Order, chaos and renewal

Wouldn’t it be cool if there were 30 days in each month and then a 5-day New Year celebration at the end of 12 months before we move on to the next 12 months? This is what the ancient Egyptian calendar was like. They were the first to realise that there needs to be 365 days in a year to keep the seasons in line. They had 12 months with 30 days each and then a long celebration at the end. 

People settled in Egypt over 8,000 years ago. They formed two kingdoms — Lower Egypt in the north and Upper Egypt in the south. Confused? Well, the Nile flows from south to north so for Egyptians, the north was ‘down’. By around 3100 BC, these 2 were united under a pharaoh. 

The pharaohs, watched over by the God Horus, kept the country together. They kept records and received taxes in the form of grain. Today, of course, we remember them mostly for the great architectural marvel of the pyramids and the wonders inside them. The hieroglyphics (carved pictures that represent words) tell the story of a great civilisation — the pyramids themselves are a testament to the engineers and mathematicians that that civilisation had. How did they get those huge blocks of stone into place??!! And no, the pyramids were not built by slaves. The Great Pyramid built by the pharaoh Khufu is 480 feet high and was covered with polished white limestone. Imagine how it would have glowed in the sun. Built around 5,000 years ago, this is the last ‘ancient wonder of the world’ still standing. The other 6 have all been destroyed over time. Egypt is home to 7 UNESCO sites.

From around the last century BC, the country came under Roman rule, then Greek rule followed by Muslim rule. Remnants of all these influences exist. We still have the ancient capital of Alexandria named after Alexander the Great who conquered the country in 331 BC. And the world knows of Cleopatra — she wasn’t actually Egyptian but was of Greek heritage, a descendant of the Greek Macedonians.

Egypt, like many ancient civilisations, developed along the banks of a river — the Nile. The Nile just barely loses to the Amazon in being the longest river in the world. Not surprisingly, as most of the country is desert, 95% of Egypt’s population lives near the banks of the Nile. In any story of Egypt, the Nile plays a very important role. Referring to the black, fertile soil left behind after the flooding of the Nile, Ancient Egyptians called their homeland Kemet, meaning ‘black land’. Cities developed to take advantage of this fertile land. The capital has been changed several times. Alexandria was the capital for about 1,000 years from the time of Alexander’s conquest. It is the second largest city in Egypt today and home to a famous ancient library.

Today’s Egypt is an Arabic nation. The ancient Egyptians believed in many Gods. In fact, in different eras, their relative importance seems to have undergone some change. The myth of Osiris is one that stands out. The man/God Osiris ruled Egypt wisely, taught the people how to farm and was a lawgiver. Egypt was a land blessed by the sun and water. The orderly flooding of the Nile was essential to the fertility of the land. Surrounding their nation was a harsh desert which Egyptians saw as symbolic of chaos. Egypt represented stability but was always under threat from the forces of chaos — when the floods did not arrive on time, for example. The God Seth who murdered and dismembered Osiris is a symbol of chaos. Osiris was resurrected by his wife (Isis) and avenged by his son Horus who went on to become the ruler. Osiris thus became a symbol of death, resurrection and the cycle of life-giving floods.

Since resurrection played an important part in their beliefs, the tombs of the pharaohs contained gold, jewellery, pots and pans, statues of servants, food and clothing, all of which they believed they would need in a comfortable afterlife. There were board games too to keep them amused. Board games?! Yes, they enjoyed them. The most popular one was called Senet and involved throwing sticks. 

Although mostly in the African continent, Egypt has one foot in Asia. The Sinai Peninsula is a bridge between the northeast of Africa and the southwest of Asia. Before the building of the Suez Canal, the French sculptor Bartholdi wanted to build a statue of a woman, dressed in a robe and holding up a massive torch to stand at the entrance to the canal. That didn’t quite happen but you know where that statue eventually landed up!

Egypt is one of the most populous nations in Africa. Apart from bustling busy markets and traffic, Cairo, the capital,  also boasts the largest food court in the world that can seat over 4,000 people at a time. As with many of the greatest cities of the world, it’s a sprawling metropolis where ancient and modern co-exist. One visible nod to ancient beliefs is the abundance of cats everywhere — ‘miu’ are sacred to the Gods. Do be nice to them when you visit.