The Goddess Isis in her Earthly Home at Philae Temple with her Husband Osiris

The Temple of Philae was the earthly home of the Goddess Isis, she was the goddess of healing, love, fertility, healing, magic and the moon.  Her magical power was believed to be  greater than that of all other gods, and she was said to protect the kingdom from its enemies, govern the skies and the natural world, and have power over fate itself. Various texts claim that Isis organized the behavior of the sun, moon, and stars, governing time and the seasons which, in turn, guaranteed the fertility of the earth.

Isis is shown on the reliefs in the temple of Philae to be the Mother and Protector of the King. In the Birth House of the temple of Isis, rites were held at every new king´s ascendancy to the throne of Egypt, to manifest and secure his Divine Birth.

According to myth Isis mourned the death of her husband Osiris after his brother Set had murdered him and cut his body up, purposely scattering all his body parts  across Egypt, to deny Osiris an eternal life.  Her mourning and lamentation  Hymn for Osiris :

'Sing we Osiris dead, lament the fallen head...The light has left the world, the world is grey...Athwart the starry skies the web of darkness lies...Sing we Osiris, passed away. Ye tears, ye stars, ye fires, ye rivers shed... Weep, children of the Nile, weep – for your Lord is dead.'


With the help of the God Thoth it is said that for many years Isis searched all over Egypt, for the scattered  parts of Osiris body, and that she found his heart on the Island of Philae, and once she had found all the parts of Osiris then with her magic powers she  restored her husband Osiris back to life, and had a son with him who they named Horus. 

The God Amun told Isis that her husband Osiris couldn't walk the Earth any more, but that he would give him Eternal life and make him the God of The Underworld   It is said that Isis buried her husband on the small Island of Bigeh close to the Island of Philae, and that she would go over the water in her holy barque to visit the Island once a week (in Ancient Egypt a week was 10 days) where together with her priests she would perform the funerary rites for Osiris.

The temple on Philae was built in the Last two centuries of the Greek invasion of Egypt, and the first three centuries of the Roman conquest. Initially both the Greek and Romans embraced the faith of Isis, and they were eager to show their commitment to the ancient Egyptian religion, but later  at Philae Aset (Isis) and Het-Hert (Hathor), for whom there is a small temple too, have merged into one deity. In the first courtyard the columns have the beautifully serene head of Hathor. 

In 1902 the British built a dam and the temple of Isis was under flood waters for most of the year, so tourists sailed around the temple  in boats going through it's inner courtyard, and around the Kiosk of Tragan

In 1960 construction of the Aswan Dam began which would have completely submerged the complex temples on Philae island, so the temples and kiosk were meticulously surveyed, and then they were dismantled piece by piece and moved to the Island of Agiliki which was on higher ground, and would be safe from the flood waters. It is a beautiful motorboat ride to the Island, and as you come around the corner the Temple of Isis and Trajan'the s kiosk rise above you.

There are six hymns to Isis in her Inner Sanctuary, In these hymns Isis is described as Creator of all life as well as Royal Spouse and Mother of God, which would make her the chief deity not only in her own Temple at Philae, but all over the whole land of Egypt. The worship of the Goddess Isis also traveled across the Mediterranean as it was embraced by both the Greeks and later the Romans., until the Romans adopted Christianity. With the Rise of Christianity the Temple of Isis was the last temple in Egypt to worship the Ancient Egyptian Gods, and the last known hieroglyphs (Gods words) were written on it's temple walls.

In the Inner sanctuary of Isis the walls are covered with Hieroglyphic text and hymns praising Isis.
One of the hieroglyphic hymns translated by Louis Zakbar reads :

'Praise to you Isis, the Great One, God's Mother, Lady of Heaven, Mistress and Queen of the Gods. You are the first Royal Spouse of Of Onnophris, (Osiris) The Supreme overseer of the Golden ones in the temple, The eldest son of Geb, first born of Geb, Praise to you Isis, the Great One, God's Mother, Lady of Heaven, Mistress and Queen of the Gods.'

Looking around the Temple you can see lots of Christian graffiti scratched onto the Temple walls and columns, as her temple had been turned into a church when the Romans had converted to Christianity, it still has a Christian altar in one of the sanctuaries. Walking around the temple I saw that the face of Isis had been obliterated by a deep cut Coptic Cross, in an attempt to banish her from her own temple.

In 535 the Emperor Justinian banned the 'pagan religion' and closed the Temple of Isis, as well as the rest of the temples on the Island of Philea dedicated to Hathor and Horus, the priests were jailed, and the living falcon (a representation of Isis son  Horus) was slaughtered.

The Temple of the Goddess Isis at Philae was submerged by the Rising waters due to the construction of two Aswan Dams.

In the 1970s, the island of Philae, and the earthly home of the Goddess Isis was submerged by the rising waters, due to the construction of the two Aswan dams . The first dam had been built by the British in 1906.

Because of the dam, the only time Philae Island wasn't flooded was from July to October  when the dam sluices were open. And so if you wanted to visit the earthly home of the Goddess Isis during the Winter months, the only way that you could see the temple was by boat.

In 1960 UNESCO started a project to try to save the buildings on the Island.

A large coffer dam was built using  one million cubic meters of sand. Then a survey of the temples was made so that they would no exactly how to reconstruct the complex of temples.

The temples were cleaned as they had a lot of sediment on them from the River, and then all the  buildings on the Island were dismantled into about 40,000 units and then transported to the nearby Island of Agilkia, that was on higher ground a short distance from Philae Island near to Aswan.

The Complex of temples on the original Island were built during the last two centuries of the Greek rule of Egypt and the first three centuries AD of the Roman invasion and rule of Egypt. Both the Greeks and early Romans embraced the worship of the Goddess Isis, and in all of Egypt the Temple of Isis was the last temple to be closed, when the Emperor Justinian outlawed the worship of the Egyptian Gods, and some of the chambers inside the temple of Isis were converted for the use of Christian worship. In one relief that I noticed in particular of the Goddess Isis, her face has been completely obliterated by a deep cut Coptic cross to subdue her ancient powers.

In this photograph the tourists are just passing the Kiosk of Tragan that is also known as 'Pharaoh's Bed'. It was built by the Roman Emperor Trajan, and the reliefs inside the kiosk show Trajan as a pharaoh making offerings to the Goddess Isis, her husband Osiris, and their son Horus. The kiosk has 14 massive columns that have beautifully carved floral capitals.

Ramses 11 has a passport !

In 1977  Ramses was flown to Paris with his own passport, his occupation is described as KING (deceased) On his arrival in Paris a Great Ramses 11 Exhibition was staged. Obviously this is not the original passport of Ramses 11 that he was given in 1974, it has been created just to show what his passport might look like.

The journey to Paris was also arranged to offer the mummy of Ramses the best conservation treatment possible as deterioration had been noticed, with the invasion of beetle larvae.

 In the shimmering heat at Cairo airport the coffin of Ramses passed onto the plane whilst a guard of Honor saluted the King.  On arrival in Paris Airport Ramses was again greeted with a full presidential guard of Honor even though he had been dead for nearly 3,200 years.

This is the Mummy of Ramses at the Exhibition - The wall behind him shows a scene from the Great Temple of Abu Simbel in Nubia, depicting the pharaoh in a military campaign against Kush (Nubia)

The Mummy of Ramses 11 is now housed in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

                                                           

Ramses 11 came to power at the age of 25, his popular title is ‘Ramses the Great,’ but his Pharonic name was ‘Ra has fashioned him Beloved of Amun.’  Ramses reigned for 67 years, and fathered over a 100 children ! 

During his long reign Ramses 11 probably erected the most statues temples and obelisks of all the pharaohs. Some of his most impressive works included the Hypostyle hall at Karnack temple, this was begun by his father Seti 1 and Ramses finished work on the Hypostyle hall. after the death of his father.

He created the first courtyard in Luxor Temple surrounding it with his striding statues, which hold the Mekes papyrus in his hand giving him the authority to rule. He created the front pylons of Luxor Temple, which shows him fearlessly riding into battle on his chariot at the Battle of Kaddesh, he sits on the throne of two lands each side of the temple entrance, with his beloved wife Nefertari at the side of his leg.

