Mastabas at Meidum

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Paula Terrey

15 March 2000 (morning, continued)

The ruined exterior of Mastaba 17

Next we visit Mastaba #17, which is right next to Meidum pyramid. Its bulk is impressive, but because it was mostly built of mudbrick it’s lost its form. If it weren’t so rectangular and sitting alone in the middle of a perfectly flat plain it could pass as a weathered hill.

Sarcophagus of an unknown prince

We enter via an old robber’s tunnel but it’s tricky. First we must crawl through a narrow passage, then climb down a wooden ladder to an area where we can stand, then crawl again over a limestone block that was one of several used to seal the original burial chamber passage. The real entry has a curved wall and massive stone blocks line the burial chamber.

Ancient wooden mallet propping lid

The sarcophagus is as big as a teenage elephant and an ancient wooden mallet — perhaps left by tomb robbers? — is still in place, propping open the lid. We’re told that the rifled mummy of a prince, name unknown, was discovered inside.

Palace façade remains of Mastaba 16

“Meidum Geese,” Mastaba 16. Photo courtesy of Roland Unger, Wikimedia Commons. They are on display in the Egyptian Museum.

After Mastaba #17 we take a short drive to Mastaba #16, which belonged to Nefermaat, one of Sneferu’s sons. The famous “Meidum Geese” painting came from inside this tomb and the outside has a palace façade that’s still intact in places. This hints at exciting things to explore, but when we enter through a tunnel we find it’s dark and bat-nasty. These conditions are more romantic on paper than in person and we don’t make it far. Then it’s back on the bus for the drive to Dashur.

Tomorrow is the feast of Eid Al-Adha, commemorating Abraham’s near-miss sacrifice of his son, and preparations are underway. We see women in tropical-bright robes walking toward an irrigation ditch, massive aluminum pots on their heads, and I can’t help but wonder if they’ll use that water to cook.

A donkey so laden with clover we see only his nose and legs. Water wheels. Fields of onions, clover and wheat. Goats lounging on a pile of decayed mudbricks. Roaring diesel pumps. A cemetery surrounded by fields. A blue galabeya scarecrow with a plastic bag head. A tiny boy prodding a donkey. A butcher shop, cattle heads hanging from the awning. A cascade of purple morning glories. Cactus next to clover. Shimmering silver dust on palm fronds. Stick crates bursting with ripe tomatoes.

As we drive through a small town we see men building furniture by hand, long golden curls of wood falling from their planes and chisels. Other men are loading blocks of pure white limestone into the back of a pickup. Our driver toots his horn to warn our Mercedes bus is barreling down on them and a worker looks up, smiles, and waves as he leaps back, his face so coated with limestone dust he looks like a grinning ghost.

Meidum Pyramid from Mastaba 16

Meidum

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Paula Terrey

15 March 2000 (morning)

The “collapsed” pyramid at Meidum

Today we’ll see the pyramids at Meidum and Dashur. We get on the highway and head south, but stop at a security checkpoint ten minutes later. After the checkpoint we pass a factory with chemical drums stacked next to rusted-out corrugated iron buildings, everything coated in dust. Then we’re in the desert and there’s nothing but the road.

After a while we pass a military camp and Moustafa tells us military service is compulsory for men: one year for those with a college degree, two years for high school graduates, and three years for those with no education. The goal is to ensure recruits can read, write, and drive by the time they finish.

There are a few newly planted saplings along the median, otherwise nothing green, not even weeds. The desert is a uniform gold except for a an occasional crust of dark pebbles. It’s flat for long stretches, then breaks into wadis and mesas. A green streak shimmers in the distance and Moustafa tells us it’s an irrigated tree farm. After an hour of driving we come to another checkpoint and then our bus driver stops for directions. There are two shelters by the side of the road: one of small limestone blocks; the other of pampas grass bundles resting upright against a rough wooden skeleton. A blue Isuzu truck and farm tractor are parked nearby.

Scrambling up Meidum pyramid

Meidum is the “collapsed” pyramid attributed to Sneferu and when we arrive we’re the only tour group. We scramble up the rubble for fantastic views of the desert and cultivation, mud swallows flitting over our heads. They’ve built nests on the side of the pyramid where there’s a hollow of missing blocks.

View from Meidum Pyramid

The pyramid entrance is on the north, about even with the top of the lower sheer surface, and to get to it we must climb wooden stairs.

Cave-like tunnel into Meidum Pyramid

Once inside we go down a long, steep passage via an arrangement like the one in Teti’s pyramid: “steps” made from metal rails fastened to wooden planks. Eventually the passage levels into a room with more wooden stairs. We go up, turn, and enter a chamber that’s the temperature and humidity of a sauna.

Corbelled chamber, Meidum Pyramid

The ceiling of this burial chamber is the first known corbelled stone structure in history. There’s a rickety looking ladder leaning against one wall beneath an original cedar beam. The modern rebar reinforcement beneath the beam does not inspire confidence, but seems unnecessary anyway. Meidum Pyramid is roughly 4600 years old.

