Coptic Cairo

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Paula Terrey

14 March 2000 (morning)

We start with breakfast in the Khan al-Khalili restaurant at Mena House and are on the bus by 8:00. The plan is to see Coptic and Islamic sites this morning, the Egyptian Museum this afternoon, and the Khan al-Khalili bazaar tonight.

It’s a hazy day. The median strip of the highway is sand and rubble and the Nile looks small and crowded, cruise boats stacked along its bank. There are fields on islands in the middle of the river.

Moustafa lectures as we go. The most expensive apartments in Cairo overlook the Nile. Maadi is the name of the American district. The Arabic word for Egypt is Misr. Of the 65 million people in Egypt, 15% are Christian. St. Mark brought the gospel to Egypt in A.D. 60.

We pass the Tura limestone quarries, source of the Fourth Dynasty pyramid casing stones. Hundreds of statues, garden ornaments, architectural ornaments, and bags of cement line the roadside in front of each establishment. Freshly worked limestone is as white as snow.

Our bus driver is a whiz. He somehow negotiates the narrow Old Cairo streets and we park near the “M” subway station. The subway is relatively new to Cairo and Moustafa tells us it’s helping ease the traffic nightmare. We’ll have to take his word for it.

Coptic Cairo: brickwork of the Roman fort

We walk through a door in the walls of the so-called “Babylon Fortress” (Roman) and down a narrow alley, irregular limestone cobbles under foot.

First stop is Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Egypt. There’s a sacred well next to the synagogue that’s thought to mark the spot where pharaoh’s wife/daughter plucked Moses from the Nile.

Columns in the synagogue are painted faux marble, the walls are lined with bookcases, and high overhead the windows are stained glass. The pulpit stands smack in the middle of the room. The oldest Torah in existence, written on sheepskin, was discovered in the upstairs library.

Next we retrace our steps a short distance to the Coptic church of St. Sergius. It’s famous because, among other things, one of the interior pillars has a carved cross decoration that dripped blood in 1967 and didn’t stop until prayers were said over it. A piece of protective plastic covers the dark stains and people have written notes, presumably prayers, on scraps of paper and tucked them around the edges.

There’s an underground crypt/sanctuary but it’s filled with water due to the general rise in the water table. Tradition holds that the church was built on the site where the holy family stayed while in exile. In keeping with this theme the church also has “escaping shafts,” used by the congregants during the Roman era for obvious reasons. The ceiling beams are deeply curved, like the inverted hull of a boat, to represent Noah’s ark. A flock of noisy sparrows lives up there.

The “Hanging Church” under restoration

The pulpit is marble and there’s lovely wooden marquetry everywhere, but the painting of Mary and Jesus at the front of the sanctuary is a modern work on velvet and the floor is covered with old carpet. We’re told an interesting bit of trivia: the word Coptic comes from the ancient Egyptian “House of Ptah” – “Ka-a-Ptah.”

Next we go to Al-Muallaka, the “Church of the Virgin” or “The Hanging Church,” so-called because it’s suspended between the towers of the old Roman fort. It’s under restoration so things are torn up, but there’s still plenty to see. Every surface is either painted, carved, or inlaid with mother of pearl. It, too, has an “ark” ceiling, an intricately carved marble pulpit, and escaping shafts.

“Ark” ceiling and icons in the Hanging Church

A bit of symbolism is pointed out to us: the pulpit is decorated on the side with a cross carved inside a circle.

Cross within an Egyptian “shen” sign?

The circle is the ancient Egyptian sign meaning “forever,” therefore the cross within the circle means, “the cross will live forever.” Another interesting tidbit: regular priests in the Coptic Church must be married, but the Coptic Pope cannot be married, so popes come up through the monastic ranks.

Altarpiece of the Hanging Church

Saqqara

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Paula Terrey

13 March 2000 (afternoon & evening)

We leave the Memphis open air museum and stop at the Saqqara Palm Club for a buffet lunch of chicken, rice, tahini, and several other dishes. After that it’s a short distance to the Step Pyramid.

Djoser’s 3rd Dynasty step pyramid, Saqqara

The French archaeologist Jean-Philippe Lauer (pronounced “Lew-aire”) devoted more than thirty years to reconstructing the enclosure wall and subsidiary structures of the pyramid complex. The guards at the enclosure entrance wear black woolen uniforms, boots, berets, and machine guns.

