Overland to London - Cairo

 

The 3rd Dynasty Stepped Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara

Day 37    Tues 1 July                 CAIRO

Departure time: 9 am

          This morning our local guide – Salah or, as he likes to call himself, Son of the Pharaoh – will take us on a tour, first to Memphis the ancient capital of Egypt. Memphis was the first capital of the united Upper and Lower Egypt, dating from the period of the 1^st Dynasty around 3000 BC. Here is the great reclining statue of Pharaoh Ramses II, brother statue to the granite one now standing in Ramses II Square in modern central Cairo.  This statue at Memphis is of limestone and has been damaged by salts contained in the River Nile during the annual flooding. The annual Nile floods have now ceased since the Aswan High Dam was completed in the ‘60s.  Also here at Memphis is the famous Alabaster Sphinx, found on the site by an unnamed American woman who had read that the Sphinx was situated, in ancient days, between the two statues of Ramses II.

Reclining ramses II & the Alabaster Sphinx, Memphis

  

        Near Memphis is the necropolis of Saqqara which contains the original pyramid, the Stepped Pyramid of Zoser, Pharaoh of the 3^rd Dynasty (2778-2723 BC). This 6-tiered pyramid, designed by the architect Imhotep, is surrounded by other collapsed pyramids, and ancient mastabas, or ‘houses of eternity’, which date from the pre-dynastic period and are one or two-tiered mudbrick tombs. We will visit two of these. The first will be the Tomb of Mereruka, a powerful official of Pharaoh Teti of the 6^th Dynasty, who died around 2340 BC. This tomb has some rather fine reliefs carved into the limestone walls of the burial chamber, many still with the original pigment, the composition of which has baffled scientists even though analyses have been attempted several times by modern chemical methods. Scenes from the every day life of Mereruka, his son and subjects of the Pharaoh have left a remarkable record of life in ancient Egypt. The other will probably be the mastaba of Princess Idut, a daughter of the 5th dynasty Pharoah Unas. This tomb has some magnificent  painted reliefs of everyday life during the 5th dynasty, including the butchering of an ox. 

Pyramid of 5th Dynasty Pharaoh Userkaf, Stepped Pyramid at back, Saqqara

          Close by we can enter the collapsed pyramid of Pharaoh Teti with its darkened mortuary and burial chambers. In this tomb is the remains of the original sarcophagus and on the ceiling above are painted stars, representing the celestial realm into which the Pharaoh’s spirit will ascend.

The three Pyramids at Giza

          From Saqqara we will head back towards Cairo, stopping for lunch on the way. Then on to Giza and the most famous Pyramids of all. The largest is the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) of the 4^th Dynasty (2723-2563 BC), then the Pyramid of Kafra (Kephren) and the smallest, the Pyramid of Menkaure (Mykerinos). The three Pyramids at Giza are the sole survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and are the oldest by 1000 years! The area of the Great Pyramid is 13 acres and about 2,300,000 mainly limestone blocks, each weighing 2 to 8 tons, where hauled into place by troops of labourers, not yet using the wheel. (Rollers of wood were effectively used). For years, speculation has been hotly debated on the meaning of the Pyramids. Pyramidologists say that the construction was for mathematical and astronomical reasons and if the height of the Great Pyramid is multiplied by x number of times and a half, you have the exact distance between earth and sun etc. Von Daniken (Chariots of the Gods) and other sensationalists contend that they must have been built by extraterrestrial beings, or are energy points or beacons for space ships and that it was impossible for humans, at that particular point in the evolution of man, to have been able to build such constructions. These writers choose to overlook  evidence if it contradicts their theories, even ignoring papyrus and other evidence from ancient Egypt describing how the pyramids were built. Why should it be so surprising for a race of people as pre-occupied with death and the afterlife as the ancient Egyptians were (even to the extent of having a book of instruction for the afterlife – The Book of the Dead) to build such great tombs or monuments to a Pharaoh-God, if the object wasn’t to commemorate the Pharaoh’s memory for all eternity?

Detail of the Great Pyarmid of Cheops, & the Geat Sphinx at Giza

    Near the Pyramids is the ‘faceless’ great Sphinx, said originally to have been a likeness of Pharaoh Menkaure. The face was vandalised by various invading armies through the centuries, including the French or, if you believe the Asterix comicbooks, the nose was accidentally knocked off by Obelix in the days of Cleopatra ("she has such a pretty nose!"}. The remains of the Mortuary Temple of Menkaura is nearby.

