Bart Bear's Blog

Egypt is one of the highlights of the Oldies' lives, so they say. Actually, I thought having me around should be the continuing highlight. Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures that show just how colossal some of the ancient Egyptian monuments are. Dad is busy photographing hieroglyphs on the columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall in the temple at Karnak. The columns are 24m high and were covered in carvings. Many of the carvings were broken when some of the columns fell and the restored columns are smooth in the lost areas. You can see how much darker it is inside the Hall by comparing it with the second photo, where Mum is standing near a statue of Ramses the Great and his daughter, Bent'anta. Ramses wasn't that much bigger than Mum or his daughter; the size of the statue indicates how important he considered himself. In this case he is about 7 times bigger (i.e. more important) than Bent'anta and Mum. I dispute that; nobody is more important than Mum! The Oldies took over 9,000 photos in Egypt and Mum and I have been translating the hieroglyphs ever since they got back from the trip.
It's a real shame to see Egypt in the troubled state it is in at present. I hope that common sense will prevail and it will be once again a beautiful country full of beautiful people.

Labels: buildings, Egypt

It has been cold, wet and miserable for the last week here in Canberra. In weather like that I think about somewhere warm and dry. The warmest and driest place that the Oldies have been is Egypt. Long-time readers will remember that the meanies left me at home while they were gallivanting around the globe back in 2007; they won't ever do that again. The first thing that people think about when they think Egypt is "Pyramids", so here are some more photos of the best-known ones, situated right near Cairo, at Giza and Saqqara. You can see more photos of the big Giza ones in the posts from late 2007. In the top photo you can see the suburbs of Cairo in the background, just beyond the edge of the desert plateau. In fact, the Oldies stayed at a famous hotel just 800 metres from the pyramids. The photo was taken from a lookout point where all the buses stop. It was jammed solid with people but Mum managed to get to the front of the crowd and take lots of photos. What I like is the batches of camels taking tourists for rides. No, the Oldies didn't ride, they say they respect their posteriors too much to have them bounced around on a bony camel. The bottom picture is of their favourite pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. This was actually the first attempt to build a big pyramid. It was built for Pharaoh Djoser, over 3000 years ago. Before that time, pharaohs were buried in big rectangular tombs called Mastabas. Djoser wanted something bigger, so his architect, Imhotep, piled six mastabas on top of one another in a tapering pile. Later pharaohs used the same idea but filled in the steps to make the classical pyramids. Scruffy and I make pyramids whenever we are at the beach, but so far we haven't built anything higher than 2 metres.

Labels: Egypt

In earlier posts you met the alter-egos of the Oldies, Sheik Rattlenroll and Princess Neferonnasunday (that's them on the right of the picture, just in case you are confused). Well, at the barbecue evening of the astronomy conference in Brisbane they were joined by two more representatives of Egyptian astronomy. Unka Ray and Aunty Libby have been to Egypt too and they decided to join the Oldies as their alter-egos. Unka Ray is Pharaoh Potolomey the Last and Aunty Libby is Princess Neferataloss. They caused quite a stir at the barbie and, surprisingly, some of the attendees couldn't work out what Egypt had to do with astronomy. Just in case you are wondering as well, Alexandria in Egypt was the main centre of all sciences in classical times. One of the most important astronomical books of all time was written there, Ptolomey's Almagest. You should also remember that the Arabic scientists were the ones who kept the sciences alive during the European Dark Ages. Indeed, most of the brighter stars have Arabic names. The presence of the Pharaoh, the Sheik and the Princesses at the barbie was a tribute to these important ancient astronomers.

Labels: astronomy, Brisbane, Egypt, friends, Queensland

This is one of the most spectacular ancient buildings in Egypt. It is the mortuary temple of the female pharoah Hatshepsut. There were only a few female rulers of ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut was the most successful of them and ruled for 22 years. Her army secured Egypt's borders and most of her rein was peaceful and prosperous. She sent trading expeditions all over the known world and the results made Egypt very rich. The sign in the left corner of the big photo says that the dead tree stump near it is from a tree brought back by an expedition to the land of Punt, probably Somalia, Eritrea or Arabia. What the Oldies liked best is that there are some really well-preserved hieroglyphs in parts of the temple. Because they have been under cover for thousands of years, rather than buried in sand (the carvings, not the Oldies), the colours have survived. The wall in the photo is covered with hieroglyphs describing an offering to Anubis, the God of mummification. The temple has survived the centuries very well. Restoration is going on, but compared to other buildings in the area, Deir el Bahri, this one is a masterpiece. Let's hope it survives the present troubles in Egypt.