Djoser pyramid complex, entrance colonnade. The stone columns have been carved to resemble bundled reeds.

We circumnavigate the pyramid and stop to examine the serdab, where the famous statue of Djoser was discovered in situ. It’s now one of the crown jewels of the Egyptian Museum, but a passable replica is in place here. We go by the entrance to the substructure and I’m itching to take a peek but it’s not open to the public.

It’s impossible to feel lonely at the Step Pyramid. We’re accompanied every step of the way by donkey boys shouting, “Taxi! Egyptian Cadillac! Taxi! Egyptian Cadillac!”

After the Step Pyramid we walk to the tomb of the “two brothers,” royal manicurists Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. Then we walk past the 5th Dynasty pyramid of Unas and down his causeway. The causeway covering has been partially reconstructed. There are stars on the ceiling and some of the blue paint still shows.

Next we visit the 6th Dynasty Pyramid of Teti. This is the second pyramid to have “pyramid texts” (Unas was first) and we can go inside. Access to the burial chamber is via a quasi ladder/staircase made from metal rails fastened to boards that cover the steeply sloping surface of the passage. Teti’s sarcophagus is still in place (minus Teti of course) and it’s HUGE, much taller than I am and even taller than Chaz at 6’8″. A corner of the lid is gone, presumably the work of tomb robbers.

From there we go to the tomb of Mereruka. Mereruka was Vizier (Prime Minister) under Teti and a statue of him is still in situ. Then it’s the tomb of Ptahhotep with its raised relief scenes of daily life: acrobats, winemaking, a lion attacking a cow, and a gazelle nursing.

The highway between Saqqara and Giza is two lanes. It’s up on a levy so we look down from our bus onto fields, plant nurseries, and canals. People from Cairo have summer homes out here; one house has a huge satellite dish on top.

“Thirst is an ancient feeling”

A billboard with the slogan, “Drink Coca Cola – Thirst is an Ancient Feeling.” A Volkswagen bug packed with sheep. Donkeys braying. Little kids running. Narrow paths among the palms and weeds. Mud brick huts with thatched roofs. A house smothered in a painted design of vines and leaves. Crude wooden ladders to roof tops. Green shutters. Blue shutters. Thick orange dust on my boots.

It’s late afternoon when we return to the hotel and Chaz wants to rest. I’m too wound up so decide to walk to one of the papyrus “museums.” Getting there, however, proves to be easier said than done. There are no traffic lights and no crosswalks. The papyrus museum I selected from the bus is closed but a helpful gentleman suggests another place across the street and demonstrates the correct method for dealing with the murderous traffic. Simply step into the path of speeding cars and trucks, hold up your hand, smile, and hope they’ll stop for you.

Hand-painted papyri for sale at the “Sobek Papyrus Institute”

The Sobek Papyrus Institute has a colorful tent-like awning and a basement gallery. When I walk in I wonder if they’re really open because the lights are out but they promptly turn them on for me. It turns out this is typical – it saves on electricity.

Back at Mena House I retrieve Chaz. We go to dinner at a hotel restaurant called The Greenery and call it a night by 8:30.

Memphis

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Paula Terrey

13 March 2000 (morning)

Zahi Hawass signing books after his lecture

Our first day of touring starts with an unexpected diversion: a lecture by Zahi Hawass, director of the Giza Plateau. Dr. Hawass talks about the “tombs of the golden mummies” at Bahariya Oasis and then discusses pyramids. There are 107 pyramids in Egypt and apparently nine known capstones dating to dynasties 4-6. One ancient written source says capstones were encased in gold or electrum.

Because of the lecture we change our plans for the day. Instead of heading for the Giza Plateau (something best done first thing in the morning) we will go to Memphis. However we also have permission from Dr. Hawass to stop at the Giza Worker’s Cemetery, so we will do that first.

Apartments five stories tall, rugs and laundry hanging from the windows. A man in a dark blue galabeya, embroidery at the throat, turban on his head, sitting in front of a drug store smoking a water pipe. Two camels lying in an alley, chewing hay. A woman sweeping the street with a broom made of twigs. Wooden push carts heaped with clover. Japanese tourists climbing onto camels. Salami hanging in the door of a market. Bags of potato chips overflowing from boxes onto the sidewalk.