Comments:                Happy Birthday John

Day 38    Wed 2 July                 CAIRO

Departure time: 9 am

          This morning Salah will take us to the Egyptian Museum here in Cairo; one of the world’s foremost museums and the best on ancient Egypt. Here are artifacts and implements from all the tombs excavated in Egypt. Salah will point out and explain many of the important exhibits, including the lifelike 4th dynasty painted limestone statues of Prince Rahotep, son of the Pharaoh Snefru and brother of Khufu (Cheops), and his wife, Nofret. I am always fascinated by their hypnotic rock-crystal eyes which give them a life-like appearance. Nearby is the sculptured stele of Menkaure, or Mykerinos, stepping out of the polished greywacke, flanked by the mother goddess Hathor and Anput, a local goddess.  But probably the best-known exhibits are those recovered from the tomb of the 18^th dynasty boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun who died in 1345 BC. His tomb, in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, was discovered by the British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, and the incredible riches recovered have become legendary along with fallacious stories of a mummy’s curse. Much of Tutankamun’s treasure is currently (1980) on tour in Europe (including the fantastic gold funerary mask) but many of the lesser items, as well as the solid gold coffin remains in the Egyptian Museum.

Sculptures of 4th Dynasty Prince Rahotep & his wife Nofret; Pharaoh Menkaure with  attendant goddesses & a crouching stone figure, Egyptian Museum

The gold funerary mask of Tutankamen & Tutankhamen with his wife, Ankhesenamun 

Unfortunately, the famous Mummy Room has been recently closed but on this same tour last year (1979) we were able to look closely at the unwrapped mummy of Rameses II. I wrote the following in a recent article: ‘It was rather bizarre to be able to look so closely into the amazingly well-preserved face and unseeing eyes of one of the most powerful men in the ancient World, who had died around 3200 years ago. It was difficult to relate this unwrapped mummy to the statue I had seen earlier in Memphis."

The mummy of Rameses II has the distinction of having had, in 1974, an Egyptian passport issued that listed his occupation as "King (deceased)". Egyptologists had noticed that the mummy was rapidly deteriorating and a trip to France was arranged for tests to be carried out.  Rameses II was received at Paris–Le Bourget Airport with the full military honours befitting a king. The mummy was forensically tested by Professor Pierre-Fernand Ceccaldi, the chief forensic scientist at the Criminal Identification Laboratory of Paris. Professor Ceccaldi determined that: "Hair, astonishingly preserved, showed some complementary data—especially about pigmentation: Ramses II was a ginger haired 'cymnotriche leucoderma'." (Madain Project).  Shortly after our 1979 visit, President Anwar Sadat closed the Mummy room to visitors, feeling it was degrading to look upon the dead so closely. He probably had a point. After Sadat’s assassination the Mummy room remained closed for several years before being reopened with a vastly increased entry fee.’

The unwrapped mummy of Ramses II & his passport, Egyptian Museum

    From the Museum we will go into old Cairo to visit the Church of St Sergius & Bacchus, a Coptic church dating from the 4^th century which, traditionally, has been the spot where the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus rested after their flight into Egypt to escape the ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ by Herod’s men.

10th century Greek Orthodox Church of St. George

Nearby is the Beni Ezra Synagogue which, according to folklore, is said to be on the site where the Pharaoh’s daughter found baby Moses in the bulrushes.  We will also visit the 10^th century Greek Orthodox Church of St George, built within the ancient Babylon Fortress of old Cairo.

'Sound & Light' at the Pyramids

The rest of the afternoon will be free in Cairo for shopping or further sightseeing and a visit to the ‘Sound and Light’ at the Pyramids is suggested and recommended. This can be arranged through the front desk at the Fontana Hotel. 

 

Day 39    Thu 3 July            CAIRO – o/n train to LUXOR

Departure time from hotel: 5.30pm     

Distant Pyramids from Cairo Tower

          Most of the day is free for you to re-visit the Egyptian Museum, shop in the bazaars of Cairo, or perhaps visit the Cairo Tower on Gizereh Island in the Nile, the top of which has spectacular views across the city, the Nile and the Pyramids on a clear day.

 

         Late this afternoon we will meet in the lobby of the Fontana Hotel to walk the short distance to the Cairo Railway Station for a 7pm departure by rail for Luxor. We have been provided with sleepers for the journey and dinner will be served on the train. As for the air-conditioning on the train – Inshallah! (If Allah wills, it will work!)

 

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.