Originally he placed two Obelisks outside the front pylons that had a top cap of Electrum (a mixture of gold and silver) these would capture the rays of the sun and flash energy and vitality down the bold vertical lines and the hieroglyphics  that would inspire the traveler to utter the names of Ramses making him immortal once more, and his authority of the land is invoked and assured again,'The Horus, Mighty Bull, Exalter of Thebes, Favorite of the Two Goddess, establishing monuments for his father Amun who placed him on the Throne, Golden Horus seeking excellent things for him who fashioned him King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usamatre, Chosen of Re.'

The twin obelisk now stands in The Palace de la Concorde at Paris, and the spell of protection and energy field that the two combined Obelisks offered the perimeters of the temple have been severed.

The Obelisk was given to France in recognition of Champollion deciphering the Rosetta stone making hieroglyphics and the 'Gods Words' in Temples and Tombs come to life once more, If your name is uttered and not forgotten then you have eternal life.

Ramses was also responsible for completing one of the most unusual and impressive of all Egyptian temples at Abu Simbel in Nubia, which was the furthest point of Ancient Egyptian supremacy.

This awesome temple was cut into the mountainside, and has four statues of Ramses sat on the Throne of two Lands. The axis of the temple was positioned by the Ancient Egyptian architects with the advice of the Goddess Sekhet, (the Architect) who worked all the details of the temples axis according to the stars, so on October 22 and February 22, the rays of the sun would flash through the temple door bringing light and life to the sitting statues of Ramses sat with the Gods, Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah. By building such an awesome monument Ramses was sending a strong message to the Nubian Race that he held the power.

Egyptomania Begins in the 19th Century - Tourists flock to Egypt

Tourism to Egypt  began slowly after the 1830's after Napoleon Bonaparte's failed expedition to Egypt, It was the work of the Savants he brought with him that first brought Egypt to the attention of the World they created 'The Description de l'Égypte' which was a series of publications, detailing the history of Egypt both ancient and modern, the first volume appeared in 1809 and continued until the final volume appeared in 1829.

Whilst in Egypt Napoleon's soldiers found the Rosetta stone, and after many years of study,  Champollion deciphered the stone using a tracing that the French had made of the stone before they had released it to the British army.  Champollion deciphered the Rosetta stone in 1822, and brought the ancient Gods words to life again.

Giovanni Belzoni also helped to inspire people in Europe on his travels with his installation of the Tomb of Seti 1, that he had discovered in the Valley of the Kings, and the head of Ramses 11 that he had removed from the Ramessium in 1816.

Egyptomania had begun !

From the 1860's the early photographers  helped so much to encourage people to visit Egypt, their photos expressed the ordinary life of Egyptians, and the amazing history of it's antiquities, and the early tourists loved to buy these memories and postcards of Egypt. Here we can see early tourists at the side of the Sphinx and the great Pyramid of Khufu which is the largest pyramid built in Egypt. As you can see the paws of the sphinx are buried under the sand. These two icons, of Ancient Egypt have always featured in the Western imagination.

Tourists used to climb the pyramids in the 19th Century, if you decided to do it now you would be arrested.

Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx

One of the most famous American tourists to climb the Great pyramid of Khufu (also known as the pyramid of Cheops) was the author Mark Twain, who firstly described the Giza plateau :

At a distance of a few miles the pyramids rising above the palms, looked very clean-cut, very grand and imposing, and very soft an filmy, as well. They swarm in a rich haze that took from them all suggestions of unfeeling stone, and made them seem only the airy nothings of a dream - structures which might blossom into tiers of vague arches, or ornate colonnades, may be, and change and change again, into all graceful forms of architecture, while we looked, and then melt deliciously away and change again, into all graceful forms of architecture,'

Mark Twain admitted his failure to adequately describe the sheer massiveness of the Great Pyramid, but he went on to describe how he got to the top of it:

'we were besieged by a rabble of muscular Egyptians and Arabs who wanted the contract of dragging us to the top—all tourists are.'

'the Sheiks said they were the only responsible parties; that all contracts must be made with them, all moneys paid over to them, and none exacted from us by any but themselves alone. Of course they contracted that the varlets who dragged us up should not mention bucksheesh once.'
'we contracted with them (the shieks) paid them, were delivered into the hands of the draggers, dragged up the Pyramids, and harried and be-deviled for bucksheesh from the foundation clear to the summit.'

'Each step being full as high as a dinner-table; there being very, very many of the steps; an Arab having hold of each of our arms and springing upward from step to step and snatching us with them, forcing us to lift our feet as high as our breasts every time, and do it rapidly and keep it up till we were ready to faint, who shall say it is not lively, exhilarating, lacerating, muscle-straining, bone-wrenching and perfectly excruciating and exhausting pastime, climbing the Pyramids?'

'I could conjure up no comparison that would convey to my mind a satisfactory comprehension of the magnitude of a pile of monstrous stones that covered thirteen acres of ground and stretched upward four hundred and eighty tiresome feet, and so I gave it up and walked down to the Sphinx.'
When Mark Twain confronted the Sphinx he gave the following description of it's face:

'The great face was so sad, so earnest, so longing, so patient. There was a dignity not of earth in its mien, and in its countenance a benignity such as never anything human wore. It was stone, but it seemed sentient. If ever image of stone thought, it was thinking. It was looking toward the verge of the landscape, yet looking at nothing—nothing but distance and vacancy. It was looking over and beyond everything of the present, and far into the past…it was thinking of the wars of departed ages; of the empires it had seen created and destroyed; of the nations whose birth it had witnessed, whose progress it had watched, whose annihilation it had noted; of the joy and sorrow, the life and death, the grandeur and decay, of five thousand slow revolving years.'

After five months of travel in Europe and the Middle East, Mark Twain wrote a book describing all his Travels, it is titled 'Innocents Abroad' it was published in 1869


Karnack Temple - the earthly home of the God Amun

In 1862 Queen Victoria sent her 20 year old son, the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward (affectionately known as Bertie), on a four month tour of the Middle East. He is seen here with his entourage in the Hypostyle Hall of Amun Ra in Karnack Temple, the Gods earthly home.

The Hypostyle hall was considered as the mound of creation by the ancient Egyptians, and the awesome columns in this hall represent the plants that came into being on the mound of creation. Standing in this incredible hall you are overpowered by 134 of these gigantic columns, 122 are in the open papyrus bud style, and another 12 in the central isle are closed. The Hypostyle hall, is the reception area of the gods, its awesome lotus columns represent the plants that came into being on the mound of creation. The lotus columns are a symbolism of Horus who was born on the waters of creation, the lotus plant represents the first sunrise on the day of creation. Each evening the lotus submerges beneath the waters, and at dawn it rises symbolically to worship the sun again, it encompasses all the forces of nature and lives in all the four elements, its roots are bound to the earth and its stem rises through water, it flourishes in the air and blooms in the sunlight The Hypostyle Hall was originally created by Seti 1, and after his death, his son Ramses the Great completed the Hall.

Behind Prince Albert's group is the part of a fallen obelisk, which I assume it is one of the obelisks created by Hatshepsut, and can now be found near the Sacred Lake. Originally Hatshepsut created two Obelisks which would have stood together one each side of her Red Chapel that would have been intended as a barque shrine for the God Amun Ra. An obelisk was intended to create an energy field and power from the  Sun God Amun Ra to the temple, they originally had a covering at the top that was covered in electrum, which was a mix of gold and silver, and would capture the rays of the sun god Amun Ra bringing energy, protection and new life to the temple, so obelisks were originally created in pairs, Ramses 11 originally had an obelisk each side of the entrance into Luxor Temple, but one was dismantled and given to France in recognition of Champollion deciphering the Hieroglyphics. Once the suns rays hit the obelisk the pharaohs name would be invoked as the words would come to life.

