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The Giza Pyramids in Cairo

I summarized the tour of Egypt as a tour of one river (the Nile River) and four cities (Alexandra, Cairo, Luxor and Aswan), which are full of temples, Pyramids, tombs and museums. All are related to life and death.

It’s necessary to know that almost all the temples, tombs and Pyramids we saw today were built before more than 2300 years ago, when the Egyptian people were ruling Egypt despite the conflicts between different tribes or branches of the King’s families for power.  The modern society of Egypt has been shaped to a very different one with rulers from the Greeks , Persians, Turkish, intruders from French and Britain and the influence of different religious beliefs including Islam, Christianity and Catholic. Now it’s basically one of the Arabic countries with Muslim as the major religion and Arabic as official language. Though I believe they are no longer the same as the ancient Egyptians, the people are still very proud of their own history and culture. Actually they are dwelling on the magnificent heritage created by their ancestors with tourism as the second largest income after oil for the country.

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The Abu Simbu Temple in Aswan

All the temples, Pyramids and tombs are related to two themes: life and death.  Ancient Egyptians worshiped the sun. Life and death were linked respectively to sunrise and sunset.  Therefore, the Nile river, running from the south and north, became the natural border. The Temples on the east bank were built when the Kings were alive and the temples on the west bank for their afterlife.  The Pyramids and the tombs in the valley of the Kings were all located on the west bank.  The shape of Pyramids resembles the sun boat possessed by the Kings. There was a naturally shaped hilltop in the valley of the Kings in a Pyramid’s shape. Temples were built facing the east. They were so accurately designed that when the sun rise in the early morning, there would be a moment, the sun would cast a beam of light right on the statue of the God (or the kings) at the deep end of the temple.

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The Luxor Temple

The knowledge of a few  Kings and Gods who had prominent positions in ancient Egyptian history and culture would make it much easier to understand the temples, the Pyramids, the tombs, even the carvings and paintings seen everywhere on the walls, the roofs of these historical sites.  My trip started from Egyptian Museum, where all the names of the Kings and Gods mentioned by the tour guide were so intriguing and confusing, but ended in Cairo again 5 days back from Aswan and Luxor along the Nile River with a much clearer picture. I become fascinated with ancient Egypt, impressed by its magnificent culture.

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This magnificence is only about the Kings. It’s not mentioned how ordinary people lived their life and how they were buried. I happened to see these really simple tombs from bus. The afterlife is all but a small stone on a handful dirt.