Those who Adore Egyptian Antiquities

Egypt's pharaonic civilization is characterized by comprising all aspects of life. The events and achievements of such civilization have been recorded throughout its deep-rooted historical ages on the walls of temples, obelisks, monuments and papyrus. Consequently, it preserves for us a big heritage of human civilization achievements.

Egyptian civilization has witnessed bloomy times along the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Coptic and Islamic to modern and contemporary ages. Every age has its a unique characteristic that has been recorded in all colours of life that have combined, in one everlasting portrait of Egypt, the march of human civilization.

The pharaonic civilization, in particular, has been distinguished for its magnificent monuments. Therefore, it has had successive generations of admirers, and the Egyptians themselves have been the first to admire the monuments of their ancestors. So, they excelled and devoted their lives to building and preserving them since very early times.
When the ancient historian, the chief priest of temples Monitoon, began writing the history of ancient Egypt, he noted that its beginning coincides with the outset of human creation till the end of the pharaonic era therefore, he described it as the most ancient human civilization on Earth that was born over time.
The Egyptian civilization passed through all the ages of history and left behind a great heritage of monuments of every age. So, troops of archaeologists and specialists in all sciences of human civilization have always been dispatached to study such treasures. Some of them became admirers of Egypt and its monuments, thus spent their lives in exploring, visiting, researching and writing on them.

In addition, magic, mummification, the miracle of building the pyramids and the Legend of Atlantis; the large island continent that is said to be lost and never seen by anyone, gave a unique dimension to the pharoanic civilization that includes all sciences of archaeology, medicine, geometry, astronomy, agriculture and irrigation.
Al Mutanabbi, one of the most famous Arab poets, described the pyramids saying:
A building of which time is afraid while all what on earth is afraid of time.

Hierodotus, the Greek rover historian, was one of the most admirers of the Egyptian monuments. He wrote on Egypt saying: There is no other country that has wonders and crafts as these of Egypt. Also, Alexander the Great was one of the admirers of Egypt and of its monuments. He willed to be buried in Amun Oasis in Siwa. Yet, the failure of archaeologists to discover the Alexander's tomb added to the Egyptian monuments a new mystery.

Furthermore, no queen of the ancient world has ever enjoyed what the Pharaonic Nile-charming Queen, Cleopatra, had. She has always been a spring of inspiration for romantic lovers.

Admirers of Egypt's monuments are not only specialists and scientists but most of them are lovers of art, life, beauty, literature and music. For example, when the romantic French author, Gustave Flaubert visited Egypt in the middle of the nineteenth century, he admired Egypt and its monuments. He then wore the eastern costumes. Also, he was extremely influenced by the Sphinx, about which he said: "Seeing the Sphinx is one of the delights that fascinated me more than anything in my life".

In 1798, the French expedition came to Egypt under the leadership of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who brought with him full troops of the most qualified and the most skillful French scientists in all fields, especially in the field of archaeology. Those people were so eager to study the Egyptian monuments and decipher their talismans. It is said that they were greatly enthusiastic on recording the temples, tombs and hieroglyphic inscriptions, and that they were so engrossed in work that when their pencils ran out, they melted the guns' bullets to use for writing.

The scientists of the expedition presented the human civilization with the greatest gift when Champollion succeeded in deciphering the talismans of Hieroglyphic language. Also, they presented "The Description of Egypt"; a book that is regarded as a description of the human civilization over the ancient history.

In addition, the king of France "Louis Philippe" was one of the lovers of art, and beauty and he was a man of fine-taste, therefore he took the obelisk of RamsisII, which had been erected by the greatest Pharaoh in Egypt in the 13th century BC in front of the huge temple of Amun. It was placed in the "Concorde" square in the heart of Paris between the famous Touleri gardens and Louvre palace on one side and the Triumphal Arch and Champs-Elys'e gardens on the other side. Such pharoanic obelisk still stands high showing the greatness of Egypt's civilization.

Since the sixteenth century, France had a kind of fondness of the Egyptian figures, as the statues of the Sphinx that were used in adorning entrances, gardens and even tombs.

