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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Travels in Middle Egypt
By Nevine El-Aref
ALL'S QUIET IN ASSIUT: My first destination was Assiut and, as the taxi took me from the train station to Assiut Hotel, my home for three days, I was surprised by the large numbers of policemen patrolling the city. It was rather disconcerting at first, but nevertheless reassuring.
Residents of Akhmim have been weaving for thousands of years --
Assiut, which lies 375km south of Cairo, is a large modern city bounded by fertile fields and an abundance of palm trees. It is an area with a long history. Occupation can be traced from the earliest pre-dynastic settlers through Pharaonic to Graeco-Roman and early Christian times.
The ancient sites cover an area so vast that the Assiut Governorate has been divided into five separate archaeological zones, all of which are open to tourists. It is advisable to use a guide and mine was Magdi Metri, the archaeological director of north Assiut. He was anxious to take me to Al-Qussiya (ancient Meir) first, where 17 Pharaonic tombs of the princes and rulers of Assiut are now open to the public.
"Five years ago, this area was neglected and off limits to tourists," said Metri. "Now it is ready to receive them." Restoration started two years ago and nine tombs have already been cleared, the walls strengthened and the coloured reliefs cleaned. Iron gates and stairways leading to them have been installed and a ticket booth, toilets and a small coffee-shop built for visitors.
I felt privileged to be among the first people to view the tombs after their restoration. They are part of a burial ground for both rulers and their subjects. The elite had their tombs cut into the mountain; others were buried further down the slope. The wall reliefs include delightful scenes of daily life, sports, industrial activities such as papyrus manufacture and viticulture, hunting and offering scenes.
"Sayed Khashaba first excavated the site in 1919," Metri explained. "Most of the objects found are on display in the Mallawi Museum in Minya. Some were taken abroad at a time when the antiquities law permitted the exchange, sale and purchase of antiques," he explained.
In the tomb of Ukh-Hotep, I noticed some unique reliefs showing Pharaonic fashions. Each model was dressed differently. The tomb of Senbi-Sa-Ukh-Hotep possesses one of the most beautiful desert hunting scenes that I have ever seen.
PEACE IN THE DESERT: Not far away is the famous monastery of Deir Al-Muharrak, one of the biggest in Egypt. It was easy to make my way there by car and a priest showed me the holy places within the complex. Among them was the cave sanctuary where the Holy Family are believed to have spent over six months during the Flight into Egypt.
Deir Al-Muharrak was destroyed and rebuilt many times in its long history. The present structure is large, impressive and modern, adorned with beautiful icons, most contemporary, and marble elements. I was taken into the keep of the fortress, where the monks hid while under siege from roving nomads. It presented a fine and peaceful view of the surrounding area.
Crossing a bridge to the eastern bank of the Nile to the Deir Al-Gabrawi area where the Al-Hamamiya cemetery is located presented no problem. The tombs are cut into the mountain range on the eastern bank. Safaa Shenouda, an inspector of the area, accompanied me around the site. Only one guard was in sight. To reach the tombs on the upper level of the range, we climbed up a somewhat dilapidated stone stairway. The tombs of Ebi-Raw and Zaaw, two high-ranking Assiut officials in the Middle Kingdom, can be seen. They both have delightful reliefs of the owners performing religious rites and engaged in various agricultural, industrial and personal activities. "The reliefs were stolen five years ago and smuggled to Germany where they were exhibited in the Berlin Museum," said Shenouda. "But they have now been returned to Egypt and replaced in their original positions in the tomb."
My last day in Assiut was spent making an early visit to the Convent of the Virgin in Drunka, 12km from the city centre. Again in the company of Safaa Shenouda, we visited the monastery, which is also associated with the Holy Family. There was no trouble getting there by car and no sign of security forces. No wonder most foreign diplomatic missions have assured their nationals that Egypt is a safe destination.
... even longer than the statue of Ramses II's daughter, Merit-Amun, has presided over the neighbouring temple. The statue is now in the Sohag museum compound
photos: Khaled El-Fiqi
MONASTERIES AND MOSQUES: An early departure by taxi took me to Sohag, the capital of the governorate of the same name. The area was heavily populated by Egyptian and Greek communities in the early centuries of the Christian era, when it was an important centre for the production of anthropoid coffins, portrait-mummies (the so-called Fayoum portraits) and textiles, for which it is even today renowned.
Here again I found the largely rural atmosphere undisturbed and the people relaxed and welcoming.
One of the main attractions in Sohag is the open-air museum, displaying impressive monuments that were excavated in 1982. The museum has been officially open for many years now but attendance has been extremely low. Tourism was not encouraged and no tour groups pass through Sohag. Hopefully this situation will now change. The local population are confident that it will and are looking forward to a tourist boom.
