterlife. Large amounts of food were also stored in the tomb to support the ghost in the afterlife. When a person of importance died, a collection of hymns, spells, and instructions to allow the deceased to pass through obstacles in the afterlife was placed in the coffin or the burial chamber. They wrote spells known as coffin texts on the walls of the sarcophagus that allowed the deceased to protect themselves against these dangers and ‘dying a second death’.” He explained staring at the photograph of an Akh who was depicted as a human-headed bird.

“Wow! So this was the afterlife!” I was surprised by the varying beliefs of ancient Egyptians.

“Mr. Ahmed, I’ve heard of a Pharaoh who was expected to be a ghost after his death. Is there any pharaoh like that?” Arthur questioned.

“Akhenaten, he was the one. Actually, he was a follower of Aten, the sun god & declared that he & his wife Nefertiti were Aten’s soul representatives on Earth. He abolished worship of Amun & many other gods, insulted priests & demolished temples. After Akhenaten’s death, the old religion revived and it is said that the priests cursed him to wander as a ghost for the rest of the time. To this day, people still claim to have met Akhenaten's ghost in the lonely deserts of Egypt.” Mr. Ahmed said with a stern face.

I was filled up with terror. I certainly didn’t know that Egyptians believed on the ghosts too.

“Egyptians said that he loved those who respected him & devoured those who said that he was a ghost!” Mr. Ahmed said, slowly.

“Well, goodnight. I think it’s just a myth.” He again said after a minute time.

“Thank you!” Arthur yelled. He nodded, smiled and left.

We went upstairs to our suit.

“I’m afraid.” I said, very slowly.

“Akhenaten? Well, I believe he used to exist as a ghost in earlier times but now he’s not.” Arthur laughed.

“But… Okay…!” I said.

Arthur stared at the wall clock. It was 11:45 pm.

“We shall sleep now. Good night.” Arthur murmured and switched the lights off.

It was the 4th bright morning of our visit to Egypt & I felt we’ve seen & gained everything here.

I never wanted to leave Giza, the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx but we had to go, anyways.

Our next place to visit was the capital city of Egypt or ‘The Victorious City’ the city of Cairo.

Cairo is considered as the heart of Egypt as it offers an incredible selection of shopping, leisure and culture and night life. Cairo includes some of the most famous ancient Egyptian, Christian & Islamic monuments.

Cairo is located on both the banks of the River Nile.

From Giza, we took an adventurous ride of camels to Saqqara which is the most extensive archaeological sites in Egypt, located near to Cairo.

The ride was of 3 hours to Saqqara. I believed it was the most luxurious ride I ever had.

The Saqqara site is dominated by the Step Pyramid of King Zoser & many tombs from the 1st & 2nd Dynasties that are one of the oldest stone structures in the world! The tombs were made up of mud, bricks & limestone, decorated with daily life scenes of Ancient Egypt.

Basically, Saqqara was the cemetery for the Memphis, the capital city of Ancient Egypt.

We first visited the Step Pyramid of King Zoser & its surrounding complex.

The Pyramid of King Zoser was been closed to visitors for a long time as it was deemed not safe to enter it but still somehow when we introduced ourselves & took special permission from them, they permitted us to take a round inside it.

The pyramid originally meant as a tomb, for the greatest King of the third dynasty.

Zoser's Pyramid was entirely built of limestone which was not of the best quality, and yet it had remained for more than 4700 years!

We spotted a little room on the north-western side of the Pyramid that contained a statue replica of King Zoser; the real one was moved to the Egyptian museum of Cairo.

We, only I and Arthur, entered into the Pyramid through the entrance on the southern side of the Pyramid. Actually, the northern entrance was not used anymore as it was very dangerous.

When we started descending underneath the Pyramid, a strange feeling haunted us, especially when we remembered that we’re exploring 4,700 years of time. Down there was a little maze of corridors and tunnels. We found more than 30,000 jars made out of several types of stones, marbles & slates inside some of these tunnels.

“Arthur, I think this pyramid is mysterious too!” I said.

“Certainly” He replied.

Moving a little further, we found a burial shaft, almost 28 meters deep, at the southern side of the Pyramid which is believed to be a symbolic tomb for the King, as the Kings of the first three Dynasties used to build two tombs for themselves; one real tomb and the other, a cenotaph.

We came out of the Pyramid after about 15 minutes.

The Pyramid was surrounded by a rectangular enclosed wall that was mostly ruined but it was originally 10 meters high.

We entered inside the complex through the entrance which was on the southeastern wall.

The entrance led us to a colonnade that has 40 columns. Between the columns, a large numbers of little rooms were created that once contained statues of King Zoser as the ruler of Upper & Lower
Egypt.

To the right of the colonnade, there was a temple known as Hep-Sed temple, which was constructed so that the King would be able to practice rituals in the afterlife.

Next to the Step Pyramid complex, on the southern side, we saw the ruined Pyramid of King Unas, which dates back to the end of the 5th Dynasty. It was the first Pyramid that had inscriptions decorating the walls of the burial chamber!

There are more than 700 incantations on the walls of Pyramids, which are supposed to help the dead King throughout the afterlife, and they are known as the Pyramid texts.

Unfortunately, we were not able to visit inside the Pyramid of King Unas as it had been closed forever.

 

Egypt is the land of Pharaohs & Pyramids.

There are loads & loads of Pyramid sites such as Pyramids of Dahshour, Abu sir, Mydoum, Eleisht, Hawara & Abu Rawash in Egypt. Egypt is also the land of ancient cultures & creations- Saqqara was just evidence.

 

Now, we returned to Cairo.

Our main reason for visiting Cairo was to visit one of the world’s oldest, most famous & largest museums ‘The Egyptian Museum’.

We took a hotel near the Sultan Hassan Mosque.

“Now finally it’s Cairo!” I said, laughing.

“Yeah…” Arthur replied lying on the mattress.

Cairo is bracketed by the desert to the east, south & west and bounded by the fertile Nile delta to the north.

“Rosalie, I think we should take rest for some time.” Arthur said. The time was 3:45 pm.

After a few hours, when we woke up, a woman entered into our suit.

“Both of you please come for the dinner!” She said and went downstairs.

We went at the large dinner table in a huge hall. Some more people were sitting there.

“Good Evening!” I said sitting at the table.

“Salam!” One of the uncles greeted.

“What are you both doing?” The uncle asked after some time.

“Well, we’re doing Egyptology…and we’re here to study more about Ancient Egypt.” Arthur replied.

“Wow! That’s very good!” He said laughing.

I smiled too.

“This hotel serves completely Ancient Egyptian food!” The woman said serving some dish on the table while staring at me.

“Good!” I said to her.

In a minute, she served a number of bowls and plates filled with hot dishes on the table.

“Here are the most delicious meals of ancient Egypt- Aish Baladi, Fatta, Mahshi, and Koshary & Shawarma.” The woman said.

Aish Baladi was a sort of whole wheat bread which was eaten with Fatta and Mahshi.

I dipped the soft bread into the warm curry of Koshary that was a vegetarian meal containing rice, spaghetti, chick peas and black lentils & was topped with a spicy tomato sauce and fried onions.

“This is heavenly!” I said eating Koshary and Mahshi.

Fatta was a garlic and white vinegar flavored meat soup served with rice & Shawarma was a hot sandwich made of chicken and beef curry with a coating of pita bread.

They were too extremely delicious.

Then, the last dish was an Egyptian dessert, Baklava.

It was made with layers of flaky pastries filled with chopped nuts & honey syrup.We went at the large dinner table in a huge hall.

 

“Fascinating” Arthur said eating it.

After the dinner, we took a look of the nightlife of Cairo.

Cairo comes alive at night, which is the best time to shop, eat delicious food of Egyptian cuisine, or simply watch the world go by from a pavement cafe.

We did shopping of fabrics, tapestries, statuettes, spices, souvenirs and Egyptian ornaments & clothes in the night bazaar of Cairo known as, ‘Khan El-Khalili bazaar.’

People say, no visit to Cairo is complete without a stop at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar where you are transported back in time to an old Arab souk.

The scent of spices, the hustle & bustle of trade & many beautiful objects lost me amongst alley of hours.

We took on a tradition cup of tea at the famous Fishawi’s cafe, after our shopping was done.

The entire city of Cairo sparkled amazingly in the dark night. We watched the folk musicians & whirling dervish dancers in the streets.

We also enjoyed listening to splendid Arabic music like ‘Yalla Habibi’ under the stars, in the open-air theatre. It was really a magical experience.

Lastly, we saw the beautiful sound & light show of the Pyramids, from the Mena House Hotel. It was a dramatic fusion of light & music, recounting the story of antiquity.

