A week-long programme brings a different image of Egypt to Washington DC, reports Amina Elbendary.

"Egypt's Other Pasts: A Pilgrimage through the Splendors of Coptic, Greco-Roman and Islamic Legacies" opens next week in Washington DC.   As its organisers Brigitte Boulad-Kiesler and Sherine Mishriki explained to Al-Ahram Weekly the event aims at introducing the many sides of Egypt's legacy and identity to the American public.   Understanding the coexistence of these multiple sides of Egypt is a prerequisite, they believe, to better dialogue.   Running from 9 to 13 June, the programme will occupy several venues in the city...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 745, 2 - 8 June 2005.

New finds are bringing added understanding to the way ancient communities in Upper Egypt functioned, and to the importance of commerce and cultural development.   Nevine El-Aref has been finding out about a pre-dynastic funerary complex and new evidence concerning trade with the legendary land of Punt.

An American-Egyptian team working on the site of ancient Nekhen -- known in Greek times as Hierakonpolis -- in the area of Kom Al-Ahmar near the Upper Egyptian city of Edfu has found what is believed to be the largest pre-dynastic funerary complex ever found.   This major discovery, which dates back to the period identified as Naqada II (c. 3600 BC), is expected to cast more light on the period when Egypt was first developing into a nation.

The complex belonged to one of the early rulers of Nekhen, who undoubtedly also controlled a large portion of Upper Egypt.   It was enclosed within a well-preserved wall of wooden posts, and comprised a large rectangular tomb with the earliest known superstructure and a wooden offering table...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 745, 2 - 8 June 2005.

New finds are bringing added understanding to the way ancient communities in Upper Egypt functioned, and to the importance of commerce and cultural development.   Nevine El-Aref has been finding out about a pre-dynastic funerary complex and new evidence concerning trade with the legendary land of Punt.

The mysterious Land of Punt, at one time identified with the Somali coast and now thought to be located in the southern Sudan or the Eritrean region of Ethiopia, was Ancient Egypt's source of luxury products, the place from where they imported valuable items not available in their own country.

Regular missions set sail southwards through the Red Sea from the Fifth Dynasty or earlier, returning to Egypt with gold, ivory, ebony, gum and incense to be burned in temple rituals.   The hides of giraffe, panther and cheetah, which were worn by temple priests, were imported along with live animals -- either for the priests' own menageries or as religious sacrifices -- as well as the sacred cynocephalus or dog-faced baboon...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 745, 2 - 8 June 2005.

On a journey beginning in Egypt, I contemplated the ancient tradition of wine over a glass of Rubis d'Egypte, a fragrant rose wine from the vineyards in the Delta, while making my way up the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan.

They've been making alcoholic beverages in Egypt for millennia.   I am reliably told the ancient Egyptian term for wine was 'Irp', [is] an onomatopoeic play on words ... What's more, many of the tombs in the Valley of Kings have a wine cellar painted on the walls - with real or abstract amphora.   What kind of Pharaoh would want to spend the after-life in abstinence for all eternity? ...

[More], South African Wine News, South Africa, June 2, 2005.

Peter James has posted the full text of his article Naukratis Revisited on his Centuries of Darkness website in Adobe PDF format.

... The main difficulty [with the chronology] has always been to reconcile the literary evidence for the early history of Naukratis (principally Herodotus) with the results of excavation. While most archaeologists since Petrie have tended to date the earliest Greek pottery at the site to the mid or late 7th century BC, Herodotus stated that Naukratis was given to the Greeks as a trading colony by Pharaoh Amasis, whose reign began in 570 BC. This raises a clear philosophical dilemma, neatly characterised by Bowden: should the pottery dating correct Herodotus, or Herodotus correct the pottery dating? ...

[More], Hyperboreus: Studia Classica, Volume 9, Number 2, 2003, pp. 235 - 264, via rogueclassicism

Centuries of Darkness, Peter James, Jonathan Cape, 1991, pp. 434.

