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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nGradually over the course of the\ntour, when we saw other monuments, the treasures from that first day began to fit\ninto place. My favorite room in the museum was the one containing likenesses of\nPharaoh Akhenaten. Husband of Nefertiti, he was such an interesting character<\/a> (and subject\nof a Philip Glass opera). His elongated features and sensuous lips are markedly\ndifferent from the typical square-faced, mildly benevolent expression of most pharaonic\ndepictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The oldest monuments near Cairo\nthat we saw were at Sakkara and Memphis, the Old Kingdom capital of Egypt.\nSakkara is an ancient burial ground for Memphis\u2014Egypt\u2019s capital 4500 years ago.\n(The Tennessee city was given the same name because it too, is on a great\nriver.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The area includes a beautiful\ntemple and the famous \u201cstep pyramid,\u201d the world\u2019s oldest major stone edifice,\nbuilt during the Third Dynasty for the pharaoh Djoser. It was the Egyptians\u2019\nfirst foray into this pyramid shape, something they later perfected with\ndifferent building methods. The step pyramid\u2019s architect was Imhotep, and there\u2019s\nan archaeological museum there dedicated to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Memphis are the beautifully\ndetailed remains, if you can call them that, of a massive limestone statue of\nRamses II, who ruled 3300 years ago, in the 19th<\/sup> Dynasty. Standing,\nit would be over 30 feet tall. He may be old, but he\u2019s still impressive! (His\nstatues inspired Shelley\u2019s poem \u201cOzymandias\u201d: \u201c\u02bbLook on my works, ye Mighty and\ndespair.\u2019\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Highlight of any Egypt trip is a\nvisit to the pyramids of Giza, a Cairo suburb. You can be gazing at the\npyramids, turn around, and there\u2019s a city. They are the perfection of the\npyramid form, used as tombs by the Old Kingdom Pharaohs. The largest is that of\nKhufu (Cheops), the second largest is that of his son Khafre, and the third\nlargest that of Khafre\u2019s son, Menkaure. Smaller pyramids for wives are nearby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From a distance, the pyramids look smooth, like the pyramid on the back of the US $1 bill. But up close, their profile is jagged because of the stepwise layers of stone. Each of these stones is enormous, weighing several tons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Theories still conflict about how\nthe pyramids were constructed<\/a>, but our guide emphasized that they were not\n<\/em>built by slaves. Evidence has been found that during the limited\nconstruction season, workers came from all over Egypt to fulfill their one-time\nobligation to their ruler and were advised to consider it a privilege. I hope\nthey did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s Khafre\u2019s pyramid that has the unfinished-looking top. We learned that all the pyramids at one time had an exterior limestone layer that did make the surface smooth. Alas, thieves looted the limestone for other construction, and that bit at the top is all that\u2019s left. Amazing as they are, they must have been even more so in those days. You can go inside Khufu\u2019s pyramid, but it\u2019s a very confined passageway and you have to crouch down to get through it. I declined. The taller men who went came back with skinned scalps. Treasures from inside are all in the museum or looted long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were told that one of the huge limestone blocks used in creating Khafre\u2019s pyramid turned out to have flaws, so he directed his architect to make a statue out of it. From that block the Sphinx<\/a> was carved, an animal with the body of a lion and head of a human–an Egyptian mythological invention. Repeatedly over the millennia, the Sphinx has been covered in sand, including when Napoleon Bonaparte came to Egypt in 1798, an encounter memorialized in a famous painting<\/a> by Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me that, amusingly, cuts the grand Napoleon down to size. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Egypt Adventure: The Nile<\/a> Photos: (Akhenaten) Jos\u00e9-Manuel Benito \u00c1lvarez, creative commons license; all others, Vicki Weisfeld<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Visiting the sights near Cairo, we criss-crossed centuries even more than we traversed the local geography. Yet, as ancient as the Egyptian civilization is, its legacy can be found in our own today. The tour took us first to the … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2019-11-11-10.55.13.jpg?resize=291%2C398&ssl=1\")
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Egypt Adventure: Security<\/a>
Egypt Adventure: Muslim Dress<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n