The nightlife of Cairo was truly brilliant.

Cairo definitely deserved to be a jubilant city of Egypt.

 

Then, we returned to our Hotel again.

“Rosalie, tomorrow we are going to visit the Egyptian Museum!” Arthur said.

“Yeah…” I murmured with drowsy eyes.

“You should take a sleep now.” Arthur said & switched the lights off.

Next morning, first of all in the city of Cairo, we visited The Cairo Tower.

The entire city looked really different from the huge tower.

Then, we visited the oldest mosque in Cairo, ‘Mosque of Ibn Tulun’. The Mosque was constructed around a courtyard & was commissioned by Ahmed Ibn Tulun.

Then, we finally reached ‘The Egyptian Museum’ by a felucca journey on the River Nile.

“This is brilliant!” I said, as soon as we entered inside the museum.

It was a home to more than 120,000 items of Egyptian antiquities.

On the ground floor, we saw the extensive collection of papyrus & coins used in by the ancient Egyptians.

Also, we saw the gold & silver statues of the ancient-Egyptian Gods, pharaohs & Mythical creatures.

And on the first floor, we saw the artifacts from the Egyptian Dynasties & from the Valley of the Kings located in Luxor.

The entire place truly dated us back to Ancient Egypt.

“Arthur, this is what I love about Egypt, the ancient Egyptians were really wise & creative, that they worshipped so many gods & goddesses & believed on thousands of Mythical creatures. Egypt is certainly brilliant…” I said, looking at the statues.

“Undoubtedly” Arthur smiled.

Finally, we saw the Royal Mummy Room that contained 27 royal mummies from pharaonic times.

The Mummies buried in the sarcophagi of this museum, have never been unwrapped. To recognize the human wrapped in the mummy, curators take out their X-rays.

Then, we visited the ‘Mount Sinai’ of Cairo.

The Mount Sinai is a 2,285 meters high mountain near the city of Saint Catherine in the Sinai region of Egypt.

This mountain is considered ‘sacred’, according to the holy books, ‘Quran’, ‘Exodus’ & ‘Bible’.

I along with Arthur hiked this holy mountain too.

On the summit of the Mountain, there was a Greek Orthodox Chapel and a small building constructed by Saint Catherine.

Then, we took a look of the Saint Catherine’s Monastery that was just below the Mount Sinai.

The Saint Catherine’s Monastery was the oldest working monastery in the world & was an unusual & strangely beautiful building juxtaposed against acres of arid landscapes.

This whole area was dry & was covered in Libyan Desert.

We then drove to one of the most beautiful places to visit in Egypt, ‘The Siwa Oasis’.

The Siwa Oasis was located off the beaten track between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Libyan Desert & had its own distinct culture & custom that differed from the mainstream Arabic culture.

With a population of about 23,000, Siwa is the most inaccessible oasis of Egypt, yet it is brilliantly fascinating.

The area had a nice climate. The lake Siwa, located to the west of the town was a large, saltwater lake.

The Siwans spoke their own Berber language called Siwi.

The Siwan area was known for its hot springs. Almost 1,000 hot springs were there. I tasted its water, the water was sweet & was said to have medical properties.

The area was also famous for its date-palms & olives.

One of the women told us through gestures that olive oil was still made in the area by crushing the olives from the 70,000 olive trees in the area with stones.

We enjoyed the tasty date-palms & olives & tried sand-boarding.

The woman also told us about a three-day festival celebrated here, every October, during which Siwans must settle all of their past year’s disputes.

Siwa Oasis was very traditional & girls of the area were often married by the age of 14 & were completely covered in clothes.

We saw that many women there still wore traditional costumes & silver jewelry like those displayed in The Traditional Siwan House museum in the town center.

The Siwa Oasis had a rich Egyptian past comprising the history of a visit of Alexander the Great here, to consult the Oracle of God Amun in 331 BC, & how the King of Persia led a 50,000 men army to the area to destroy the oracle, but the entire army was lost in the desert.

 

At last, we were safely able to say that the Siwa Oasis truly deserved to be one of the most beautiful landscapes & traditional areas of Egypt.

Then, we visited every Mosque & church in Cairo, until it was midnight.

We ate the night dinner in a floating restaurant on the Nile River.

At last, we returned to our hotel’s suit.

“So, this was our last day in Cairo, Rosalie.” Arthur said, drifting to the bed.

“Yes…” I said, slowly.

“Don’t be sad, Rosalie…” Arthur said, closing his eyes.

“Okay” I replied & went to bed.

The next day, we left for Ismailia.

Ismailia was only at 90 minutes drive from Cairo.

The city of Ismailia is one of the most charming Egyptian destinations & is situated on the Suez Canal.

It is considered as a city with a large number of beautiful gardens, clean & well organized streets & neighborhoods.

Ismailia is among the most recent established cities in Egypt, in comparison to other cities like Cairo, Alexandria & Luxor.

Arthur & I decided to take a look of Ismailia in a few hours.

We first visited some of the most wonderful green orchards & gardens in Ismailia & the Temsah Lake.

The Temsah Lake was one of the most beautiful natural lakes in Egypt with its charming atmosphere and the purity of its waters that was amazing to swim in. We even relaxed on the beaches situated all around the lake.

On the beaches around the Temsah Lake, we enjoyed the most delicious fried & grilled fishes.

Museums in Ismailia majorly contained tools, belongings & some rare historical maps of Suez Canal.

Even though Ismailia was not a city with great ancient-Egyptian history, still we enjoyed the beautiful tourist attractions in the city.

 

After nearly 5 hours of visit in Ismailia, we continued our drive from Ismailia to ‘Luxor’, another great city of Egypt.

“Arthur, I’m so much excited!” I said, very happily as we finally reached Luxor.

“Yeah…I’m very much excited too! Rosalie, would you believe we’re standing in this planet’s most important & brilliant tourism sites?” Arthur said, intensely.

“Well, I don’t…!” I shrilled, laughing.

 

We walked to our hotel that was arranged by Arthur.

“Good Afternoon! Welcome to Thebes’s most luxurious Hotel!” A woman greeted us as we entered inside the Hotel.

“Thank you so much!” I replied.

“What is this Thebes, Arthur?” I asked.

“It is the other name for Luxor.” He answered.

I nodded.

Like that woman said, the Hotel was truly splendid.

We took rest in the Hotel for an hour time & went out to explore Luxor.

There are only a few places in the world that could be called an open air museum but Luxor is definitely one of them.

In fact, the number & preservation of the monuments in Luxor are unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Luxor or Thebes was the religious capital of the Ancient Egypt because it was dominated by two great temples- The Temple of Luxor and the immense temple of Karnak; the world’s largest temple complex.

We first visited the Mortuary Temple of King Amenhotep III that was guarded by two gigantic statues on the outer gates called ‘Colossi of Memnon’. Though the statues were damaged by nature & ancient tourists, they were still impressive. Their height was 75 ft & weight was almost one thousand tons.

The statues were made up of carved blocks of quarried quartzite.

The Northern statue depicted Amenhotep III with his mother, Mutemwia, while the Southern statue was of Amenhotep III with his wife, Tiy & one of his daughters.

Arthur told me that due to an earthquake in 27 BC, these statues became famous for a bell-like tone that usually occurred in the morning due to rising temperature & humidity. Visitors came from miles around to hear the music, seeking to repair the statues & inadvertently silenced them forever.

Next, we visited the Mortuary Temple of Pharaoh, Seti I.

Finally, we went to explore ‘The Mummification Museum’ of Luxor.

The museum preserved the bodies for the afterlife.

We got a guide inside the museum.

“So, do these preserved bodies still have recognizable features?” Arthur asked.

“Yes, Ancient Egyptian embalmers were so skilled that people mummified four thousand years ago still have some skin, hair & recognizable features like scars & tattoos.” Our guide replied.

“Wow!” I exclaimed.

“Every Egyptian, except the most criminal, was entitled to be embalmed and receive a decent burial…” Our guide explained as we moved further inside the museum, “The body was taken to the embalmers by the relatives, who then chose the method and quality of mummification. The best and most expensive methods were used on the wealthy, but there were cheaper alternatives for the poor too.”

“Oh, Really? Do all the Egyptians receive different types of mummification?” I asked.

“Yes,” He said staring at a sarcophagus, “The Most Costly method of mummification was given to nobles, kings & wealthy people. In this process, the embalmers used to draw out the brain through the nostrils & then took out the whole contents of the belly & cleanse the interior with palm-wine & spices. Then, they used to fill the belly with pure myrrh, cassia & other spices & sew it together. The corpse was then covered in natron for seventy days. Finally, after seventy days, the corpse was washed & rolled up in fine linen.”