The Obelisk of Hatshepsut that still stands in Karnack Temple expresses her devotion to the God Amun whose earthly home was Karnack Temple :

I have created this work with a heart full of love for Amon
Initiated into his secrets of origin
Instructed through his beneficial powers
I have not forgotten what he has ordained
My majesty recognizes his Divinity
I have acted on his orders
It is he who has guided me
I have never slept because I was pre-occupied with his temple
I have never turned away from what he has commanded
My heart moved intuitively with The Father
I have entered ultimately into the plans of his heart
I have never turned my back to the Master of Totality
But rather I have turned my face towards him


These tourists have got to be British !

They are all sat having lunch in the amazing Hypostyle  Hall in Karnack Temple.


Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple  is one of the most unique temples in Egypt, as it is not the earthly home of a god, nor is it a pharaohs mortuary temple. It was created to celebrate the 'Opet Festival' that was celebrated every year for 11 days just before the annual Nile flood, the celebrations were to give new life to Egypt and to renew the Kings vitality and power to rule.

In these celebrations, the king would leave the home of Amun Ra, at Karnack Temple and escort the  sacred barques of the God Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu to the celebrations held in Luxor Temple's inner sanctuaries and the Festival hall of Amenhotep 111. Luxor Temple as we see it today, was mainly built by two pharaohs, Ramses 11 'The Great' of the 19th Dynasty - the New Kingdom period, and Amenhotep 111 of the 18th dynasty who was also known as 'The Magnificent', who was also known as 'Amenotep the Magnificent', he was the son of Tuthmosis 111 'The Egyptian Napoleon' who brought wealth and prosperity to Egypt with all his victories.

Amenhotep 111 died in the 39th year of his reign, and his son Amenoteph 1V succeed to the throne, after five years of rule he changed his name to Akhenaten,  who believed in one god, the Aten, and turned his back on the many Gods of Ancient Egypt. His rule brought Egypt to the brink of disaster.

In ancient times Luxor temple was known as 'Ipet Resyt' which means 'the Southern Sanctuary', and the 'Sun court, or festival hall was where all the dancing, feasting, and celebrations took place. The court is very large and surrounded on three sides by beautiful papyrus bud and open lotus columns.

In the photograph we can see four  Victorian tourists sat on camels inside the Festival hall, as you will notice the floor level of sand has reached half way up the surrounding columns.

In 1883 Gaston Maspero was given permission to excavate the sand from inside the temple, and so they evicted all the Egyptians who had created their homes inside the temple. One such resident was Lady Duff Gordon, who had rejected her Victorian life in favor of a life with the Egyptians,  she made her home into a little hospital, so that the Egyptians could come to her for help. Mostly she just gave them a miracle cure of a cup of English tea !
Looking at the photograph you can see the minaret of the mosque of Abu Hagag in the background, the mosque was built about 800 years ago and had also been built inside the temple. Once the sand was dug away it left the doors to the mosque at ceiling height, so the Muslims had to create a new entrance at the back of the mosque.

Thomas Cook brings Victorian Travelers to Egypt

It was Thomas Cook who first brought British travelers to sail up the River Nile on an 'organized' tour to Egypt, it had been his dream to visit Egypt and the Holy Land so in 1869 he organized the first cruise up the River Nile. His luxury tour of the middle East lasted for three months and was obviously aimed at wealthy Victorian tourists, they made the journey up the Nile in two steamers that he had hired from the King of Egypt. The tour was successful, and within 10 years he had established a small fleet of Nile steamers which would transport the wealthy tourists up the Nile.

Ernest Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist who worked for the British Museum  He made many trips to Egypt for the British Museum to buy antiquities, and he went on to publish many books on Egyptology and his Oriental studies.

In 1895 Thomas Cook provided the first holiday guide book that he gave to all his guests on his tours. The book was written by E.A.Wallis Budge and was titled 'Notes for Travelers in Egypt.' The book was written in simple terms, offering information about the Temples and Tombs they would see on their journey up the Nile.

Philae Island - The Earthly Home of the Goddess Isis

The island of Philae and the temple of the Goddess Isis drew many tourists to it's shores in the 19th century, the approach by water was beautiful  when seen from the level of a small boat, the island, with its palms, its colonnades, its pylons, and the kiosk seems to rise out of the water like a mirage. In the 19th century when early tourists visited the Island of Philae, it was originally located near the First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt.

Once the first Aswan dam was built in 1902 Philae was drowned in water, half way up the temple pylons. In the 20th century 1970's the temple was dismantelled piece by piece and moved to a small island called Agiliki to protect it from the floods.

In ancient times both the Greeks and the Romans who had invaded Egypt had embraced the worship of the Goddess Isis, Pilgrims had come from far away to pay respects to the goddess Isis and her husband Osiris, who it is said was buried on a small island called Bigeah, near to Philae Island.

Osiris had been murdered by his jealous brother Set, who then carved up his body, and distributed the parts all over Egypt, thus denying him an eternal life. Isis searched for the parts of Osiris with the help of the God Thoth, for many years,  and eventually they had all the body parts. Isis then used her magic powers to bring Osiris back to life again, but when it was done the God Amun Ra said he was not allowed to walk the earth again, and so he made him the God of the underworld.

 With the Christian faith building up, the ancient Egyptian religion was banned. Philae temple has many Coptic crosses cut into it's walls and columns, as it was turned into a church for the worship of Christianity.

In this photograph you can see  Edwardian ladies from 1905 standing on the embankment looking towards the kiosk of Tragan, it is also known as 'The Pharaoh's Bed' it was built during the Roman era of Egypt. It is a beautiful structure of 14 massive columns with carved floral capitals, that sits on the side of the Island, in Ancient Egypt it was the embarkation area of boats coming to the Island of Philae. It simple in its design. Inside are reliefs showing Trajan as a pharaoh making offerings to Osiris, Isis and Horus.The King in ancient Egypt was the living representation of the God Horus.

Amelia Edwards was an English novelist, journalist, explorer, artist, and Egyptologist and during her journey up the Nile' she wrote many entries in her diaries, and they were published as 'A Thousand Miles up the Nile'. It was during her visit to Egypt in the winter of 1873 that she realized she would dedicate the rest of her life to protecting Egypt's ancient sites.

On leaving  the Island of Philae and the temple of Isis she wrote :
'Sailing gently southward – the river opening wide before us, Philae dwindling in the rear – we feel that we are now fairly over the border ; and that if Egypt was strange and far from home, Nubia is stranger and farther still. The Nile here flows deep and broad. The rocky heights that hem it in so close on either side are still black on the one hand, golden on the other.' 

Abu Simbel - The Temples of Ramses 11 - The southern most point of Ancient Egyptian Supremacy

There are two temples cut into the massive rock of the mountainside and are known as the temples of Abu Simbel. One to express Ramses 11 dominance over Nubia, and a smaller temple created for the love of his great wife Nefertari.

The temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the New Kingdom the 19th dynasty of Ramses 11, and inside his temple it celebrates his  victories at the battle of Kaddesh. When Amelia visited Abu Simbel the colossi of Ramses were half covered in sand, and it was in it's original place, but when the Aswan Dam was built in the 1970's it would have been drowned in water, so they moved it from its original place, it is now on the western bank of Lake Nasser. Inside Ramses temple it celebrates his  victories at the battle of Kaddesh.

When Amelia visited Abu Simbel the colossi of Ramses were half covered in sand.

On Amelia Edwards arrival at the temples of Abu Simbel she wrote in her book :
'It was wonderful to wake every morning close under the steep bank, and without lifting one's head from the pillow, to see that row of giant faces so close to the sky.'

credits to www.wikipeadia.com and www.gutenberg.org - ebook for use of anyone anywhere at no cost

Florence Nightingale's Letters from Egypt - 1849-50

Among some of the earliest British women travelers to visit Egypt in the 19th century, was Florence Nightingale, she was an  extremely brave lady  to step out of the boundaries in the 19th century Victorian period, where it was considered only decent that a woman should marry and look after her husband and children. In Victorian society women had no rights, but with extreme determination Florence chose to  travel half way across the world to Egypt, and immerse herself in a completely different culture, writing her diary that was later published.

