Of all the ancient temples, the sacred temple island of Philae is said to be the most beautiful. As it is on an island it is reached by boat. From the level of a small boat it captivatingly rises up from the calm deep waters of the Nile like a mirage. Its serene aura reaches you even before you set foot on its stone floor. The placid ambiance may not only be due to its scenic location but more to, the secrets the pillars and walls have witnessed over time. They seem to be willing to share stories and events but only at their leisurely calm pace. The Temple of Philae or “The Jewel of the Nile” in ancient days was the center of the worship of Isis, and the last outpost of the nearly 4000 year old ancient Egyptian religion.

It was told that Isis managed to trick the all powerful sun god Ra into telling her his secret name (the name that held all his divine power). By creating a magical serpent that bit Ra. She was called upon to cure him but to do so she had to know his secret name, which he finally divulged giving her power equal to his own and so she became divine and as powerful as Ra himself.

The end to this religion came in 535 A.D. when the Roman emperor Flavius Anicius Justinianus ordered the closure of the temple, forbad the art of reading and writing hieroglyphs and imprisoned its priests. This put an end to the religion that had spread beyond the lands of Egypt and spread all across the Mediterranean.

Isis was the sister-wife of Osiris and the mother of the god Horus. Osiris was a great and just king who was loved by his people and wife, but he was hated by his brother Seth (the god of the underworld). Seth was jealous of his brother so he devised a plan to get rid of him. He secretly obtained Osiris’ measurements and had a magnificent casket of the rarest wood and decorated with ebony, ivory, silver and gold made to fit him exactly. He then held a great feast in honor of Osiris where he offered to give the casket to whoever fit it exactly. With the aid of 72 of his wicked friends they tricked Osiris into trying it for size, but as soon as he lay in it they nailed the lid shut and threw the casket into the Nile.

On hearing of this Isis was devastated and set out to look for him throughout Egypt. Isis learnt from the children who played near the riverside the direction of the floating casket. She followed it until she learnt that the chest had come to rest near a tree near the city of Byblos (modern day Lebanon) and because of Osiris’ presence the tree shot out branches and grew leaves and flowers, and soon became a famous tree. The king of Byblos cut the tree down and fashioned it into a pillar for his palace. Isis told the queen of Byblos of her plight and was allowed to take the casket out of the pillar. She returned to Egypt and hid the chest in the marshes of the delta.

And when no one was looking she opened the chest and turned into a bird called the kite and flapped her mighty wings. The wind created by her wings gave Osiris the Breath of Life for one day, during which she conceived her son Horus from him. Seth managed to find the casket again and after opening it he rented the body into 14 pieces and scattered them along the shores of the Nile for the crocodiles to eat. Isis seeking the help of her sister Nephthys and Anubus the son of Nephthys, who was said to take the form of a jackal to find all the pieces of Osiris. All the pieces were recovered except for one. She stuck the pieces together and wrapped him in linen making him the first Egyptian mummy. Not able to return in a human form, Osiris was sent to rule the underworld, being the only person to live after death.

Isis then returned to raise her son Horus, who often took the form of a hawk. Horus eventually avenges the death of his father and manages to defeat Seth. Horus was then given the privilege of taking his father’s place and ruling Earth as Osiris had once done.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
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Search for an answer to this enigmatic question, I realized that getting a clear response was not going to be possible so I did my reading looking into all the theories no matter how much they made me laugh! The notion that someone can actually believe, publicly announce and expect to be taken seriously something bizarre and unsupported was beyond me. But then again I could be the one in the dark to one of the most unanswered questions in history. So which came first the Pyramids or the Sphinx?!

As a child, I remember always getting excited over the idea of going to the Pyramids. I still feel dwarfed standing at the base of Khufu and looking up. The stone block I’m standing in front of is much taller than I am! So how did they ever build such a thing? How long would it take to get to the top? You could probably see the world from up there!

Although there are records as to how and who built the Pyramids there is little to tell about the Sphinx, the largest surviving statue from the ancient world. It is sculpted out of a large limestone bedrock, a stone soft enough to yield to copper chisels and stone hammers, common Egyptian tools. The actual mystery of the Sphinx at Giza pertains to its very identity. The Sphinx has a head of a man, wearing the Egyptian headdress and a spiraling beard, and having the body of a lion, with two paws resting beneath the head and chest. It rises up 66 ft (20 m) high and the resting leonine body stretching 241 ft (73.5 m) behind. The Sphinx has been most often associated with the Pharaoh Khafre (2558–2532 B.C.), who is represented by and is presumably buried in the second largest of the three Pyramids at Giza. At least two statues of Khafre have been found that bear a striking resemblance to the face of the Sphinx.