Labels: Egypt

There are two main ways to see the temples and towns along the Nile, by boat and by train. Of course you could walk if you wanted to, but it would take a very long time. The Oldies went by boat. There are hundreds of boats, most of them cruising between Luxor and Aswan. Here are a lot of them docked at the cruise wharf at Luxor. The Luxor temple is visible just behind the boats. It is close enough that the Oldies were able to just walk off the boat and into the temple. Notice how the boats are docked three abreast at the wharves. Passengers on the outside boats have to walk across through the lobbies of the inside boats to get to their one. Leaving Luxor is an experience as most of the boats leave at almost the same time and then race upriver to the locks at Edfu; the faster boats get through the locks first. It's fun to see. Boats have the big advantage that they are really comfortable and the food is good. The other way is to go by train between towns. This is faster but nowhere near as comfortable and the food is a bit chancey. This train was on a section of track north of Aswan where the sand dunes were almost on the river bank. One of the big jobs of Egyptian railwaymen is keeping the dunes from covering the tracks. No matter how you travel, the trip along the Nile is fascinating and well worth doing. I wouldn't like to walk it though.

Labels: boats, Egypt, train

Actually, these pictures were taken when the Oldies were cruising UP the river. Not just any old river either, but the longest river in the world, the Nile. It's just four years ago that they were in Egypt, and they never stop talking about it. One of the highlights was three days cruising the river between Luxor and Aswan. It really fascinated them because the Nile is unlike any river they had seen. It runs through the desert and the amount of cultivation, trees and pasture depends only on the depth of the water table. In some places the land on either bank is low and farms stretch for kilometres out to the first hills. In other places the hills are right on the river bank and the desert comes right to the river. There are hundreds of boats using the Nile, from big tourist liners like the one that the Oldies were on, to small sailing boats called feluccas. There is always something to see; people fishing, farmers plowing (using cows as tractors), cattle grazing in swampy patches, and hordes of kids who come down to the banks to wave. A Nile cruise is something that everybody should do and, when things in Egypt settle down, think about a visit. Egypt really is a very special place, one that you will never forget.

Labels: boats, cruising, Egypt

Did you guess where I was heading after the last posting? The Oldies and I went down to Melbourne to see the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibition. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the exhibition, so here are some that the Oldies took when they were in Egypt back in 2007. The statues are of Tutankhamun and his queen, Ankhesenamun. You can see this statue in the Luxor Temple. Tutankhamun is buried in the Valley of the Kings, across the Nile from Luxor. Lots of Pharaohs are buried in this valley, which has a mountain shaped like a pyramid at the end. You can go into his tomb and see his mummy case (he is back inside it now), but can't take pictures. Most of the treasures from his tomb are in the Cairo Museum and, guess what, no photos allowed there either. So if you want to see some of the treasures you have to go to Cairo, or see the exhibition if it comes to your country.

Labels: Egypt, Melbourne, Victoria

I will be away for most of this week. You should be able to guess where from the two clues. One clue is the photo, and the other is this name:

Back next week, after Mum and I learn more about this stuff.

Labels: Egypt, Melbourne, Victoria

Looking through my blog yesterday, I realized that there are lots of pictures from the Oldies' big overseas trip that I haven't shown you (they took over 12,000 but don't worry, I won't blitz you with all of them). Here they are at the pyramids at Giza. Giza is just outside Cairo and you can see part of the city in the background. Tourists have been visiting the pyramids for thousands of years. When the Oldies were there it was difficult to get a picture without hordes of people in it, but they managed somehow. There are hundreds of pyramids in Egypt, but these are the ones that everyone knows about. My old Geezers say that the pyramids look smaller than they expected, but they were impressed by the size of the stone blocks used. Just compare the size of the blocks with the people in the smaller picture. It must have been spectacular when the pyramids were new 4,500 or so years ago. They were covered in smooth white stone and would have really glowed. Over the centuries the stone has been taken away for other buildings, but I think that, even today, these are really impressive bits of work.