“What is this natron?” Arthur asked.

“Natron is a naturally occurring white, crystalline mineral salt which was used in the mummification process to soak up water from the body.

After seventy days in natron, the dried out and shriveled body was washed and rubbed with oil and fragrant spices. The inside was packed with cloth before being wrapped in linen. The face was painted to make it look lifelike and the hair neatly arranged.

The chief embalmer, dressed as Anubis, a jackal-headed god of embalming, would bless the deceased & priests said prayers to help the dead person on his way into the next world.

Finally, the body was wrapped in linen bandages which were soaked in resin and magical amulets were placed within the bandages as symbols of power, protection, and rebirth. The body was then returned to the relatives who placed it in a wooden coffin.” Our guide replied.

“And what type of mummification does the poor received?” I questioned.

“The embalmers used to fill the belly with oil of cedar-wood using a syringe which dissolves the intestines & internal organs. After the seventy days of natron treatment, the cedar oil was let out & the corpse was left as skin & the bones. Then, the dead body was returned to the family.” He answered.

“Okay” I nodded.

We reached at the sarcophagi room. I noticed that the exterior of many sarcophagi was painted with eyes on the side that faced east.

I asked the reason for this to our guide.

“The exterior of sarcophagi was painted with eyes because it was believed that the dead person could look out at the world and see the rising sun.” He answered.

“That’s amazing!” I said.

At last, we reached at a hall filled with jars.

“These jars are known as ‘Canopic Jars’. Except for the heart, which was needed by the deceased in the Hall of Judgment of the subterranean world, the embalmers removed all of the internal organs from the body. These organs were placed in four different Canopic Jars.

The lids formed the shape of the four sons of Horus, the God of Earth. The liver was associated with Imset who was depicted with a human head. The lungs were associated with Hapi who was depicted with a baboon’s head. The stomach was associated with Duamutef with the head of a jackal. The intestines and viscera of the lower body was associated with the falcon headed Kebechsenef.” He answered.

I saw that there were four Canopic Jars located near to every sarcophagus.

“Well, thank you uncle. I wish I could also get an Egyptian Mummification when I die.” I smiled.

Our guide laughed.

We thanked him & came out of the museum.

 

Arthur looked at his wrist-watch. It was 5:45 pm.

Now, finally it was the time to visit for what Luxor is known- ‘Luxor Temple’ & ‘Karnak Temple’.

Firstly, we reached the Luxor temple. It was stunning, just out of what I can describe.

There is a sort of special feature in every monument or temple of Egypt, which takes my breath away. The Luxor temple had its own quaint, aesthetic & wonderful appearance, just gorgeous.

 

Luxor temple is a large Ancient Egyptian complex located on the east bank of Nile River.

Of course, as we did not know much about these temples, we were in search of a guide, when we found Mr. Amen for our help.

Behind the Luxor temple, were chapels built by Tuthmosis & Alexander. The temple was built by Amenhotep but completed by Tutankhamen & then added to by Ramses.

The Luxor temple was built with beautiful sandstone.

“Although the mud-brick houses & palaces of Thebes have disappeared, its stone temples have survived. And the most beautiful of these is the Luxor temple.” Mr. Amen said staring at a large colonnade, “At the Luxor temple, the two obelisks flanking the entrance were not of the same height, but they created the illusion that they were.”

From medieval times, the Muslim population had settled in and around the Luxor Temple, as Thebes was the place in Ancient Egypt where the real Ancient Egyptians resided.

“So, this is what the Ancient Luxor Temple is. Brilliant, isn’t it?” Mr. Amen laughed.

“Undoubtedly” I said, smiling. I looked at my wrist-watch. It showed 7:15 pm. Night surrounded the Temple of Luxor, but it stood stiffly in front of our eyes, blazing amidst shinny oil lamps.

We finally left for the temple of ‘Karnak’.

The avenue of over one and a half miles which went in a straight line between the Luxor Temple & the Karnak Temple was lined with almost 900 human-headed sphinxes called the ‘Road of Sphinxes’.

Mr. Amen told us that around 1,350 sphinx statues were thought to have lined this road. The great female pharaoh Hatshepsut built 100 of these statues & the Queen Cleopatra renovated this avenue.

The Avenue of Sphinxes was used once a year in the Ancient Thebes during the Opet festival when the Egyptians paraded along it carrying the statues of Amun, god of fertility & Min, his wife.

 

The immense temple complex of Karnak is dedicated to God Amun, Min & Khonsu.

It is the largest religious building ever constructed, covering about 200 acres & a city of temples built over 2,000 years ago.

Although badly ruined, the complex was fabulous & represented the combined achievement of many generations of Egyptian builders.

“I would say that this derelict place is still capable of overshadowing many wonders of the modern world & would have been awe-inspiring in its times!” I said, stunned.

Arthur nodded.

Really, Egypt is blessed with everything.

We moved inside the complex.

The great temple at the heart of Karnak was so big that St. Peter’s, Milan & Notre Dame Cathedrals would fit within its walls.

The Hypostyle Hall, covering 54,000 sq. feet & featuring 134 massive columns is still the largest room of any religious building in the world.

“The ancient Egyptians believed that towards the end of annual agricultural cycle, the Gods & the Earth became exhausted & required a fresh input of energy from the chaotic energy of the cosmos.” Mr. Amen said, “So, to accomplish this magical regeneration the Opet festival was held yearly at Karnak & Luxor. It lasted for twenty-seven days & was also a celebration of the link between pharaoh & the God Amun.”

Arthur & I nodded together.

“During this festival, the statue of the God Amun was bathed with holy water, dressed in fine linen & adorned in gold & silver jewelry. Then, the priests placed the statue of God Amun in a shrine & onto the ceremonial barque supported by poles for carrying. The pharaoh emerged from the temple, his priests carrying the barque on their shoulders, & together they moved into the crowded streets. A troop of Nubian soldiers serving as guards beat their drums, & musicians accompanied priests in songs as incense filled the air.” Mr. Amen said, showing us the scene of Opet festival on a papyrus.

“At last, Pharaoh and his priests entered the temple and ceremonies were performed to regenerate Amun, recreate the cosmos and transfer Amun’s power to Pharaoh. When the pharaoh finally emerged from the temple, the vast crowds cheered him and celebrated the guaranteed fertility of the earth and the expectation of abundant harvests.

During the festival, the people were given over 11000 loaves of bread and more than 385 jars of beer, and some were allowed into the temple to ask questions of the god.” Mr. Amen said.

 

“Oh! Wow! Wonderful!” I whispered.

 

We thanked Mr. Amen & went to our Hotel again.

 

“Arthur, I’m so much excited for tomorrow!” I said, happily as we entered in our suit.

“I’m very much excited too.” Arthur replied.

 

“Who is your favorite pharaoh, Rosalie?” Arthur asked me after sometime.

“Pharaoh?” I giggled in confusion.

“Yeah…” He said.

“Okay…It’s Amenhotep III!” I smiled & answered.

“Why?” He questioned.

“Well, this was the dazzling pharaoh who ruled on the golden age of Ancient Egypt when Egypt, really did ruled the ancient world…” I said.

Amenhotep III was the ninth pharaoh of the Ancient Egypt, & that pharaoh who beautified Egypt.

Amenhotep III’s reign was considered as a period of peace & abundance. Amenhotep III was given the throne at

the age of 12 & remained Pharaoh until the age of 50, when he died of an unknown disease.

His favorite wife, queen Tiy, was the first woman to be given official act & was believed to be very intelligent.

 

Unlike other Pharaohs, conquering other kingdoms was not an issue during Amenhotep III’s reign, since Egypt was in no great danger. Construction was the main focus since his time was abundant & full of wealth.

“And, yours?” I asked Arthur.

“Hatshepsut...” He answered, instantly.

 

I didn’t ask him why she was his favorite, because everyone knows who the great Queen-Pharaoh lady was.

 

Next vivid morning, when we woke up, I felt extremely fortunate & happy.

Today, we were going to visit the place for which we came to Egypt; the place where Ancient Egyptians really lived & led their life, the Ancient Egyptian village of Thebes ‘Deir-el-Medina’. Actually, this is what I’m interested in, the life of ordinary people of Egypt.

 

We left for the Deir-El-Medina, which was a home to artisans & craftsmen who actually constructed & decorated the tombs on the West Bank at Thebes.

Deir el-Medina lay in a small valley between the western slope of the Theban Mountain and the small hill of Qurnet Murai.

We finally reached there by a taxi.

“So, this is Deir-el-Medina!” I shrilled.

