Yes, there was another temple on today’s agenda but first, I enjoyed a leisurely morning cruise downstream to Edfu, observing life on the Nile. Once again, the weather was perfect – the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. When I stepped out onto my balcony around 6:30am, there was a definite chill in the air but the temperature started rising quickly.
I looked out at small villages on the shore, a few brightly painted rowboats, some mud brick walls. Cows and water buffalo were grazing – goats, too – and birds were flying overhead. Men in long galabeyas in muted shades went about their morning tasks while I sipped a cup of hibiscus tea.
Around 10am, we docked in Edfu. The population of Edfu is 300,000 but most of the people live in small villages in the surrounding countryside.
We were going to the temple, of course. Hussein warned us that the vendors we’d encounter outside the site have a reputation for being very aggressive. When we arrived at the entrance to the site around 11am, I tried to avoid making eye contact with them.
Edfu is the best-preserved temple in Egypt. Construction began around 237 BCE and it was finished 180 years later, during the reign of Ptolemy XII. In 1860, excavators began to unearth it from beneath 12 meters of sand and silt that had covered the temple for centuries.
It's impossible not to be impressed by the temple’s enormous pylon. This is an architectural term that means a monumental gateway surrounded by two sloping towers flanking a central doorway. The shape resembles the hieroglyph for “horizon.” The sun disk is often shown over the entrance. In ancient Egypt, the purpose of the pylon was to separate the outside world from the inner, sacred world. Typically, a pylon would be covered with relief carvings of the pharaoh’s victories. In the case of the temple at Edfu, it depicts the pharaoh Ptolemy XII battling his enemies as the god Horus and the goddess Hathor look on.
The temple is dedicated to the falcon-headed god Horus. A live falcon was kept in a cage in front of the entrance. Hussein reminded us that the Egyptians did not worship animals but kept them as symbols of gods. When the animal died, it was mummified, as we had seen yesterday at the Crocodile Museum in Kom Ombu.
In addition to a birth house and two hypostyle halls, the temple features an enormous paved courtyard surrounded by columns on three sides.
The figure in the center of this carving is the pharaoh, who receives the crown of Lower Egypt from the figure on the left and the crown of Upper Egypt from the figure on the right.
As we looked at the carved decorations, Hussein gave us some insight into the art techniques used by the ancient Egyptians. The artist was primarily a craftsman. It was the priest who made the decisions about what was portrayed. The artist could not add any personal touch. First, the image was sketched on the plaster-covered stone. Then it was carved into the plaster. Lastly, the carved images were colored. Because much of the temple was buried for so long, traces of the color are still visible in places.
When we looked at the carving of a boat, I remembered how you can tell which direction a boat is traveling. If the sail is up, it’s traveling upstream, i.e. to the south. When sailing north, or downstream, the sail isn’t necessary because the current will carry the boat. In this scene, a boat was bringing the goddess Hathor to Horus.
The carving on this column shows the king raising two obelisks.
This was the first time I’d seen a depiction of the hippopotamus goddess of motherhood who lives in the Nile. She’s known for being very protective of her babies.
Many of the carvings show kings bringing offerings to the gods.
At the end of the second century CE, Coptic Christians seeking refuge from Roman persecution moved into the temple. This accounts for much of the damage we see today (defaced images) and explains why the roof of the temple is covered with soot.
The holy of holies contained a golden statue of a falcon set on a black granite shrine.
We stopped at one of the wall carvings so Hussein could show us the way numbers were written in ancient Egypt. The figure of a happy man with his arms in the air represents one million.
Later in the day, when we were back on board the Nefertiti, Hussein showed us how the ancient Egyptians wrote all of the numbers.
And here’s a bit of trivia: the so-called Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) that we use in the U.S. and much of the western world are not used in the Arab world today. In fact, these numerals actually originated in ancient India. Instead, Egypt and many other Muslim countries use Mashriqi, or Eastern Arabic numerals (٠, ١, ٢, ٣, ٤, ٥, ٦, ٧, ٨, ٩).
