I want my mummy!! Hahaha, groan. Indeed, today was filled with many mummies. But more on that later.
The day started at Tell el-Yehudiah. Rather, the day started on the way to the tell as we drove along part of the delta and watched people in their daily interactions with the river, washing dishes and such. Having seen copious amounts of trash in that river, including dead cows, I don’t think I would like to wash my dishes there. Nevertheless…
The tell was pretty sweet. (Wow, you know you’ve been in Israel too long when you get excited about a mound of dirt scattered with broken potsherds). Really, though, Tell el-Yehudiah was one of the main things I was really looking forward to seeing because I’ve heard so much about it and it’s one of the few places in Egypt where some sort of Biblical connection is easier to make. I mean, really, translated it’s called “the mound of the Jews.”
It has Middle Bronze Age fortifications. It’s got to be related to Canaan somehow! And indeed it is. Flinders Petrie excavated there (though I don’t remember the date) and found the first examples of what he dubbed “Tel el-Yehudiah Ware,” numerous samples of which were subsequently found in Canaan. It seems fairly clear that whoever inhabited Tel el-Yehudiah for most of its life as a town were Semitic. So the tell was cool, even though there were no major remains visible and we didn’t have enough time to look around. There was a lot of pottery (some fairly large sherds) and there were a couple of pretty clear destruction/burn layers. Fun times. Very fertile, green area. After that excitement we headed downtown to “Old Cairo” where we visited a couple churches and a synagogue. The churches were interesting, though I’m not sure I enjoyed them a whole lot. It was rather strange having the guide talk about saints and miraculous sightings of Mary and a stone cross that used to bleed. Did they really happen? Is it made up? A hoax? Someone’s wild imaginations? I admit, I’m rather skeptical. Or if they did happen, I’m more prone to attribute them to Satan than to God. I thought it was interesting that each church had 12 pillars (like the 12 apostles) and each also had sort of an “odd man out” pillar. Most were made of alabaster, but one was of granite or basalt – the Judas pillar. Isaiah and I had an interesting discussion about the orthodox church … what do we (as protestants) do with them? Hmmm…
The synagogue was interesting too, mostly because of the Hebrew writing. As soon as the guide (Mina) was done talking, I think all the Hebrew students rushed to try to make out the Hebrew. It was unpointed, so that made it a tad more difficult. Still, I think we managed fairly well. I was pleased that I was able to make out quite a few different words, in spite of their unpointed condition and my sadly lacking vocabulary. Next stop was lunch. Since we have spent all semester learning about rocks, it was only appropriate that lunch be similarly themed. Yes, we went to the Hard Rock Café in Cairo. First Hard Rock Café I’ve been too. Wow. Interesting place. I have to say, though, I was rather disappointed that they didn’t allow nuclear weapons in the bathroom stalls. Tragic, really.
The last “educational” stop of the day was at the Cairo Museum. WOW. Amazing. Immense. Overwhelming. Fascinating. Need I go on? It was impressive. (Really bummed that pictures weren’t allowed, though.) It has specimens from pretty much every period of time in Egyptian history, ranging from pre-dynastic to the Greek and then Roman times. Statues ranging from nearly 2 stories high to statues 4cm high, maybe less. The guide took us through, pointing out things he thought were important. I didn’t so much enjoy that part – I could rarely hear him, there were far too many people in one area, and when I could hear him, he rarely said anything particularly interesting. So eventually I gave up trying to see what he was pointing out and listening to him and instead looked around the general area. I would have considered wandering off, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to see the Mummy room or have known what time to meet at the end.
Favorite parts of the Museum?
1. King Tutankhamen display. Holy buckets of gold! That was an impressive display. I mean, ok, the funerary mask and two of the caskets and the various pieces of jewelry which were in a separate room were all spectacular. It was crazy to think that I was seeing things that I remember studying in 6th grades social crudies. :) I’ll have to tell Mrs. Broughton. Won’t she be jealous! 11 kg of gold in the mask alone. That’s just crazy. And that was just the beginning. A whole hallway was filled with displays of things that were found crowded into his tomb. It was overwhelming. And all this for a fairly minor Pharaoh who ruled only 9 years and died at the age of 18.
2. Mummies! We saw probably about 20 of them. And these are the most famous ones – like Merenepthah, or Ramses II (III, IV, IX, etc.), Hatshepsut, etc. In their lives, people must have trembled before them, and now… Along the same lines, do you know how incredibly complex and detailed the contents of the tombs were? The Egyptians were definitely a people obsessed with life – the after life. They put a huge amount of effort into preparing for it, and yet in the end, where are they today? Kind of tragic. And it makes me wonder. When Abraham, Isaac, and others where “brought” by God to Egypt, was is so that one or two of the Egyptians would have a chance of real eternal life?
3. Mereneptha Stele which mentions the Tribe of Israel as being destroyed by Mereneptha around 1205BCE.
4. Armarna letters.
5. Greek/Egyptian statue – the whole thing was farily Egyptian in style with the exception of the curls around the head. Those were quite Greek. It was kind of funny.
After the Museum we had a short stop at the Market. It made me laugh – those shopkeepers.
After that the excitement still wasn’t over – we got to take the train!
It has been pretty fun so far. So exciting, it’s taken me a while to wind down and feel tired. Charlene and I opened the door between ours and Brad’s and Chang Hun’s room and ate dinner “with” them. Good times. We thought about going to the belly dancing contest, but... ;) Anyway, it’s still fun, but I think I’m going to see if I can catch some sleep shortly here. ‘night!
No comments:
Post a Comment