The Trip That Keeps Growing

Day 4 10 Oct 2020 Cairo • Controversial Topic: Women’s rights in Egyptian society • Explore Sakkara & Memphis

This morning we traveled again to visit Saqqara and Memphis. Before continuing, I must comment about the heat. It is extremely hot here for this time of year – we are experiencing days with temperatures over 100 degrees (something to do with a low pressure out of Saudi Arabia). The sun is intense, and the light-colored sands does not help. It is hard to be out from the shade for more than 15 minutes – lots of water is a necessity!

We started the day with a stop at the Outdoor Museum in the ancient city of Memphis. One of Egypt’s oldest cities, it was the capital of ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom and the center for commerce, trade, and religion. Located strategically on the Nile River, it was an important port and center for the distribution of food and merchandise throughout Egypt. It is believed King Menes (c.3150 BCE), who had first united the two divisions of Egypt, founded the city, and he and his descendants from the Early Dynastic Period as well as the dynasties from the Old Kingdom, ruled Egypt from Memphis. The name Memphis came the word Men-nefer which means “established and beautiful.” And with the palaces, gardens and temples that once filled the city, the name was appropriate as Memphis was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. It was here that kings constructed their great monuments, Alexander the Great was crowned pharaoh here, and the Rosetta Stone originated in Memphis. Memphis’ importance waned during the later years of ancient Egypt (under Roman rule) as Alexandria, on the coast of the Mediterranean grew in economic and commercial importance. And with the decree that Christianity would be the religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD, the city’s worship of ancient Egyptian deities also diminished.

Most of the ancient structures have disappeared, with the exception of the 36-foot colossal statue of Ramses II, which at one time stood with the great Temple of Ptah, the creator god and the patron god of craftsman who also guarded Memphis. His temple was once the most important structure in Memphis. What little remains of the temple, along with the Colossus of Ramses II and a large sphinx monolith are now part of an open-air museum which we visited. The statue of Ramses II lies on its back in a small building. One of the most fascinating things about the statue is the carving of his favorite wife Nefertari, on the inside of his leg. Outside there were carved stones and monuments, including the largest alabaster sphinx monument – that of Queen Hatshepsut -- all of which were found in the nearby fields. One of the statues is entitled "The Triad of Memphis." Ancient Egyptians believed their gods were like human families. One of the most important family was of the Creator God Phat, his wife Sekhmat, and their son Neferem. However, in the statue, Ramses II is portrayed as the son, thus showing that in addition to being a pharaoh, he was also a god himself.

Our second stop was to Saqqara and the Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest pyramid in Egypt. I have already written a little about the pyramid in my 5 Oct blog, but I will add a little more here. As I noted in the earlier blog, the pyramid was built for King Djoser, the 1^st king of the 3^rd dynasty during the 27^th century BCE. Its architect Imhotep conceived of the idea of stacking mastabas (flat-roofed rectangular monuments made of dried clay bricks) on top of each other, with each new stack made smaller thus creating the step look of this pyramid. The pyramid was constructed in several phases. The first phase was the construction of the first (lowest) mastaba. However, Imhotep wanted something more fitting for his king, so he added two more mastabas to the first. As the king was still alive, Imhotep decided to continue adding more mastabas until he had added six on top of the original first one making this the tallest structure of its time. And instead of using clay bricks, he made the mastabas out of limestone.

Diagram of Djoser Funeral Complex

Surrounding the Djoser complex was a 34-foot high limestone wall. Outside the wall was a 2,360-foot long, 130 feet wide trench that is thought to have served not only as a quarry for the buildings inside the wall but also as additional protection for the complex.

Up against the northern wall of the pyramid was Djoser’s Mortuary Temple. Unlike earlier buildings which were built with mud-bricks, the temple’s walls were built using stone. The temple was approximately 35 feet high and its sole entryway was a narrow passage that led to a walkway framed by a series of columns. Unfortunately, all that remains of the Temple is the entrance wall.