The Sphinx at Giza faces due east with a small temple between its paws and is referred to in some Egyptian hieroglyphics as Hamachis, the god of the rising Sun. Later, Hamachis evolved into the name Hor-em-Akhet and until 1925 it was still buried up to the neck in sand.

Believed to be built during the Fourth Dynasty at the same time as the Pyramids, the date of the Sphinx still remains a controversy and even in ancient times, some sources dated it as preceding the Pyramids. It has under gone several restorations even during ancient times. After being abandoned from around 2650 B.C to 1500 B.C King Thutmose IV of the 18th Dynasty, ordered the rescue of the Sphinx from being buried by the desert sands. Ramesses II may have also performed restoration work on the Great Sphinx. But the first modern excavation project was in 1817, lead by Captain Caviglia uncovering the chest, but the Sphinx was finally dug out completely in 1925. The last of the restoration project took place as recently as 2006.

Trying to dig up information about the Sphinx unearthed a lot. Going through all of the theories, suppositions, rumors or even psychics made me realize that common logic was dry and uninteresting compared to the fascinating controversies of more ancient unknown civilizations or even aliens being responsible. Even the most recent claim by the geologists that the Sphinx dates as far back as 9000 years ago probably at the end of the Ice age was based solely on the geological evidence, rather than information from hieroglyphics or other histories. The suppositions are based around the weathering and the water erosion that the limestone has witnessed, not of the making of the actual statue.

Then there are claims of an advanced civilization that once thrived on the continent of Antarctica before it was frozen over during a global catastrophe at the end of the last Ice Age. Or of extraterrestrials coming down to earth to build this monument because mere humans where unable to accomplish such a enormous achievement. To me this seems more of an insult to all of humanity than to the ancient Egyptians that actually toiled to have there names remembered over the passing of time.

But really the most interesting of all concepts was that of a psychic Edgar Cayce! He prophesied a secret passageway leads from one of the Sphinx’s paws to its right shoulder where there exists a “Hall of Records” that contains the wisdom of a lost civilization and the history of the world. During a trance he received reading that the legendary civilization of Atlantis was responsible for many of the accomplishments of ancient Egypt, claiming that the Great Pyramid and Sphinx were built by Atlanteans refugees.

The ancient Egyptians lived, and died building the Sphinx and the Pyramids, leaving behind their documentations, tools, graves and bones. Trying to find another unknown civilization to give credits to is illogical lacking common sense and denigrating to its people. The pyramids are human achievements and one of the Nova projects called “This Old Pyramid” demonstrated that it was actually attempted to construct a scaled down version of the Great Pyramid using techniques which are inscribed in ancient Egyptian temples.

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Gawhara Hanem
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He died 3,300 years ago and we know that he was 19 years of age when he did. We know that he came to the throne at the age of 9 and was too young to have made his own decisions, and that they were made for him by Aye, his vizier and Horemheb, the commander-in-chief of his army. We think he was Akhenaton’s son not from the famous Nefertiti but from Kiya a minor wife. He may have had a brother Smenkhkare, or as some think he could have been is father after all. He did have six half-sisters from Akhenaton and Nefertiti (if Akhenaton was his father really!). He was married to his probably half-sister Ankhesenamun and had twin girls who were stillborn and buried with him in the tomb. But even Ankhesenamun’s fate is unknown, as she was made to marry Aye after her husband’s death then just disappeared out of existence.

We know that Tutankhamun was the King that brought back the old religion after the revolution of Akhenaton, who banned the worship of Amun in favor of the one god Aten (Atenism), which was represented by “the disk of the Sun”. This gained him instant popularity with the priests and the people, so he was a loved king! Contrary to what was concluded that he was buried in haste, clues have shown that the mummification process and burial took their due course.

For some reason when Horemheb came to power he deleted all evidence of existence of his predecessors Akhenaten, Neferneferuaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Aye who were erased from the official lists of Pharaohs which instead reported that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. This may have been a way for Horemheb to delete all trace of Atenism and of any pharaoh associated with it from historical record. Akhenaten’s name never appeared on any of the king lists compiled by later Pharaohs and it was not until the late 19th century that his identity was re-discovered and the surviving traces of his reign were unearthed by archaeologists.

