I’m writing this post three days after the fact because we haven’t had much of a break since we got here and all breaks should logically be filled with catching up on sleep since we have little time for that during the night. As Dr. Wright says, “We are chasing the sun.” So, we’re up and gone by sunrise and back well into the night. I am constantly reminded that I’m here for a learning experience, and not a vacation of any sort.
Our second night in Egypt was spent on a sleeper train following the Nile from Cairo to Aswan – the natural southern border of Egypt. It was my first sleeper train experience and, as my Grandfather likes to say, it was a “missionary experience.” My roommate and I shared a room that was no bigger than 5’x3’, the heater didn’t work, and the train stopped and sped up randomly through the night so that the door to the mirror swung open and slammed shut. It was… fascinating.
When we pulled into Aswan in the morning, we went straight to our first site which was an old granite quarry for an obelisk. The obelisk found there would have been the largest obelisk to ever be built, but there was a crack through the top. It seems that, once it was cracked, construction stopped just days later. It was interesting to look at, though. Obelisks replaced pyramids as a religious structure in the 5th dynasty. I always used to think that pyramids were built for centuries in ancient Egypt, but it seems to be a strictly old kingdom practice. The point of a pyramid was for when the sun connected with the point it looked as if and represented the god Ra connecting with the earth. Obelisks obviously weren’t tombs, like the pyramids, but their point at the top still served the purpose of connecting earth with the gods.
Next, we went to our first temple on Phile Island. It was originally on a crumbling island of granite so that, years ago, they leveled a new island, broke the temple down into 1500 pieces, and transferred and reconstructed the whole thing. It seems to be an old temple to Isis that was reconstructed by the Greek Ptolemies when they came and ruled in Egypt’s last recorded dynasties. So, the temple is essentially Egyptian but with a Greek flair. For instance, instead of the column caps being just palm trees or just papyrus or lotus, the Greeks made composite column caps and mixed all three. Also, in order for a Greek to be able to rule Egypt as Pharaoh, he had to be reborn as an Egyptian. So, next to the temple is a bath house where the Greek man wanting to become Pharaoh would shave his head and bathe for a week or two while convening with the gods to be “reborn”. Here, we have obelisks replaced by parallel rectangles on either side of a door so that the sun meets just above the door and the sun rays are like Ra’s arms surrounding the temple door. This was the common practice for religious sites from here on out. This is also the time period in which people started being buried under ground, instead of in pyramids and such. At the entrance of these temples, the Pharaoh is depicted as sacrificing something to Isis so that the Pharaoh can name himself as the guardian of Egypt. (Here's the temple I'm talking about):
Just for a little background in the history of the gods of Egypt: Isis is the goddess of motherhood and is married to Osiris, the god of the underworld. Together, they had a falcon-headed son, Horus, the god earth. Horus’ wings represent protection and his eye has healing powers. Horus married Isis’ best friend, Hathor who is represented as a calf and is another goddess of motherhood. Anubis is the pet of Osiris, and is the god of mummification and protects people while guiding them to the afterlife. It’s a lot of complicated information, but this is my favorite part of Egyptology because it plays a part in all of Egypt’s ancient history.
After Phile Island, we came back to the hotel and ate a quick lunch so that we could run down to the Nile and catch a boat to some island. I’m not sure what the island was, but we got to ride camels! I’m pretty pro at riding camels. The guy that was supposed to be guiding me just handed me the reigns, and “yipp”ed my camel to go faster. So, in a matter of seconds, I had to learn how to ride a camel and hold on for dear life because camels can canter pretty quickly. It was frightening and exhilarating, all at the same time. We rode the camels to Saint Andrews monastery, where Saint Andrew sought solitude in the wilderness. I couldn’t tell you what else is important about it, though, because I was far too excited about riding the camel back to the boat. Yep, I can ride camels like a true Egyptian.
After the camels, we took the boats to a Nubian village. This has been the best part of my trip so far. We spent an hour or so with a Nubian family. I don’t think there’s any politically correct way to say this, but Nubians are real Africans. They are the self-proclaimed true Egyptians. They live in little huts and make their money by farming and selling homemade goods. The family we hung out with also keeps crocodiles as pets. Or maybe they were alligators. Anyways, I got to hold one. They’re awfully cute when their mouths are rubber-banded shut and they can’t bite you. Then we drank hibiscus juice with them and a man from a neighboring house came over – a cute little black man with missing teeth and a guitar. He played songs about our names and made us dance to them. It was a really good time.
