Learning Family in Egypt

Jan 18 - Jan 29, 1999

We headed to Cairo originally thinking of Egypt as little more than pyramids and King Tut; perhaps a pretty common image held my many. Boy, were we wrong! The history of Egypt is complex, and the vast period of time is hard to imagine. In the United States, we think of things being old when they are 150-200 years old. In Europe, Old is 500-1000 years old, or up to 2000 years.  But Egypt has a rich history and culture that began over 5000 years ago! 

We were glad to have Susan's brother, Jon, as our guide and interpreter. It made our time in Egypt more enjoyable and much less frustrating than it would have been otherwise, and allowed us to spend more time seeing Egypt instead of having our noses in a map or an Arabic book. And rather than being carted around with a group of tourists, we were able to see places the tour buses don't go, and to linger where we had the most interest. Our brains are stuffed with great memories, as well as lots of facts, from our trip to Egypt.

Overview of Ancient Egyptian History

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We learned that Ancient Egypt was really old! The history is full of amazing stories, with interesting people and cultures that changed a lot over time. Counting back from modern times, there have been over 8 major periods in Egyptian history, each with distinct cultures. In some ways though, the cultures changed very little. In fact, there are a lot of patterns in the ancient culture that are still present in the world today. There are still great leaders, and stupid ones. There are still poor people and rich people. There are still greedy people who take advantage of others, and there are still good people who work hard for their chosen causes. Each of these major periods in the ancient history of Egypt lasted longer than the history of the United States of America! Here's a map of ancient Egypt, with many of the major archaeological sites noted.

Egypt Uncovered
by Vivian Davies, Renee Friedman

This is the book if you're looking for stunning photographs that capture the significance of ancient Egypt.

Date History Hilights Pharaohs & Rulers 2686-2181 bce Old Kingdom This is the time when Upper Egypt in the south is united with Lower Egypt in the North. The Pyramids are built, the Sphinx, and the first King's tombs. At this time, the capitol of Egypt was at Memphis, a city just south of modern Cairo. Narmer, Menes, Djozer, Snofru, Khufu, Kephren, Menkaure, Userkaf, Teti 2181-2040 bce First Intermediary Period Egypt is broken up into many kingdoms under weak pharoahs. Many wars. Many lesser kings 2040-1786 bce Middle Kingdom Egypt is reunited again. Period of heavy trading expeditions and military campaigns extend the southern borders into Nubia. Mentuhotpe (several by this name) and about 80 other minor kings 1786-1567 bce Second Intermediary Period More weak kings destroy the kingdom. Prosperity is lost, and the Hyksos from the Middle-east invade. Salitis, Khamudi, other Hyksos ruler, and a few minor Theban kings 1570-1070 bce New Kingdom Strong leaders from Thebes, modern Luxor, drive out the Hyksos and reunite Egypt. Capitol is moved to Thebes (Luxor) and the period of greatest prosperity and development begins. Amenophis, Tuthmoses, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten & Nefertiti, Tut'ankhamun, Ramses the Great & Nefertari, other Ramses 1070-712 bce Third Intermediary Period Pharaohs continue to rule united Egypt, but prosperity dwindles with little significant development. Not as much is known about this period, a sort of dark-ages in Egyptian history. No really notable rulers 1085-332 bce Late Dynastic Period Upper and Lower Egypt begin to drift apart, with Nubian influencers in the south, Greek and Persian influences in the North. Darius, Xerxes 332-30 bce Ptolemaic Dynasty Alexander the Great from Greece conquers Egypt, and installs one of his generals, Ptolomy, as governor of the new province in the Greek Empire. Greek Empire collapses with the death of Alexander, and Ptolomy declares himself Pharoah. This is also the time of Cleopatra. Alexander the Great, Philip Arrhidaeus, Ptolemy I, Ptolemy IV, Cleopatra 30 bce - 400ce Roman Egypt The last Cleopatra meets Julias Ceasar and has a child by him. After Ceasar's death, Antony becomes Consul of Egypt and co-rules with Cleopatra until his death. Cleopatra commits suicide, ending the reign of the Pharaohs in Egypt forever. Julius Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, Ceasar Octavian, others. 400ce - 600ce Byzantine Empire Remains of the Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople (or Byzantium). We didn't study this complex time in mediterranian history.