Florence Nightingale went to Egypt in the winter of 1849 when she was 29 years old on a five month trip, apart from visiting the Antiquities, her interest for Egypt had been aroused through the travels of Giovanni Belzoni. Whilst in Egypt Florence visited a convent, and saw first hand  how the Nuns kept the sick wards in the convent spotlessly clean, it was the complete opposite of English hospitals that were filthy, along with the poor wretches in the wards, this visit to the convent lead to Florence's knowledge of how to run a hospital, and later when the Crimean war started in 1854, she put this  knowledge to use , and changed nursing practices for the better to treat the wounded soldiers that were dying of disease and injuries.

In her diary she commented about the Muslim faith :

'there is much good in the Mohametan religion. Charity is unbounded; and it is not the charity of patronage, but the charity of fellowship. If any man says to another “Inshallah,” In the name of God, he may sit down at his table and partake of anything that he has, and no man will refuse. The beggar will do this with the greatest dignity. There is no greediness, no rapacity. Nothing of any value is ever stolen from you; there is no need to shut the door: they will take a trifle, but nothing else'

Hiring a dahabyeha  Florence went all the way up the River Nile to Abu Simbel, here she wrote in her diary  'Sublime in the highest style of intellectual beauty, intellect without effort, without suffering … not a feature is correct—but the whole effect is more expressive of spiritual grandeur than anything I could have imagined. It makes the impression upon one that thousands of voices do, uniting in one unanimous simultaneous feeling of enthusiasm or emotion, which is said to overcome the strongest man.' Florence loved her journey up the Nile, to see all the wondrous temples, and in comparison her heart went out to the poorest Egyptians who she noticed lived in poverty and awful conditions  in the villages at the side of the Nile.

Florence nightingale's sister prepared her diary  for publication, it titled :
'Letters from Egypt A Journey on the Nile 1849-1850. It was published in 1854.

The Early Photography of Attiya Gaddis - Gaddis & Co. Luxor

If you are a book worm like me, and also have an addiction to the history of Ancient Egypt, no holiday in Luxor is complete until you have browsed the shelves in Gaddis & Co. A shop opened by Attiya Gaddis in 1907, as a photographic studio, over the years the shop has expanded selling hundreds of Amazing books of the history of Ancient Egypt, as well as beautiful gifts. The shop is on the Nile Corniche, just below the Old Winter Palace.

I have been really interested in the 19th Century history of Egypt, I enjoy looking at the old photographs, and one of the photographers I came across was Attiya Gaddis. He became an apprentice to a photographer, and when his mentor died Attiya bought one of his wooden box cameras that had been made in 1860. Attiya and his box camera went all over Egypt for over 50 years. He photographed the history of Ancient Egypt, the Pyramids, the temples of Luxor and Karnack, the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, he developed his photographs and sold them as postcards to the wealthy tourists that came into his shop. If you go into the Gaddis & Co. shop today you can still buy his postcards, along with many other vintage photographs taken in Egypt.

Attiya photographed the very rich, the aristocrats, and royalty that stayed at the Winter palace, and the very poor Egyptians from the villages along the Nile, it's a wonderful record of life starting a hundred years ago.  If you visit the shop today you will be able to see the actual camera that Attiya used for all his early photography.

Tourism to Egypt really took off around the 1830's, after Champollion had deciphered the Rosetta stone in 1822, and brought the ancient Gods words to life again, and the early photographers like Attiya helped so much to encourage people to visit Egypt, his work expressed the ordinary life of Egyptians, and the amazing history of it's antiquities.

This is a photograph that Attiya took in Nubia of one of the villagers. Nubia is the further most point of  Ancient Egyptian supremacy, this is why Ramses 11 built Abu Simbel, to show his authority.

Luxor Temple is a Unique Temple in Egypt as it Celebrates Many Faiths'

I feel that Luxor temple is a unique temple as it is not the home of a god, nor is it a mortuary temple; this temple was originally created to celebrate the 'Opet Festival' of  Birth, and Rejuvenation.

What  makes Luxor Temple so special is that it celebrates many faiths that have been, and still are worshipped here. Firstly the ancient Egyptian Gods, Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and Amun Min (the fertility God), It also celebrates the Greek period, the Roman period, Christianity, and finally the Muslim faith



The Mosque of Abu il Hagag

As I stood quietly in the shade beneath one of the awesome marching statues of Ramses 11 in the first courtyard, the muezzin call suddenly echoed from the Mosque of Abu il Hagag that was built onto a corner of the temple roof 800 years ago,'Allah Akhbar', (God is great) , suddenly as I stood and listened my body became a washed with the feeling of the divine, and in that one single moment in time I felt that I had become one with Egypt’s past and present in this wondrous place of worship.

Ancient Egyptian 'Feast of Opet'


In Ancient Egypt every year a wonderful celebration was held here in Luxor Temple, it was known as the 'Opet Festival,'  and was celebrated just before the flood season, when Egypt would be renewed for another year.  The ceremony started at Karnack temple when the king would walk down the avenue of sphinx that stretched for about one mile with priests carrying the sacred barques of the God Amun,  his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu.  During these celebrations the king and Egypt was symbolically reborn every year, the king would disappear from the festival and re-emerge seven days later from the birth room, so when I think of Luxor temple I imagine it as a living womb, and when it was time for the birth the festival and ceremony of the birth was enacted. Recently a few years ago many of the sphinx were dug from the sand, to create a larger avenue leading from Luxor Temple towards Karnack, but  most of the Sphinx are under the streets of Luxor now, so the life blood, energy, and vitality, that flowed between the two temples has been severed.



Walking across the large Festival Hall of Amenhotep 111 you enter a small area that the Romans used for their faith. Here a doorway leads you to a suite of rooms and the Holy Barque shrine. I circled around the outside of the barque shrine  and  walked through a doorway that led into a suite of rooms that represent the bedroom of Amun where the festival rituals took place, and the pharaoh  retired to the Birth Room, from which he would later  emerge symbolically re-born and restored. The statues of the king’s ka were no longer on display because the ka was now believed to have taken residence in the pharaoh’s body.  Reliefs in the birth room represent Amon choosing the Queen Mutemweje to give birth to his Divine son. He sent Thoth with the message to the queen and ordered Khnum to create an image of himself on his potter’s wheel. The fingers of the god Amun are shown to touch those of the queen She awoke because of the god’s scent and cried out with pleasure before his majesty. … She rejoiced at the sight of his beauty, and love of him suffused her body. …'How great is your power!'… Your dew permeates all my limbs,' and so the boy child Amenhotep was born into the world created by Amun and then crowned as the King. I realized the similarity of this sequence of events of this ancient Egyptian relief as it compares to our Christmas story of the angel coming to visit Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the son of God. As the Royal scribe Ani said; 'God reveals himself in millions of forms'

Alexander the Great in Luxor Temple

Beyond the Festival hall you will arrive at the heart of the Temple which has smaller chambers, and contains The Sacred Barque shrine that originally had acacia wooden doors inlaid with gold. The scenes on its walls were plastered over during the rule of Alexander the Great, and show him dressed as a pharaoh, entering and receiving the two crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt and making offerings to the God Amun.

Alexander dedicated the Holy Barque shrine to himself  , it is noticeable that Alexander embraced the Egyptian Gods, this could be a tactical move on his part, as religion plays a very large part in the ruling of the many countries that he invaded.The Barque shrine of Amun was rededicated to Alexander the Great, he is crowned King of Upper and Lower Egypt. In this relief Alexander offers incense to the God of fertility and rejuvenation, Amun-Min, who was celebrated during the Ancient Egyptian 'Opet Festival'

 The original  reliefs on the surrounding walls outside of the Barque chapel portray Amenhotep III driving cattle to the temple for the feast and celebrations, to be slaughtered before the god Amun,  He also offers Amun, flowers, vases and incense. He is then accepted by the god and conducted into his presence in the sanctuary.



The Romans in Luxor Temple

During the Roman era,  Luxor Temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in Thebes. The Roman's created a chapel inside the Ancient Egyptian Barque chapel of the Goddess Mut in the first courtyard of Ramses 111 and later it became a church in 395 A.D.

