American World Traveler Summer 2018 Issue

Egypt has been steeped into history
for the longest time. Because
there has been a lot of interest in
Egypt’s history, historians coined the term
“Egyptology,” which is the study of
pharaonic Egypt. Egyptology spanned the
period between c. 4500 BCE and CE 641.
How did Egyptology begin? Scholars going
with Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of
Egypt published the Description de l’Égypte
(1809–1828); this publication made huge
quantities of source materials about
ancient Egypt available for Europeans.
Did you know that written Egyptian documents
dated to c. 3150 BCE? This was the
first time that pharaohs developed the
hieroglyphic script in Upper Egypt. These
scripts provided the source material for
Egyptological study.
Following the Arab conquest, only the
Copts kept the ancient language alive (written
in Greek characters). Coptic texts taken
Egypt during the Renaissance awakened
interest in the Egyptian language. German
Jesuit Athanasius Kircher published a
Coptic grammar in 1643; European travellers
returned to Egypt with antiquities and
stories of wondrous ruins. What’s more,
Egyptology became an academic discipline
in France, England, and Germany.
American museums opened Egyptian collections
in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. The University of
Pennsylvania, the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, and the Brooklyn Museum are some of
music collections that have done a lot of
work in Egypt.
On the geographical front, Egypt has two
coastlines on the Mediterranean and Red
Sea. It borders Libya to the west, the Gaza
Strip and Israel to the east, and Sudan to
the south.
Egypt has an area of 1,001,449 square
kilometres. The longest straight-line distance
from north to south is 1,024 kilometres,
and the straight-line distance from
east to west is 1,240 kilometres long. The
country’s maritime boundaries measure
more than 2,900 kilometres of coastline
along the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of
Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Red Sea.
Most of the country is made of desert.
Thirty-five thousand square kilometres
(3.5%) of the total land area is cultivated
and permanently settled. Most of Egypt is
located within the desert zone that runs east
from Africa’s Atlantic Coast and connects
with southwestern Asia.
Four leading geological regions are present
in Egypt: Nile Valley and Nile Delta,
Western Desert (also known as Libyan
Desert), Eastern Desert (an extension from
the Nile Valley until the Red Sea Coast),
and Sinai Peninsula. Of the geological
regions, the Nile Valley and Nile Delta are
the most significant areas, though they
cover only 5.5% of the country’s total area.
Cairo
While you’re in the country’s capital, be
sure to visit the following attractions:
Great Pyramid of Giza
This is the oldest and largest of three pyramids
in the Giza complex. It borders El
Giza. The Great Pyramid is one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and is
the only structure that has remained intact
over the years. The Great Pyramid has
three chambers. The lowest chamber was
cut into the bedrock, which served as the
chamber’s foundation and was left unfinished.
The Queen’s and King’s Chamber
are the second layer of this structure. Lastly,
the upper layer is made of buildings that
used to include two mortuary temples to
honour Khufu, Egypt’s second pharaoh of
the fourth dynasty, three smaller pyramids
for Khufu’s wives, a “satellite” pyramid, a
raised causeway to join the two temples,
and small mastaba tombs. (Mastaba
means “house for eternity” or “eternal
house.”)
Great Sphinx of Giza
This is a national symbol for ancient and
modern Egypt. The sphinx is carved from
the Giza plateau’s bedrock. If you look at it
carefully, you’ll see that it looks like a lion’s
body. The head looks like that of a king or
god. The sphinx symbolizes wisdom and
strength. Visitors would be pleased to note
that the sphinx has been recently restored.
You can find the Great Sphinx at the Nile
River’s west tip, located near Cairo. While
visiting, let yourself be amazed by the many
temples that surround the sphinx. Some of
these temples contain multiple sphinxes.
Egyptian Museum of Antiquities
This is Egypt’s largest museum. It
opened in 1902. Visitors will be greeted
with 107 halls, huge statues (on the ground
floor level), small statues, jewels,
Tutankhamon treasures, and mummies (all
on the upper level). Interested in photos?
The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities has
dedicated a section to photography. And if
you like books, periodicals, and other written
material, you’ll be able to visit the
library. Lastly, the museum dedicates seven
sections to treasures and monuments in
chronological order. See Tutankhamon’s
treasures in the first section. All pre-dynasty
and Old Kingdom monuments are found in
the second section. The third section presents
the first intermediate period and
Middle Kingdom monuments. In the fourth,
check out the Modern Kingdom monuments.
In the fifth section, find all the late
period monuments (including those of the
Greek and Roman periods). Find coins and
papyrus in the sixth section, and sarcophagi
and scrabs in the last section.
Mosque of Muhammad Ali
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You can see this Ottoman mosque from a
mile away. It was built in the nineteenth
century and in honour of Tusun Pasha,
Muhammad Ali’s oldest son, who passed
away in 1816. Architect Yusuf Bushnak
completed the structure in 1848. The
mosque and citadel are some of many
attractions and landmarks in Cairo. Step
inside the mosque and you’ll see that its
architecture is typical of Turkish style. The
mosque has a main dome surrounded by
four small and semicircular domes. The
minarets are cylindrical and have two balconies
and conical caps (you’ll see these on
the mosque’s western side). The mosque is
made primarily of limestone. The lower
storey and forecourt, however, are made of
alabaster. The mosque’s western entrance
leads to the open courtyard. The courtyard
is surrounded by rounded arcades with
small domes. You will notice a marbled
fountain in the middle of the courtyard,
American World Traveler Summer 2018