May 13th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
Since the January 2011 Revolution, Egypt has been suffering social and political unrest, and its tourism industry has been hit hard.
Now the tumultuous situation is affecting one of the nation's main sources of income – its ancient heritage. Al-Ahram Weekly investigated several reports of damage at ancient sites and found a dire situation of neglect and willful destruction. At the ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
egypt posts
As Egypt's Tourism Industry Languishes, Antiquities Under Threat
May 13th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
Since the January 2011 Revolution, Egypt has been suffering social and political unrest, and its tourism industry has been hit hard.
Now the tumultuous situation is affecting one of the nation's main sources of income – its ancient heritage. Al-Ahram Weekly investigated several reports of damage at ancient sites and found a dire situation of neglect and willful destruction. At the ...Two Days After Scare, Russia Bans Flights Over Syria
May 1st, 2013 at 2:30PM: Just two days after a commercial airliner with 159 passengers detoured to avoid the danger of flying over a combat zone, Russia has officially banned flights over Syria, Reuters is reporting.
According to the news outlet, some Russian airlines had ignored a warning issue in February, and continued to pass over war-torn Syria. One of those planes was a chartered flight operated by NordWind ...Egyptian Mummies Weren't Given Enemas, Study Shows
Mar 23rd, 2013 at 1:00PM:
Ancient Egyptian mummies have been an object of fascination. The Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C., visited Egypt and wrote a description of the mummification process. Since no ancient Egyptian text survives, his account forms the basis of many descriptions in modern books and museum displays.
Now a new study by two Canadian scientists suggests Herodotus may have ...Landmarks Worldwide 'Go Green' For St. Patrick's Day
Mar 17th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
Did you know the color originally associated with St. Patrick was blue? The saint was said to have used the three-leaved shamrock, a green-colored clover, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish. Today, the symbol and its color have become ubiquitous features of the holiday, which is celebrated worldwide by the Irish and their diaspora ... plus anyone else looking for an excuse to ...Safety Of Hot-Air Balloon Rides Under Spotlight After Luxor Tragedy
Mar 1st, 2013 at 3:00PM:
For vacationers, a hot-air balloon ride is the ultimate way of taking in the landscape. Floating thousands of feet above ground, ballooners are afforded a dramatic bird's-eye view of popular tourist sites. But this week's ballooning disaster, where 19 people were killed during a hot-air balloon ride over the Egyptian city of Luxor, has brought the ballooning industry back to ground.
The ...Pyramids Discovered In Egypt And Sudan
Feb 24th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
You'd think archaeologists would have found all the pyramids of Africa by now, but two recent discoveries show there's a lot more discovering to be done.
A team of archaeologists working in Luxor, Egypt, have just announced they've discovered the pyramid of Khay, a powerful vizier of the Pharaoh Ramses II (ruled 1279-1212 B.C.). The pyramid was made of mudbrick and originally stood 49 feet ...Adventure Travel Company Brings Gorillas Up Close And Personal
Jan 17th, 2013 at 3:00PM:
Adventure travel might include hiking or camping in the wilderness of America's pacific northwest, backpacking through Europe or climbing a mountain in Tibet. On their own or with local guidance, adventure travelers often see places others only dream of. Not satisfied with a packaged tour, visiting the same places over and over again or waiting any longer for their dream to come true, they ...Tim Leffel On The World's 21 Cheapest Countries
Dec 12th, 2012 at 9:00AM: Tim Leffel's mission is to help skinflints like me find travel destinations they can afford. He traveled around the world on a shoestring with his wife three times and decided to write a book about the world's cheapest countries after realizing that there was no single resource out there for travelers looking for bargain destinations. The fourth edition of his book, "The World's Cheapest ...The Trick To Surviving Thanksgiving On The Road
Nov 21st, 2012 at 12:00PM:
I woke up last Thanksgiving with plenty to be thankful for. The sun was shining. The air was fragrant. Outside my guesthouse window, rice paddies extended as far as the eye could see. I was in Bali, for Christ's sake. There wasn't much to complain about.
Yet, I felt empty. Thanksgiving is one of the toughest days to travel, especially when you're alone. For a while, I puttered around ...Egypt Reopens Important Tombs At Saqqara
Sep 27th, 2012 at 1:30PM:
Despite facing political turmoil, authorities in Egypt have been forging ahead with renovations of key archaeological sites. Last week saw the renovation and reopening of two important tombs, the Serapeum and the tomb of Akhethotep & Ptahhotep.
