The only extant Wonder of the Ancient World

Alexandria, Egypt, April 21 — Alexandria, in what’s called Lower Egypt, was our port. Giza was our ultimate destination, 135 miles southeast.

Egypt boasts 108 pyramids. Egypt invented pyramids (around 3000 BC) — and hieroglyphics, eye makeup, sundials, and paper. Their paper was made from papyrus leaves. But if anyone tries to get you to buy a document written on papyrus — as many do, at the various sites — don’t. It’s not real papyrus — it’s made from banana peels.

As soon as a pharaoh took office, work began on his final resting place since pyramids took so long to build — around 20 years. Sometimes a pharaoh would go out to check how the work was coming along and make suggestions, e.g., ‘Needs more gold.’

The pyramids are in the desert, which is a given, since the country is 90% desert. Water comes from natural springs and wells.

For 30 or 40 years, until the Arab Spring of 2011, tourism was the country’s No. 1 source of income, employing some 8 million people. It is slowly coming back. No. 2 was the Suez Canal. No. 3 was vegetables, cotton — and gold. No. 4 was natural gas. They are self-sufficient in oil.

We asked where most of the tourists were from, back when there were so many. Russia — they went to inexpensive seaside resorts ($350 for 7 nights at a 5-star hotel) — until Putin outlawed cheap charter flights after a plane crash. Now it’s mostly ‘Germans who come for the sea and Chinese and Japanese who come for the culture.’

Alexandria

Alexandria was best known, at least to me, as the location of Alexander the Great’s famous Wonder of the World, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The UN helped the city build a new library on what they think is the site of the original. Our guide thinks it’s the largest library in the world — larger than our Library of Congress.

The area around Alexandria produces olives, oranges, lemons, wines, and horses, which are bred here. Alexandria’s population today is around 9 million, roughly one tenth of Egypt’s 100 million. Cairo’s is about 20 million.

It was once, long ago, one of the wealthiest cities in the world due to trade, especially with and through Venice. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was very ‘European’ and cosmopolitan, with inhabitants from many nations. But with the rise of Arab nationalism, these groups left and, as one lecturer put it, ‘its old glory is now run down and sad.’

Off to Cairo

On Going to Giza Day, there were 32 buses in one long caravan led by and followed by police/military/tourism security.

The first thing our 18-year-veteran guide, Mohamed, told us was how to say ‘No, thank you’ (‘La, shukraan’) to all the hawkers we would encounter at every stop. We were fortunate that he has an M.A. in Egyptology, though his parents wanted him to be an engineer. He has lived and worked in London and New York. His father is a professor of anatomy at Florida International University. He added something to what we had learned earlier about education in Egypt: In his words, it is politically easier to lead the uneducated, so education is not compulsory. Nevertheless they have 28 universities, and they’re free for top students.

The Egyptian army is the 10th largest in the world. Men with a university degree spend one compulsory year in the military; those without, and the illiterate, spend three years. This service is un-paid.

Mohamed: ‘Our government is crap.’ Yet he said, the Army always stands on ‘the people’s behalf.’ For instance, they come out to protect demonstrators during demonstrations.

On the way...

Saqqara (or Sakkara)

First up, a ‘step pyramid’ at Saqqara. The tomb of Mereruka, with 30+ chambers, dates from 2800 BC. It was discovered in 1893 by French archeologist and prehistorian Jacques de Morgan. In 1920 the burial chamber, 20 meters deeper, was discovered. This tomb is one of the most highly decorated, and the hieroglyphics are in good condition; some still have color.

Mohamed opined that pyramids are the first examples of ‘architecture.’

Memphis

Memphis was Egypt’s ancient capital when the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were finally united. This open-air UNESCO World Heritage Site includes a 100-ton recumbent (now) statue of Ramesses II, known as Ramesses the Great. He had 90 children, but there are other reasons he was great. He ruled 67 years and died at the age of 97 — a credit to ancient Egyptian medicine.

Ramesses II... the statue once adorned the Great Temple of Ptah.

I managed to resist... I already own an Egyptian wall hanging, purchased on the Fullam Family Grand Tour in 1926.

The Giza Plateau

‘New Giza’ is the area outside the city that is becoming a high tech center. This banner graces the highway toll booth.

The ancient Egyptians are famous as pioneers in medicine and in mathematics — they figured out how to build what was at the time the tallest structure in the world: the Great Pyramid at Giza. It’s hard to escape them — this is the view from the hotel where we had lunch. The one to the right is lighter at the top; you’ll learn why shortly.

There are 9 pyramids at Giza. The Great one is made of 2,300,000 granite stones, weighing from 2.5 to 12 tons apiece. These were floated 650 miles up the Nile from the quarries at Aswan. The three main pyramids contain the tombs of Cheops (also called Khufu), his son Chephren (also called Khafre) and grandson Mykerinos (or Menkaure). (The Viking Bible contains side-by-side descriptions of two Giza excursions: the names of these tomb occupants are different in the two write-ups.)

Once constructed, the finished pyramid was covered in lighter-colored limestone blocks. You can see the remains of this outer layer here, at the top.....

About 100,000 workers built the pyramids — they were not all slaves, though The Ten Commandments would have you think so. Gangs of workers competed with one another to see which could build faster — they were paid in beer. They were well fed, they had doctors, and many worked voluntarily for the honor of working for the pharaoh.

The panoramic overview... note the smaller pyramids among the larger ones.

Going home from work...

Wherever you are, there they are...

A short bus ride from the Great Pyramid is the Sphinx, which dates from 2650 BC. Carved from solid rock, it measures 65 feet high and 240 feet long. Sphinxes protect sacred places. This one was either a monument to Ra, the sun god — or a tribute to Pharaoh Khafre (aka Chephren). Your pick.