Before Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s intact tomb in 1922 the world had never heard of King Tutankhamun and the discovery led to a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt. Since then his burial mask has become synonymous with all of Egyptian history. But at the time of discovery Carter and his team basically dismantled the corpse while looking for amulets and other jewelry. The mummy’s head was removed and nearly every major joint severed, furthermore, many of its parts present at the original examination are now missing. But then if Carter hadn’t cut the mummy free from the hardened resin that cemented it fast in the wooden coffin, thieves would certainly ripped it apart to remove the gold.

Archaeology has significantly changed over the years, back then it was more important to discover and collect treasures, not paying enough or any attention to details of life and the intriguing mysteries of death, even if that meant leaving the antiquities badly damaged or in a critical state.

Since 1926, the mummy has been X-rayed three times: first in 1968 by a group from the University of Liverpool led by Dr. R. G. Harrison, then in 1978 by a group from the University of Michigan, and finally in 2005 a team of Egyptian scientists led by Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, who conducted a CT scan on the mummy, acquiring 1,700 three dimensional images during the 15 minute scan.

The early X-rays raised alarms that the deceased was murdered. But did the young pharaoh die from a blow to the head? Well …..apparently not!! After the detailed CT scans taken recently King Tut died of natural causes. Although some Egyptologists and amateur sleuths have long speculated that a stealthy foe murdered Tut by attacking him from behind, the evidence is all circumstantial, with very little reason to believe that murder was the primary scenario.
So lets look at evidence just a tad-bit closer. Among claims that King Tut may have died of the Black Plague (which had appeared at the time), of lung disease, poison or even a brain tumor, the major allegation of a fatal blow to the back of the head have all proved futile.

The damage to the skull that raised cahoots has proven to be due to damage by the embalmers during the mummification process or carelessness of the Carter team. What was actually determined, though speculation, but the most agreed on, is the fact that there was a fracture found on the left leg of the mummy, which did not show evidence of healing, meaning that it was received just before death.

And again from what we learnt of his life painted on the walls of his burial chamber, like all Pharaohs, King Tutankhamun studied reading, writing, mathematics, geology, astronomy, a foreign language and for fun and relaxation he learnt, archery, wrestling and how to drive a chariot. But as it seems he had a deep infatuation with hunting, which may have been the root cause of his demise. Whatever caused the fractured thigh bone is likely to have also caused an open wound that was serious enough to cause an infection, fever and death. Although the break itself would not have been life-threatening, but gangrene caused by a badly broken leg was the most likely culprit. So was it a hunting accident that brought the end to a Dynasty of Kings? We may never know.

Many questions have yet to be answered about the life and death of the Boy-King, and may even remain a mystery buried under the sands of time like many still unsolved mysteries of the Valley of the Kings.

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Gawhara Hanem
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Was it a natural death or was he murdered? After almost 3,000 years and with very little evidence and so many conspiracy theories it’s hard to determine exactly how the boy-king died! 28 years ago after X-rays were taken of his mummy by the anatomy department of the University of Liverpool everyone was convinced that Tutankhamun died of unnatural causes, presumably a blow to the back of the head.

The main suspect was Aye, his vizier in conspiracy with Horemheb, the commander-in-chief of the army. Seeming to gain from the king’s death, Aye succeeded, ruling Egypt for 4 years before he died and was then succeeded by Horemheb. Both were powerful men who were present during the reign of King Tut. But they both would have had no reason to murder him since he was young and did not hold much authority and they were probably making the decisions any way. And as it happened, Tutankhamun had no enemies; he was loved by the priests and the population because he was the one to re-establish the religion of Amun-Re after the death of his heretic father Akhenaten, who outlawed it, replacing it with the monotheistic worship of Aten.

Tutankhamun belonged to the Eighteenth dynasty and ruled Egypt at a time of turbulence. Originally Tutankhaten, meaning the “Living Image of Aten”, was changed when he came to power to Tutankhamun, meaning the “Living Image of Amun”. Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten also known as Amenhotep ΙV, and his minor wife Queen Kiya. He came to reign at the age of 9 and at the age of 13 married Ankhesenamun, who was probably his half-sister, as it is recorded that Ankhesenamun as one of the six daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. At the age of 19 the king died suddenly and was buried in a crammed tomb in the “Valley of the Kings”, now known as Al-Amarna. The Valley of the Kings was declared a World Heritage Site in 1927, it lies on the west bank just across the Nile from Thebes (modern Luxor), and is the valley where, for 500 years, tombs for kings of the New Kingdom were constructed.

KV62 (the tomb of Tutankhamun) was first discovered, by the British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, who came upon it by chance. The tomb remains the only royal Egyptian tomb discovered in modern times virtually intact. The rubble that concealed the tomb and its occupant protected it for over 30 centuries, preserving its treasures from grave robbers of antiquity who looted so many other tombs. His tomb was robbed at least twice in antiquity, but from the items taken (including perishable oils and perfumes) and the evidence of restoration of the tomb after the intrusions, it is clear that these robberies took place within several months at most of the initial burial.

