Cairo, Egypt (Part 2)

Once you are done with Part 1 of Cairo proceed with this post.

Music

People in Egypt have been playing music since the stone age. However, the earlier evidences are from 3100B.C. As seen in the picture above, there were instruments like guitars and harps. There were wind instruments like clarinet, with reeds for the mouthpiece, and there were bronze trumpets too. There were percussion instruments like drums and rattles. Most of the Egyptian musicians were women. As today, sometimes Egyptian musicians had to wear thin or revealing clothes and dance along with singing.

Art

Once the Persians conquered Egypt, Egyptian art became a mixture of different cultures. Each of these cultures mixed with Egyptian culture in a different way.By about 7500 B.C. Egyptian artists were also carving on rocks. Around 3000B.C. Egyptian artists began to create their own rock walls to carve and paint, by building stone buildings. Most of the buildings that have been left are known as "Mastabas" which were the burial places for the rich people after they die. These pictures that were carved were supposed to help the dead person out when they reach the next world. Egyptians thought that we live after we die in this world. So, the paintings showed all sorts of things that people did in their regular life.

Sculpture

People began to carve sculptures from about 4500BC. These early sculptures were small and mos

tly of women. But from 2900 BC, Egyptian artists began to carve life-size stone sculptures.

Egyptian Writing

Nobody knows from where Egyptians figured out how to write, is it either from themselves or from the Sumerians, who began writing about the same time, around 3000 BC. The Egyptian form of writing, hieroglyphs, does not look the same as the Sumerian form of writing. Most part of Egyptian writing came out from the tombs. The hieroglyphs are mostly symbols that mean something. List of symbols and meanings.

Egyptian Gods

As in the rest of the Africa, people of ancient Egypt were polytheistic, meaning they believed in many gods. Some of these gods were Ra, Anubis, Seth, Isis and Horus. Egyptians worshiped these gods with animal scarifies, with incense and many processions. People believed that Egypt belonged to the gods and the Pharaoh was the representation on earth of gods, or a kind of god himself. They thought when you die, Anubis would weigh your soul against a feather, and if your soul is heavier than the feather then you will be punished since you have committed sins. They thought that after a person dies he goes into a new world, so they put in the grave everything you would need in a next world.

Under Greek rule, the Egyptians begin to worship some Greek gods as well. At the same time, Greek people in Athens began to worship Egyptian goddess Isis. After Romans conquered Egypt some Egyptians began to convert to christianity. However, with the coming of Islam in Egypt in late 600AD, most Egyptians converted to Islam. Since 700 A.D. most people in Egypt have been following the Islamic faith.

The Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Sphinx

Pyramids are the first ancient sites that pop up in our mind whenever we hear about Egypt. They are the icon of Egypt. There are about 118 pyramids constructed by the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Few of them are grouped near the city of Cairo. The pyramid age began with a burst of a building in 3rd dynasty reign of Djoser. Pyramids served as a tomb for the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Pic of Great pyramid of Giza from a 19th century photograph

The great pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the pyramids. It is the oldest of the seven wonders of Ancient world. It was the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu. It took around 20yrs to construct this pyramid. There are 3 chambers inside the great pyramid. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock on which the pyramid was build. Then the queen's chamber and king's chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure. The Egyptian pyramids are the exemplary art of ancient times.

Sphinx

A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head. In Greek tradition, it has the haunches of a lion, wings of a great bird, face and breast of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in the mythological stories. The Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man.

Mummies

How can we complete talking about Egypt and not mention about Mummies. A mummy is a body of a person that has been preserved after death. The ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a person's body after death was essential to ensure a safe passage to the afterlife. There were about 70 million mummies in 3000years. So where did the mummies go? Countless mummies were destroyed in the middle ages. The best preserved mummies are those of the pharaohs and their relatives. These mummies were carefully embalmed and protected from harm. Three famous Egyptian mummies are Tutankhamen, Seti I and Rameses II.

The method of treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification. Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. The art of mummification consisted of many steps. First, the body was washed and ritually purified. The next step was to remove the deceased person's inner organs. A slit was cut into the left side of the body so that they could remove the intestines, lives, stomach and the lungs. Each of these organs were embalmed using natron, which served to dry out the organs and discourage bacteria from decaying the tissue. After removing the inner organs, the body cavity was filled with natron. The brain was removed through the nose using long hooks. Since ancient Egyptians considered brain to be unimportant, it was probably thrown away. Once the mummy was finally prepared, it was time for the funeral.

Quick facts about Cairo, Egypt

Before we end the article about Cairo lets see some quick facts about the city.

• Cairo was a stronghold of many ancient dynasties throughout the ages governed by Pharaohs, Romans, Greeks, British and the French.
• Cairo is one of the famous tourist destinations in Egypt because of the pyramids of Giza.
• Cairo is the largest city of Africa with population more than 69 million.
• In Cairo, Sunday is not part of the weekend, but a traditional day off.
• Unlike we all might guess, the national animal of Egypt is not camel, its Saladin's Eagle.
• National language of Egypt is Arabic.

Hereby, I am concluding my posts on Cairo, Egypt. Hope you all enjoyed reading about it.

Next week I will be featuring - Tokyo, Japan which is also one of my favorite city.