THE MODERN TOWN EXISTS AS LITTLE MORE THAN A LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEM for the millions of visitors who descend each year, drawn by the fabulous array of antiquities. Tourism accounts for around 85 percent of the local economy, so present day inhabitants of Luxor are just as much in thrall to the temples and tombs as...Read More
NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED, CAIRO’S FRIDAY CAMEL market is dusty, smelly, and unbelievably loud. It is held 22 miles (35 km) to the northwest of the city at Birqash. Proceedings start at first light and most of the business is done by nine, so it is advisable to get an early start. Public transportation is...Read More
OUT IN THE DESERT EAST OF FAYOUM, WADI EL RAYAN IS a large depression among the dunes into which excess water from the oasis has been channeled to create three freshwater lakes and a shallow waterfall. Stocked with fish, the lakes are a major nesting ground for birds and a big draw for picnicking visitors....Read More
Mummification in ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptians wanted to live again after death, so they needed their bodies preserved and recognizable. To stop decay, the brain was removed immediately, but not preserved. The liver, intestines. stomach, and lungs were also removed and were mummified separately and placed in four Canopic jars. The heart was left in...Read More
WITH ITS KEY FIGURES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND CLEOPATRA, ITS famed ancient library, and the towering Pharos lighthouse-counted by the ancients as one of the Seven Wonders of the World-the Alexandria of old is a city of legend bordering on myth. For some, the modern~day reality comes as a disappointment: all that history and...Read More
Abu Sir DESPITE BEING OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ONLY SINCE THE MID 1990, Abu Sir has long been known to the most casual of Egyptologists as the place of discovery of a cache of important papyri unearthed in the last years of the 19th century. More recently, in February 1998, a team of archaeologists chanced...Read More
Dahshur DAHSHUR IS A SMALL PYRAMID FIELD IN AN ISOLATED desert setting to the south of Saqqara. Only accessible to the public since the mid-1990s. Anyone making the journey down here is likely to have the site completely to themselves. In pyramid chronology, Dahshur comes after Saqqara but before Giza and Abu Sir. The two...Read More
Memphis ALMOST 4,000 YEARS BEFORE THE FOUNDING OF CAIRO, Memphis was the capital of Egypt. One of the greatest cities of the ancient world, today it is marked solely by an open-air museum of meager Ends, partially redeemed by its one outstanding exhibit, the remains of a mighty statue of Ramses II. The city itself...Read More