The tomb of Tutankhamun consists of 3 chambers within which is crammed thousands of masterpieces of jewelry, furniture, and art objects. Over 5000 artifacts, the treasures included four nested boxes, or shrines, of gilded wood, then three mummy-shaped coffins (two gilded and one of solid gold) all inside a red quartzite sarcophagus. But the most significant finding was the mummy of King Tut himself, with a stunning mask of gold covering his head and shoulders. More so this was a first in modern history, the discovery of the mummy of an Egyptian king, lying intact in his original burial furniture.

To remove the jewelry and amulets from the body, Carter and his team had to cut up the mummy into various pieces: the arms and legs were detached, the torso cut in half and the head was severed. Hot knives were used to remove it from the golden mask to which it was cemented by hardened embalming resin. This had taken its toll on the mummy’s condition and is one of the reasons why it is difficult to conclude how Tutankhamun died exactly.

King Tutankhamun still rests in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, in a temperature-controlled glass case. But his world tour “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” back from London this August, is currently touring the U.S.A, starting this 15th of November it will be at the Atlanta Civic Center through to May of 2009. The exhibition is organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. The tour’s proceeds will help raise money to preserve Egypt’s treasures, including the construction of the new Cairo museum (the GEM) which is expected to house 100,000 exhibits making it larger than the British Museum.

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Gawhara Hanem
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A tour in Cairo would probably include dinner on a boat floating smoothly down the Nile, the deep dark waters lite up, reflecting back the lights of Cairo by night. Sounds enchanting and mesmerizing, well it defiantly is. But on a trip like this that won’t be the only sight to spellbind you. The program would also include, among other things, a belly dancer and a tanoura dancer (an Egyptian folk dance derived from the Sufi religion) as entertainment.

And after a visit to the Pyramids, the Citadel and the enormous Egyptian Museum of Antiquity, you’ll probably go home impressed. But that’s just the tip of the ice berg. A people whose ancestors left behind a culture that has always captivated the world, and who over time have been exposed to a myriad of invasions by foreign cultures, must have more to show, and they do!

There are quiet a number of places with significant cultural importance, and an endless list of annual festivals and exhibitions, but we’ll only mention the most popular ones.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquity displays 136,000 items with a couple of hundred thousand others in its basement store room, making it home to the most expensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world. With the new Grand Egyptian Museum being built near the Pyramids area, many more of these stored items will finally be displayed and get the attention and glory they deserve.

The old Khedive Opera House or Royal Opera House was built in November 1, 1869 and burned down on October 28, 1971. Seventeen years later on October 10, 1988 the National Cultural Center (Cairo Opera House) was built with the help of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), making Egypt the soul country in the region with two opera houses built within one century. The Cairo Opera House has recently hosted concerts by the Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra, Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance and Bolshoi Theatre of the Republic of Belarus.

A not too known place of historical interest is The Cairo Geniza. The Geniza holds almost 200,000 Jewish manuscripts. These have been found at the Ben Ezra Synagogue (built in 882) in Fostat (now Old Cairo), the Basatin Cemetery east of Fostat and some were bought in Cairo in the late 19th century. These documents date back from 870 to 1880 AD.

Not to be missed are the beautiful gardens of Al Azhar Park. The sunset over the panoramic view of the old city of Cairo is an unforgettable site from one of its green hills. The park has running streams, waterfalls, restaurants, Islamic archways and lush landscaped gardens. Al Azhar Park is located near Darb Al-Ahmar district. It was a gift to Cairo from His Highness the Aga Khan, as his ancestors were the Fatimids who founded the city of Cairo in 969. During the development of the park parts of a 12th century Ayyubid wall was discovered, which has led to a major project for the restorations of several mosques, palaces and historic houses.

Erected on the same site as the ancient library, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in October 2002. The main reading room is striking with its glass-paneled roof that resembles a sundial. The library has shelving space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 70,000 m² on eleven cascading levels. The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for the blind, for young people, and for children; three museums; four art galleries; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory.

With the building of the Aswan Dam, the UNESCO attempted to salvage and recover many temples and reallocate them to higher grounds. A large quantity of artifacts was saves and was finally displayed at the beautiful Nubian Museum. The architecture of the Museum and the building walls were intended to evoke traditional Nubian village architecture, as it was along the Nubian Nile before the region was flooded by Lake Nasser.

