Egypt - decodified
The Egypt is the land ,having history since prehistoric time , having innumerable mysteries ,puzzles hidden in its' river,desert ,land ,kings ,commons, language ,arts ,sculptures and history.
One of them is the old pictorial language called hieroglyphics .It was the Rosetta stone( photo in post ) with trilingual inscription that solved the meaning of these lessons of hidden ancient history.
That was the kind of first" google translate" of having three languages, Greek,Coptic and Hieroglyphics ,that opened the way for understanding of great mystery of the land of Pyramids ,Pharaohs and Papyrus.
After the recent 15 days tour of this enchanting land of pharaohs,Nile , Nephartari, Nefertity and Cleopatra, I venture to share my few impressions.
The country ' s geography is amazing. A single river is running from its South border to North border almost in a straight line, and without any tributaries in its course in the land of Egypt ,having almost 1000 mile run and supplying its' bountiful of water ,silt ,all along its bank . From the bank of river ,up up to 15 km in the interior all along and each side,it led to develop the most fertile agricultural land, fruit orchards and ,fishing ,papyrus , nurturing to development of ancient Civilization,as we know today. That is Nile - the river valley ,the all nurturing Aorta of the land.
While cruising on the river in sail boat ,called Dahabia ( golden boat,photo ) ,I happened to find a book titled " Winter on the Nile " by Anthony Sattin in the book collection of boat. It describes the Nile cruise journey in the yearn 1850, of two parallel stories of Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert,(Novelist )both in their late twenties and pre celebrityhood status ,seeking direction in their respective lives.
The story in the book( photo) and my journey in the boat was in sync and a pleasure to read 258 pages of great work of the author and enjoy his meticulous research product,in lucid language and as fluid as the river i was floating on,tummy stuffed with falafal and Egyptian bread.
Delta in its North areas and rest of the country ,being desert ( 95%)completes the map. .The Suez canal that connect the Red sea to the Mediterranean sea is the biggest toll gate of the world and number one revenue churner . As they believe in Sun God worshipping,they built all towns and temples on East side of Nile and all funerary sites( Pyramids,tombs ) on the West side.
How evolved they were is seen from the stone structures they built in the form of statues ,Sphinx , temples ,tombs, obelisks and pyramids. How their craft was evolved is seen from their the paintings ,figurative art ,motifs,mosaics,bas relief ,
carvings ,colouring, jewelleries, furniture and funerary objects.
They theorize that if the God does not exist it will have be invented and the Egyptian did that too, they invented all possible Gods ,representing all celestial
bodies, animals and birds , from the sun( Ra) and the moon(Amun)God of afterlife ( Osiris ) , cow( Hathor)/ ,dog( Anubis), ,crocodile( Sobek) ,eagle ( Horus) and interwoven in their folklores,life,politics and philosophy. With the religion came the priests and rituals. The power struggle between crowned head and shaven head.
Their philosophy has strong belief in
afterlife which led to the process of mummification ,almost perfect as seen from the 40+ mummies resting and residing in the civilization museum in Cairo. To save the mummified body along with accompanying Gold, artifacts ,they built the pyramid ,the underground tombs So that they can sleep peacefully till they enter the afterlife .
Their methodology was like putting mummies in bank vault like chambers with valuables ,to be hidden and safeguarded from thieves. But thieves proved smarter,they found the hidden entry in pyramids and tombs ,into the vault ( sarcophagus) and looted. Only lucky fellow was Tut ankh amun and his 111 kg Gold ,now the proud resident of museum.
With abundant supply of skilled men power,they created the giant statues,pillars, obelisks ,temple complexes .They achieved great engineering skill without mechanical or electronic devices of our time. All these built up structures were decorated with carved drawings,colors. These carved stones were like their written books ,displaying various information on sacred practices, governing, perfumery and history of war . . The name of kings were carved in " cartouche" ( Oblong space on monument ),and seen in all these structures built by 30 + dynasties and 100+ kings that ruled Egypt . Thank Ra,i was not school kid in Egypt.
From332 BC ,they were
ruled by Greeks and Romans for almost 1000 years and after that by Persians ,followed by Arabs but all these foreign powers modified enough to basic Egyptian cultural and religious philosophy so they do not incur the revolt of the people .The story of Christ is also woven in the land when young Christ along with parents fled and sought refuge here .
Today ,there are 70% are Muslims and 28 % are Christians ,called ,Coptics .They live happily because they foster the Egyptian cultural identity and not the religious one. Today it seem ,their password is development ,economic growth and to remain in good books of advanced nations.No wonder,the tourism is their second highest economic booster.
A La Amitabh Bachchan style ,let me say ,"
Kuch Tho Din Gujariye Egypt mein."
Humor in Egypt
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Why I refuse to take dental treatment in Egypt ?
" Because my hidden fear ,that the dentist ' s drill may discover some unknown Pharaoh's ' tomb sleeping quietly in my cavity 😜
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