The Worker’s Cemetery at Giza is an active archaeological site so no close-up photos are allowed. Temporary wooden steps have been scaled over large dunes to allow easier access to the tombs. The higher the tomb, the greater the status of the tomb owner. The highest tombs in the cemetery belonged to supervisors and are made of stone, with stone stelae. The lower tombs are mud brick and many have a distinctive “beehive” shape.

The worker’s cemetery at Giza, an active archaeological site.

As we get back on the bus a group of girls wearing the tan, belted coats of their school uniform wave to us, tangles in their hair and big smiles on their faces. We leave Giza at 11:00 and pass at least a half-dozen papyrus “museums,” “institutes,” and “schools.”

A butcher shop, raw meat carcasses hanging from the doorway. Rooftops piled with loose bricks and trash. A canal footbridge made from a raft of metal drums. People camping under a bridge. A donkey cart loaded with oranges. Gardens between houses. Women washing clothes and rugs on the bank of an irrigation canal.

Moustafa lectures as we travel. The many houses we see with rebar sticking from the roofs and piles of cement and sand in the yards are waiting for the addition of another room or floor. If a home is unfinished then the owner doesn’t pay taxes. This has created a sort of nation-wide Winchester Mystery House syndrome, where nobody’s home is ever done. There’s also an Islamic law against usury, so rather than taking out a mortgage Egyptians save and pay for their homes with cash and expand when they can afford it.

The farther we go the more farmland we see until we are surrounded completely by fields dotted with mud brick villages. Every yard has a domed pigeon cote with stick perches. Cotton is grown in the Delta. Luxor and Aswan grow sugarcane. Everyone grows clover for animal feed. The clover is waist high, tender, and such a brilliant green it hurts to look at it. The road runs next to an irrigation canal lined with trees drooping with egrets.

The greatly ruined pyramids of Abusir are in the distance and Saqqara is on our right. There are several carpet schools in this area. Moustafa tells us the local farmers have an average of nine to eleven kids. They want large families so they will have more help in the fields but some of the kids go to school – carpet school – instead.

A wooden handcart loaded with pita bread. Drying dates. A man standing in a doorway, ironing a pair of jeans. A canal covered with green scum. Rubble mixed with desert sand. Bits of scrubby grass. Barking dogs. Goats.

“Alabaster Sphinx” of Memphis

The village of Mit Rahina is the site of ancient Memphis. We arrive at 11:30 and enter the fenced enclosure of the open air museum. Moustafa lectures as we examine the alabaster sphinx and then have a friendly debate regarding another statute and whether it should be attributed to Hatshepsut or Tuthmosis III.

There is a shelter over the colossus of Rameses II that allows for viewing at ground level and from above. Rameses is on his back. His arms are as big as redwood tree trunks yet the muscles are perfectly defined.

Rameses II Colossus

New York to Cairo

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Paula Terrey

12 March 2000

The Great Pyramid from Mena House. The tower on the right is part of the hotel.

We are over the Mediterranean as I write this and the next land we see, forty-five minutes from now, will be Egypt. We’re late but it couldn’t be helped. Air Traffic Control put us in a holding pattern as we approached JFK. A fifteen minute delay became half-an-hour, then stretched to two hours with no explanation.

Because we were so late they wouldn’t let us leave the plane in New York. We stood and chatted with the woman behind us, whose name is Huda. She’s originally from the Sudan and was raised Muslim but now she lives in Santa Barbara and is a Native American Sundancer.

Chaz has had yet another mid-air pen disaster. There’s a splotch of ink on his passport control card and the tips of two fingers are black, but considering all the henna around here he looks quite fashionable.

At 7:10 pm we arrive at Cairo International Airport. The airport –- or at least this terminal of the airport –- isn’t nearly as large as I expected but there’s no doubt we’re in the right place. The ceiling panels are aluminum but the floor is granite and the square pillars are encased in alabaster. The Hadj is just starting so the place is packed with well wishers from the countryside, seeing their loved ones off on their great religious adventure.

Twelve of us are assembled and waiting for the Museum Tours representative, Khaled, to shepherd us onward. Khaled has thinning wavy hair, boundless energy, and a cell phone glued to his ear.

Once outside the airport we board a bus/van hybrid and are introduced to Moustafa, our guide for the duration of the trip. Moustafa is young, exuberant, friendly, and speaks English with a clear accent. He will be perfect.

The ride from the airport to our hotel is a blur of sights: cars and motorcycles driving without lights (why do they do that?!), trucks piled high with bulging sacks of grain, and cattle on the way to the butcher.