Walking through the Festival Hall of Amenophis 111 you then enter a small area where the Romans created their Imperial Chamber which consists of  a small 3rd Century legionary shrine on the right hand side from the reign of Diocletian, and to the left of the shrine high up on the wall there is a beautiful Roman fresco that has been lovingly restored almost showing their original colours
The murals were painted in fresco on lime plaster by a group of exceptionally skilled artists who were probably attached to Diocletian's imperial court.

Walking back through the Main Pylons of Luxor Temple on the right hand side outside the temple, behind the avenue of sphinx, the Romans built a small chapel using burnt bricks, this chapel was dedicated to Serapis  and was reconstructed by Gaius Julius Antoninus, a former soldier and neokoro (temple attendant) of Serapis.

The God Serapis personified divine majesty, and represented the sun, fertility, healing, and the afterlife.

The Cult of Serapis was created by Ptolemy I Sotar  of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, as a means of creating Religious harmony between his Egyptian and Greek subjects.

The Goddess Isis was considered to be the Consort and wife of Seraphis, Ancient Egyptians adored the Godess Isis, who had brought her husband Osiris back from the dead, Isis was worshiped by the Greeks and the Romans who believed her to be the supreme deity who created the World.

The devotees of Isis were a small proportion of the Roman Empire's population but were found all across its territories. The Romans remained faithful to Isis until they converted to Christianity, when the worship of Isis was outlawed, the last temple in Egypt to still worship Isis was the Temple of Philae., then the priests were driven out of her Temple, and the Christians moved in creating their churches and carving their crosses on the walls and pillars.The new Christian faith drew upon the image of the Goddess Isis holding her baby son Horus for the depiction of the Madonna with the Christ child.

Inside the small chapel of Seraphis you can see the remains of columns, and a small statue of the Goddess Isis.

Who really discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun? Hussein Abd Al-Rasul

All the history books tell us that Howard Carter discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun, but in fact he had a little help from a twelve year old boy called Hussein Abd el Rasoul who was carrying water on a donkey for the workers that were excavating another of the discoveries in the vicinity, Hussein's feet slipped into a small pit, this drew the attention of the workers, Howard Carter then instructed them to dig this area which later turned out to be the beginning of the stairs leading to the tomb of Tutankhamun.

This lovely photograph of  Hussein was taken by Gregory Reader

I became interested in this young boy, and saw his photograph often in books about Tutankhamun wearing one of the three pectoral belonging to the young King. When I went to the Saatchi Gallery in London for the Tutankhamun Exhibition, I saw the photograph of Hussein in large scale, was on display. I think what is so poignant about this photograph is the realization that Tutankhamun became a king at the age of nine. I also had an old video about Ancient Egypt and Hussein as an old man was interviewed in the video in his home on the West Bank



The pectoral Hussein wears is made from gold with lapis lazuli, carnelian, feldspar, turquoise, and glass. It has the sacred scarab on a barque flanked by two rows of Djed, the Ankh, and two uraei both wearing the Solar disc. Ancient egyptian art was always symbolic, and was shown on temple walls, tombs,and even expressed in  the jewelry that the pharaoh wore.

The Sun Disk symbolized creation and the source of light it was an emblem of rebirth and resurrection.

The Uraei (a rearing cobra) was  used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt.

The Djed, is an ancient Egyptian symbol meaning 'stability', it is the symbolic backbone of the God Osiris

The Ankh is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that was most commonly used in writing and in Egyptian art to represent the word for 'life,' It is shown on all temple and tomb reliefs, and was often held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife

When I lived in Luxor I discovered that Hussein's family owned 'the Ramesseum Restaurant & Coffee shop' at the side of the Ramesseum Mortuary Temple of Ramses 11, so I went over to the coffee shop and met Hussein's grandson Mohammed, I had painted a photograph of Hussein wearing the pectoral of Tutankhamun,  in gold paint I had wrote the cartouche of Tutankhamun, Mohammed was thrilled, 'That's my grandfather he said, and he put the painting in between two large frames showing all the newspaper cuttings and interviews that Hussein had done over the years. Then he rummaged through a drawer and found some very old photographs of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. Then he showed me a very old picture of Hussein's grandfather and his mother and daughter, that he told me had lived in a tomb on the side of the mountain. Hussein's grandfather was Ahmed Rassul, the tomb robber that had quietly sold artifacts from a tomb that he had found containing over fifty royal and noble coffins and mummies, so I took a photograph of the photograph and I painted that as well.

My painting of Hussein at twelve years old wearing the beautiful pectoral of Tutankhamun, standing proudly in front of the painting is his grandson Mohammed Rasoul

From 17 Feb - Until may, visitors to the Tutankhamun' Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh'
Exhibition will see the photograph of Hussein wearing the pectoral of Tutankhamun.....'This exhibit is telling to the audience the story of the Golden Boy' said Zahi Hawass, infact Tut's Tomb was originally found
by Hussein Abdel-Rassoul

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1263682440328182&set=a.101599296536508 

Gregory Reader

A Coptic Woman with her Child asleep on her Shoulder painted by Leon Joseph Bonnat in the 19th Century

A painting of a poor Coptic woman in the 19th Century and her child By the French artist Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat

This is a beautiful Coptic woman with her child  who lies asleep on her shoulder. Initially I was a little shocked by this photograph, but I realized that her poverty dictated her dress code, and even though her shirt reveals part of her bosom, which may also be shocking to some, in a conservative country such as Egypt, where women walk in the streets completely covered ,  the Lady in the painting  is not showing any sign of depravity or cheapness, just the warmth of motherhood.

In vintage photographs of the 19th century I have noticed that some children actually had no clothes on. In Egypt in the 19th century it was observed that the  poorest of the country could not always afford clothes and went partly naked:, even today the poor Egyptian families cannot afford the luxury of clothes. When living in Luxor I asked once how much the cleaners received for wages at the hotel, and I was shocked when I was told they earnt 120 Egyptian a month, at that time it was the equivalent of 12 English pounds, which is the basic price of a djellabar.  Today some Egyptian families all live in one house, with various generations of the family, as they cannot afford to live any other way.

Amelia Edwards comments in her book 'A Thousand Miles up the Nile 'I have often seen, in this country, women but half covered with miserable rags; and several times, females in the prime of womanhood, and others in more advanced age, with nothing on the body but a narrow strip of rag bound round the hips.

In personally have visited the home of a poor Egyptian family on the West Bank of Luxor, their home was made of mud bricks,  and they had no furniture in their home, just a bed and a wardrobe, and the wrapper from the bar of 'Lux'soap that obviously had been bought for them from a tourist, but to their pride they had  photograph of one of their son's on the wall dressed in the attire of the Egyptian Army.

A Tour of 19th Century Cairo - It's Mosque, Muslim Faith, and the Local Bazaar Described by Amelia Edwards During the 19th Century

Amelia Edwards wrote about 19th century Cairo Bazaars, and the street vendors in her book,
'A Thousand Miles up the Nile:

 'Every shop-front, every street corner, every turbaned group is a ready-made picture. The old Turk who sets up his cake-stall in the recess of a sculptured doorway,the donkey-boy with his gaily caparisoned ass, waiting for customers, the beggar asleep on the steps of the mosque, the veiled woman filling her water jar at the public fountain – they all look as if they had been put there expressly to be painted.'


'The houses are high and narrow. The upper stories project, and from these again jut windows of delicate turned latticework in old brown wood, like big bird-cages. The street is roofed in overhead with long rafters and pieces of matting, through which a dusty sunbeam struggles here and there, casting patches of light upon the moving crowd. The unpaved thoroughfare – a mere narrow lane, full of ruts and watered profusely twice or thrice a day – is lined with little wooden shop-fronts, like open cabinets full of shelves, where the merchants sit cross-legged in the midst of their goods, looking out at the passers-by and smoking shisha in silence. Meanwhile, native women of the poorer class, in black veils that leave only the eyes uncovered, and long trailing garments of dark blue and black striped cotton, dervishes in patchwork coats.'