As-Sawi Water Wheel (in arabic Saqiyet As-Sawi), is a popular cultural center. Located in Zamalek, the center hosts theatrical, musical and cinema performances, plastic art galleries, seminars and training courses. It has become a doorway to unknown artists finding a place on Cairo’s culture scene. Holding awareness campaigns (2008 being “The Year of the Minds”) it’s intent is to protect the freedom of thought and the freedom to enjoy culture.

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Abu Simbel was unheard of in the Egyptological world until J. L. Burckhardt in 1813 stumbled on the upper part of a temple façade almost covered by sand. The entrance leading into the temple was discovered four years later by Giovanni Battista Belzoni and since then it has attracted many who have been awe-struck by the colossal façade of the temple.

Although the temple attracts tourists all year round its worth everything to visit this 3000 year old inspiring rock mountain on the 22nd of February and the 22nd of October, when the Sun illuminates the sanctuary statues.

The temple was actually built further down the Nile, in the same relative position, but due to the rising waters of Lake Nasser that grew behind the Aswan Dam, the temple had to be moved on the desert plateau 200 feet above and 600 feet west of their original location. In a massive archeological rescue plan by the UNESCO in the 1960s the complex of temples was moved to its site today from the original locations that are presently underwater.

Abu Simbel lies 280 km south of Aswan and only 40 km north of the Sudanese border. Archaeologists have concluded that the immense sizes of the statues in the Great Temple were intended to scare potential enemies approaching Egypt’s southern region, as they traveled down the Nile from out of Africa.

The massive façade of the main temple is dominated by four seated colossal statues of Ramses II himself. Each statue 67 feet high is seated on a throne and wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and all are sculpted directly from the rock face. The thrones are decorated on their sides with Nile gods symbolically uniting Egypt. Between the legs and on each of their sides stand smaller statues of members of the royal family. The smaller statues of relatives were of his wife Queen Nefertari, his mother Tuya the great wife of Seti Ι, and of many of his children.

There are two main temples, that of Ramses II dedicated to sun gods Amun Ra and Ra-Harakhte and the smaller was built in honor of Nefertari, his wife and dedicated to the goddess Hathor. The temples are as impressive in the day as they are by night, since each night there are three Sound and Light Shows in seven different languages.

The Abu Simbel Sun Festival is one of the world’s most unique events to date. This week the Solstice occurrence can be witnessed again by crowds that pack into the temple before sunrise. The two dates, February and October the 22nd commemorate King Ramses’ ΙΙ ascension to the throne and his birthday respectively.

The Sun Festival starts at dawn as the visitors watch the shafts of light slowly creep into the temple lighting up this sanctuary. Curiously enough the sun illuminates the status of Amun-Ra, Ra-Harakhte and Ramses the god; whilst the statue of Ptah, the god of darkness remains in the shadows.

So on the 22nd of this month unlike any of us, Ramses will not be having candles lite up on his birthday, but the first rays of the Sun will light up his face before it lights up his architectural phenomena and the rest of Egypt!

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In 1962, while searching for fish in the Alexandria harbor, a young diver discovered fragments of an immense statue on the seafloor. To verify the young man’s report Egyptian naval divers and experts from Alexandria’s Greco-Roman Museum were called to the area. The piece that the young diver found, measuring 6 meters (20 feet) in length was confirmed to be a mere fragment of the colossal statue of Poseidon (the lord of the waves).

But the area was off limits to scientific investigation because it was a military zone. It wasn’t until 1994 that a team of scuba diving archaeologists were sent in to actually explore the area. Littering the seafloor, over an area of 5.5 acres, were remains that included sphinxes, columns, capitals, colossi and fragments of inscribed obelisks. This made the site one of the largest archaeological sites in the Mediterranean.

Scientists believed that these fragments were in fact the remains of The Pharos, the great lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven vanished Wonders of the Ancient World. The Pharos was the last to be built, and the last to disappear.

The Pharos Lighthouse stood on the eastern tip of the ancient island of Pharos in the harbor of Alexandria. The island was linked to the mainland by a man made wall called the Heptastadion, which was made of solid granite and extended the length of seven stadiums.

Although the Pharos was depicted on coins, terracotta, Roman mosaics and small models of it were also available, none is particularly precise and as the ancient writers left few detailed descriptions, the Pharos still remains somewhat of an enigma. Even at the time the structure was so famous and the connection of the name with the function became so strong that the word “pharos” means ‘lighthouse, beacon’ in English, becoming the etymological origin of the word in Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian and Swedish.

