Dig days: Anis Mansour

By Zahi Hawass

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Egypt has many great thinkers, philosophers and writers. These extraordinary people have made significant contributions to humanity and left a mark on our lives. One of these great people is Anis Mansour. I am so lucky to be his friend and be able to meet him occasionally because he is very interested in Egyptology, as well as in literature and philosophy. I can say that his knowledge on these subjects is equal to the knowledge of a Nobel Prize winner.

Mansour began his career as a friend of Kamal El-Mallakh, who was an architect and Egyptologist working at the Pyramids, and also wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. With El-Mallakh, Mansour witnessed the discovery of the Solar Boat of Khufu at Giza. I love to listen to the stories about the discovery from Mansour; he uses exciting words that make me listen to him with great attention. But my favourite stories are those of the tricks he and his friend El-Mallakh played on each other.

I was first introduced to Mansour through a book that he wrote called The Curse of the Pharaohs. It is very interesting in that he not only collected stories about the curse, but also told stories that he had heard from great Egyptologists such as Walter Emery, who was searching for the tomb of Imhotep in Saqqara, and Selim Hassan, who used to provide him with information about solar boats while El-Mallakh was travelling in America to lecture about his discovery.

It is interesting to note that I lost my job for a year because of him, but after this we became good friends. He did not intend to cause this. The story began in 1992 when I attended a party given by Ibrahim El-Moalem, the publisher. I was sitting beside Mansour, and reminded him that we first met at his house in Harania with El-Mallakh and that at the time Tawfiq El-Hakim was his guest in Mansoura. People at the party were shooting with a video camera (these were new to the market) and we would record something and then watch it on the TV screen. El-Hakim did not believe it was recording, so he would wiggle his moustache to make sure it was he on screen. Anis Mansour did not comment on what I had said and instead asked quickly, "tell me, do you have new discoveries?" I began to tell him about the great discovery of the tombs of the Pyramid builders and how this discovery proves that Egyptians built the Pyramids, not slaves or people from a lost civilisation (i.e. Atlantis) as New Age people like to believe. I went on to explain that this discovery was very important because it proved that the Pyramids were Egypt's national project, and that every family from Upper and Lower Egypt sent workmen, food and supplies to help with the building of the king's Pyramid. I also told him about the beautiful statues of the artisan Inty-shedu we had found. I then asked Mansour not to talk about the discovery in case the minister of culture, Farouk Hosni, wanted to hold a press conference to announce it to the public. He agreed not to say anything.

One day it was written in the newspaper that I was giving a lecture to foreign ambassadors and members of embassy staff at a cultural centre in Zamalek about recent discoveries. Mansour then thought that we had announced the discovery. At that time tourism was decreasing because of a terrorist attack, and he thought that the discovery of the tombs of the Pyramid builders would interest the media. Through his article he invited President Hosni Mubarak to the discovery, knowing his presence would attract attention to it. He wrote more than six columns that were the best ever written about Egyptology.

The president of the Antiquities Department was very angry that Mansour had announced the discovery. President Mubarak came to visit the site and it was all over the media that for the first time ever the Egyptian president had visited an excavation. Tourism flourished and the discovery of the tombs of the Pyramid builders became famous all over the world.

Later a small statuette was stolen from the excavation and the president of the Antiquities Department decided to move me from Giza. It was revenge and jealousy because of the publicity surrounding the discovery. I resigned and did not find support from anyone except for Mansour, and I decided to move to Los Angeles and teach Egyptology at UCLA.

One Friday I met Mansour and we walked and talked for an hour. There on the bank of the Nile he gave me some very valuable advice, and gave me information about a story I will write one day. The best thing is being his friend. Every day Mansour reads what is published about Egypt in the foreign press. We owe him our gratitude for always informing us -- through his writing -- what is being published around the world about the Pharaohs. I would like to ask God and also the Pharaohs to give long life, prosperity and health to this great man.