Looking up this Cairo street, you can see the second storey windows have a  moucharabieh, this is kind of wood grid turned, sculpted and assembled, covering windows that would allow women to see outside without being seen. Most date from the Mamluk period, the last three centuries, and many have now disappeared.

This photograph of a typical street in Cairo in the 19th century was taken by Felix Adrien Bonfils, (8 March 1831 -1885). Bonfils was a French photographer and writer who was active in the Middle East. He was one of the first commercial photographers to produce images of the Middle East on a large scale, and he was amongst the first to employ a new method of colour photography, that was developed in 1860.
This photograph of a Muslim man and his wife and child was taken about 1865 in a street in Cairo by Adelphoi Zangaki (Brother's Zangaki photography). The lady wears a burqa to express her devotion and piety for the Muslim faith.

The two brothers Zangaki were of Greek origin, they  were active as photographers in Egypt and Algeria, from 1860's through to the 1890's, and who specialized in photographing ancient monuments and scenes of everyday life producing prints for the tourist trade.

Islam began as a small faith community in the Arabian Peninsula. The community was established  by the Prophet Mohammed (c.570 - 632 CE). From Medina it spread across the Middle East and Europe.

Amelia Edwards description of her visit to a mosque in Cairo, and her observations of the Muslim faith : 'This was the first time we had seen Muslims at prayer, and we could not but be impressed by their profound and unaffected devotion. Some lay prostrate, their foreheads touching the ground ; others were kneeling ; others bowing in the prescribed attitudes of prayer. So absorbed were they, that not even our unhallowed presence seemed to disturb them. We did not then know that the pious Muslim is as devout out of the mosque as in it ; or that it is his habit to pray when the appointed hours come round, no matter where he may be, or how occupied. We soon became so familiar, however, with this obvious trait of Mohammedan life, that it seemed quite a matter of course that the camel-driver should dismount and lay his forehead in the dust by the roadside ; or the merchant spread his prayer-carpet on the narrow mastabah of his little shop in the public bazaar'


This photo shows women street vendors sat outside the Mosque of Suliman Agha Al Selhadar, that was built in 1839 on El Moez street, Cairo. The mosque was relatively new when this photo was taken by Jean Pascal Sebah, who was the son of Pascal Sebha who opened a photographic studio in Cairo from the mid - 1850's. The Sebah Studio earned a reputation for the foremost Orientalist photography in the region.

Following the death of Jean's father the studio continued in business, and then in 1888 Jean went on to run the studio with other photographers. The firm developed a reputation as the leading representative of Orientalist photography and in 1889 was appointed the Photographers by Appointment to the Prussian Court

Amelia's tour of the Bazaar continues : 'Now comes a sweetmeat-vendor with a tray of that gummy compound known to English children as 'Lumps of Delight' and now an Egyptian lady on a large grey donkey led by a servant with a showy sabre at his side. The lady wears a rose-coloured silk dress and white veil, besides a black silk outer garment, which, being cloak, hood, and veil all in one, fills out with the wind as she rides, like a balloon. She sits astride ; her naked feet, in their violet velvet slippers, just resting on the stirrups. She takes care to display a plump brown arm laden with massive gold bracelets, and, to judge by the way in which she uses a pair of liquid black eyes, would not be sorry to let her face be seen also. Nor is the steed less well dressed than his mistress. His close-shaven legs and hindquarters are painted in blue and white zigzags picked out with bands of pale yellow ; his high-pommelled saddle is resplendent with velvet and embroidery ; and his headgear is all tags, tassels, and fringes. Such a donkey as this is worth from sixty to a hundred pounds sterling.

Amelia wrote : ' a water-carrier goes by, bending under the weight of his newly replenished goatskin, the legs of which being tied up, the neck fitted with a brass cock, and the hair left on, looks horribly bloated and life-like.'

Most amusing of all, however, are those bazaars in which each trade occupies its separate quarter. You pass through an old stone gateway or down a narrow turning, and find yourself amid a colony of saddlers stitching, hammering, punching, riveting. You walk up one alley and down another, between shop-fronts hung round with tasselled head-gear and hump-backed saddles of all qualities and colours. Here are ladies' saddles, military saddles, donkey-saddles, and saddles for great officers of state ; saddles covered with red leather, with crimson and violet velvet, with maroon, and grey, and purple cloth ; saddles embroidered with gold and silver, studded with brass-headed nails, or trimmed with braid.'

This photo was taken by Henri Bechard c.1860-80 of a water vendor in the street of Cairo.

Henri Bechard was a French photographer who opened a professional photographic studio in the Ezbekia Garden district of Cairo in 1869, He took many photographs of daily life in Cairo, and the monuments.

Amelia Edwards continues her description of the Cairo Bazaar: 'Another turn or two, and you are in the slipper bazaar, walking down avenues of red and yellow morocco slippers ; the former of home manufacture, the latter from Tunis. Here are slippers with pointed toes, turned-up toes, and toes as round and flat as horse-shoes ; walking slippers with thick soles, and soft yellow slippers to be worn as inside socks, which have no soles at all. These absurd little scarlet bluchers with tassels are for little boys ; the brown morocco shoes are for grooms ; the velvet slippers embroidered with gold and beads and seed-pearls are for wealthy harems, and are sold at prices varying from five shillings to five pounds the pair.

This photograph of the Bazaar at Khan el-Khalili in Cairo was taken by Pascal Sebah

Amelia Edwards describes the Carpet Bazaar: 'consists of a network of alleys and counter-alleys opening off to the right of the Muski, which is the Regent Street of Cairo. The houses in most of these alleys are rich in antique lattice-windows and Saracenic doorways. One little square is tapestried all round with Persian and Syrian rugs, Damascus saddle-bags, and Turkish prayer-carpets. The merchants sit and smoke in the midst of their goods ; and up in one corner an old 'Kahwagee,' ( coffee-seller), plies his humble trade. He has set up his little stove and hanging-shelf beside the doorway of a dilapidated Khan, the walls of which are faced with Arabesque panellings in old carved stone. The striped carpets of Tunis ; the dim grey and blue, or grey and red fabrics of Algiers ; the shaggy rugs of Laodicea and Smyrna ; the rich blues and greens and subdued reds of Turkey ; and the wonderfully varied, harmonious patterns of Persia, have each their local habitation in the neighbouring alleys. One is never tired of traversing these half-lighted avenues all aglow with gorgeous color and peopled with figures that come and go like the actors in some Christmas piece of Oriental pageantry.

The image above of Carpet seller's displaying their carpet was taken in the bazaar of Cairo c.1880

The Khan Khaleel, ' the place of the gold and silversmiths' bazaar, there is found, on the contrary, scarcely any display of goods for sale. The alleys are so narrow in this part that two persons can with difficulty walk in them abreast ; and the shops, tinier than ever, are mere cupboards with about three feet of frontage. The back of each cupboard is fitted with tiers of little drawers and pigeon-holes, and in front is a kind of matted stone step, called a mastabah, which serves for seat and counter. The customer sits on the edge of the mastabah ; the merchant squats, cross-legged, inside. In this position he can, without rising, take out drawer after drawer ; and thus the space between the two becomes piled with gold and silver ornaments. These differ from each other only in the metal, the patterns being identical ; and they are sold by weight, with a due margin for profit. In dealing with strangers who do not understand the Egyptian system of weights, silver articles are commonly weighed against rupees or five-franc pieces, and gold articles against napoleons or sovereigns. The ornaments made in Cairo consist chiefly of chains and earrings, anklets, bangles, necklaces strung with coins or tusk-shaped pendants, amulet-cases of filigree or repoussé work, and penannular bracelets of rude execution, but rich and ancient designs. As for the merchants, their civility and patience are inexhaustible. One may turn over their whole stock, try on all their bracelets, go away again and again without buying, and yet be always welcomed and dismissed with smiles.

This photograph of a lady with her baby selling bangles, was taken in the streets of Cairo by Henri Berchard c.1875

'There were many  special bazaars in 19th century Cairo, the Sweetmeat Bazaar , the Hardware Bazaar , the Tobacco Bazaar, the Sword-mounters' and Coppersmiths' Bazaars, the Moorish Bazaar, where fez caps, burnouses, and Barbary goods are sold, and some extensive bazaars for the sale of English and French Muslims.'