Closeup of original cedar beam, Meidum Pyramid

Meidum pyramid. Note the person at the base for scale.

Khan al-Khalili

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Paula Terrey

14 March 2000 (evening)

After the Egyptian Museum we get back on the bus and drive through Tahrir Square on our way to the Khan al-Khalili bazaar or souk. At the Khan al-Khalili we are free to wander for an hour and then we’ll meet at the Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant for dinner.

One of the many beautiful “gates” in the souk

Stacked cardboard boxes overflowing with plastic sandals, toy cars, hair ribbons, and baby clothes. Rug menders. Bolts of cloth. A man balancing a massive tray of bread on his head as he walks. Another man balancing beach balls held together by nets. Minarets poking above roof tops.

The narrow alleys of the souk smell like cat piss, cigarettes and perfume. Scrawny cats are everywhere: prowling, fighting, dashing underfoot. Budgies in cages chatter overhead. Merchants stand in the doors of their shops, urging us to examine their alabaster chess sets, “faience” scarabs, toy leather camels, silver jewelry, pyramid lamps, and bubbly jewel-colored blown glass vases.

The narrow alleys of the souk

Men sit at tiny tables in front of shops, drinking tea and smoking water pipes. We pass a brazier of glowing coals, a cart with smoky roasted sweet potatoes, and another cart, elaborately sculpted, with glass panels on the side displaying nuts and toasted melon seeds.

Carved door: Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant

The door of the Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant is honey-colored wood, carved in an intricate pattern. I try to determine if this is the coffee shop where Naguib Mahfouz does his writing, but no one seems to know. Long strings of blue and silver beads hang like a curtain in the window. The floor is a star pattern in marble. The vaulted ceiling is patterned with geometric shapes pressed deeply into the plaster and painted green, orange, brick, umber, and blue, creating a tapestry tent illusion. The walls are wood paneling accented with mashrabiya, mirrors, and prints of Old Cairo. Our table has an etched tin top.

Bill does the ordering. We have an appetizer of salty pickled carrots, baby onions, and hot peppers followed by pita bread and crackers with yogurt sauce, hummus, and tahini. Next comes Egyptian lentil soup and then a main course of eggplant, okra, and meat casseroles in curry and tomato sauces, spooned over plates of rice. We have no room for our bread pudding dessert but eat it anyway.

Mosques with minarets lit from below. Flashing neon lights. Streets packed with evening shoppers. The dome of the opera house, washed in light. Goats penned outside a shop. Rebar bristling from roofs like chin hairs in need of plucking. A truck smashed into a guard rail and abandoned.

Merchant and his souvenir shop

Back near our bus a thin, curly-headed girl, maybe five years old and wearing a pink flannel nightgown that’s been through too many washings, is selling packets of Kleenex. There’s a mosque nearby. Its doors are open and men are hurriedly kicking off their shoes and going inside to pray. The rear door of a public bus opens and people leap on, even though the bus is moving and already jammed to capacity.

On the way back to the hotel Moustafa tells us the average income for an Egyptian hotel worker is 2400 pounds per year. By contrast, farmers earn about 900 pounds per year — roughly $300 US. The “middle class” in Cairo have an income of about $10,000 US per year. Moustafa has completed a four-year course in Egyptology and Tourism. Bill employs four guides and they’ve all done the four-year course.

Evening shoppers in the Khan al-Khalili

Egyptian Museum

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Paula Terrey

14 March 2000 (afternoon)

Admission to the Egyptian Museum is twenty pounds, with an extra forty pounds to see the royal mummies. We’ll pay for that but there’s a steep fee for cameras too. We decide it’s not worth it for the quality we’d be able to achieve and leave them on the bus. The museum closes at 4:30.

The Egyptian Museum. Photo courtesy of Christophe Badoux, Wikimedia Commons.

A ten-foot iron bar fence with star and spear-shaped finials surrounds the museum garden. Garden renovations are underway. The grass is brown and dotted with piles of rubble and the papyrus fountain is boarded up. We pass through security (bag x-ray and metal detector) at the outer gate and step down from street level onto a path to the entrance.

The museum is built of salmon-colored limestone blocks and is overwhelmingly big, even from the outside. An arch and flanking columns of white stone, perhaps limestone, frame the entry. There’s a carved Hathor head at the top of the arch and two queens or goddesses on either side. Their flowing robes and shapely bodies are decidedly non-Egyptian, but their headgear is traditional. More decorative iron grille work covers the windows.

Once inside we pause for another set of x-ray machines and metal detectors. The museum smells like creosote, paint, and sawdust. There’s a Tourist Police office on the right and two small gift shops on the left. There’s no information counter, no coat or package check, no brochure or map. Birds come and go through broken window panes.

Overwhelming scale of the Egyptian Museum. Photo courtesy of Kristoferb, Wikimedia Commons.

Moustafa takes us on a highlights tour and then turns us loose for a couple of hours. The highlights exhaust us, however, and we need something to drink, so before exploring on our own we head for the museum café, which requires exiting the museum and going up a set of stairs.

