Copyright © EgyptHasItAll.com

The Temple of the Oracle of Amun at Siwa has attracted many a visitor over the history of ancient civilizations, the most prominent being Alexander the Great. It is said that he reached the temple by following birds across the desert. Alexander the Great came in 331 BC to consult the Oracle of Amun in order to seek confirmation that he was the son of the gods (Zeus and Amun) and consequently the legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt and of course of the other lands he conquered. He continued to correspond with the Oracle of Amun until his death through messengers when he needed answers to important questions.

In the ancient world, people were more than superstitious, so manifestations of the gods or Oracles were greatly revered. They were regularly consulted before important decisions as they were able to see into the future. Oracles existed in Egypt well before the Temple of the Oracle at Siwa, which was built during the 26^th Dynasty. The Oracle of Siwa was reputed to have existed well before the temple and continued to flourish well into the Greek and Roman periods.

The area is known to have been inhabited since the 10^th millennium BC, but it was during the 26^th Dynasty that it gained fame when a necropolis was established, and Siwa at the time was given the name Sekht-am or Palm Land.

Greeks that settled at Cyrene (in modern day Libya) made contact with the oasis at the time and Romans later used it as a place of banishment. The first European to visit the temple was the British William George Browne in 1792, and in 1819 the oasis was officially added by Muhammad Ali Pasha (Egypt’s ruler at the time) to modern Egypt. Siwa was the site of some fighting during World War I and World War II.

In fact, until the battles which took place around the oasis in World War II, it was hardly governed by Egypt, and for the previous thirteen centuries it remained mostly a Berber (Zenatiya) community. Siwans continue to have their own culture and customs and they speak a Berber language, called Siwi, rather than Arabic. Because of their geographical isolation the people have remained relatively unchanged. Women still wear traditional costumes and silver jewelers and Siwa remains one of the best places to buy traditional local handicrafts. Interestingly, each October there is a three-day festival during which Siwans must settle all of their past year’s disputes.

The Siwa Oasis lying 60 feet below sea level and is located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, 560 km from Cairo and 50 km east of the Libyan border. It is one of Egypt’s isolated settlements, inhabited by 23,000 people descendants from the ethnic Berbers of North Africa.

There are approximately 1,000 sweet water springs that are know to have medical properties. But the most striking feature of the Siwan landscape is the presence of several salt lakes, which diminish in size during the summer; this sets it apart from any other oases of Egypt.

Besides its old ruin Temple of Amun, springs and salt lakes, other sites of interest include Cleopatra’s Bath, the old town of Shali, Gebel Dakrur and Gebel El-Mawta (the Mountain of the Dead). In 2007 there was the discovery of what may be the world’s oldest human footprint, dating back 3 million years. Although the revelations of the oracle which has attracted so many, fell into disrepute under the Roman occupation of Egypt, Siwa still lures people who seek peace, beauty and serenity.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
—————————————————————–
Egypt Tours

Copyright © EgyptHasItAll.com

The deserts of Egypt have always been known to hold and hide the mysteries of the ancient pharaohs, buried treasures of kings and queens that once ruled these lands. Apparently, these lands where once ruled by much bigger, grander creatures, they too left behind their treasures.

Over 40 million years ago, long before any human existence, the western desert of Egypt formed part of the Tethys Sea, which was an extension of what is today the Mediterranean Sea. As the wind blows northwards through this barren, arid desert, it reveals one of the greatest mysteries of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal.

Wadi El-Hitan, which in English means Whale Valley, is a reserve within the Wadi El-Rayan Protected Area, in the Fayoum Oasis, some 150 km from Cairo. The desert floor is littered with fossil remains of now extinct whales. More significantly, there is no other place in the world yielding the number, concentration and quality of such fossils, as is their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape. This is why it has been recently added by the UNESCO to the list of protected World Heritage sites.

The first fossil skeletons were discovered in the winter of 1902-3. The remains display the typical streamlined body form of modern whales, yet retaining some of the primitive aspects of skull and tooth structure. The largest skeleton found reached up to 21 m in length, with well developed five-fingered flippers on the forelimbs and the unexpected presence of hind legs, feet, and toes, not known previously in any archaeocete (a now extinct sub-order of whales). Their form was serpentine and they were carnivorous. A few of these skeletal remains are exposed but most are shallowly buried in sediments, slowly uncovered by erosion. Wadi El-Hitan provides evidences of millions of years of coastal marine life.

The fossils here may not be the oldest found but their great concentration in the area and the degree of their preservation is to the extent that even some stomach contents are intact. The actuality of fossils of other early mammals such as sharks, crocodiles, sawfish, turtles and rays found at Wadi El-Hitan makes it possible to reconstruct the surrounding environmental and ecological conditions of the time, adding to its justification to be cited as a Heritage site.

Only about 1000 visitors a year drive into Wadi El-Hitan by 4WD due to the fact that the track is unpaved and crosses unmarked desert sands. To the most part, visitors to Wadi Al-Hitan are foreigners, who usually camp in the valley on winter weekends. Because Wadi El-Hitan is within Wadi El-Rayan Protected Area, the same protection management plan restricts visitors to prearranged guided tours along a prescribed trail. Sustainable tourism is beginning to develop and grow in the area, and the 4WD are alternatively being replaced by foot or camel treks.

Besides journeying into the desert, to experience the wonders of the past, Wadi El-Hitan, is also home to 15 species of desert plants, sand dunes and about 15 types of wild mammals including the north African jackal, red fox, Egyptian mongoose, African wildcat, and dorcas gazelle. Also, attracted by the lakes at Wadi El-Rayan are recorded 19 species of reptiles and 36 species of breeding birds.

The valley is located behind a mountain, known as Gabal Gar Gohannam which is Arabic for The Mountain Next to Hell. In the light of the setting sun, the mountain seems ablaze with an eerie red light, which only added to the feeling that one is about to embark on a journey to unravel the hidden mysteries of a yet un-chartered planet.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
—————————————————————–
To find more about Wadi El-Hitan, please visit:
Wadi El-Hitan, Fayoum