That was the end of our night. I really enjoyed Aswan. The weather was nice, and the Nubian influence there is amazing. I hate to say this, but I’m really tired of getting hassled by Arabs in Israel and Egypt. But Aswan, because it’s so far south, it has a much more African influence. And the people are nice and considerate and act like respectable human beings.
We had to be and on the bus by 6:30 the next morning to spend a day exploring temples. I am so sick of temples due to that day. We visited the Komobo temple, Ed-fu temple, Karnack temple, and the Luxor temple. They were all really fascinating at first, but after a while they all start to blur together. I’ll do my best to distinguish them and make them interesting for you.
Komombo means pile of gold and was devoted to appeasing Sobek, the crocodile god of the Nile, and Horus. So, people would bring in piles of gold to appease the Nile god. This is another temple that was rebuilt and used for the Ptolemies. There is a calendar chiseled into the wall here. The Egyptians had followed a lunar calendar for a long time, but the lunar calendar doesn’t follow the flood of the Nile. Because life is centered on the Nile in Egypt, the lunar calendar didn’t really work for them. So they invented the solar calendar. Every day, there is a holiday in which something must be given to the gods at the temple. So this calendar, at Komombo, names every day of the year and then lists the holiday that is on that day and what must be brought to the temple. The Egyptian calendar follows 10 days a week, 3 weeks a month, 4 months a season, 3 seasons a year, and 360 days a year. And the Greeks, which gave our Western culture everything we have today, were in Egypt around this time. So, it’s plausible to reason that we may be highly influenced by Ancient Egyptians.
I can’t emphasis enough just how much religion controlled the lives of these people. No one could become a Pharaoh without it being passed by the counsel of gods. The people had to pay taxes to the temple to “appease the gods”. Even when the gods are depicted in the temple, they are drawn holding an ankh. An ankh is a symbol that represents the key to life. And the Pharaohs had to be blessed by the gods to be given the ankh. As fascinated as I am with Egyptian mythology, I am so glad I’m a Christian! God gives life freely to me. Looking at those pictures of those gods, I just felt like they were holding life hostage from the people and the thought made me feel uncomfortable and left me wanting and desperate. Yep, so thankful that I have God.
Last fascinating thing from Komobo, we learned about medicinal practices of the Egyptians. Okay, I have to go through this whole spiel to get across what awesomeness I’m about to hit you with. So be patient. Head injuries: CAT scans were invented quite recently and they are only popular in America. So what do people in other countries do when they have internal head injuries? Well, there are two indicators of internal damage. One symptom is blood shot eyes, and the other is numbness on one side of the body. When this happens, it means either too much pressure has built up inside the brain or that there is internal bleeding. When there is too much pressure in the brain, the easiest way to fix this is simply with elevation. But when there is internal bleeding, a surgeon needs to open up the brain and drill a hole into the skull so that the blood can pour out of the skull. Fun stuff. Well, this is where it gets kind of cool. The equipment that surgeons use for that surgery, are the same exact ones that the Egyptians used! The Egyptians were advanced enough to know how to cure head injuries! Okay, I was fascinated.
Anyways, after Komobo, we went to the Ed-fu temple which was kind of boring and dark. The only interesting thing was that there was ancient paint. And I’m fascinated when a site is still painted. It is beautiful, and it gives us a picture into what the place was really like:
Then we went to the famous Karnack temple in Luxor. Karnack was pretty amazing. It was built and expanded upon by every Pharaoh from Thutmose III to Shishak. Karnack forms the corner of a triangle between the Hatshepsut temple and Luxor temple. People would travel between these three temple, offering goods to the gods. The walkway leading into Karnack is lined with Ram-headed sphinxes, which represent the god Ammun (a creator god). The temple has a hundred something columns within it, styled at the top with opened and closed lotus flowers. The closed lotus flowers always sit in the shade, as if you’re relaxing in the shade of the god; the open lotus flowers always sit in the sun as if they are growing in the rays of the god.