Construction of the Lighthouse was commissioned by Ptolemy Ι Soter, a general of Alexander the Great and his first successor to ruling Egypt. It was completed in the 3rd century BC, and was inaugurated during the reign of his son, Ptolemy ΙΙ Philadelphos around 285 BC. The Lighthouse’s designer was a Greek, Sostratus of Cnidus. Proud of his work, he wanted his name carved onto the building, but he was forbidden to do so by Ptolemy ΙΙ, who wanted his to be the only name on the building. Sostratus managed to get around this by having the dedication:

chiseled into the foundation, which was then covered with plaster, Ptolemy’s name was then carved into the plaster. Over time the plaster chipped away leaving only Sostratus’ dedication.

The monumental building was constructed in three stages: The lower was a square section with a central core, a middle octagonal section, and a top cylindrical section. The entrance was up a long vaulted ramp. A large spiral staircase led up to around 50 chambers and was probably used by beasts of burden to carry firewood up to the third tier where a fire, acting as the light source, burned on the summit.

In order for the Pharos to withstand the harsh pounding of the sea, the base tier rested on massive blocks of red granite. These granite blocks and the walls of the Lighthouse were strengthened not by using mortar to join them together but by molten lead to reinforce the structure. The edifice was probably so strong it survived for almost 2 millennia (until the mid-14th century AD), serving as a beacon to sailors approaching the coast of Egypt. The source of light was believed to be a mirror, which reflected the sunlight during the day and a fire which guided sailors at night.

Made of stone and covered in white marble, the building stood about 120m (400 ft) high, an equivalent to a 40-story modern building. This made it the first lighthouse in the world and the tallest man-made structure on Earth for centuries. In 1183 this is how it was described by an Arab traveler Ibn Jubayr: “Description of it falls short, the eyes fail to comprehend it, and words are inadequate, so vast is the spectacle.”

Supposedly a colossal statue of Poseidon surmounted the top of the Pharos but it disappeared over time. What was certain was that the statues found at the foot of the Lighthouse, were portraits of King Ptolemy ΙΙ. Roman coins depicting the Pharos, show a statue of a triton at each of the building’s four corners. But what actually makes for a mystery, is that the amount of complete statues discovered (some 26 sphinxes of different size, age and material), and that they were found to come from earlier eras than the lighthouse. This could lead to the speculation of a number of things. The statues used in the construction of the Pharos were recycles from older buildings, mostly coming from the Nile Delta and Heliopolis (which was destroyed at the time of the Greek Ptolemies). Some scientists also believe that the Pharos was part of a great complex, and that it may have had a more significant civic and religious function; that not all the statues surmounted the building, but may have stood on a lower level.

The Pharos was not built in a purely Greek style as so often portrayed, simply because the Greeks had no experience in building with granite plus they would have had to use local labor. 20 km (12 miles) east of Alexandria, in the town of Abu Qir, to this day stands a scaled-down replica of the Pharos at just 20 meters (66 ft) high. Known as Burg el-Arab, it too was constructed during the reign of Ptolemy ΙΙ (285-246 BC), although its mid-section was hexagonal (contrary to the octagonal mid-section of the Pharos). The architectural significance of the three-stage design of the Pharos is further reflected centuries later in the design of the minarets in many early Islamic mosques.

Apparently the Lighthouse was such a spectacle at the time it became a touristic attraction. Food was sold to visitors at the observation platform at the top of the first level. And for those who wanted to make the additional climb to a balcony at the top of the octagonal tower were rewarded with an impressive view, as it was probably 90m (300 ft) above the sea. There were few places in the ancient world where a person could ascend a man-made tower to get such a perspective.

Earthquakes finally got the better of the Pharos Lighthouse. Recorded by classic and Arab writers were twenty-two earthquakes of significant strength that shook Alexandria. Restorations undertaken by Arab rulers, the last to be ordered by the famous Sultan, Salah el-Din (Saladin) allowed the Lighthouse to survive into the 14th century. The Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta, visiting Alexandria in 1326, recorded that he was able to climb the ramp to the entrance of the Pharos, but on his return in 1349, this was impossible as the lighthouse was already in ruins.

On the 8th of August, 1303, a violent earthquake brought an end to what remained standing of the Seventh wonder of the ancient world. A century later the Mamluk Sultan Qait Bey built a fort on the site of the Pharos, which still stands there today. Some of the fallen masonry was incorporated in the building of the fort.