Also, Italy witnessed the phenomenon of decorating the Italian architecture with pharaonic statues and inscriptions. Statues of the Sphinx, in particular, were used in decorating the Capitol in Rome. In France, spice-dealers used to sell a medicine called "mummy"; an almost black-coloured powder extracted from the cremation of mummies. Emperor Francois I had not ever gone on a journey without such powder that cures the diseases of both the respiratory and the digestive systems; and also helps stop bleeding. The phenomenon of the infatuation with Egypt prevailed within the French aristocratic class by the beginning of the nineteenth century in the form of widespread pieces of furniture decorated with pharaonic inscriptions and ornamentations. Accordingly, France knew a new colour which was named "The Land of Egypt".

Furthermore, the queen of France "Marie Antoinette" (1755-1793) showed her fondness of Egypt when she ordered the bringing of a number of Egyptian artistic pieces to the royal palaces. She loved the statue of Sphinx, and that is why there are many of it in the palace of Versailles and in the Queen's study.

Also, "Mariette" Pasha was one of the most famous French lovers of the Egyptian monuments who contributed to the establishment of the Authority of the Egyptian Antiquities and the Egyptian Museum. In addition, he worked on organizing and classifying the Egyptian monuments. Egypt honoured this great scientist, and he was buried near the Egyptian museum in gratitude of his great efforts to serve Egypt in the field of archaeology.

On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter offered the greatest present to the admirers of the Egyptian monuments all over the world by discovering the cemetry of Tut-Ankh-Amun after several attempts made by Maspero, Mr. Jones and Carnovon. When Carter at the beginning of his discovery watched the cemetery room through a hole, he said to the man who had been with him: "I can see a wonderful thing. It is a magnificent view in its luxury and strangness."

Carter started working with Petri's expedition for discovering Egypt's monuments in 1889 when he was just 17 years old. He became an archaeology inspector and joined the expedition that discovered the cemetery of Silp Betah, and Tutmosis IV. Then Maspero, the famous archaeologist, introduced him to "Lord Carnovon", with whom he worked for a long time of which its major achievement was the discovery of the cemetery of Tutankhamun.

Thus, Carter presented a lot to Egypt in the field of archaeology. As tourists, especially the English, are enthusiastic about visiting the house in which he used to live in Luxor, the government is now preparing it to be inaugurated as a museum. Phlendz Petri, the founder of Egyptology, was called the "Great Lover" because he was extremely fond of the Egyptian monuments and the Pharaonic history. A book by Petri was issued entitled "75 Years of Excavations in Egypt". His house still exists nearby Ramsyoum temple as a witness saying: "here was the Great Lover." Moreover, Egypt's monuments knew a special type of admirers. In Europe as well as in the United States; religious groups rose up claiming that they adopt the Pharaonic religion.

They come to Egypt in a certain time every year to perform their rituals at the pyramids. Also, France witnessed the rise of groups calling themselves lovers of Egypt's monuments.
Egyptians admired their monuments in the past as well as in the modern age. Some devoted their lives for study and discovery such as Dr. Selim Hassan, Dr. Saied Karim, Dr. Zahi Hawas and others. While some established a national museum for Coptic monuments like Morcos Simika and others established comprehensive museums such as Mohammad Mahmoud Khalil (and his wife) who gave his palace that lies on the bank of the River Nile to the state after he had turned it into a museum.

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone led to the modern understanding of Hieroglyphs. It is a stone tablet engraved with writing in 196 B.C., which celebrates King Ptolemy V. It is a solid piece of black basalt and is 113 cm high and 25 cm wide. The interesting thing about the Rosetta Stone is that the writing is repeated in three different alphabets:
-Hieroglyphic used by ancient Egyptians at the top of the stone.
-Demotic used by Arabs including Modern Egyptians at earlier times in the center of the stone.
- Greek used by the Greeks, and other eastern Europeans at the base of the stone.
The stone was rediscovered in 1799, by a French contingent during the French expedition to Egypt.

The stone recorded a decree passed by the priests of Memphis in honour of Ptolemy V (r. 205 B.C.- 181 B.C.) on the occasion of his accession and coronation, for his bounty to the temples and the priesthood. Because people of the 19th century could not understand the Hieroglyphic parts of the engraving, a French man called Jean- Francois Champillion worked out to disclose the clues of the Hieroglyphs in 1821 A.D.

The Rosetta Stone now rests in the British Museum in London. A number of Western scientists such as Lebsose, Pedge, Bergshe and Bukhart have played a leading role in the domain of archaeology and Hieroglyphics as well as Egyptian scientists such as Ahmed Kamal, Selim Hassan, Samy Gabarah and Abdel-Moneim Abu-Bakr.