What Amanda thought of Egypt

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I felt kind of like an explorer. I could walk around the Step Pyramid built by Zozer, and got to go into some really old tombs. It felt like it was summer, not winter, because it was warmer. Even though it was January, we didn't need our big coats. To me, the pyramids made me feel like the Egyptians were really amazing, because they made these wonderful big pyramids that we see today.

It was interesting to see the culture of the people in Cairo and how they lived. They had different foods, like kushari, and the stores were often just outside on a table or something.

The Pharonic Village was interesting because it helped me understand what the ancient Egyptian lives were like.

The children there were cute and friendly and some worked on farms and drove donkey carts. Lots of Egyptians wanted to take our pictures because we were different and cute to them. They always asked us "What's your name?" and "Where you from?". They also asked for "baksheesh" (money) and "bonboni" (candy). There were a lot of kids selling things like tissues, necklaces, headbands and statues carved out of stone. I wished I could have bought something from all of them to make them feel good and help them earn money for their families.

Egypt is a great place to learn about ancient people and modern life today.

What Harrison thought of Egypt

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I thought Egypt would be just mud brick houses and stuff, but there was a ton of city. I wasn't expecting this much city. Though there was city, it was pretty dirty. I felt that I was pretty lucky not to live in a mud brick house and have to wash my own clothes in the Nile. I'm also glad that I can just hop in the car and to go shopping at Fred Meyer, instead of hop on a horse or donkey and go to a shack. There are still lots of people who use horses and donkeys and even camels to get around. I got to ride a camel once, and it wasn't very comfortable.

I had a lot of questions when I went to the ancient sites. What did the ancient Egyptians think about working on the pyramids? Why were there so many rooms in some of the tombs, with nothing in them? Was it to fool the robbers, or did the robbers take everything already? Why did the Egyptians have so many gods? Even though I could see some of their written language, heiroglyphs, I wonder what it might have sounded like.

Anyway, I think it was important to learn about ancient Egypt. They used a lot of simple machines (stylus, ramps, fans, and more...). Later these evolved into complex machines, and eventually the machines we use today appeared. Understanding these simple machines that ancient civilizations used can help us understand the machines we use today. Of course, there are other things beside machines.

Field trips are great way to learn because you can learn other interesting things that you may not have expected.

Susan's Egypt Thoughts

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I was fascinated by both ancient and modern Egypt. The temples, tombs and pyramids are incredible! What's really amazing is that so much of those extremely old structures are still standing, when all over the world it's rare to have things survive a couple centuries. How long do you think your house will stand? And how often does it have to be painted? We saw carvings in tombs and temples that were colored thousands of years ago, and the details are still visable. The organization and man-power behind it all is unimaginable as well. It's really mind-boggling.

Modern Egypt was just as interesting to me as learning about the ancient civilizations. It is a contrast of crowded, busy cities and quiet un-mechanized farming villages. The curiosity and warmth of the people is at the same time overwhelming and inviting. Having guards armed with machine guns everywhere you go is at first unnerving, then reassuring. To be driven through the congested Cairo streets in a beat-up taxi, fearing for my life at moments, and seeing a young boy negotiating traffic with a donkey cart is not something I had ever experienced before. And seeing families living off the land in mud-brick homes with only an outside hand water pump, farming the lush green fields with water buffalo was like stepping back through the centuries.

Egypt, for me, was a humbling and gratitude-inducing experience, making me realize what a comfortable, clean, convenient life I have and helped me put my extremely insignificant annoyances into prespective. I watched women in soaking wet, full-length dresses, heads covered, washing their laundry in the Nile, while yards away others scrubbed pots and pans in the same polluted water. To complete the scene, on the horizon was a family in a make-shift shelter atop a flat-roofed apartment building, cooking a meal in a clay oven several stories above the filthy city streets. I have burned the memory of those images onto my mind and think of them as I happily cook a meal, do the dishes, or throw a load of laundry into the washer. We have it so good!

Rob's thoughts about Egypt

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Egypt is a land of many past grandeurs.

After spending two weeks in Egypt, I became impressed with the diversity of its history. And even today, the people of Cairo show that diversity. I've lived and worked in Japan off and on for the last 10 years and have gotten used to people being pretty much the same. But in Egypt you can really see the effect of thousands of years of involvement with other countries. The Mediterranean influence in the north, the Nubian influence in the south, and the Persian influences from the east have all come together in Egypt. Their culture seems to be a complex mix of all these histories.