The image of a pot vendor was taken in Cairo c.1880 by Gabriel Lekegian, who was an Armenian photographer,working in the Middle East from 1870 to 1890. Moving to Cairo he established his studio opposite the Shepard's Hotel in the heart of Cairo's European district

Lekegian became a favoured photographer for the Egyptian Royalty, many of whom, including the Princess Nazli had her portrait taken by him. and his work thrived. Lekegian then became the official photographer of Egypt's British Army, this led to numerous commissions to illustrate books and uniquely, provide 'reportage' shots on the massive government operations in the region.

A donkey cart transports four muslim women through the streets of Cairo in 1880, the house in the background has moucharabieh screens over the windows. The photograph was taken by the Zangaki Brothers.

Cairo vendors work and display their trade of tent-making, since Khayyam means tent-maker in Arabic. This vibrant colour art on cotton cloth has been used to create decorated tents for ceremonial events and has been made in Cairo since the days of the Ottoman Empire. One of the uses of the tents by Egyptians today is to use these vibrant tents to sit in to show respect for the death of an Egyptian. During the hours of the day the men will congregate in the tent, and then at night it is the turn of the women. When I lived in Luxor I was woken up one night at 1.30 am in the morning to the sounds of horrendous wailing, I started to panic because I didn't no what was happening, and I woke my husband up to ask him what was happening, he told me that someone had died. Ten minutes later his phone rang and it was one of his relations that had died, so he got up and went to console his wailing relations. 

This photograph was taken by the Zangaki Brothers Photography in 1880 in the streets of Cairo. It shows two men playing the board game of  Mangali. To this day Egyptians still play board games in the coffee shops. The man on the right has a water pipe that he can smoke tobacco on.

This photograph shows a Moucharabieh craftsman at work  in Cairo c 1880 - The photo was taken by Gabriel Lekegian 

An Egyptian man has his head shaved in the Barber shop in Cairo. To this day there are many barber shops in Cairo and Luxor. You will notice in the background a young boy helping, even today it is accepted for children to work in the streets as vendors, in Egypt, some of the work I have seen them do is selling food and drinks, selling goods on the bazaars, wet wipes on the ferry, bicycles for hire,assisting the tourists on donkey and camel rides, helping their fathers in the sugar cane fields.

Amelia Roberts writes 'A Thousand Miles up the Nile' - Founder of the Egyptian Fund (society) A 19th century woman with a passion for Egypt

English novelist and travel writer Amelia Edwards arrived in Egypt in the winter of 1873, for a journey up the River Nile that would change her life, she fell so in love with Egypt and its history that she decided to study Egyptology, and Hieroglyphic writing, she learnt Arabic and studied Egyptian Literature. Emile wrote the book 'A Thousand Miles up the Nile'.  It was published in 1877 a few years after her travels in Egypt. Amelia's book was a mixture of a diary, an early tour guide and it also describes her Temple discoveries, and the Egyptian life and culture of the Victorian Period. , she also gives us a fascinating look into the lives of the Egyptians that in the 19th century lived in hovels inside the temples, Amelia noted that 'what is most striking is the abject poverty of the people who dwell among these ruins that attract so many wealthy Europeans.'

Amelia wrote about her fellow tourists : The British lord it over the natives who will do anything for ‘baksheesh’ (charity). The men on the trip are of course ‘sportsmen’, which means they shoot at anything in sight and even the author remarks on the tragedy of crocodiles being shot nearly into extinction. One stomach-churning episode details the near killing of an Egyptian child by the carelessness of one of these gunmen. When the relatives of the child assail the blundering ass, they are arrested and threatened with brutality by the police who claim that the whole village will be bastinadoed (caning of the soles of the feet) should the ‘Ingleezeh’ wish it.


On her travels Amilia created over seventy illustrations  on site in watercolours. Amelia's depiction of nineteenth-century Egypt with its fellahs, dahabiya and rural villages has been an indispensable resource for so many people interested in Egypt during the 19th Century. For the book's publication her watercolour paintings had to be copied and engraved on wood.
In the 19th Century a lot of the temples were in ruins, columns and obelisks had fallen down, the temples were half filled with sand, and Egyptians lived inside them with their donkeys chickens and cooking fires, where the black smoke ruined the beautiful colours of the temple reliefs on it's walls and ceilings, Dendera temple was a classic example, the ceiling was black with smoke dust, but it has been lovingly restored again. Amelia believed that the great Egyptian antiquities would be destroyed if proper scientific investigation were not instituted. Leaving Egypt Amelia devoted herself to publicising the need for archaeological research in Egypt by means of writing and lecturing. Her lecture tour brought her to the United States in  1889-90 and resulted in a publication Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers in 1891.

Amelia toured Egypt for a second time again with her friend and companion Lucy Renshaw. They hired a dahabiya (a large houseboat) and  they sailed southwards where they visited the Temples of Hathor at Dendera , the temple of Khumn at Esna,Temple of Isis at Philae, and the Temple of Ramses 11 at Abu Simbel




Dendera temple - The Goddess Hathor

'If a sound of antique chanting were to be borne along the quiet air - if a procession of white robed priests bearing aloft the veiled ark of the God, were to come sweeping round between the palms and the pylons - we would not think it strange.'

'an Egyptian Temple was not a place for public worship. It was a treasure-house, a sacristy, a royal oratory, a place of preparation, of consecration, of sacerdotal privacy. There, in costly shrines, dwelt the divine images. There they were robbed and unrobbed ; perfumed with incense ; visited and worshipped by the King. On certain great days of the calendar, as on the occasion of the festival of the new year, or the panegyrics of the local gods, these images were brought out, paraded along the corridors of the temple, carried round the roof, and borne with waving of banners, and chanting of hymns, and burning of incense, through the sacred groves of the enclosure. Probably none were admitted to these ceremonies save persons of royal or priestly birth. To the rest of the community, all that took place within those massy walls was enveloped in mystery.'

'The hall of assembly contains a calendar of festivals, and sets forth with studied precision the rites to be performed on each recurring anniversary. On the ceiling of the portico we find an astronomical zodiac ; on the walls of a small temple on the roof the whole history of the resurrection of Osiris, together with the order of prayer for the twelve hours of the night, and a calendar of the festivals of Osiris in all the principal cities of Upper and Lower Egypt.'

The Temple of the God Khumn at Esna

At the little town of Esna Amelia had problems finding the temple because the town had been surrounded by sand and the towns buildings, when she eventually found it she wrote:
'This is what we see…a Temple neither ruined nor defaced, but buried to the chin in the accumulated rubbish of a score of centuries.'  Amelia was disappointed that the majority of the temple remained unexcavated under the surrounding town.  ' What treasures of sculptured history, what pictured chambers, what buried bronzes and statues may here wait the pick of the excavator!'

The Temple of Isis at Philae

'The approach by water is quite the most beautiful. Seen from the level of a small boat, the island, with its palms, its colonnades, its pylons, seems to rise out of the river like a mirage. Piled rocks frame it in on either side, and purple mountains close up the distance. As the boat glides nearer between glistening boulders, those sculptured towers rise higher and ever higher against the sky. They show no sign of ruin or age. All looks solid, stately, perfect. One forgets for the moment that anything is changed. Amelia 'was struck by the beauty of the temple of Philae, she described it : 'perfect grace, exquisite proportion, most varied and capricious grouping, here take the place of massiveness.' On leaving Philae they sailed to Abu Simbel

The Temple of Ramses 11 at Abu Simbel

Arriving At Abu Simbel on the 21st January they moored the dahabiya for eighteen days so that they could explore and record this amazing temple. Amelia wrote about the seated statues of Ramses:  'it was wonderful to wake every morning close under the steep bank, and, without lifting one's head from the pillow, to see that row of giant faces so close against the sky. They showed unearthly enough by moonlight ; but not half so unearthly as in the grey of dawn. At that hour, the most solemn of the twenty-four, they wore a fixed and fatal look that was little less than appalling. As the sky warmed, this awful look was succeeded by a flush that mounted and deepened like the rising flush of life. For a moment they seemed to glow – to smile – to be transfigured. Then came a flash, as of thought itself. It was the first instantaneous flash of the risen sun. It lasted less than a second. It was gone almost before one could say that it was there. The next moment, mountain, river, and sky were distinct in the steady light of day ; and the colossi – mere colossi now – sat serene and stony in the open sunshine.