Admission to the museum is free and among the major exhibits are a unique 11-metre standing statue of Merit-Amun, daughter of Ramses II, a beautifully sculpted statue of Venus and a range of objects -- stelae, miscellaneous architectural elements from temples and some statues -- discovered in the area. There are also some huge inscribed blocks bearing the name of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who rebelled against the priest of Amun at Thebes and established a new capital at Tel Al-Amarna.
A ruined colossus of Ramses II lies partly buried beneath the modern graveyard. It is probably one of two that once flanked the entrance to the famous temple known as the Birba, referred to in both Coptic and Arabic literature. A restoration project for the museum started three years ago.
The White and Red Monasteries are Sohag's most famous. The White Monastery was built of white limestone, and from a distance somewhat resembles an Egyptian temple with sloping walls like a pylon. The Red Monastery, made of burnt brick, is situated 3km to the south. The former was rebuilt by Saint Shenouda as a lofty basilica with a monolithic granite pulpit halfway along the north wall. There are Roman columns in the apses and hieroglyphics on the outer rear wall, suggesting it was partly built of usurped stone.
As for Islamic monuments, Akhmim has three famous mosques. The first, that of Prince Hassan, contains his tomb which has a head stone made of green limestone and decorated with geometrical drawings and paintings of plants surrounded by wooden frames containing verses from the Qur'an. The second is the market mosque or Sultan Mohamed Mosque on the western side of Qaysariya Street. The third is the shrine of Sheikh Kamaleddin Ibn El-Taher, which is an Ottoman-style structure.
On returning to Akhmim, I made a point of going to see the weaving shops. After all, this is where the world-famous Akhmim tapestries, sold in Cairo once a year, are produced. Weaving is one of Egypt's oldest industries. In Pharaonic times it was mostly on linen but by Graeco-Roman and Byzantine times silk textiles were introduced and magnificent elaborate work was produced. Biblical stories were even woven into textiles in the early Christian era, and caliphs of Islam knew where the best work was produced for their elaborate robes. I succumbed to temptation, buying a long veil decorated with plants and a small coloured carpet.
It was lunch-time and we went to a small restaurant where I had a simple but delicious meal during which I listened to local legends -- or was it history? One of those legends is that of Sheikh El-Aref, a Muslim cleric. Sohag's biggest mosque is named after him because it was built around El-Aref's mausoleum. El-Aref provided a hiding place for Murad bek, the Mameluke leader who fled the famous Cairo Citadel massacre and escaped to Upper Egypt. I also listened to the story of Saint Bishoi, a penitent armed robber who became a disciple of Saint Shenuda, and tales of the destruction of the desert monasteries and plunder of their treasures by nomads, which resulted in the monks building keeps for protection.
HONOURING THE ANCESTORS: Abydos, the site of two famous temples, was the last site on the tour. One temple, built by Seti I, is among the most beautiful in Egypt. The neighbouring temple was built by Ramses II. The temples are situated on the west bank of the Nile and the Temple of Seti was of special interest to me. It was near where Umm Seti, the famous British scholar, lived in a village house for many years. Widely known as a strange personality who believed herself to have been a slave in the court of Seti in a previous life, she was in fact a scholar of some repute. She devoted her time to studying the reliefs and transcribing the texts of the temple.
Yehya El-Masri, head of the archaeological department in Sohag, accompanied me on the tour and explained that Seti Temple was neither a cult temple in its usual sense, nor a funerary temple. "It has different shrines to a variety of deities, including one dedicated to Seti I himself as a god," he said. "Its purpose was essentially political. By identifying himself with these cults and with his ancestors [the previous rulers of Egypt], Seti I conferred legitimacy on the Ramesside Dynasty."
The temple was recently renovated. The first hall was reconstructed and the outer southern and northern walls and their stairways restored. All the reliefs were cleaned and the colours stabilised.
One of the main attractions situated to the rear of the temple of Seti I is the Osirion, believed to be the actual burial place of the legendary ancestor whose myth (the Osiris myth) was recounted in countless variations over the centuries. It was not as impressive as I had imagined it to be. It is half buried and inaccessible due to the high water level. "It is built of massive blocks and once enclosed a room containing a mound surrounded by a moat, which symbolised the primordial mound that arose from the waters of chaos on which life came to be and where the sun-god appeared," El-Masri said.
Before I departed, I thanked all those who had been of assistance to me. Mohamed El-Saghir, head of the Pharaonic department in the SCA took the opportunity to go over the plans that were underway to renovate the Etreebes Temple in Naga Al-Sheikh Hamad, 10km from Sohag. "It is a large Ptolemaic temple enlarged and decorated by successive Ptolemaic and Roman rulers," he said. "During the Coptic era the temple was used as a church."
Apparently there is a hall in the temple that records trade between Egypt and Punt (believed to be on the Somali coast). It has coloured reliefs of the different flora and fauna imported from that distant land that was approached via the Red Sea.
Practical information:
Convoys through Middle Egypt are not run on a regular basis. Road travellers are advised to check with the Tourism Police before their departure at 5 Adli Street (Tel: 365-5556)
