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. […]
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 […]
EGYPT IS THE WORLD’S ORIGINAL TOURIST DESTINATION. ANCIENT GRAFFITI in stone at the archaeological site of Saqqara, just outside Cairo, indicates that visitors have been marveling at the country’s wonders for more than three millennia. And in one of the earliest examples of travel writing, penned about 450 years before the birth of Christ, the […]
Entry to Egypt Since 1 July, the Egyptian government has permitted international flights to and from Egyptian airports. Some airlines are imposing special requirements, such as the wearing of face masks. You should check with your airline before you travel. The Egyptian authorities have advised that all arrivals into Egypt will be subject to health […]
The climate in Egypt is most temperate; the sun practically I shines the year round, at least eight hours a day, and rainy days are the exception. Even in the summer months (June-August), the northern wind blowing from Europe brings about a milder weather. Although the desert regions of the country have a continental climate, […]
Cairo is a large city and one of the biggest capitals in the world, It’s such a historical place that takes you back to many different eras of time, a blast from the past. south of Cairo located Giza governorate where the Ancient civilization took place and the Ancient Capital of Egypt was ” Memphis […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]