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| Sunday, 5 December 2004 |
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In the footsteps of Christ ... The Land of the Pharaohs Part II by Carol Aloysius Memphis. the Mother capital of Egypt, on the 6th century. We arrive on a misty morning going through several villages till we reach the centre of the city. We have arrived at the site of the Meetrahine Monuments.
All that remains of the once white walled city of Memphis, are several scattered monuments that have been excavated in the past. They include the monumental statue of Ramses II, 18 tons in weight and made out of a single limestone rock lying prostrate after losing its feet. The face of Ramses II, the best known of all the Pharaohs due to his long reign of 64 years and his prolific building achievements, smiles at us, despite his missing legs. He wears a short pleated skirt, short bell sleeves with horizontal pleating, his head is covered with a wig in the typical style of the ancient royals and his naval is exposed., The left side of this enormous statue, which can be viewed from the ground floor as well as the upper floor, is badly damaged due to having been exposed to silt and mud for centuries. The right side is untouched by the elements and remains in its original condition. A huge alabaster sphinx wearing the face of the Pharaoh with its curved beard, stares at us with enigmatic smile. We are entering Giza, at last leaving behind the luscious green Nile valley on the lower banks and heading towards the western bank of the Nile, a barren desert. Soon we catch our first glimpse of the famous Giza Pyramids; three of them in a straight row, and several incomplete ones surrounding the buildings in the same huge desert complex. We are told that the site has been deliberately chosen by the ancient royals because this part of the city rarely goes under water and the building built here would therefore not perish, as did the buildings (palaces and homes in the lower Nile valley). The fact that the sun also sets in the West bank was symbolic since to the ancient Egyptians Death was a new beginning. We catch our breath as we get our first glimpse of the sandstone facades in the bright noon day sun reflecting gold. Later we would see them turn a smoky purple in the night when we attend a Light and sound Show. As our bus draws nearer, we cannot help but marvel at the feat of engineering skill and meticulous organisation that enabled millions of individual stone slabs to be transported to the site and placed precisely one on top of the other with very little error in alignment, and without the aid of powered tools and lifting equipment as we have today. According to our learned guide, the Giza pyramids were built within a few hundred years of each other by generations of the same families around 2600 BC, as elaborate tombs to foil robbers of their personal treasures which they carried with them to the Other World. The largest of the three, the Great Pyramid of cheops is the only survivor of the `Seven Wonders' of the ancient world and stands 137 metres (450 feet). Originally, it was capped by a gleaming smooth limestone surface which, reflected the sunlight like a beacon across the entire Nile valley. In contrast, inside it, we were told, it contained only narrow steep tunnels leading to a tiny funerary chamber. The middle of Chepean is but on a slightly higher elevation making it look taller than its actual size. Its inner chamber contains a red granite sarcophagus, we were told. We are allowed to enter the smallest of the pyramids of Mykerinus which has been declared "safe" for visitors because its walls are still firmly in tact. Only those without high blood pressure, heart conditions etc are advised to take the long descent, we are told. For those of us who volunteer to enter the pyramid, it is a truly memorable moment. We begin our descent in crouching position our hats thoughtfully provided by Superlink Travels, protecting us from the low rocky roof scarcely inches above us. As we reach half way of our descent, the air becomes stifling hot. We can scarcely breathe and the atmosphere is like a furnace since the inside is airless. Yet we continue to climb down hundred of steps till we reach the bottom. The small ante chamber with a single stone slab and once the funerary room of the Pharaoh no longer there, is somewhat of an anti climax.But emerging finally into the blazing desert sun and letting our oxygen starved lungs take in gulps of fresh air, we maintained our stand that the experience of actually entering inside a pyramid was one of the most memorable and soul stirring events in our lives. Standing on the base of the causeway that once linked The pyramids to the Nile we see the Sphinx of which we get a close up by going through a tunnel like passage. The towering man/animal creature is an enigmatic depiction of Chepran with his head attached to a lion's body. The Sphinx . we are told by our guide, was once considered guardian deities of the royalty. The sphinx in front of us standing 240 feet long and 66 feet high is certainly a monumental guardian. Our attention falls on its missing nose, which our guide says was damaged, when following the death of Chephran, the sphinx was lost under the desert sands. King Turmoses 1V believed that the monument spoke to him and prophesied he would become king if he cleared the sand from its body. Because of this ancient Egyptians believed that the sphinx possessed mystic powers. The most recent attraction in the pyramid complex is a small museum where we see the remains of a solar barque (a cedar long boat) made to carry the spirit of Chepohus into the Other world. Our next stop is the papyrus Museum where we watch a practical demonstration of how the ancient Egyptians made their paper out of papyrus, a slender plant which is stripped of its outer skin, cut into strips and then kept under a hand powered machine for several days until it comes out as a cardboard like sheet called papyrus paper, which was used for writing and painting. All round us hang exquisite paintings of typical Egyptian scenes on papyrus and we purchase book marks, scrolls and papyrus paintings which have our names inscribed in ancient Egyptian letters (heliograph). This is another highlight of our Egypt tour. We then stop at the Sheik Abdul Perfumes Palace where a beautiful array of exquisite handcrafted cut glass containers of essences used for perfumes around the world, greet our eyes. We are given the mind boggling task of choosing essences of our favourite perfumes from among a host of essences of flowers; lotus, papyrus, jasmines, narcissus, lavender, mimosa, violet, gardenia, lilac, orange blossom, sweet pea, and from blends of flowers named after ancient Pharaohs and their queens; Tut- Ankl- anum, queen Hatshiput, Cleopatra, Sheeba, Neferetity. The owner, who serves us cups of aromatic herbal tea and coffee tells us how the essences can be converted into perfumes, by adding 9 times pure alcohol into one of the essences ."These essences go to every perfume shop in the world", he says with pride. We now head for the Egyptian (Cairo) Museum. This unimposing building sitting on the northern side of the Takiar Square near the Hilton Hotel, was built by a French architect to stop Egyptian artefact from being pirated abroad, and today boasts of some of the finest collections of ancient artefacts in the world. On the ground floor ewe see several artefact that trace the history of Egypt from pre-historic times, It is however the second floor that intrigues us most, for this is where the royal Mummies and the treasures of KING TUT are displayed. We first visit the Royal Mummies room after paying a special fee. There we see several well preserved remains of some of Egypt's most famous Pharaoh's dating of the 18th to 20th dynasties. We walk past the Mummy of Ramses II, IV and V covered in fine linen, the typical funerary cloth used for burial of royalty. A stone script announces their names. We gaze in fascination at the mummies of their queens, Henuttowe (dynasty 27), Queen Nedjemet and a sarcophagus of Queen Amenhotepi. In another room, we also come across several mummies wrapped in linen or with only the sarcophagus displayed. We then enter the room of King Tu. The gleaming gold bust of the Bay King which takes pride of place along with his inner casket also of sheet gold, dazzles us after 3000 years of existence. To be continued |
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