There is actually something Biblically exciting at Karnack. Shishak records his war invasions into the land of Canaan and writes of going up against cities on a war path to Jerusalem. We know from the Biblical record that Shishak came up against Jerusalem, but Reheboam decided to just submit to Shishak and become a vassal state to Egypt. So, on Shishak’s wall that lists the cities he conquered, Jerusalem is not listed. Some historians want to say that this is proof that the Bible is lying, but there is an easy explanation for this. Shishak’s wall lists all the cities around Jerusalem that he conquered. These cities are on a direct path to Jerusalem. But Shishak didn’t conquer Jerusalem. Jerusalem just agreed to pay tribute to them so that there would not be a battle. It makes sense that Jerusalem’s name isn’t listed on the wall, since there was no actual fight there. What’s really exciting about all of this is that this is one of the first exact chronological links that we have between Egypt and Israel. It’s a foundational base on which we can factually structure Egyptian and Israelite time lines. Okay, maybe it’s not that exciting to all of you who are sitting at home and never thought twice about the historicity of the Bible, but it’s extremely exciting for biblical historians. It also should be exciting for apologetics, since Shishak’s wall seems to prove that a Biblical account really did happen.
After Karnack, we settled into our hotel where I had a really interesting dinner conversation. I should begin by saying that I really do like the college that I go to, but I wouldn’t say that I’m in love with it. I feel no exceptional personal attachment to it. And I’ve never really thought of it in comparison with other colleges because my only other knowledge of other universities is based on the one semester in which I attended an all girls secular school. Which I know is not enough of an experience in which to judge CIU. That being said, this particular conversation forced me to think about why I like it. I was sitting next to two other students, both of whom attend reformed Christian colleges. I really don’t know what “reformed theology” is. In fact, I have no concept of theology other than that people seem to get into petty arguments about whether we are predestined or have free will (by the way, Paul talks about both as facts so they both are facts. Just thought I’d get my opinion on that matter out of the way) or if using birth control is a sin. Theological arguments always seem so silly to me because we waste so much time arguing about it, when we could be putting all that energy towards… oh… I don’t know… worshiping God or something worthwhile. My roommate here has taken 5 theology classes because her college is based on some sort of theological foundation. My school only offers two theology classes. That’s it. Just two. She’s not even done with all of her classes! So, my roommate and one of the other students were having a really deep discussion about theology, using words like “CRC” and “OPC” and a bunch of other acronyms that went completely over my head. When I obviously didn’t know what they were talking about, they began asking me about my school and why we only have two theology classes. Well, CIU is a missions based school. Our slogan is “To know Him and make Him known”. We offer other majors, of course, but the great commission of Matthew 28 is what drives the foundation of our college. We are essentially a non-denominational school that believes in the “unity of scripture”. They brought up the point that this can be dangerous because then people tend to pick and choose what they want to believe from all different theologies and then there’s no cohesion to their beliefs. I can see where they’re coming from, but then they’re assuming that just because our school doesn’t claim a denomination that everyone on campus is non-denominational. Which isn’t true. I am in no way indicative of the rest of the student body at CIU. I’m actually probably in the minority as far as theological knowledge goes. Not to mention, just because we’re missions based doesn’t mean that we ignore other subjects. CIU just wants to make sure that their students understand the importance of missions, and how it’s integrated into the church and our daily walk with Christ. All that to say, I really like my college. I am just not built for theological nonsense. I just want to understand the Bible in its original context and then disciple other people with that knowledge.
As long of a day as this was, it was not quite the end. At 7 that night, we walked over to the Luxor temple. I could tell you about the Pharaohs that built it and the gods and stuff, but it’s really only interesting if you know anything about Ancient Egyptian history and even then, it was just okay. Although, I’m sure it was a lot more exciting at night than during the day. The most significant thing about it is that this is the temple where the “rebirth”ing rooms began that were later developed by the Ptolemies. Two Pharaohs used it previous to the Greeks, because they were only half royal blood and needed to be reborn full blooded so that they can rule. Funny how even back then people corrupted the political system in order to get what they wanted.
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