After lunch on board the riverboat, I enjoyed Hussein’s informative talk about life on the Nile. He noted that the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1970 brought big changes to people’s lives. For example, instead of building mud brick houses with wood beams on high elevated spots, they could now build houses of red brick or concrete. Of course, the mud brick houses naturally kept the homes cool in summer while the houses of newer materials required air conditioning.
In many other ways, however, the simple lifestyle of people living along the Nile remained the same. Both before and after 1970, people tended to live with extended family. Speaking as a native Egyptian who grew up in a small village in the south, Hussein told us that the people are extremely conservative and that privacy isn’t part of the culture. Traditionally, the main activity was farming and the owner of the land would be the grandfather of the family. All of the other family members worked for him. Often, the family would also own a female water buffalo who provided cheese and milk not only for its own use but to sell in the market as well. When a calf was born, it would be raised until it was old enough to sell.
With large extended families living together, there would always several people to help raise the children. There was a definite preference for sons rather than daughters because boys would become workers on the farm. In fact, men used to have more than one wife in order to get more sons. With girls, there was always the risk that they would bring shame to the family. Girls had to remain virgins until they married and sex education was non-existent. Mothers would frighten their daughters by telling them how painful first-time sex was. Proof of the bride’s virginity, i.e. a blood-stained sheet, was expected. One important change was the 2008 legal ban on female genital mutilation, which previously was quite common. And despite the law, it is still practiced today.
When it came to choosing a marriage partner, the grandfather would make the decision as to who would marry and when the wedding would take place. Marriage between first cousins was common. The woman would get a dowry of gold from the husband’s family. The wedding would be a two-day affair which everyone in the village would attend (no formal invitations necessary!). A meal featuring beef was part of the feast that would be served. Since it wasn’t unusual for there to be 2000 to 4000 guests, weddings were quite expensive for the family.
Hussein told us that nowadays, it is the parents who choose marriage partners for their children. Prior to the wedding, the families sign a contract which guarantees the rights of the woman in the case of a divorce. She is entitled to keep any furniture, jewelry, valuables, etc.
There was always competition with other extended families. And feuds between families sometimes resulted in violence that would set off a vicious cycle of retribution. Prior to 1970, the mayor of the village would come from the biggest extended family. I’m not sure if that has since changed.
When the grandfather died, his oldest son would take over his role. In Islam, there is no cremation and the deceased person would be buried as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours. It was customary for other extended families in the village to bring the bereaved family three meals a day for three days. During this time, others would come to pay condolences. Unfortunately, with the lack of hospitals, cars, and paved roads in rural Egypt, there is still a high mortality rate for pregnant women and babies.
In the case of a death, all of the women in the extended family would wear only black for several months. Hussein said that’s the reason you see so many women dressed in black.
I found it interesting that Hussein reported growing up in a village where Christian and Muslim families lived peacefully side by side. There was a church and a mosque and he had many Christian childhood friends.
Summing up, Hussein stressed that the opening of the Aswan High Dam in 1970 brought major changes to the people who lived in isolated villages along the Nile. With electricity in their homes for the first time, people began to listen to the news on the radio. Television helped educate girls and women about their rights. Men could now use machines in the fields so boys had time to attend school. Literacy, especially among women, increased. There was less of a preference for male children. Family members achieved more financial independence, giving them greater options.
At the same time, extended family bonds have weakened and poverty remains a major societal problem. While religious leaders oppose birth control, families struggle to afford to raise their children. Hussein also briefly referred to changes resulting from the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s and the Arab Spring of 2011. Egyptian society may be conservative but change is inevitable. I wonder what the future will hold for the children being born in these villages today.
Shortly after sunset, the Nefertiti went through the locks at Esna, indicating that we had passed from Upper Egypt into Lower Egypt.
The Nefertiti would continue sailing downstream another 60 kilometers or so towards Luxor, where we would be docked for 3 days. Undoubtedly we’d be seeing more temples, but we’d be doing much, much more, starting tomorrow with our visit to the Valley of the Kings.
No comments:
Post a Comment