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
Saqqara Step Pyramid Complex ONLY 15 MILES (24 KM) SOUTHEAST OF CENTRAL CAIRO, Saqqara is one of the richest archaeological Sites in Egypt. in fact, few sites in the world can compare. It is a vast desert necropolis built for the kings and nobles of the Old Kingdom, and amohgits highlights are the very first...Read More
Giza Pyramids TRIVIA BUFFS, BUT PERHAPS NO ONE ELSE, KNOW THAT the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were the Pyramids of Egypt, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Pharos of Alexandria, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But only...Read More
The mystery of the Pyramids The breathtaking accuracy and alignment of the Pyramids at Giza have given rise to much theorizing. The pyramid’s base, which has sides over 756 feet (230 m) long, is level to within l inch (2.6 cm), and the greatest difference in the length of the four sides is just 2...Read More