The purpose of a pyramid was to provide the pharaoh an easy transition to the afterlife after his death. The afterlife was just like his earthly life, and the pharaoh would need food, drinks, and the luxuries of his former life. Those items would be placed in the pyramid along with the body of the pharaoh. Djoser must have had a wonderful afterlife as 40,000 artifacts were found within the pyramid complex. Although the artifacts were found, his body was not inside the pyramid. It is believed that tomb robbers absconded with his body. The statue of Djoser that was found in the Serdab is the oldest known life-sized Egyptian statue (picture of a replica of the statue can be found in the 5 Oct blog).

Unfortunately, a major earthquake struck the Cairo region on 12 October 1992, causing significant damage to the pyramid – the vault of the great funerary well collapsed along with the ceilings of several underground galleries. And to add insult to injury, the company hired to restore the pyramid had no knowledge in the restoration of ancient monuments. The results were catastrophic – part of the pyramid collapsed threatening to collapse the entire structure. The Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities commissioned a new mission, led by a French architect, to repair the damage. They have reinforced the underground galleries and replaced the vault structure of the main funerary well. In addition, they discovered several new galleries at the site. It finally reopened to the public in 2020.

While little is known about King Djoser, he did build many monuments and temples, including the rebuilding of the Temple of Khnum, who was the god of the source of the Nile. During Djoser’s reign, the people believed the Khnum was holding back the waters of the Nile thus causing a famine because he (the god) was displeased that his original temple was in disrepair. Djoser then averted the famine by rebuilding the temple.

After the Djoser Pyramid, we drove to another area of Saqqara to visit the tomb of Kgemini, the son-n-law of King Teti (6^th dynasty), whose pyramid was also close by. The drawings and carvings inside the tomb were spectacular and showed many aspects of day-to-day life, like dancing, fishing, hunting, force feeding animals to fatten them up, and presentation of offerings.

On our way home we drove by the Cairo Aqueduct, which was first started by Sultan Saladin around 1175 AD who developed the idea of bringing water from the Nile to the Citadel by building a canal along the top of the wall that he had built to encircled Cairo. The aqueduct was later reworked by Mamluk sultans to provide more water to the Citadel of Cairo.

After returning to the hotel, we had a woman, Nashwa Awad, come and talk to us about women in modern Egypt. She is a well-educated woman, with degrees in education and mental health and has taught in middle, high school, and college. She is married and has two grown sons.

She started her talk with the 1919 revolution that changed the life and role of women in Egyptian society. This revolution was the first time that women participated in an active role. However, it wasn’t until 1956 that a new constitution gave them the right to vote. And in 1971, President Saddat’s wife, a college professor, was instrumental in creating a family court where women would receive a fair hearing in matters of divorce, annulment, custody and alimony. But after the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, when, surprisingly, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi, became president, many of the rights and strides made by women received a set-back in the new constitution. This was also the first time that a religious ember won and tried to influence lives with religion. Fortunately, Morsi’s reign only lasted one year, as on 30 June 2013, there was another uprising by Egyptians all over the world and he was replaced by the current president Sisi. A new constitution was adopted that reversed all the decrees of the Morsi regime. Today there 8 ministers in the Egyptian government and women are beginning to hold key positions in corporate and educational facilities. Women are now allowed to become police officers and enter the Army, although they are restricted to non-combatant roles. And just recently and Egyptian Airlines flight was flown by an all female crew. And 25% of Parliament must be women.

Today we see a lot of women in a variety of styles of dress. Some are in the conservative abaya (a full-length black dress covering their bodies) and some dress in western style, and some are a mixture – a head scarf (called an hijab), but western outfits. Contrary to what we thought, the Koran does not dictate how a woman should dress. How she dresses is not based on any religious principle – a Muslim woman can make her own choices. However, in reality, many times her dress is influenced by the family or the village she is from.

She then talked about the educational system in Egypt. All children must go to school from the age of 6 to 15 (9th grade) and it is free. However, many of the elementary schools, especially in villages and rural areas, have classrooms with up to 90 students and one teacher. In order to continue on to high school children must attain a fairly high GPA. For those that do not, their parents can send them to a private school or their schooling ends. They do have technical schools, but she said they are not very good. The high schools have improved and include baccalaureate studies, private schools, American schools, British schools, language schools (but these are not free). Only about 35% of children go on to high school. Since 2011 more women are going on to the university levels, and the Cairo University’s president is a woman.

She gave a very inciteful and informative talk about women today, the obstacles they have had to overcome, and the progress they have made.