By Hassan Saadallah

'Museums as a Bridge of Culture' is a new title released by the SCA marking the role museums play in culture.   In his introduction to the book, Dr Zahi Hawass wrote that Egyptian items exhibited at The Louvre, The Metropolitan and other internationally renowned museums should be returned to Egypt.   Among these valuable artefacts are a statue of the architect of the Great Pyramid on display at Hildesheim Museum, the bust of Nefertari at Berlin Museum, the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, and Hatshepsut Statue at The Metropolitan.

Dr Hawass talked about the policy of the Ministry of Culture in giving museums an educational utility in addition to its exhibition function.

The book also reviews the necessity for Egyptian museums to publicise the qualities of each other and thus attract more tourists to them as a whole.

Finally, the book offers a brief mention of the most significant monuments in the Arab world, including the Palace of Omran in Jordan, Al Baqi' cemetery in Saudi Arabia, the Tomb of Imam Ali in Iraq, and the Citadel of Rabat and Susa Fort in Tunisia.

[Source], The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 2, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

The Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) is working with a German University to restore the tomb of Mentuhotep, opposite the Hatshepsut temple in Luxor.   The SCA has paid much attention to the tomb since the 1980s given its size as one of the largest in Luxor.   Its architectural design is also similar to that of Pharaonic temples, displaying tall papyrus columns.

The tomb is in a bad condition due to a large part of the inscriptions having collapsed.   As Sabri Abdul Aziz, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, explained the upper layer of the tomb is made of limestone followed by a layer of argil.   This has collapsed due to a combination of factors including subsidence, erosion and corrosion.   The limestone layer also suffers from many fissures.

Aziz added that reassembling the relief inscriptions requires high expertise in order to read the texts and compare them with texts in other tombs.   This requires a combination of the skills of reading hieroglyphics, restoration and geology being used together in a task likely to take about ten years.

Mentuhotep tomb belongs to a man described as Thebes' strongman and the fourth prophet of Amun.   He ruled Thebes in the reign of the Kushite Pharaoh Taharqo in the late period.   Treated as royalty he had his tomb carved in the rock and its walls covered with funerary texts.

Mentuhotep took precautions to hide his burial room by adding several rooms that finally lead to the real burial chamber through a cavity in the ceiling, blocked by a stone.   Yet, thieves still managed to find the room and steal its contents.

[Source], The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 2, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

Because Pharaoh Tutankhamen assumed rule as young as perhaps eight years old and died about ten years later, he did not accomplish anything notable during his reign and was therefore one of the little-known kings of ancient Egypt.   It was not until the discovery of his intact tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 that he became overnight the most famous of Egypt's rulers.

However, Tutankhamen's early death, his tomb and his mummy have been a source of controversy over the years.

Believing in a Pharaohs' curse, some people were convinced that the curse had affected those who have examined the mummy.

The examination of Tutankhamen's mummy is part of a huge four-stage project to examine several mummies.   The first stage will start next month and includes studying the outcome of the X-ray scans of five mummies; three at Amenhotep II tomb, a child's mummy from Tuthmosis IV tomb, and the mummy of Seti II.   The second stage, scheduled for September, involves the transfer of 10,000 non-regal mummies from storehouses and museums to Al Fustat in Cairo where they will be chemically treated before examination.   The third stage will focus on the golden mummies of Bahariya Oasis.   The final stage includes the resumption of the study of royal mummies.   Dr Hawass said that the project will be conducted entirely by Egyptians and that the scanning will be undertaken by a team from Qasr Al Aini, although an Austrian Institution is to review the results.

Commenting on the bust of King Tutankhamen which was created as a result of the recent X-ray scans yet which does not agree with the known features of Tutankhamen, Hawass said that the results of scanning were handed over to three teams from Egypt, France and the US.   None of the teams were informed as to whom the X-rays belonged so that they would not to be affected by the pre-conceived image of Tutankhamen.   The images produced by the three teams had so little in common that it was left to experts to decide which one was the closest to reality.   "Personally, I believe that the French model is the one," Hawass said.

Dr Zahi explained that the planned civilisation museum for Fustat is to include a wing for mummies that would display X-rays and perceived busts constructed for each king from CT scans.   In addition, miniature replicas would be produced of the most significant constructions of each king.

[Source], The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 2, 2005.