Aired on February 27, 2007 the Nova program chronicled the underwater discovery of the fabled Pharos lighthouse. There are plans to make this archeological site assessable to amateur divers to experience the beauty of these antiquities underwater. And until they do, this link will take you to a series of videos on the Nova site, to watch the extensive efforts undertaken to map the underwater site and recover some of its treasures out of the water. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sunken/clips/)

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Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt and probably the most famous of all the kings and queen that ruled during the Pharaonic era, is still a mystery to many archeologists. She wasn’t the first Cleopatra, only the most famous. There were six before her, so that makes her Cleopatra VII. Ruling Egypt between 51 and 30 BC, she came to the throne at the age of eighteen and co ruled with her brother, and husband Ptolemy XII.

Surprisingly to many, Cleopatra had no Egyptian blood in her, although she was the only one in her ruling house to learn Egyptian. Cleopatra and Ptolemy were the last sovereigns of the Macedonian dynasty that governed Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. To further her influence over the Egyptian people, she was also proclaimed the “Daughter of Ra“, the “Sun God of Egypt“.

Gold coins with Cleopatra’s face were found in the waters surrounding her temple in the Alexandria harbor. The face on the coins was the profile of a plain-looking woman. Although she became famous for her beauty, she did not look like Elizabeth Taylor in the movie version. On the contrary it was her charm, intelligence, ambition and humor that won her the reputation of being one of the most attractive women in history. The woman who captivated the hearts of two of the most powerful men that ruled the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.

As engaging and glamorous as any story plot from a movie, Cleopatra’s life and love affair with Mark Antony ended tragically. After stabbing himself in the chest, Antony had himself carried to Cleopatra’s mausoleum, where he died in her arms. Rather than be captured as a prisoner by the Romans she committed suicide, in hope to be united with her lover in the after life. To this day the exact cause of her death remains unknown, but legend goes on to say that she held an asp (also known as the Egyptian cobra) to her chest. She died on the last day of August in 30 BC and was buried by Antony’s side, as she had requested.

They are both believed to be buried in the temple of Tabusiris Magna or as it is now being called “The Sunken City“, because it lies submerged in the waters of the Eastern Alexandrian Harbor.

The Egyptian government’s bold and challenging plan to drain the water from Cleopatra’s palace is expected to be completed by November of 2008. Already there have been several discoveries since this project has started in the water surrounding the palace, a 120 meter long underground tunnel, with a number of rooms, and gold coins with the face of Queen Cleopatra.

Archeologists anticipate that the excavation of the two thousand year old palace will yield many an answer to the mysteries that shroud the life of this enigmatic Queen. The restoration of the palace to its timeless historical glory is expected to increase Alexandria’s popularity, putting the city in the spotlight as being the resting place to the end of an epic yet tragic story of two lovers, and if you’re less of a romantic, the end to almost 300 years of Macedonian sovereignty and the annexation of Egypt into the Roman Empire.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
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1835 Champollion presented Mohamed Ali Pacha (ruler of Egypt at the time) with a petition to erect a museum to house and protect the findings that were dug up during the excavations. But that was only the start because the discoveries and the artifacts just kept multiplying. In 1890 Ismail Pacha offered one of his palaces in Giza to be the new house for the discoveries. And by 1902 a still bigger place was needed to accommodate the continually increasing monuments and mummies, which at the time reached more than 140,000 items displayed, this was provided by Abbas Helmi Pacha, who raised funds to build the museum.

The last resting place for Egypt’s treasures is the present day Egyptian Museum of Antiquity in El Tahrir Square. But the museum is now subject to threat from the surrounding buildings and heavy traffic causing vibration and pollution. Besides, the museum was built to cater for about 500 visitors per day, supplying adequate natural light and ventilation, but with the increase of visitors from 6 to 7000 per day, the decision to expand was yet again a compelling issue.
The project for a new state-of-the-art museum to chronicle for the world the ancient story of over 7000 years of Egyptian civilization began in 1992 but due to the short in funding was delayed. An international competition was held to choose the building design and was won by Heneghan Peng Architects of Ireland.

Built over 50 hectares of land, and just 15 km south of Cairo, it is located in the shadow of the Great Pyramids of Giza. It is expected to hold 100,000 exhibits making it larger than the British Museum, which holds 80,000 artifacts on display.The project is to cost about $550 million US, and is expected to be finished by 2010. The Egyptian government is hoping to raise $40 million from a current tour of King Tutankhamun artifacts in the United States to go towards funding for the project, but there is also backing from Japanese investors.

The Great Egyptian Museum (GEM) will have capacity for 15,000 visitors a day and house an archeological research institute as well as extensive storage. It is also designed to include an auditorium, a media and a publication centre for books, CDs and video tapes. The creation of a data bank and an Egyptological Library will satisfy the need of many scholars keen on the study of the museum collection.