We sit at a table overlooking the park. The café menu is a miniature wooden obelisk with drink prices and images of Nefertiti and Tut printed on the sides. We order the hibiscus tea called Karkady and they serve it hot. Not exactly what we had in mind since we were picturing the cold, sweet, red drink we were served upon our arrival at Mena House, but with plenty of sugar and a chance to cool off it’s still refreshing.

The Mugama’a. Photo courtesy of Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons.

From our vantage point we can see Tahrir Square and, in the distance, the looming hulk of the Mugama’a, that infamous black hole of Egyptian bureaucracy. They must have finished the work on this side of the park because the grass below us is green and there are daisies mixed with agaves around the bases of the palms. The top of an obelisk marks the center of four converging granite pathways and statues of various gods — Horus, Sekhmet — are strategically placed on limestone pedestals.

Pectoral: Goddess Nut mounted on a gold plaque. Photo courtesy of Alice, Wikimedia Commons.

Back inside the museum, treasure lust draws us to King Tutankhamen’s jewelry. It’s in a special, vault-like room with yet another iron grille across the entrance and a guard at the door. The windows are closed and covered but the room smells of cooking oil and traffic fumes.

Next we visit the royal mummies. Guests are asked for silence but our fellow humans can’t resist the urge to comment and between the talkers and the shushers any hope of quiet contemplation is lost. The mummies are surprisingly small and delicate, like little dried birds. Rameses II is bald but there’s a fringe of wispy ginger-colored hair around the side of his head. Most of the mummies are lying on linen pads in hermetically sealed cases, not in coffins.

Our time is up and we’ve seen only a fraction of what we wanted to see. The closing bell is a persistent “brrrrrrrrring.” It follows us all the way out to the street.

Islamic Cairo

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Paula Terrey

14 March 2000 (morning, continued)

Muhammad Ali Mosque

Back on the bus, we drive to the Muhammad Ali Mosque, which is located within the Citadel, the massive stone-walled fortress built upon a hill near the limestone cliffs of Tura. (If my guide-book is correct, the hill upon which the Citadel sits is actually a spur detached from the surrounding Moqattam hills by quarrying.) As we drive we get another good view of an Islamic cemetery and further explanation of burial customs. The little house-like crypts on the graves are a specific Egyptian tradition: Arab cemeteries in other parts of the world have simple markers. Modern Egyptian families will take a picnic to the cemetery and spend the day, then break the dishes they used and leave them behind to keep the spirits from hitchhiking home.

Little boys walking arm in arm. A woman with a baby riding on her shoulder. Cloth banners with elaborate designs in red, blue and green in front of the oldest mosque in Cairo. A naked toddler in the doorway of his home, clutching a bundle of twigs. “Cairoland” amusement park.

The Muhammad Ali Mosque is encased in alabaster and is called, no surprise, “the Alabaster Mosque.” Directly across from it is the green-domed Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque, built by the sultan who annexed the Sudan.

We enter the courtyard of the Alabaster Mosque and immediately remove our shoes. Moustafa shows us the correct way to carry them: soles together so the bottoms won’t touch the floor of the mosque when we set them down. We stop at the fountain where the faithful wash before prayers, then go inside and sit on the carpeted floor awhile before wandering around. Muhammad Ali is actually at rest here, in a sarcophagus behind a corner iron grille enclosure.

Cairo skyline from the Citadel

After exploring the mosque we step onto the terrace overlooking Cairo. Clouds from the north are mixing with smog below us but the view is terrific anyway. The buildings of Cairo are an almost uniform brown, but an occasional white or ochre structure stands out. Minarets punctuate the skyline and traffic snakes along the highway. In the distance, high-rise apartments crowd the banks of the Nile.

Goats in a yard as we look down from the Citadel

Al-Rifa’i Mosque as seen from the Citadel

Chattering school kids on a tour of the mosque approach us, wanting to practice their English. They say “hello” and I reply “salaam,” which sends them into gales of laughter.

On our way to the Egyptian Museum we pass an ancient aqueduct along the edge of the City of the Dead. Street level has crept up through the years so that only the top third or so of the arches is still visible, right at sidewalk level. In the caves formed by the arches mounds of flowers are stored under tarps, staying cool. Women sit on the ground in front of the flowers, bundling bunches. A man is washing his taxi next to a pile of rubble on the street.

We drive through part of Garden City – one way traffic here – and pass the American Embassy, which is the largest foreign embassy in Egypt. There are 30,000 United States diplomats living in Egypt, mostly in the Maadi district. We pass the British Embassy too. It has a wrought iron fence and guards at a gate with bars that raise and lower. The American University in Cairo is reportedly right behind the American Embassy but we can’t see it.

We park and eat lunch first. Some of our group opt for the Nile Hilton, which is just down the street, but Chaz and I head for a Shawarma stand cater-corner to the museum. Shawarma is made from chicken, beef, or lamb cooked on a gyros-type spit. They cut off bits of the pre-cooked meat, fry it on a griddle with diced tomatoes, onions, and parsley, and stuff it into pita bread. Delicious!