Day 23: Once upon a time 4500 years ago . . .

Giza and Cairo, Egypt

Some local color!

Super busy day today!  Our tour guide picked us up at 8:30 in the morning.  First we stopped off for falafel sandwiches for breakfast, then went to the Cairo Museum where all of the tomb antiquities are kept.  They are building a new museum in Giza, very near to the pyramids; many of the better things from the Cairo museum will be moved there in addition to new findings.

The Nile River.  The river divides what is Cairo from what is Giza.
The Nile used to flood every year, but they built a dam to keep that
from happening.  The flooded lands then became able to grow
crops each year after the flood.  Now they bring in containers of water
 from the reservoir above the dam to serve the same purpose.

The museum was not air conditioned, so it was very warm--I'm guessing the new one will.  The museum is very old school with lots of glass cabinets and little typed up notes telling you what is there.  Our guide skipped through, giving us the highlights.  At the end, we had the option to pay an additional fee to see the royal mummies.  Randy and Joshua declined, but of course, I had to go!  You aren't allowed to take photos in there (or in the room with King Tutankhamun's things).  One of the weird things was that their hair stays on their heads in the mummification process.  One of the mummies had been found in a tomb.  The tomb had been raided and she was lying on the floor.  They found and took the nurse in her sarcophogus and some things that had been found in the queen's empty sarcophagus--including a tooth and some hair and other small items.  Then they wondered if the mummy they had left behind was the queen.  They went back to retrieve her and sure enough, the tooth fit her mouth perfectly.

These heiroglyphics tell about the king:  the bird and snake show that he
was in control of both parts of Egypt, upper (south) and lower (north),
the bee shows the same thing, and the  other marks are symbols
of his being a king and of his name.

The bird behind him protects this king

A mummy.  Look carefully, you can see all of the hair remaining on the body.

This is a statue of Sheikh el-Balad.  It is wooden and
was found in 1870.  He was a ruler in 2500 BCE

The eyes of the wooden statue are made of inlaid gemstones

A scribe.  Each pharoah had a scribe to record the life of the
pharoah on papyrus, which was then put in their tomb with them.

this is the bed of Queen Hetepheres.  She is the mother of Khufu
(who commissioned the pyramid).  

These are her bracelets

This is papyrus

These are scarabs--used for good luck (don't believe the Mummy movies!)

Good luck amulets

This is a loaf of bread found in a tomb

Amenhotep III and Tiye
The museum was built around this colossal statue.

The main floor from the balcony

Ancient egyptian dolls

Ancient Egyptian dice

Minerals and stones used for dyes and makeup

For mixing colors

This appears often--they weigh the human heart against a holy feather.
If it is lighter, they are a good person and can go to heaven.  If it is
heavier, one of the creatures gets to eat it and you go to hell.

The stuff found in Tutankhamun's tomb.  It is one of the only untouched
tombs found which is why he is the best known of the Pharaohs.

Tutankhamun's chair.  He was married at age 9.  This shows he and his wife.

Randy and a dog

Tutankhamun's mummified body was placed in
a gold coffin, which was placed in two successive wooden coffins
covered with gold, then inside a stone sarcophagus, then...

The box above this went into this one, which went into a larger one,
which went into a larger one.

The largest box holding the Russian nesting dolls of King Tutankhamun's
mummified body.

Many sarcophogi

Drawing of King Tutankhamun's tomg

A small park in front of the Egyptian Museum of Artifacts (aka Cairo Museum)

Next off, the guide and driver asked if we wanted to go somewhere for lunch.  We have all been having intestinal problems so we wondered if a mini-fast would help that and declined.  When the driver found that we were having travler's intestinal issues, he had the driver stop at a pharmacy and we got two medications--one is an antibiotic and one is for stomach issues.  Randy and Joshua are taking those.  My doctor had prescribed antibiotics for me to bring with me for the same issue so I am taking those (three days worth).   We also stopped for two more giant bottles of water (we had emptied our water bottles already).

Then, on to the pyramids!  Of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world, the Giza Pyramids are the only one left.  On the site, are three larger pyramids, several small pyramids, some small buildings, and the sphinx.  Near the sphinx was the temple with the lower temple being where they mummified the body (which took 70 days).   It was then taken up to the upper temple in a procession for the ceremonies before being placed in the pyramid and the pyramid being sealed up.  The sphinx had the head of a person (for the brains) and the body of a lion (for the courage and strength), to guard the pyramids (they think).  The largest of the pyramids were built by Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.  Khufu had his begun 2500 BCE; it is the largest of the three using 2.3 million stone blocks.  It is built of limestone and was the tallest building for 4300 years until the Eiffel Tower was built.  Each side of the pyramid is directly aligned with one of the cardinal directions:  one faces the north, one the west, etc.  It was originally 146. 5 meters tall, but the Ottoman Turks plundered the upper stones to build houses and mosques in Cairo, so the current height is 137 meters tall.   The smallest of the  pyramids are for the wives of the Pharaohs.

Joshua in front of the tomb of a prime minister

Doorways to help the dead find heaven

Joshua on the giant pyramid

the upper temple

Randy

Showing the false opening above, and the one created by the
 archeologists below that.

Yep, I 'm touching a giant pyramid!  The only survivor of the
seven wonders of the ancient world.

A golf course built right below the pyramids <sigh>

The second largest pyramid was built by Khafre, Khufu's son.  It is built on a plateau above the larger pyramid, so is sometimes thought to be taller than Khufu's tomb though it is an optical illusion.  Khufu's tomb is currently closed for work they are doing.  It still has the original covering at the top.

All of the Giza pyramids

camels

Khafre's son, Menkaure built the final pyramid.  The three larger pyramids have smaller pyramids beside them for the wives.  The lower 15 meters of Menkaure's pyramid was covered in red granite, with the top 15 meters covered in limestone as the other two pyramids are.  The granite was sourced from a ways away and was brought by boat when the river flooded.

Red granite on the bottom, limestone on the top

The sphinx was sculpted from sandstone and has deteriorated over the years due to wind, rain, and pollution.  Unesco has given money to help in restoring it, but some of the restorations cause even more damage.  They feel that it would have disappeared completely, had it not been buried under sand for so much of it's life.

The lower temple

The boat landing.  They were used when the Nile flooded, so that boats could reach the temple

The other boat landing at the temple

Tbis leads from the lower temple where the bodies were mummified
to the higher temple for the celebration.

The procession with the body would continue here into the upper temple.

After we were done there, we went to the papyrus shop where they still make papyrus from the plants.

Papyrus plant

They cut off the peel of the stem, then cut the stem into thin strips

these strips are then pounded and rolled to become flexible

Then they are soaked

Then laid out, overlapping

And put into a press.  After being in the press for a long time, it
is papyrus

 From there, our apartment is just down the alley, so we told the driver that we would just walk home.  We were exhausted and all took a nap, waking up around 7:00 for dinner.  We ate at an Egyptian food restaurant for dinner, sharing a kebab family sampler.  Very yummy meat--hopefully all of our bodies will process it well!

Tomorrow we go off on another tour of more pyramids!  There are 114 pyramids in Egypt.