The Serapeum dates to 1390 B.C. and was a tomb for holy bulls. I visited in 1991 and the memories of the gloomy underground corridors and giant ...
Egypt Protests Scatter Cruise Ships, Concern Tour Operators
Sep 14th, 2012 at 3:00PM: Egypt's tourism business has been suffering since the 2011 uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down. This week, in response to protests in Egypt, the vital industry received another blow as cruise lines and tour operators began making alternative plans.
"In an abundance of caution, Royal Caribbean International has decided to cancel Mariner of the Seas' next port call to ...Cache Of Severed Hands Discovered In Ancient Egyptian Palace
Aug 12th, 2012 at 1:00PM: Archaeologists digging at the ancient Egyptian site of Tell-el-Daba have made a grisly discovery – sixteen severed hands.
They were all right hands, and all large enough that they were probably from men, leading investigators to think they were trophies from a battle. Ancient Egyptian records mention the practice of collecting enemy hands to trade in for gold, but this is the first ...Archaeologists Discover Funerary Boat Of One Of Ancient Egypt's Earliest Pharaohs
Jul 31st, 2012 at 1:30PM:
A funerary boat dating back 5,000 years has been discovered in Egypt, Ahram Online reports.
The boat was meant to take the Pharaoh Den to the afterlife and was buried in the northeast of the Giza Plateau, site of the famous (and later) pyramids. Den was a ruler of Ancient Egypt's poorly understood First Dynasty, which saw the unification of Egypt and its development as a major civilization. ...Living In Cairo's City Of The Dead
Jul 6th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Life can be hard in the developing world, as is shown in this video of a poor neighborhood in Cairo done by IRIN Films. The film doesn't show your typical slum. This is the City of the Dead, a vast necropolis where poor people have moved in and set up homes and shops inside the tombs.
The capital of Egypt is a sprawling metropolis of some 12.5 million people. Actually, nobody is really sure ...
The Last Pyramids Of Egypt
May 21st, 2012 at 12:00PM:
They just don't make pyramids like they used to.
The pyramids of Egypt have fascinated people ever since they were built. The Step Pyramid at Saqqara started things off around 2650 B.C. Later came the iconic pyramids of Giza. What's often forgotten, however, is that pyramid construction continued for more than a thousand years and there are at least 138 built to house the remains of pharaohs ...New Ancient Egypt And Nubia Galleries At Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Apr 14th, 2012 at 2:30PM:
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has always been famous for its collection of art from Ancient Egypt and Nubia (Sudan). It recently revamped these galleries as part of a major remodel.
While the new galleries reopened in November, I didn't want to write it up until I got to see it for myself. The old galleries were dark, cramped and had endless cases crammed with artifacts. In other words, they ...Met Showcases Predynastic Art Of Egypt
Apr 13th, 2012 at 10:00AM: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has one of the best collections of ancient Egyptian art in the world. Now it has opened a special exhibition focusing on the lesser-known art from the early days of Egypt before the pharaohs.
"The Dawn of Egyptian Art" brings together art from the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods (ca. 4000–2650 B.C.), a time when Egypt was developing ...Ancient Egyptian tombs to be reopened
Mar 27th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
A visit to the pyramids at Giza in Egypt has just become even more interesting with the imminent reopening of six ancient Egyptian tombs nearby.
The tombs have been closed for many years for restoration, including the removal of graffiti left by people who don't deserve to travel. The tombs are part of the Western Cemetery reserved for minor royalty and high officials of the Fourth Dynasty ...'Egyptomania' grips Houston
Mar 19th, 2012 at 2:00PM: The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, has just opened a new exhibition exploring the West's fascination with ancient Egypt.
"Egyptomania" collects forty objects from the Egyptian revivals of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. This was the time when the West became widely aware of the great civilization of Egypt and started excavating there. Cutting open mummies became popular ...Previously unknown Egyptian pharaoh discovered
Mar 7th, 2012 at 12:00PM:
Egyptologists have made a stunning discovery at the famous temple of Luxor: an inscription naming a previously unknown Egyptian pharaoh.
A French team restoring a temple of Amon Ra found hieroglyphs bearing the name "Nekht In Ra." The inscription dates to the 17th dynasty, a relatively little-known dynasty from a murky period in Egyptian history.
The mysterious dynasty was the last of ...