It was completely different from what I thought about it. We could see no one around us, for miles.

Deir-el-Medina’s tightly packed community was about 90 meters wide & 130 meters long & was completely enclosed by a wall.

The average house size in this village was about 4 meters by 20 meters & most of the houses were roughly of the same size.

Deir-el-Medina was so lonely, surrounded by very high desert hills & laid in a depression of the vast desert-covered valley.

“Ancient Egypt is one of the most fascinating civilizations on Earth, right Arthur?” I took a deep breath & asked him.

“Yeah…of course” He answered.

“Arthur, don’t you think that it was indeed a great thing for an Ancient Egyptian to be living in this incredible place?”

“Certainly, it was…” He nodded.

Ancient Egyptians sustained for more than 2000 years, in this village.

Deir-el-Medina was ruins today, but it used to be the heart of Egypt 3000 years ago. It is the landscape of kings & queens in Egypt.

Deir-el-Medina was a very tightly packed community with small-walled, sand houses. There was no space between two houses & these houses used no great architecture; they were just plain walls.

“Rosalie, a few years ago, Archaeologists had excavated a completely choked burial chamber over here which was filled with broken tables, chairs, pieces of vases, food, bread, beauty boxes & cosmetics, perfume vessels, black eyeliner stored in glass containers which were used by the Ancient Egyptians…” Arthur told me.

“Wow!” I uttered.

Woman had rights & literacy was there in the village.

We went inside a house to take a look of it. The walls of the rooms were eroded.

The house had a small bathroom separated from the entire house, two ordinary bedrooms in which Ancient Egyptians probably performed their daily tasks & a kitchen. Inside the kitchen, was a sand-oven at the back of it in which Egyptian women cooked their food & an Ancient-Egyptian refrigerator inside the sand, in which they probably buried their cold things deep in the sand to keep them cool.

“We could only assume that how those Egyptians lived. But in reality, we’ll never get a perfect proof of it!” I twisted my body around the house.

The ancient-Egyptian women, I suppose, were really very beautiful. According to the statuettes preserved in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, ancient Egyptian women applied very much black-eyeliner to their eyes, their long, black hair were all spun into many thin plaits & they had very fair skin as they were always covered completely in clothes that made them look very beautiful.

“Arthur, do you know how the Ancient Egyptians were married?” I asked him.

“Yeah… I’ve seen some papyri which showed that they never had marriage-ceremonies that we have…they used to chant some lines in Arabic like ‘Your hand is in my hand, my heart shakes with joy whenever I hear your name & to hear your voice is like pomegranate wine!’ & then they used to make each other wear rings…” Arthur whispered.

“Rings?” I uttered in confusion.

“Yeah…some curators of the Egyptian Museum have discovered a ring under the death mask of an ancient Egyptian mummy. It was made up of brass & had a carving of an eternal mother Goddess who helped both living & Dead.”

I was shocked; this was unbelievably amazing that even in the Ancient world, Egyptians used rings for marriage.

“That ring would have been so precious, right?” I said.

“Extremely precious…” Arthur nodded.

We moved further. The climate was very hot.

I’d heard about a great pit near Deir-el-Medina & with the help of a map of Deir-el-Medina, we reached near the pit.

I stooped down with bent knees near the great pit & peeped inside it. It was filled with thousands of broken pieces of pottery; some pieces even had pictures & words painted on them.

“This great pit was the storehouse of garbage for the Egyptians living in Deir-el-Medina, but today, it has become such a great thing…!” Arthur said.

I lifted some pieces of broken pottery from the pit.

“I can’t believe this…these things are so old…! These are truly remarkable discoveries!” I said keeping some pieces of pottery in my jute bag.

“C’mon, Rosalie” Arthur said.

“Yeah…” I uttered and stood up.

“This little corner of ancient Egypt was a completely known thing & was really full of life, with people bustling here & there and scribes making a record of everything…” I whispered, walking.

“Rosalie, you know that at the end of the month, people of this village used to get wheat, rice & barley for their daily meal from the pharaoh and on special occasions, they even used to get fish, meat & wine!” Arthur told me.

“Wow! This is a simple but very great system, right?” I said, smiling.

Arthur nodded.

We again started walking inside the village.

“Arthur, you know, I’ve spend my whole life obsessed with this lost world! What a magnificent thing is this!” I said.

I was feeling really speechless that time. I was extremely happy to see a perfect evidence of Ancient Egypt.

After walking a few minutes, we saw a little house at the edge of the village. A woman with her children was inside the house. We went inside. She was preparing dough for the bread.

Arthur took her permission in Arabic about whether we can watch her making bread or not. She permitted us.

Bread was the key ingredient in the Ancient Egyptian diet.

She started kneading the dough with her hands.

“What will you do to add flavor to it, Aunt?” Arthur asked her in Arabic.

She replied that sometimes date-palms, honey, cumin & coriander are added in the dough to make it savory or sweet. After preparing the dough, she made very thick & large breads out of it.

She then took us inside the kitchen & baked the breads in the sand-oven.

“Women making bread to feed their families- it’s a completely timeless thing, right Arthur?” I said, slowly.

He nodded.

I smelt a piece of bread. It was really a direct link back in to their world- the world of Ancient Egyptians.

“You know Rosalie, also when the bread was decayed, it was used by the Ancient Egyptians to heal the wound. They never knew how, but it worked anyways. The decayed bread actually contains penicillin that later we discovered.” Arthur told me.

“Wow!”

I ate the bread. It tasted really good & savory.

We thanked the woman & left.

Arthur & I returned back to the village.

The people living in Deir-el-Medina were considered wealthier than other Egyptians as they were artisans of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The average family consisted of husband, wife & 2-5 dependants.

Houses in Deir-el-Medina were assigned to the workman of the Valley of the Kings as a part of their wages, & when the workman died, his wife lost the rights to a home & generally had to leave.

On our way, we saw an Egyptian Cobra slithering over the desert.

“Wow!” I whispered, very slowly. It hid itself behind some of the grasses.

We observed it. Arthur told me that it is the largest cobra of the African continent.

It had red-colored big eyes with round pupils. The Egyptian Cobra was creamy-white in color with a cylindrical & stout long tail.

“Rosalie, you know, the Egyptian Cobra was represented in the Ancient Egypt by a Cobra-headed goddess, Meretseger. She was the patron deity of the workers in Deir-el-Medina who built the tombs. She punished workers who committed crimes, but healed those who repented. As a cobra, she spat poison at anyone who tried to vandalize or rob the royal tombs. In art, she was portrayed as a Cobra-headed woman.” Arthur said watching the Cobra.

“Brilliant…!” I said.

“Cleopatra, who was the last active pharaoh of the Ancient Egypt, was believed to have committed suicide by placing the poisonous Egyptian Cobra on her body & let it kill her…” Arthur told me.

“Really?” I questioned, being shocked.

“No, no one actually knows how the Queen committed suicide. It is just a myth that she poisoned herself with a snake’s bite. No one really knows that…” Arthur said.

“But, I do want to know more about her life… Arthur, don’t you think that the Ancient Egypt is limitless? The more we’re discovering mysteries about it, the more it is becoming mysterious…” I said, silently.

“Absolutely” He answered.

We moved further into the village.

Deir-el-Medina was at quite a distance from the tombs of the Valley of the Kings where the artisans had worked.

The workmen from this village worked throughout the year, in the hot summers as well as in the winters.

The Egyptian month consisted of three periods of 10 days each. The working week consisted of 8 working days, with days of rest on the 9th and 10th day.

In between their working days, the workmen used to spend their nights in the Valley of the Kings or in its close proximity in simple huts.

“What are you doing, Arthur?” I asked him when he was making a call to someone.

“I’m calling Mr. C. Corona. He’s a geologist.” He replied.

“Here?” I asked.

“Yeah…He’ll guide us to the Valley of the Kings…” He said & made a call.

I nodded.

We waited for him for half an hour.

“Hello, Sir” We greeted him.

“Hello,” He replied with a smile, “C’mon, let’s start our trip to Earth’s most famous cemetery, Valley of the Kings”

“Sure,” We laughed.

I looked at my wrist watch. It was 2:30 pm & the climate was extremely hot.

“How hot the climate is!” I said, taking out my brolly from my jute bag.

“Egypt experiences this throughout the year!” Mr. Corona laughed.

We continued our hike for almost an hour on the Theban Mountain to reach the western branch of the necropolis.

“This path between the settlement of Deir-el-Medina & the Valley of the Kings is the same ancient path that the artisans used on their way to work 3,5oo years ago…” Mr. Corona said.

“Wow!” I could imagine workmen from the village of Deir-el-Medina hiking the mountain with us, to reach their workplace.