Amelia realized that she would need the help of the local villagers to dig the sand away from the entrance so she hired fifty local villagers, who arrived with boat paddles to dig the sand away.
Inside the temple Amelia discovered the entrance to a small square chamber. In her excitement of the initial discovery she reportedly fell to her knees beside the small opening and began digging with her bare hands while still in her skirts. Amelia decided that she would need even more help to excavate the chamber, so the 'next morning came the Sheykh in persson, with his two sons and a following of a hundred men. This was so many more than we had bargained for, that we at once foresaw a scheme to extort money'. The Sheykh however proved to be an honourable man and so 'we therefore received him with honour, invited him to luncheon, and, hoping to get the work quickly, set the men on in gangs, under the superintendence of  Reis


Hassan and the head sailor. By noon, the door was cleared down to the threshold, and the whole south and west walls were laid bare to the floor. They had found  the entrance to a small square chamber, once the sand was cleared both herself and her crew began recording the vivid paintings on the walls, in the chamber one of the crew thrust his fingers into a skull! This was such an amazing and unexpected incident, that for the moment he said nothing, but went on quietly displacing the sand and feeling his way under the surface. The next instant his hand came in contact with the edge of a clay bowl, which he carefully withdrew. It measured about four inches in diameter, was hand-moulded, and full of caked sand. He now proclaimed his discoveries, and all ran to help in the work. Soon a second and smaller skull was turned up, then another bowl, and then, just under the place from which the bowls were taken, the bones of two skeletons all detached, perfectly desiccated, and apparently complete. The remains were those of a child and a small grown person – probably a woman. The teeth were sound ; the bones wonderfully delicate and brittle. As for the little skull (which had fallen apart at the sutures), it was pure and fragile in texture as the cup of a water-lily. We laid the bones aside as we found them, examining every handful of sand, in the hope of discovering something that might throw light upon the burial. But in vain. We found not a shred of clothing, not a bead, not a coin, not the smallest vestige of anything that might help one to judge whether the interment had taken place a hundred years ago or a thousand'

At the Second Cataract, the journey southward ended, and the travellers turned for home stopping at Kom Ombo, Luxor, and finally arriving back in Cairo.

The Double Temple of Kom Ombo

This temple is unique because it's double design has courts, halls, sanctuaries, and rooms duplicated for two sets of Gods. The southern half of the temple id dedicated to the crocodile God Sobek, whilst the northern part of the temple is dedicated to the falcon God Horus

Here Amelia recorded that,  '…there remain only a few giant columns buried to within eight or ten feet of their gorgeous capitals; a superb fragment of architrave; one wave of sculptured cornice and some fallen blocks graven with the names of Ptolemies and Cleopatras.

At Abydos, she felt the temple of Seti I at Abydos to be ' one of the most beautiful of Egyptian ruins',


Karnack temple -Luxor - The Hypostyle Hall

'I stand once more among those mighty columns, which radiate into avenues from whatever point one takes them. I see them swathed in coiled shadows and broad bands of light. I see them sculpted and painted with shapes of Gods and Kings, with blazonings of royal names, with sacrificial altars, and forms of sacred beasts, and emblems of wisdom and truth. The shafts of these columns are enormous. I stand at the foot of one – or of what seems to be the foot ; for the original pavement lies buried seven feet below. Six men standing with extended arms, fingertip to fingertip, could barely span it round. It casts a shadow twelve feet in breadth – such a shadow as might be cast by a tower. The capital that juts out so high above my head looks as if it might have been placed there to support the heavens. It is carved in the semblance of a full-blown lotus, and glows with undying colours – colours that are still fresh, though laid on by hands that have been dust these three thousand years and more. It would take not six men, but a dozen to measure round the curved lip of that stupendous lily.'



Luxor Temple

'I have already said, these half-buried pylons, this solitary obelisk, those giant heads rising in ghastly resurrection before the gates of the Temple, were magnificent still. But it was as the magnificence of a splendid prologue to a poem of which only garbled fragments remain. Beyond that entrance lay a smoky, filthy, intricate labyrinth of lanes and passages. Mud hovels, mud pigeon-towers, mud yards, and a mud mosque, clustered like wasps' nests in and about the ruins. Architraves sculptured with royal titles supported the roofs of squalid cabins. Stately capitals peeped out from the midst of sheds in which buffaloes, camels, donkeys, dogs, and human beings were seen herding together in unsavoury fellowship. Cocks crew, hens, cackled, pigeons cooed, turkeys gobbled, children swarmed, women were baking and gossiping, and all the sordid routine of Arab life was going on, amid winding alleys that masked the colonnades and defaced the inscriptions of the Pharaohs. To trace the plan of this part of the building was then impossible.'


The Ramesseum and the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank

Amelia and her companions witnessed the opening of a tomb near the Ramesseum. Arriving at the Mortuary Temple of Ramses 11 'The Rammessium' Amelia was delighted to find the colossal statue as described by Diodorus as the largest in Egypt.She wrote: 'Ruined almost beyond recognition as it is, one never doubts for a moment that this statue was one of the wonders of Egyptian workmanship.  It most probably repeated in every detail the colossi of Abou Simbel; but it surpassed them as much in finish of carving as in perfection of material.'

Amelia visited the tombs of the Nobles on the hill above the Ramesseum at Qurna,  and the other west bank temples.  Finally they arrived at the Valley of the Kings where she described the tombs : 'To go down into one of these great sepulchres is to descend oneself into the Lower World, and to tread the path of the shades…The atmosphere is suffocating.  The place is ghostly and peopled with nightmares.'

The Sphinx and Pyramid of Khufu at Giza Plateau

One of Amelia’s first excursions in Egypt and on her return to Cairo was to visit the Giza plateau to see the Pyramids and Sphinx. Her first impression was of awe and wonder, and on the return visit, she climbed the Great Pyramid, atop which she marvelled at the theories that abounded about them even then. 'Recognizing how clearly the place is a great cemetery, once marvels at the ingenious theories which turn the pyramids into astronomical observatories, and abstruse standards of measurement.  They are the grandest graves in all the world – and they are nothing more.'


Amelia Edwards Founder of The Egypt Exploration Fund

 In 1882 Amelia joined forces with Reginald Stuart Poole and together they set up the Egypt Exploration Fund (now known as the Egypt Exploration Society) it was dedicated to raising awareness and enthusiasm for Egypt’s past and to help preserve what is left of it. The Exploration fund received money by subscribers so that they could systematically codify archaeology, they engaged in research under the management of W.Flinders-Petrie and Edouard Naville. Flinders Petrie would go on to be known as the father of modern archaeology.

 Amelia's book 'Pharaohs Fellahs and Explorers'

Amelia devoted herself to publicising the need for archaeological research in Egypt by means of writing and lecturing. Her lecture tour brought her to the United States in  1889-90 and resulted in her publication of ' Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers' that was published in 1891.

Amelia dies at home in England

After catching influenza, Amelia died on 15 April 1892. She was buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Henbury, Bristol, where her grave is marked by an obelisk, the Symbolism of an Obelisk is to bring the energy of the sun and the God Ra to the words on the Obelisk praising the Pharaoh giving him renewed life and power. There is also laid on the grave a stone ankh the ancient Egyptian symbolism of the Ankh is to give life again, all the temples and tombs show the gods giving the pharaohs' the breath of Life.

Amelia bequeathed her collection of Egyptian antiquities and her library to University College London, with a sum of £2,500 to found an Edwards Chair of Egyptology

All her many notes on the subject of Ancient Egypt, and her watercolours she left to Somerville College at Oxford