It also seemed that nothing is really new! The ancient Egyptians figured out a lot of things that later generations have only borrowed and changed. This seemed especially true for religion. The pantheon (to use a latin term!) of Egyptian gods, their functions and the rituals are surely old to us now, but there are symbols and similarities in most western religions today that suggest ages of borrowing from the views created by the Egyptians.

Just like Harrison said, we learned many things that we weren't expecting.

Links

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• Little Horus - A Great site for kids to learn about Egypt! Information about Egypt designed for kids. Harrison and Amanda explored this site at an Internet cafe in Cairo. Read Harrison's review in Harrison's Hotlinks.
• Mysteries of Egypt - This is a first-rate site. Online Egyptian museum from the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In depth information about Geography, Government, Writing, Religion. The same sort of things we studied on our tour.
• Tour Egypt - Perhaps the most comprehensive Egypt site on the web. Geared for would-be travelers, but has extensive historical information, current information and more. There's a small kid's section, too. Almost too much info to digest!
• Guardian's Egypt - One of the most comprehensive sites on Egypt we've found. Great pieces about history, including sections dedicated to the Pharaohs, mummies, and pyramids. There is also a good kid's section worth checking out.
• Ask Rosetta Stone - A playful children's site from the Cleveland Museum of Art.
• Egypt Quiz - Beshay, Inc.
  Test how much you know about ancient Egypt with this quiz page. Beshay sells all kinds of Egyptian products.
• Rigby's World of Egypt - A first rate site by an avid Egypt lover.
• Steve's Egypt Page - A good page by an avid Egypt hobbyist. Lots of great info & links.
• Egypt map from upenn - Modern Egypt with major archaeological sites noted. (244kb)

Resources

Check these out from your local library, or buy them here. When you buy books here, you get the same great Amazon.com price, and help keep these pages going.

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For Younger Readers

For Older Readers

Early Civilization - J. Chisholm, A. Millard Lots of illustrations make this a good book for learning about early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt and more.

Ancient Civilizations - Egypt (Time Traveler Series) by Jane Pofahl, pub. T.S. Denison ISBN 0-513-02191-4 Activity book with projects, crosswords, and others.  Fun for train or bus time.

Egypt (Kush & Aksum) (Ancient Civilizations Series) by Frank Schaffer Publications, ISBN 0-7647-0148-7 Activities for groups.  Great for classroom or homeschool environments.

Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Cultural Altas Series) by John Baines, Jaromir Malek Without question, the best single book for ancient Egypt enthusiasts. An acclaimed book for intermediate study of ancient Egypt, it is written with excellent summary documentary of all the significant archaeological sites in Egypt. Well organized and indexed, makes finding your facts easy. Full of great photos, illustrations and maps.

A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Margaret Bunson Actually, a very useful book. Written like a dictionary, it makes finding facts about who, what, where or when very easy. Enough description about each item to put it into perspective, or to know how to go look for more. Some entries have illustrations (probably a lot in the whole book) which make identification easy.

The Rough Guide to Egypt A great guidebook if you are interested in the real Egypt. Not for the faint of heart, this guide is for those who want to see the people and the history on the cheap. We used it during our trip, and found the commentary to be outstanding.  You won't find Sheraton or Marriott hotels, or expensive restaurants, but you will find out what Egypt is (or was) really like. Indexes and maps were lacking a bit. Buy it at Amazon.

Egypt Uncovered by Vivian Davies, Renee Friedman This is the book if you're looking for stunning photographs that capture the significance of ancient Egypt. A companion to the five part Discovery Channel series of the same name, this book describes the ancient civilization in light of the newest archaeological findings and thoughts from the most significant scholars.

The British Museum Book of Ancient Egypt by Stephen Quirke (Editor), Jeffrey Spencer (Editor), A. Jeffrey Spencer Written by some of the most noted scholars on the subject of Ancient Egypt, the staff of the Egyptian Antiquities Department of the British Museum, this is a superb guide through time. It covers it all, from before the pyramids to the reign of Ramses the Great, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra. Experts know how to inform, without overdoing it, and this one is right on target.