We finally reached on the top of the Theban Mountain. It was really like a childhood dream blossoming into a reality, for me.

Towards the east, the view of the emerald-green fields of the Nile Valley was breathtaking…

And the view towards the west- the view of the Valley of the Kings & the surrounding desert- was magnificent…

We saw the famous natural play of shadows on the Theban cliffs.

“As the Sun rises in the east, ‘East’ where the Nile Valley is situated is considered as the ‘Land of Living’ & as the Sun sets in the west, ‘West’ where the Valley of the Kings is situated is believed to be the ‘Land of Dead’.” Mr. Corona said.

“Wow! This place completely reflects Ancient Egypt’s spiritual beliefs, right?” Arthur said, staring at the outstanding place.

“Yeah…” Mr. Corona replied.

It was impossible to imagine a contrast more striking than that presented by the two scenes that we had before our eyes: on one side solitude, aridity, desolation & death; on the other temples, palaces, beautiful Nile River, vegetation, cultivated fields, herds, people & all the movement of living nature.

“Without any doubt, the ancient artisans used to sit at the top of the cliffs & admire the remarkable views.” Mr. Corona said.

I never wanted to leave such a brilliant place, but we had to go, anyways.

We continued our hike to the western branch of the Valley of the Kings.

The tombs in the Valley of the Kings evidence elaborate preparations for the next world, in which humans were promised continuing life & pharaohs were expected to become one with the gods.

Mummification was used to preserve the body so that the deceased's eternal soul would be able to reanimate it in the afterlife.

 

We reached there, after a long hike.

“So beautiful…!” I uttered, looking around myself.

The time in the Valley of the Kings virtually stood still.

There was no sign of vegetation anywhere; the whole place was covered in desert. The mountains around us were so high that we could not see the sky & the Sun. No one was around us, for miles.

 

“Although deathly silenced today, but 3,500 years ago, these walls would have vibrated by the cause of construction teams.” Mr. Corona said, slowly.

The place was so silent that we could even hear the sound of our breath.

The tombs in the Valley of the Kings were built underground.

Valley of the Kings, one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, along with rest of the Theban Necropolis, became a World Heritage Site in 1979.

“The materials used in these royal tombs were very valuable, right?” Arthur said.

“Yeah, like paints, plaster, oils & copper…” Mr. Corona replied.

At a simple hut of probably a workman, we found a broken piece of pottery.

“This seems like a part of a wine jar.” I said.

“Yeah, perhaps…” Arthur uttered.

We moved further.

“3,500 years ago, this place would have been full of life, with workmen making plaster, mixing paints & caretakers telling them to do this, to do that… Caretakers kept an eye on everything that happened in the Valley of the Kings.” Mr. Corona said.

I touched the rough surrounding walls. The walls were made up of limestone & rocks.

“While the construction of the tombs, these walls might have come crashing down & people might have to run, Rosalie.” Mr. Corona said, slowly.

I nodded.

 

“One of the most important goals for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt was the building of their own tombs that no one was ever meant to see. They also built tombs for their wives & children in the Valley of the Queens of the Theban Necropolis.

The Valley of the Kings was an underground mausoleum that no one was ever meant to see. These underground tombs even included materials like clothes, golden masks, jewelry, furniture, food & drinks & sacred objects that a ruler might need in the next world.

Architectural designs, decorations that would adorn ceilings & walls & locations of the tombs were decided by the pharaohs during the first year of their rule.

During the construction of the tomb, firstly, the tomb was dug into the Theban Mountain by the quarrymen. Secondly, the plasterers used to smooth the walls of the tomb & then the painters painted & decorated the surface & the ceiling of the tomb.” Mr. Corona said.

“So, how many tombs are there in the Valley?” I questioned.

“Many thought that the 62 tombs discovered before 1922 represented all that would be found in the Valley-until an Egyptologist discovered the resting place of the boy king, Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

Later, archaeologists discovered Valley’s first unknown tomb, which was only a few miles away from Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s resting place. The tomb was named as KV 63.

KV 63 had no mummy but it contained sarcophagi, pottery, linens, flowers & other materials.

Some archaeologists believe that KV 63 is an embalming cache & there must be a tomb to go with it.

So, there are 63 tombs in the Valley- at least till now.

But many Egyptologists believe that there might be many more royal tombs hidden in the Valley of the Kings.

In fact, the Pharaohs of Egypt never wanted anyone to see their tombs where they were interred for all eternity. But, to know more about Ancient Egypt, we have to explore this Valley, anyways. Here, you could never know what you’re going to discover or find…” He replied & laughed.

 

“Fascinating is this…” I uttered. We moved further.

Mr. Corona told us that tomb robbers & treasure hunters have been coming in the Valley of the Kings for centuries & though their entrances were well hidden, nearly the entire Valley’s known royal tombs have been robbed before the coming of 20th Dynasty ruling the Ancient Egypt.

“It is possible that perhaps, any tomb yet to be found was so well hidden that it also escaped the notice of ancient thieves, right Uncle?” I asked.

“Yeah, maybe… Only time will tell.” He whispered.

We nodded.

Most of the tombs in the Valley consisted of three corridors, an antechamber & a sunken sarcophagus chamber. These catacombs were harder to rob & were more easily concealed.

 

“This Valley was surrounded with steep cliffs & was highly guarded during the Ancient period. But in 1090 BC, there was a collapse in Egypt’s economy leading to the emergence of tomb robbers in the Valley. Because of this, it was also the last year that the Valley was used for burial. So, for the better protection of the materials stored in the tombs, the Egyptian priests opened most of the tombs, collected all the valuables & the mummies & moved them to two large caches, Deir-el-Bahri, located near to Deir-el-Medina & the tomb of Amenhotep II.” Mr. Corona said.

 

“Okay…Sir, how do you know so much about all these things?” Arthur asked.

“Well, Egyptology was my favorite subject…” He laughed.

 

“Uncle, can we take a look of the tombs?” I asked him.

“Yeah…but only a few of the 63 known tombs are accessible & open for the tourists because the tombs have suffered a lot for decades due to pollution, urban & industrial growth & rising groundwater. So, we can visit only Ramsses VI’s, Seti I’s & Amenhotep II’s tomb.” He replied.

“Alright, we’re going to visit Ramesses’s first…” Arthur said.

 

I looked at my wrist-watch. It was 5:45 pm.

“It feels cool now!” I said, keeping my brolly in my jute bag.

We rushed to take 3 tickets for each of the tombs. The cost of a ticket was 90 Egyptian pounds.

 

We descended down through stairs leading to the underground tomb.

“Wow…!” I whispered.

There was complete darkness inside & the walls around us seemed untouched & were painted with scenes of Afterlife.

 

“Oh! My god! It’s so hot & dark here…” I said, after a minute.

Really, I salute those workmen who spent their whole life working inside these blackout tombs where they had only a simple oil lamp as a source of light.

 

We finally reached at the tomb.

The tomb was set up with electrical, yellow lightings.

Ramesses VI had one of the largest tombs in the Valley.

His tomb was decorated with scenes from the books of the Underworld & the burial chamber was dominated by the shattered remains of the king’s massive granite sarcophagus.

The tomb of Ramesses VI, who had a brief reign, was a single small chamber at the end of a steep corridor. It bears some similarity in its decoration with the tomb of Pharaoh Horemheb, while being more elaborate.

A strange, odd feeling haunted us inside the tomb, especially when we realised that we’re standing at a King’s grave, where he was believed to embark a long journey to the Afterlife.

We were able to see many decorations & walls behind the glasses only.

Next, we visited the catacomb of Seti I.

His tomb was the earliest-era tomb that can be visited.

The walls of the tomb were covered with 750 different deities & its ceiling was spangled with stars. It was really beautiful. The colours were so fresh & beautiful like if the paintings & images were leaping right into our eyes, from the walls.

A large alabaster sarcophagus & Canopic chest was placed in a huge lighted, glass container.

At last, we visited the tomb of Amenhotep II.

A royal mummy cache was found in the southwest chamber of the tomb in the year 1989. This tomb’s seclusion made it a good reburial place for the nine royal mummies placed here in order to protect them from further depredations.

“Rosalie, you know, when his sarcophagus was opened, Amenhotep II was found still lying in his sarcophagus!” Mr. Corona said.

“Wow! So, what was done to his mummy?” I asked.

“Well, the remains of his mummified body were moved to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.” Mr. Corona replied.

We came out of the tomb.

I looked at my wrist-watch. It was 7:55 pm.

Darkness surrounded the valley.

All the accessible tombs in the Valley of the Kings were opened for a particular period of time for the visitors; from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The tombs in the Valley were closed by the caretakers as the time was 8:00 pm.

