Egypt and
the Egyptians
E gypt’s long and illustrious history seems to hold the
modern world spellbound. The ancient Empire that flourished here from
2500 b.c. until just before the dawn of Christianity was, arguably, the
greatest civilization that the world has ever seen. Two hundred years
ago, after Napoleon sent his army officers to explore the land and
bring back the first hand-drawn impressions of half-buried statues and
columns, the world couldn’t get enough. When Howard Carter peered
through the dusty air of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 and, in his own
words, “wonderful things” met his eyes, he confirmed the immeasurable
wealth of the Pharaohs, and when the backer of the dig, Lord Carnarvon,
died suddenly only a few months later, vox populi blamed it on the
curse of the Pharaohs mummy — and Hollywood was quick to feed our
fantasies. Today, “pseudo-scientific” theories about the origin and
purpose of the pyramids fill the stands of bookshops and the listings
on documentary channels. Our interest and curiosity about Egypt is, it
seems, insatiable.
Due to this unprecedented attention, people travel to Egypt
with preconceived ideas, in addition to a sense of excitement and
anticipation. But when it comes to the reality of the archaeological
sites, nothing prepares you for their beauty, scale, and magnificence.
The colossal statues are overwhelming, the delicate grace of the tomb
paintings breathtaking, the pyramids prodigious, and the huge temple
complexes positively Herculean. One can see how archaeologists arrive
for one season and never leave — the ruins and artifacts, like the
enigmatic smile of the Sphinx, pose more questions than we have
answers.
There’s no doubt that the mysteries of the ancient are the
lure that attracts most visitors, yet there is much to be said of
modern Egypt — the archaeological sites do not sit in a geographical or
cultural vacuum.Twenty-first century Egypt is a land of contrasts, but
some things never change. Just as in ancient times, without the River
Nile, Egypt could not exist. The longest river in the world brings
abundant water from the heart of Africa to irrigate a narrow verdant
valley snaking its way through the hundreds of thousands of square
kilometers of parched desert that constitute the modern state. Its flow
is constant — never suffocated by the all-pervading sand or evaporated
by the oppressive heat of the sun. All along its length, small villages
of modest mud-brick houses sit surrounded by verdant crops. You’ll see
gaggles of geese and ducks waddling along the riverbanks, burdened
donkeys treading steadfastly homeward, and oxen compliantly tilling the
fields.
The people of Egypt give thanks to the Nile, but they
worship Allah, and the haunting intonations of the muezzin drift across
city and farmland calling the faithful to prayer. It is, however, the
most liberal Muslim state in the Middle East with a constitution and
judiciary based on western democratic models, not shariah Muslim law.
The country also has a small but well-integrated Christian community
who worship the tenets of St. Mark. The Copts, as they are known, have
brought forth many influential individuals, including Boutros Boutros
Ghali, former Secretary General of the United Nations.
These interesting amalgams help to make Egypt such a
fascinating destination to visit. So many seemingly contrary and
opposing factors combine to make it unique. Over 90 percent of its land
is uninhabited, contrasting with great centers of population, including
the capital, Cairo, which is the largest city in Africa — a dusty,
noisy, sprawling, neon-lit, crowded metropolis of more than fourteen
million people. The majority of its population is urban dwelling, yet
it has family groups of Berber and Bedouin nomads who spend their
entire lives in their barren desert homeland. Office workers function
by the tick of the clock, watching the minutes pass, while farmers live
by the season, marking time with the twice yearly harvests. Though most
of its people claim descent from the ancient Egyptians, modern
religious practices and social protocols are totally divorced from
those of their ancestors. In a country where tradition plays an
overriding part of everyday life, one-third of its energy comes from
the ultra-modern source of hydroelectricity.
It may be Egypt’s position at the meeting point of three
cultures — Africa, Europe, and the Middle East — that accounts for its
complexity. It has long been influenced by their differing traits, and
has assimilated their various customs and practices. African gold
brought wealth in ancient times, and the darker skinned Nubians became
invaluable trading partners to the ancient Egyptians; living around
Aswan in the south, they remain close to their roots and their strong
musical traditions. When the Arabs took the country from the east they
brought a new religion, art, and society that swept away much of what
had come before. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Europeans
arrived — one legacy of which is the English and French spoken by a
good number of native Egyptians — and the khedives of Egypt stole their
ideas on administration and organization to help them run the
country.
Cairo, not Thebes, is the focus of today’s Egypt. It was the
pre-eminent city of the early Muslim era and the historic legacy of
that time is a district of medieval Islamic architecture unrivaled
anywhere in the world. The powerhouse of the modern economy, it is the
city’s role as a venue for peace talks, a focus for the Arab countries
of the near east, and home of the Arab Council that is invaluable in
these diplomatically uncertain times.
But tourism is the country’s modern lifeblood, and not just
as a result of our insatiable thirst for history. The seas that lap
Egypt’s arid shores hide pristine marine ecosystems that have lured
scuba divers from the inception of the sport. Package tourists soon
followed and today the coastline of Egypt is turning into a year-round
playground. With daytime temperatures rarely dropping below the high
sixties and almost continuous sunshine, it makes a welcome retreat from
the drab northern European winters, and a scorching alternative to
temperate summers. The authorities have been quick to respond, allowing
hotels and other facilities to develop — though care must be taken not
to blight the delicate environment in the rush to turn the resorts into
“Euroland. ”
Not everything in the garden is rosy of course. With
poverty and unemployment rising along with foreign debt, and Islamic
fundamentalists spurning negotiation and resorting to violence, Hosny
Mubarak, the nation’s president since 1980, has enormous problems to
solve. But with a foot in so many camps — past and present, east and
west, religious and secular — Egypt should be well-placed to withstand
the vagaries of modern life and grow in wealth and influence in the
coming years. The kingdom of the Pharaohs has many more eras of history
to add yet.
