16 - 22 May 2002
Issue No.586
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 16 - 22 May 2002 Issue No.586 |
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Dig days
The lord
He is not an English lord -- like Lord Carnarvon, who funded the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun -- but an Egyptian archaeologist from Alexandria. Yet he talks like a lord and walks like a lord, carrying himself with pride and vigour. He is Dr Mustafa El-Abadi, professor of Classical Studies at the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University. He was born in 1928 to an élite family in Alexandria which laid great importance on a good education, and many of his family members were professors at the university, his father being a faculty dean. El-Abadi, who earned his doctorate in 1960 from Cambridge University, taught not only in Egypt, but also in Lebanon and Kuwait. He received many awards during his long career, including the Kaafi award in 1997.
When El-Abadi became head of the Egyptian Archeology Society in 1995 he transformed it into an lively cultural centre. He invited many scholars from various fields to lecture in Alexandria, and for three years produced a periodical on the history and archaeology of Egypt. He taught me Greek and Roman history at Alexandria University. I remember him entering our classroom and lecturing with modesty, and I can still hear his words in my ears. One of El-Abadi's areas of expertise is the history of the ancient library in Alexandria, and he wrote an excellent book on the subject which became an invaluable reference about the library's contribution to the ancient world.
El-Abadi has visited me at most of the archaeological sites that I have worked on, and continued the tradition last week when he and his son came to see me at the Valley of the Golden Mummies. His son, a scientist, is married to an American woman from Santa Barbara. Each year his father acts as guide, showing his son Egypt's marvellous archaeological sites.
El-Abadi was involved in an important instance of setting the record straight about a recent archaeological discovery in Egypt. A Greek archaeologist working at Siwa had claimed that she had found the tomb of Alexander the Great. Even the head of the antiquities department held a press conference to announce the great discovery. I rejected this news, being of the view that the finding was a temple discovered by a German archaeologist, and not a tomb. El-Abadi went on to refute the Greek archaeologist's claim, using scientific methodology and showing that her linguistic argument was incorrect. Later, Gaballa Ali Gaballa stopped the woman from working in Egypt, and all the credit goes to El- Abadi. I hope that as archaeologists in the Supreme Council of Antiquities we will not permit anyone to work in Egypt unless he or she is affiliated to an institution such as a museum or university.
To mark the occasion of El-Abadi's 70th birthday, his students and colleagues throughout the world contributed articles to a book they dedicated to him. Entitled Feastschrift, a German word meaning a book commemorating a feast, we put the volume together to honour El-Abadi for his contribution to archaeology and as a token of the gratitude that all those who ever met him felt towards this great lord. The article that I contributed to the collection is about the discovery of a temple and a unique statue of the god Bes, which was discovered under my direction at Bahariya Oasis by the late Mohamed El- Tayeb. The life-size statue has a deformed shoulder and legs. Wearing a monkey hide and crown, the Bes figure has an open mouth. Although Bes was worshipped from the beginning of the Pharaonic era, his veneration is most associated with the New Kingdom and his figure was depicted on the walls of the palace of King Amenhotep III at Malkata on the West Bank of Luxor. Bes was also the local god of Bahariya Oasis and was said to be present at the festivities to taste the wine from the oasis, viewed to be the best in ancient Egypt.
Many of El-Abadi's students have gone on to illustrious careers. Ahmed Abdel-Fatah, who graduated with me in 1967, is the director-general of archaeological sites and the museum in Alexandria. One of his important academic achievements was the explanation of the discovery of two important objects found in ancient Eleusis, which is the oldest part of Alexandria and the place where the goddess Demeter was worshipped. Eleusis was the place to meet women in Graeco-Roman times and a frequent venue for poetry recitals. Another of Abdel-Fatah's students, Sohier Zaki, who organised Feastschrift, contributed an article entitled, "Native Alexandrian in Exienchos." In this work, Zaki used written sources to discuss the life and culture in ancient Alexandria.
There are many other scholars who dedicated articles to El-Abadi, such as Mohamed Ibrahim, Foad El- Sherwaki, Mona Sehat and Monira El- Hamshari. We all wrote scientific articles on major discoveries, but they are also articles of love -- love for a man who taught us how to love.
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