“I think we should go now.” Arthur said.

“Yeah…” I uttered.

We followed the same ancient path from the Valley of the Kings to reach Deir-el-Medina, again.

“It’ll take at least 45 minutes for us to reach down… Do you want to ask anything more?” Mr. Corona laughed.

“Yeah… Can you tell us about Pharaoh Akhenaten who was cursed to wander as a ghost after his death, uncle?” I asked.

“Oh! Sure…” He replied.

We started going down the Theban Mountain & I turned back to take a last view of ‘The Valley of the Kings’.

“Akhenaten was born to Amenhotep III & his favourite wife, Queen Tiy & was their younger son. Akhenaten was not designated as the successor to the throne until the untimely death of his older brother, Thutmose. Akhenaten lived at the peak of Egypt's imperial glory. Egypt had never been richer, more powerful, or more secure. Up and down the Nile River, workers built hundreds of temples to pay homage to the Gods. They believed that if the Gods were pleased, Egypt would prosper. Akhenaten means- ‘the living spirit of Aten’. He is known for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism & introduced worship centred on God Aten, a solar deity. Akhenaten & his family lived in the great religious centre of Thebes, city of Chief God, Amun.

As a child, Akhenaten was a family outcast. He was seemed to be ignored by the family & he never appeared in any portraits & was never taken to the public events. He received no honors. It was as if the God Amun had excluded him. He was rejected by the world for some unknown reason. He was never shown with his family nor mentioned on monuments. Yet his mother, Queen Tiy favored him.” Mr. Corona said with grim.

“But, there would have been some reason for why he was excluded from his family...” I asked, getting surprised.

“Yeah…Some Egyptologists said that Akhenaten suffered from a genetic disease, Marfan syndrome that damages the body’s connective tissues. In this disease, the person develops unusually tall and slim head, neck, arms, hands & feet, short torso, pot belly, heavy thighs & poor muscle tone. Akhenaten had an unusually tall body & had elongated features. Perhaps, this would have been a reason for why he was excluded.

When Amenhotep III died, Akhenaten took over the throne, although he was just a teenager at that time. His reign lasted 16 years. This was a very difficult time in the Egyptian history.

Akhenaten built a temple to his God Aten immediately outside the east gate of the temple of Amun at Karnak, but clearly the coexistence of the two cults could not last. He therefore proscribed the cult of Amun & closed the God’s temples. He then sent his officials around to destroy Amun’s statues & to desecrate the worship sites. These actions were so contrary to the tradition that opposition arose against him.” Mr. Corona said, “It was said that one day Akhenaten had a vision wherein he saw a sun disc between two mountains. He felt that God was guiding him to make a change. He felt guided by the God Aten to build a city between the two mountains.

 

In the sixth year of his reign, Akhenaten rejected the Gods of Thebes. They were never a part of his childhood anyway since he had been shunned as a child. Akhenaten had declared for the first time in recorded history that there was only one God - the concept of monotheism. Overnight he turned 2,000 years of Egyptian religion upside down...!”

“Oh! My God” I blurted out.

“Akhenaten’s chief wife, Queen Nefertiti, was a companion of him in every work he did. She had become world-famous by the discovery of her exquisitely molded & painted elegant statue, which is now preserved in the Altes Museum in Berlin. She is often referred to as ‘The Most Beautiful Woman in the world’.

Her statue’s head was first plastered & then richly painted. Her full lips are enhanced by a bold red. Although the crystal inlay is missing from her left eye, both eyelids and eyebrows are outlined in black. Her graceful elongated neck balances the tall, flat-top crown which adorns her sleek head. The vibrant colors of her necklace & crown contrast the yellow-brown of her smooth skin. While everything is sculpted to perfection, the one flaw of the piece is a broken left ear. Because this remarkable sculpture is still in existence, it is no wonder why Nefertiti remains ‘The Most Beautiful Woman in the World’.

Her reign with Akhenaten was unlike the traditional ways Egypt had seen. She was more than just a typical queen & helped to promote Akhenaten’s views. Her reign was only 12 years, but she was perhaps one of the most powerful queens to ever rule.

Her importance was greatly valued by Akhenaten & he went to great lengths to show her as his counterpart.

Nefertiti’s origins are confusing. It has been suggested that Queen Tiy was her mother also & Nefertiti was Akhenaten’s cousin. We will never know the truth of this bloodline. Perhaps they didn't know either.

The city that Akhenaten built between the mountains was named as El-Amarna.

Akhenaten & Nefertiti left Thebes behind, and following the guidance of his God Aten, he moved his family 180 miles north, to El-Amarna. There, in the desert, he established his new religion by building an entire city dedicated to Aten completed with a necropolis & royal tomb.

During the early years of Nefertiti’s royal reign in El-Amarna, Nefertiti changed her name. Nefertiti which means “The beautiful one has come” became Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti or “The Aten is radiant of radiance because the beautiful one has come”.

In the city, Akhenaten built elegant palaces, bridges, royal roads & houses. In this newly established city, Akhenaten wanted everyone to be happy. He created a beautiful, idealistic religion & Utopia for his people but many just didn’t understand it. Akhenaten was not living in the reality. People continued to worship the earlier Gods. Akhenaten’s God was too much of an abstraction. People also wondered why the Sun God only shed his rays on the royal family and not everyone. Akhenaten changed thousands of years of art in Egypt. Gone were the images of God Amun & other Gods of Egypt.

Images of Pharaohs with idealized bodies were gone. The Pharaoh was shown as misshapen as was his wife Nefertiti, in the monuments. It became fashionable to show images of the entire royal family with elongated heads, faces, fingers & toes. This gave the artists of El-Amarna new freedom to show scenes of the real life of the Pharaoh, something that had never been done before.

The priests worried about God Amun & the fact that the ‘Rebel Pharaoh’ had declared their God extinct & deserted the religious capital of Egypt.

People who earned their living based on the old religions like wood carvers & scarab makers were out of business. The people worried about their Afterlife that what would happen now when they were not worshipping the traditional Gods.

Like this, Akhenaten lived in his dream in El-Amarna for ten years as conditions grew worse in Egypt. He remained isolated from the true problems of the people. He allowed Egypt’s captured territories to be taken back…” Mr. Corona said, swiftly.

“Oh! Is it the end?” I said, taking a profound breath.

“No, of course not. After the twelve years into the Amarna Period, Nefertiti who was Akhenaten’s companion, was said to have vanished & was assumed dead. Little is known about her disappearance due to the damage caused by Akhenaten’s successors. It seems that they wanted no memory of his existence & that included memories of Queen Nefertiti too. Everything was destroyed or either buried in the sands of Egypt. Though very little evidence has survived, it has still sparked theories as how she disappeared.

That’s a great mystery, perhaps the Queen was buried somewhere in some tomb that was hidden from rest of the world’s eye.

Akhenaten’s mother Tiy & one of his daughters died too. This made Akhenaten feel alone and depressed.

Nefertiti's disappearance coincided with the sudden appearance of a young man named Smenkhkare.

Smenkhkare was crowned co-regent to Akhenaten when he was about sixteen. He was married to Akhenaten’s eldest daughter, Merytaten.

Some theories suggest that Nefertiti was disappeared because she became co-regent to Akhenaten, that is, Smenkhkare & helped him rule Egypt. Many Egyptologists declared Smenkhkare to be Nefertiti & believed she went to great lengths similar to that of Hatshepsut-dressing as male to be accepted as a Pharaoh, because she wanted to rule Egypt as a pharaoh, not just as a Queen.

But, if Nefertiti was Smenkhkare, it was certainly very odd for her to marry her own daughter, Merytaten.

After few years, Tutankhamen succeeded Akhenaten & Smenkhkare when he was just 8 years old. He married Akhenaten’s daughter Ankhesenpaaten. The couple soon moved away from El-Amarna & again established the old religion. Tutankhamun’s origins are just as hazy as Smenkhkare’s. Some said that he was Akhenaten’s son by his minor wife, Kiya & some said that Tutankhamen was Smenkhkare’s son.

In 1332 BC Akhenaten died & his memory & all that he had created was soon erased from history which was not found for centuries later.

Neferneferuaten, a female Pharaoh reigned in Egypt for two years & one month. She was then probably succeeded by Tutankhamen. Under the reign of Tutankhamen, priests again opened the temples of Chief God Amun & re-established their religious capital as Thebes.

Later Pharaohs attempted to erase all memories of Akhenaten & his religion.

Finally, Akhenaten, Neferneferuaten, Smenkhkare & Tutankhamen were removed from the official lists of Pharaohs, which instead reported that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb, son of Tutankhamen.

