Cairo and Beyond

The Egyptian Museum is a starting point for learning about Pharonic Egypt, and we dutifully went there the first morning after arriving. It was begun when the French archaeologist August Mariette recognized the importance of keeping some of the multitude of Egyptian artifacts in Egypt, though a great many had already been dispersed around the world, and worked to establish the collection in 1858; the Museum itself was built in 1902. That's actually 30+ years after the Museum of Natural History in NYC was built, but the wide spacious halls and wooden cabinets do bespeak an earlier time. They're working at updating the signage, the lack of which is the major drawback to the displays.

The Step Pyramid - ca. 2650 BC - is at Saqquara, and was built by the architect Imhotep for the III Dynasty king Djoser.

The area is surrounded by desert, and the entrance pylon area has been restored, but the pyramid itself is impressive and shows the way that one mastaba stacked on another had led to the development of pyramids. Excavation continues here and at Giza to this day.

From within Djoser looks out at the stars, and is startling to see through his peep-hole. And looking off into the distance, you can see the pyramids of Dashur.

Dashur

The Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid (which can be seen from Saqquara, and which are near the same age as the Step Pyramid - ca. 2600 BC) are at Dashur. Both were built by Seneferu, the father of Cheops. They've only been open to the public in modern times for the last few years - they were part of a military reservation before.

Like Saqquara, the area is surrounded by desert, and is not heavily tourist-ridden, so the feeling there is of isolation - deserted, as it were.

The Bent pyramid had been started at 52 degrees of elevation, then changed to 43, so it looks a bit off-kilter.

The Red Pyramid is in my mind the most beautiful of all, and it's possible to go down within it on a safe ramp. From within you look up to the inner heights. Unforgettable.

About 2500 BC, Khufu (Cheops), Khaefre (Chephren), and Menkaure (Mycerinus), son and grandsons of Senefrur, built the three pyramids that are just outside Cairo, and of course these are the ones everyone thinks of when they think of Egypt. Cairo's suburbs have encroached upon them and unlike the other two sites we went to, they're overrun with tourists. But impressive nonetheless.

Down a sort of causeway from them is the Sphinx, which has recently been restored. It was apparently built by Chephren from limestone remaining after Cheop's pyramid was built. It's overrun with tourists in a way that the pyramids themselves, standing the desert, seem not to be.