Labels: Egypt

Mum has found a shop in Canberra that sells all sorts of Egyptian stuff. She has already collected a lot of smallish Egyptian statues. Her friends call them her "Egyptian Bonsai". Well, one of the ones she bought from the shop is this one of Horus. Horus is the falcon god of old Egypt, the god of war, the sky and protection. Like Santa, he is supposed to be able to see everything. The statue is not much bigger than this small bear, but in Egypt there are much bigger ones. In the left photo you see Mum leaning against one of them at the temple of Horus at Edfu, and you can see it is a lot bigger than her. Actually, the Oldies took a lot of photos of Mum looking at or leaning on statues during their trip to Egypt. I can't be sure they aren't faked because the meanies left be at home to avoid the risk of me being mutilated by customs officers. Personally, I would have risked it.

Labels: Canberra, Egypt

We found this guy at the Egyptian exhibition in Sydney last week. I thought his name was A-New-Boss when I heard it first, but it turns out to be Anubis. In ancient Egypt, Anubis was the jackal-headed god who looked after the making of mummies and who led the souls of dead people through all the trials and perils of the afterlife on their way to judgement. He also was the protector of tombs. Jackals are doggie things that are often seen around the outskirts of Egyptian villages, digging in rubbish heaps and cemetries, so that's probably why the Egyptians made Anubis a jackal-headed guy. Actually, Anubis is the Greek name for him. Those of us who study heiroglyphs (Mum and I, around our house) know that the Egyptian name for him is actually Inpw. Anyway, I am glad that his name isn't A-new-boss because there is only room for one boss in this house and it's Mum.

Labels: Egypt, Sydney

Time for another photo from the Oldies big trip, so here's one from Egypt. This is a place called Saqqara and the area around here has the oldest pyramids in Egypt. The one that looks like it has been built in layers is the first attempt at a real pyramid. It is the Step Pyramid, built for Pharoah Djoser in the 27th century BC.When it was new it was covered in polished white limestone, but today all the limestone has been pinched and only the stone core of the pyramid is left. Dad says it is actually the most impressive pyramid in Egypt. It is about 60 metres tall and has around 5 km of tunnels underneath it. The thing on the right that looks like a rubble pile is also the remains of a pyramid, the pyramid of Userkaf. It was built with a mud brick core so ever since the outside limestone blocks were stolen from it, it has been slowly eroding away. In the distance to the left of the Step Pyramid is the Pryamid of Unas, a very important one because it was in there that the first of the Pyramid Texts was discovered in 1881. Dad walked up onto a small hill at Saqqara (probably a broken-down pyramid) and could see 12 pyramids from there including the Red and the Bent Pyramids. The Oldies saw so much in Egypt and want to get back there as soon as they can. This time they better take me, because I spend far too much time on Google finding out what these photos are and want to see the real thing.

Labels: desert, Egypt

This is something you would not expect to see and hear. The Oldies were coming back to their tour bus after the sound-and-light show at the Sphinx and Pyramids during their Egypt trip. The show was surprisingly good. It was even better than normal because there was a storm off to the south over the desert and the lightning added some spectacular effects to the show. Anyhow, what did they hear while they were trying to find their bus but the sort of music they had heard the previous fortnight in Scotland. As they got closer and could hear more clearly, what did they see but a genuine Egyptian bagpipe and drum band. They were playing "Scotland the Brave" and they sounded really good. Pharaoh Ptolomey's Pipers maybe?? Travel is always full of surprises.

Labels: Egypt

I thought it was time for another photo from the Oldies big overseas trip, so here's one from Egypt.
These two big statues are called the Colossi of Memnon. They were built by Pharoah Amenhotep III about 4500 years ago to guard the gates of his temple in the ancient capital, Thebes.The statues have been badly damaged by centuries of tourists and erosion, but they are still really impressive and are the best remains of ancient Thebes. You can see the start of an evolution in headgear worn by Mum in Egypt. During the trip she developed a unique blend of Egyptian and Australian style that worked splendidly. She threatened severe consequences if I included this picture, so I wait with interest to see how fast I have to run.

Labels: Egypt

After four years of helping Mum with her hieroglyph homework I have finally been recognized. After all, Mum got her certificate for completing the two semester course two years ago. She would never have done it without my help. For the past year I have been helping her with translating all of the stuff she photographed in Egypt, thousands of photos with gazillions of hieroglyphs in them. The message finally got through that I was at least as good at this as Mum was when she finished the course, so she produced my very own certificate for me. It is good to have your skills recognized.