We pass a replica statue of Rameses II and then the City of the Dead, an Islamic cemetery that’s home to thousands of squatters. It’s sprawling and spooky, walled off from the main road but we can see down the narrow streets as we pass. Cooking fires flicker in front of darkened tomb doorways. Moustafa tells us the government can’t force people already living there to leave, however they offer interest-free loans and help getting apartments. There are 65 million people in Egypt, 18 million in Cairo.

At 8:30 pm we arrive at Mena House, an astonishing island of tranquility. We’re in room 163, ground level of the newest section of the hotel. Our room is furnished with two comfortable chairs, a low table, several lamps, an old-fashioned wardrobe, and an up-to-date looking television. The beds and windows are draped with tapestry-like material and the bathroom has a marble counter and floor. The tag on our room key is thick, heavy brass.

Flight to New York

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Paula Terrey

11 March 2000

Postcard purchased in Egypt by my great-grandmother, Blanche Brechbill, 1927

Airport security searched my husband’s tin of mints. It’s the sort of thing I’d normally obsess about, but there’s no time for that now because we’re already on our Egypt Air flight to Cairo via New York and there are too many other things to contemplate.

First thrill: we have a Coptic priest on board. He has a curly gray beard, long black robes that are full in the sleeve and edged at the cuffs with a wide band of red satin, and an expensive looking brown leather briefcase. His hat is made of three black silk donuts, stacked together and topped by an upside down red felt dish embroidered with a Coptic cross in gold thread.

Most of the female passengers are wearing scarves around their hair: chiffon in plain pastels, flower borders, or geometric designs. No full chador. Faces are exposed, skirts are ankle-length, and tops are form-fitting with long sleeves. The materials are strictly synthetic, almost polyester double-knit.

A couple of women near us are traveling with children (young children) and no visible husbands. The kids are in constant motion so an accurate head count is impossible, but my best guess is four or five per woman. One of the mamas has taken off her shoes and I can see henna tattoos wrapped around her ankle like a chain; the bottoms of her feet are hennaed too. She’s plump, with a smattering of freckles on light coffee skin and a dark scarf around her hair. Her oldest daughter can’t be more than eight or nine, yet she is fully in charge of the small fry. Eventually a couple of men, presumably the husbands, show up and spend a few minutes chatting with the women. The reason for their absence is now clear: they are seated in Business Class.

The gentleman behind us has removed his shoes, a toddler with a loaded diaper is dashing up and down the aisles, and in the restrooms Egypt Air has thoughtfully provided bottles of overpowering lemon cologne that our fellow travelers are using liberally.

An Egyptian Odyssey

Featured

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Paula Terrey

Drawing by the fabulous and highly talented Leigh Toldi (see link in blogroll)

INTRODUCTION

We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. John Steinbeck

In March of 2000 I went to Egypt with my husband, Chaz Benedict. The trip was sponsored by the Ancient Egypt Studies Association in Portland, Oregon (a group that sadly no longer exists) and was organized and managed by Bill and Nancy Petty of the superb Museum Tours .

My goal was to both savor every moment and record as much as I could. I was an unabashed, wide-eyed American tourist. Everything was fascinating and my pen couldn’t move nearly fast enough to suit me. I recorded information as I heard and saw it but it is quite possible that some of my “facts” are inaccurate. Any errors or omissions are my responsibility. My readers are welcome to leave corrections and comments.

Thousands of Egyptians depend on tourism for their livelihood and Egypt is open for business. If you’ve been thinking of taking a trip, now is the time to do it. Egyptians are without a doubt some of the most talented, friendly, and helpful people on the planet and that remains true in spite of the recent political upheaval. We always felt safe and welcome. I went for the monuments but would gladly have stayed for the people.

And if you love Egypt like I do, then please consider joining The American Research Center in Egypt and affiliate with the Northern California Chapter. (It costs nothing extra and will give you access to our newsletter, The Cartouche.) ARCE is a private, nonprofit organization promoting research on Egyptian history and culture, knowledge about Egypt among the general public, and American-Egyptian cultural ties.

In loving memory of Charles “Chaz” Benedict, my husband and partner in adventure for twenty-five years. May you sail joyfully on the great waters forever.

May 28, 1958 — March 17, 2015

Chaz in King Tutankhamen’s tomb, March 17, 2000