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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 July 2000 Issue No. 490 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 July 2000 Issue No. 490
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Focus International Economy Opinion Interview Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Our ancient selves
Art, like religion, is something human beings cannot do without. And the Ancient Egyptians left us great art that we can still make out in extant literary papyri, in the great architecture that to this day still challenges time, and in the ancient music, of which we know nothing but of whose kind the paintings on temple walls give us a powerful idea. I often fancy, contemplating the bas-reliefs, that I can almost hear the sounds of the instruments in the ancient musicians' hands. There is no doubt that our present-day folk music is this music's progeny.
Aside from art and monotheism, we must not overlook the ethical framework of whose birth ancient Egypt was the first witness. In my youth I read a delightful book -- perhaps it was Breasted's The Dawn of Conscience -- that deals with this issue, the writer stating that human conscience first emerged in Egypt. I feel strongly, almost instinctively, that this is true.
These are some of the things that were handed down to us by the Ancient Egyptians, but there were other things too brought over by the Greeks and the Romans, who developed much of the ancient heritage, which was later revealed to us in an astonishing paradox, through Europe's discovery of it during the Renaissance.
Egyptian civilisation was beyond a doubt a great culture that encompassed the entire region's people. The fact that we may have come to know it once more through the mediation of Western explorers and scientists does not make it any less ours. How could it be? It is the heritage of all humanity.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