Akhenaten’s name never appeared on any of the king lists compiled by later Pharaohs & it was not until the late 19th century that his identity was re-discovered.

Akhenaten’s royal tomb in El-Amarna was completed before his death & he was buried in a pink granite sarcophagus inside it.

But his body was removed from the royal tomb of El-Amarna after the court returned to Thebes, & was buried in KV 55 of the Valley of the Kings…” Mr. Corona said.

“Is Akhenaten’s tomb also there in the Valley of the Kings?” I said, getting shocked.

“Yes, but it is closed forever. At the beginning of 20th century, a wealthy American excavating Egypt discovered a tomb in which a burial from the Amarna period had been re-interred. This tomb was clearly unfinished, and the burial was a hasty one. The damaged walls of the tomb had the damaged image of Akhenaten worshiping the sun disc with the name of Queen Tiy.

In a niche, four Canopic Jars held the internal organs of the King’s mummy & lying on the floor was a badly damaged, but beautiful sarcophagus.

When they opened the sarcophagus, they found a mummy wrapped in a gold-leaf. But as they touched the mummy, it crumbled to dust leaving the excavators with a pile of disarticulated bones at the bottom of the sarcophagus. But beneath the skeleton, the last sheet of gold, seemed to have the damaged name of Akhenaten written on it. The head of the skeleton was elongated.” Mr. Corona answered, instantly.

“Shocking! But uncle, I don’t think that Akhenaten did anything wrong, because three thousand three hundred years ago, the Rebel Pharaoh preached monotheism & not more than 100 years after his death, Moses, the founder of Judaism, preached monotheism on the banks of Nile River to the Israelis.

The idea of a single God, once the radical belief of an isolated heretic, is now embraced by Moslems, Christians & Jews throughout the world. So, I don’t think he was wrong. The vision of Akhenaten lives on!” I said, smiling.

“Yeah…” He said. Arthur nodded too.

By the time Mr. Corona finished telling about the very mysterious Pharaoh, we had reached at Deir-el-Medina, again.

I looked at my wrist-watch. It was 9:10 pm.

“This day was one of the most memorable days of my life. I still can’t believe that we’re in Thebes…!” I shrilled, laughing.

“Thank you so much, Sir. You did a lot for us today.” Arthur hugged Mr. Corona.

“You’re welcome & I wish to see you both becoming an Egyptologist because you both are very much passionate about Ancient Egypt. Some undiscovered mystery might be waiting for you in Egypt. Best of Luck” He smiled & bid us goodbye.

“Goodbye, uncle…” I hugged him & we left for our Hotel again.

We reached at the Hotel & did the dinner. We went to our suit.

“Arthur today was really a great day. We visited the ancient village ‘Deir-el-Medina’, the burial land for pharaohs, ‘Valley of the Kings’ & came to so much about Akhenaten. I’m not feeling to leave Thebes…” I said, slowly.

“Yeah, Rosalie… This place is really divine… But, we have to go…”

“I know.” I said.

“Rosalie, we’ll be coming here surely after we both become an Egyptologist. Don’t get upset.”

“Yes,” I smiled, “I was mad to be afraid of Akhenaten. He was good. Arthur, are you sleepy?”

“No…”

“Let’s go on short walk. I’m too unable to sleep.” I said, pulling the ‘Book of the Dead’ from my jute bag.

He nodded. I put on a pair of sandals & moved out of the Hotel.

It was complete darkness outside & the time was around 12:00 am.

Roads were silent. We could see no one around us. I & Arthur sat on a bench under the streetlight & opened the Book of the Dead.

I flipped few pages of the Book & found something written about Goddess Hathor. I read the English-translated part of it.

“Hathor is one of the most famous goddesses of Ancient Egypt. She was depicted by a cow. She was the goddess of everything- women, fertility, beauty, and children & of the living & Dead.

Her traditional offering was two mirrors and she was often depicted on mirrors and cosmetic palettes. Yet she was not considered to be vain, rather she was assured of her own beauty and goodness and loved beautiful and good things. She was known as “the mistress of life” and was seen as the embodiment of joy, love, perfume, dance & music.

Hathor was especially connected with the fragrance of myrrh incense, which was considered to be very precious. She was also associated with turquoise, malachite, gold and copper. As “the Mistress of Turquoise” and the “lady of Malachite”, she was the patron of miners.

She was also the patron of dancers & musicians. Many of her priests were artisans, musicians, and dancers.

One myth tells that Sun God Ra had become so despondent that he refused to speak to anyone. Hathor, who never suffered depression or doubt, danced before him joyously which caused him to laugh and return to good spirits.

As the “lady of the west”, she protected and assisted the Dead on their final journey to Afterlife. Because of her role in helping the dead, she often appears on sarcophagi.

It was believed that she knew the length of every child’s life from the day he was born & questioned the Dead souls as they travelled to the land of the Dead or the Afterlife. She took the form of a woman, goose, cat or a lion.” I read, slowly.

“Wow!” Arthur exclaimed, “I think a PhD is not enough for knowing everything about Ancient Egypt, right Rosalie?”

“Of course & that’s why we’ve came here in Egypt, to gain knowledge about Ancient Egypt.” I answered.

I & Arthur had completed our PhD in Egyptology from the Department of Egyptology of Brown University in United States of America. We were going to receive the degree of our completion of PhD in Egyptology, in Aswan, the largest city of Upper Egypt.

French & German are two of those languages that are very important in Egyptology, that’s why these two languages were very well known to us.

“And you must learn Arabic, Rosalie…” Arthur said.

“Yeah…” I felt a little ashamed.

Under that streetlight, on the bench, we spent our whole night reading the Book of the Dead.

I finally looked at my wrist-watch. The time was 5:30 am.

We went to our Hotel’s suit again & packed our bags.

“Do we really have to go?” I asked Arthur, with tear-filled eyes.

“Rosalie, don’t worry! We’ll be coming here again, surely…” Arthur said, softly.

I nodded, sadly.

Our next & last destination in the divine Egypt was, ‘Aswan’.

To reach Aswan from Luxor, the only way was by the River Nile Cruise. This city lies on the east bank of the Nile River.

On 6:00 A.M., we sat in the felucca. Cruising the River Nile is a popular way of visiting the Upper Egypt. The Nile River has been Egypt’s lifeline since ancient times & there is no better way to trace the passage of Egypt’s history than to follow the course of Nile.

The Nile was filled with brilliant flora & fauna. We stopped at plenty of famous temples & other ancient sites.

The cruise between Luxor & Aswan is one of the most beautiful, safe, scenic & adventurous cruises.

In Aswan, the Nile River is most beautiful, flowing through amber desert & granite rocks, round emerald islands covered in palm groves & tropical plants.

Surrounding the peaceful Nile River valley were impenetrable obstacles that protected the Ancient Egyptians far better than any army could. This protection gave the Ancient Egyptians perhaps the single most important element in building a great civilization. The Great Nile River provided them time to learn agriculture, develop a code of laws, deities to worship, time to create art, a beautifully written language, music & dance.

Along the river there was a thin ribbon of land that was nourished by the annual flooding of the Nile. It was lush & many crops were grown there.

The Nile River, along which most of the people of Egypt lived, stretched more than 4000 miles, but the Ancient Egyptians only knew about 1000 miles of it.

Almost after one & a half day, we reached Aswan.

This adventurous journey by a felucca was not very comfortable, but nothing could beat sailing in a quite rig which was designed thousands of years ago by the Ancient Egyptians.

Aswan is the hottest city of Egypt & has its own distinct African culture. The pace of life here is slow & relaxing.

As soon as we reached there, we went to explore the souk which was full of scent & color of spices, perfumes, scarves & baskets.

The bazaar ran along the Corniche, surrounded with peaceful gardens & museums.

We visited every shop of the souk while eating freshly caught grilled fishes, till it was evening.

We spent our evening strolling up & down the broad Corniche watching the sailboats & the spectacular & graceful sunset at the Nile River.

We did our dinner in floating restaurant while listening to Nubian music.

Every night, Nubian dancers & musicians perform in the Cultural Center, just off the Corniche.

At last, Arthur managed a small lodge for us.

“Aswan is really good…” Arthur whispered, as we entered the lodge.

“Yeah…But, I’m missing Thebes…” I said.

He nodded.

“Arthur, that uncle whom I met in the airplane told me that he lives in Aswan...” I said, as soon as I remembered about that uncle.

“Uncle?” He questioned, getting confused.

“Yeah… I met an uncle in the airplane when I was coming to Egypt. He was very nice & knew a lot about Ancient Egypt. He also gifted me this Book of the Dead. I wish I could meet him once again…” I uttered.