The GEM is situated at the junction where the fertile valley meets the desert, which for the ancient Egyptians was the land of the after-life. And the most befitting final resting place for King Tut’s mummy and treasures that were discovered in his tomb in 1922. The museum is also expected to exhibit the Sun Boat that was believed to have transported Queen Cleopatra’s body, which now stands in its own museum near the Pyramids. On August 25, 2006 the 83 ton statue of Ramases II was moved from Ramases Square in Cairo to the Giza Plateau, in anticipation of construction of The GEM. The Statue of Ramases II, estimated to be approximately 3,200 years old, will be cleaned and touched up, and will be situated at the entrance of The GEM by 2010.

But the most striking aspect of The GEM is its glowing façade and giant triangular entrance way! Constructed of translucent alabaster, it is designed to allow the light to penetrate the inside of the museum by day and will be illuminated to glow by night too. The angled roof of The GEM is aligned with the neighboring Pyramids, forming a line from one edge of its roof extending to touch the tip of the largest of the pyramid and the other edge points toward the peak of the smaller Khefre Pyramid. The Design plans and landscaping of The Gem are perceived through light and vision. Through out the site of the museum light plays a dramatic role. The color of light changes gradually between Sun and shade, the exterior and the interior, between day and night.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
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Story telling is as old as age! It was probably the first means of entertainment long before the media existed or even paper and books. But every culture has managed to chronicle and save some of its heritage by writing them down, or in some instances just painting or chiseling them on walls.

The Egyptians were one of the earliest civilizations to kept record in writing their everyday lives. However, the earliest preserved story written dates back from the Middle Kingdom, and because most of their literary tradition was oral or spoken, it was never written down, so the works that have actually survived are fewer than be expected.

From autobiographies and mythological tales to folk and fairy tales the ancient Egyptians made journals of it all, on papyrus paper, walls or even slabs of stone. My personal favorite is the Legend of Isis and Osiris. The story tells of the good and benevolent King Osiris
who was murdered by his wicked brother Seth due to jealousy and hatred. The corpse of Osiris was thrown into the Nile and his faithful wife Isis searched until she found him and hid him in the marshes of the Delta. Through magic, which she practiced and mastered, Isis became pregnant. Isis gave birth to their child Horus, who became the heir to his father’s throne and avenged his father Osiris. Horus became the king of the gods of the underworld.

There’s also the oldest Cinderella story, but in the ancient Egyptian version the glass slippers are “rose red slippers”. And from the Ptolemaic period there’s “The Seven Years of Famine” which was discovered on the rocks of the Island of Sahal in 1890 by Charles Wilbour. But the oldest and most popular tales of Egyptians was the story of Sinuhe. This story was preserved in six papyri and two dozen ostraca. This biography tells of Sinuhe who fled Egypt to Western Asia after the assassination of King Amenemhat Ι. After many years Sinuhe returned to his homeland when he was pardoned by King Senusert Ι and reinstated at the royal court.

The fairy tale of Setne Khamwas, a son of Ramesses ΙΙ tells of his fascination with the magic texts of the past brought him to an encounter with the ghost of a long dead magician in his tomb at Saqqara. In a story within a story, he learned of an episode of the magician’s life. On the golden shrine of Tutankhamun, was the story “The Book of the Cow of Heaven” (or “the Destruction of Mankind”) which tells of the sun god, Ra, who was confronted with a rebellion of mankind, so he sent his “eye,” Hathor, or in a later version, Sekhmet, down to earth in the form of a lioness, which proceeded to devour men. When Ra called her back she refused, so he had to trick her. One night he created a red colored beer that looked like human blood. Sekhmet drank it all and became intoxicated and so in this way Ra saved humankind.

“The Turquoise Amulet” was a story of a maiden who loses a hair clasp in the form of an amulet of turquoise. This is one of the stories that helped to give Snefru the title of The Good King, for it shows his good nature and his willingness to please others, something other pharaohs would not dream of doing. Another story that was written on the Harris Papyrus which is housed in the British Museum is “The Doomed Prince”. When it was first discovered the story was complete, but since then, the papyrus has been partly destroyed and the end of the story has been lost. This story may also be known by the title “The Crocodile, the Snake and the Dog” because it tells of a prince who was fated by the gods to die by the Snake, the Crocodile or the Dog.

The tales are many, and are all fascinating and captivating. During the course of the next few posts we’ll rediscover their charm, also getting an insight into a culture that built its civilization on stories of the gods.