Labels: Egypt, learning

No doubt about the ancient Egyptian Pharoahs, they sure built things big and they built them to last. Just look at the size of these stone pillars in the temple at Karnak, near Luxor. The temple has suffered a lot of damage in its 3500 years, mostly by people pinching stone for buildings, but it is still one of the most impressive places on Earth. It is actually the largest temple complex ever built. These pillars, are in what is called the Hypostyle Hall. The roof has disappeared long ago. The pillars are covered in heiroglyphs. Some of the markings are hard to read now, but the ones that Ramses II had carved are still OK; he made sure that his stuff was cut deeper than anyone else's, and sometimes even had his ones cut over the top of older ones. Mum was in raptures at Karnak. She took hundreds of photos that we are still reading the heiroglyphs on. Dad had to keep reminding her to breathe and drink lots of water. If you ever get the chance to visit Egypt make sure that you get to see the temples at Luxor, and remember to take your small bear with you.

Labels: Egypt

This is a photo of the place that really was the highlight of the Oldies Big Trip last year. It is a set of two temples built by Pharoah Ramses II way up the Nile in the ancient land of Nubia (near the border with Sudan). They were carved out of a solid hill in the 13th century BCE. The big one with the huge seated statues (of Ramses, naturally) is the temple dedicated to the gods Amon-Ra and Ra-Horakhte. Actually, old Ramses ranked himself as a god as well. In the heart of the temple his statue is on the altar between the other two. The walls of the temple are covered with carvings and hieroglyphs telling the story of just how great Ramses was, in battle and in ruling Egypt. He really had a huge ego. One of the nice things about him, though, is that he included small statues of his children among the giant statues of himself. The other temple is not as big and is dedicated to his favourite wife, Nefetari, and the goddess Hathor. In the 1960s the temples were moved higher, into an artificial hill, because they would have been underwater when the Aswan High Dam filled. Mum had been wanting to visit this place ever since she was a little girl. Now she can't wait to go back again.
By the way, do you know why there aren't any Nile crocodiles in Egypt? Well, when the high dam was built the Egyptians rounded up all the crocodiles and tossed them over into the Sudanese side. Just thought you would like to know. Dad told me about it, and he wouldn't go for a swim here even though it was very, very hot, so it must be true.

Labels: Egypt

Move over Tut-ankh-amun, here's the new Pharoah, Bart-hol-omew. The oldies bought back a real Egyptian throne, just my size. It is like one of the ones that were found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Here I am with more of the Egyptian stuff that Mum has collected, all set up to receive petitions from commoners (like the oldies). From left to right we have: A sphinx, something that most Pharoahs had, a fierce lion with the Pharoah's face; The goddess Hathor, Mum's favourite because she is also represented as a cow; Me; Osiris, god of the underworld, the original little green man; and Bastet, the cat goddess. There are lots of Egyptian things around our house, but I am not letting the oldies go back for more unless they take me too.

Labels: Egypt

The oldies were on a real high when this photo was taken. No prizes for guessing where they were. They were at the best photo-stop for photographing the pyramids at Giza. These big piles of stones have been there for thousands of years and have been visited by just about every important person in the world (including my oldies). Actually, Dad says that they (the pyramids) are not as big as he expected them to be, but the individual blocks of stone are much bigger than expected. As you can see, the blocks are bigger than Mum and weigh tons. The two large pyramids are really impressive, even now after people have been pinching stone from them for centuries. They must have been really spectacular when they were new and covered in smooth, white limestone but unless somebody invents time-travel I guess I will never see them like that. I am impressed by the way that the oldies managed to get so many pictures on their big trip without other people in the frame, even though there were hundreds of tourists and hawkers in the areas they visited. Next time they can take me and I can growl people away while they get the pictures.

Labels: Egypt

Cows are found just about everywhere. They even have them in Egypt. While the oldies were cruising up the Nile they went past lots of them. Here's a herd that is living right on the edge of the river, in the soggy bits. The boat gets really close to the bank in some places so Mum even had a Moo-talk with the cows as they went past. If you click on the picture to make it bigger you can see the owners, their boats and the houses and sheds made from reeds. This would be a good place to live if you like water, but not so good if they let the river flood again. I am not sure if they have crabs so far upriver, but if they do I wouldn't live here for anything.

Labels: crabs, cruising, Egypt