“We’ll try…” He answered, slowly.

The time was 10:30 pm. We switched the lights off & went to sleep.

I was really happy; actually, extremely happy.

My childhood dream of becoming a successful Egyptologist was going to become a reality, because the next day, we were going to receive our degree of PhD in Egyptology.

I knew that only a PhD was not enough for becoming a perfect Egyptologist, but at least it was a big step towards it.

Only in these ten days of our visit to Egypt, I felt we’ve explored everything about Ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egypt, I’m in love with you.

Next splendid morning, I & Arthur took our bags & left the lodge.

Sixty kilometers to the north of Aswan, there was the ancient city of Edfu.

Edfu was a flourishing city in Ancient times.

This city was famous for the Temple of Horus, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful and preserved temples in Egypt. The construction of this temple & its additions, inscriptions, and relief’s took about 180 years.

The temple was quaintly beautiful.

The temple had traditional elements of Egyptian temples of the New Kingdom.

The walls of the temple were decorated with scenes showing the story of the divine birth of Horus the child, in the presence of the Goddess Hathor, the God Khenoum & other deities who were concerned with child birth.

The temple had a Pylon that is considered the highest among the surviving temples in Egypt, today. It was 37 meters high & was decorated with battle scenes, representing Pharaoh Ptolemy VIII smiting his enemies before the God Horus.

We moved inside the temple. There was also an open court which was open to the public & was known as ‘Court of Offerings’ during ancient times, being the place where people could give their offerings to the statue of the God Horus.

At the end of the Temple was the sanctuary, which includes a niche of grey granite where a statue of the God was placed. In front of the throne of the God was a pedestal for the resting of the divine boat. The sanctuary was surrounded by 12 rooms.

A chapel in the temple was also dedicated to Goddess Nut.

The northern wall of the temple depicted the divine marriage of Hathor and Horus that was celebrated every year, at this temple.

Another scene, on the western side of the temple, depicted the legend of the conflict between Horus and Seth, the victory of Horus over his uncle, and his coronation to rule the world.

After visiting this ancient temple, we left for the most famous tourist attraction in Aswan, the ‘Abu Simbel’.

The Abu Simbel was an archaeological site that comprised two massive rock-cut temples constructed during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses-the-Great in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself & his chief wife, Queen Nefertari.

These temples were dedicated to Sun God Ra, Goddess Hathor & Queen Nefertari.

 

The sacred area of the temple occupied a place between the sandstone cliffs & the river Nile.

The rock-cut façade of the temple represented a large Pylon & four colossal statues of Ramses, each 67 feet high.

At the top of the pylon, was a row of baboons known as the ‘Watchers of the Dawn’ with the hands of the baboons raised in adoration for the rising sun.

The ancient Egyptians believed baboons played a role in helping the Sun god Ra to defeat the darkness of night & so they were believed sacred to the worship of the rising Sun.

 

The most remarkable feature of this site was that the temple was precisely oriented so that twice every year, on 22 February & 22 October, the first rays of the morning Sun shine down on the entire length of the temple-cave to illuminate the back wall of the innermost shrine & the statues of the four Gods seated there.

I felt that the ancient Egyptian builders were really very wise.

 

“Arthur, do you know about Queen Nefertari?” I asked.

“Yeah…I know about her… Queen Nefertari was of high importance during the reign of Ramesses II & was his favorite wife. Nefertari was not the only Queen present during the rule of Ramesses II. In fact, he had a harem filled with many queens. But, Ramesses referred to her as the most beautiful & intelligent amongst all of them. She had a major political influence on Egypt.

When she died, Ramesses II buried in a tomb of the Valley of the Queens. The tomb was named as QV66. It was the largest tomb in the valley & was lavishly decorated.

When discovered, Nefertari’s tomb was found to have been badly damaged & plundered.

The person who discovered this tomb, found only a part of the two knees in the damaged pink granite sarcophagus of Queen Nefertari.

Nefertari’s origins are unknown, but a cartouche of the Pharaoh Ay discovered in her tomb suggested that she may have been related to the rulers of the 18th Dynasty which included Akhenaten, Nefertiti & Tutankhamen.

Although she had at least four sons & two daughters, none of these succeeded to the throne. The heir to the throne of Ramesses II was Prince Merneptah, his 13th son by another wife, Isetnofret.

Because Nefertari wasn’t a pharaoh and because there were no scenes of daily life in her tomb, we cannot actually figure out what happened in her life…” Arthur said.

“Okay… But look, here are some images of Queen Nefertari in this book…” I said, showing him some pages of the Book of the Dead.

He nodded.

I looked at my wrist-watch. It was 1:30 pm.

The climate in Aswan was extremely hot. I & Arthur were completely covered in clothes, to prevent sunstroke.

Now, finally it was the time for which we were waiting since our childhood.

We drove to the University of Sociology, Anthropology & Egyptology in Aswan by a taxi.

On reaching there, we met fifteen more aspirants who were going to receive the degree of completion of PhD in Egyptology.

Some were from France, some from Germany & some were native to Egypt only.

It was really surprising to know that only I & Arthur were from United States of America.

We all sat down & talked to each other, telling our experiences about Ancient Egypt. Finally, after an hour time, we were taken to a large hall where we had to receive our degrees.

One by one the names were called & I sat virtually still.

And one of the names finally vibrated in my ears- ‘Rosalie Dutch’.

I closed my eyes, thinking about my whole life that I devoted to Ancient Egypt; & I stood up & went to the stage.

A large statue of Pharaoh-Queen Hatshepsut was placed on the stage that had a beautiful certificate in its hands.

An uncle, who was probably the head of the University, took the certificate from the statue’s hand & gently handed it over to me. He had a lively smile on his face.

I took the degree into my hands & hugged the uncle.

“Best of Luck!” He whispered.

“Thank you, sir.” I uttered, with a jolly smile & moist eyes.

I stared at the degree & the entire hall for a second & came down from the stage.

“Arthur…” I hugged him, tightly.

“Congratulations, Rosalie…” He replied.

“Same to you…” I said, weeping a little.

I knew that for anyone else in this world, that degree did not mattered at all. But, for me, it was everything. It was the evidence for my hard work, fascination & love for Ancient Egypt.

I was really happy; extremely happy for the first time in my life.

On 5:00 pm, we left for our lodge again, which we had arranged in Aswan.

“Arthur, I want to meet that uncle…” I said, on the way to our lodge.

“Okay…But do you know where does he live?”

“I remember that he told me that he lives in El-Wasut…”

“Okay…Let’s go…”

“Thank you, Arthur”

Arthur asked the taxi driver in Arabic to take us to El-Wasut.

We came to know that El-Wasut was a small locality in Aswan.

I did not know the name of that uncle but since the locality was really small, we got his house.

“Salam, uncle! Do you remember me? We met in the airplane few days ago only…” I shrilled in happiness as I saw him.

He looked me a little closely for a moment.

“Rosalie, right?” He answered, laughing.

“Oh! Yes, uncle… I’m really happy to meet you again & thank you so much once again for the Book of the Dead…” I said, happily.

“That was nothing, dear… And wow! Have you received the degree?” He said, looking at the degree in my hands.

“Yeah…” I said, showing it to him.

“Wonderful! Then you’re not very far from becoming an Egyptologist…” He said, very cheerfully.

I nodded.

“Uncle, he’s Arthur. He has always been my companion in everything…” I said, pointing towards Arthur.

“Congrats, dear…” He said to Arthur.

Arthur smiled.

We looked around. It was almost evening & the Sun was about to set.

“Aswan is very famous for its sunset at the Amun Island. I think, you both must see it…” The Uncle uttered.

We nodded.

Uncle drove to the Amun Island of Aswan & we reached there in 25 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epilogue

This was truly a beautiful place & was just below the waterfall of Aswan.

We were looking towards the Amun Island. Here, the Nile River cuts through the granite rocks of Upper Egypt while constantly the western desert presses in the river’s banks.

We saw the beautiful Egyptian Sun slowly setting behind the ancient Nile River.

The Nile River has seen everything, from the start; everything that happened in Egypt.

We all were quite.

In a moment, I remembered everything that we did in Egypt. All those things were now just in our memories; memories of Egypt.

The festivals, the food, the language, the pharaohs, the tombs, the temples, the Gods, the myths, the beliefs, the music, the culture & the deserts of Ancient Egypt, all were unbelievable, for me.

I kissed the air of Egypt & smiled.

Our journey to Ancient Egypt was not ended; it was just started, because we had dedicated our whole life ‘In the Quest of Ancient Egypt’.

 

 

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Publication Date: 06-10-2015

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