![]() It wasn’t until the end of March, after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and the national situation had stabilized somewhat, that village police resumed patrols of the site. In February of 2011, as the revolution gathered strength in Tahrir Square, all across the country the police disappeared, and in the Buried teams of looters opened more than two hundred pits. ![]() It’s also attracted looters during times of political instability. For more than five millennia, this ground was used as a cemetery, and it’s been the focus of intensive archeological work since the mid-eighteen-hundreds. During much of Pharaonic times, this was the most sacred spot in the country, and today there’s still an elevated stretch of desert next to town that’s largely protected from any farming or development. This was the cradle of Egyptian civilization, and the earliest known hieroglyphics, dating to around 3200 B.C., were discovered inscribed into relics that had been buried near those Abydos cliffs.Ībydos is the ancient name for a cluster of villages at the western edge of the gorge. An even greater miracle is how long they’ve been here. But more than thirty million people live in this arid place, representing about forty per cent of the country’s population. Head due west and the next river you cross is in South Florida. ![]() There’s no rain to speak of, and the surrounding desert is absolute: from the air, the narrow corridor of green along the Nile appears hopelessly isolated. At Abydos, the gorge is about fifteen miles wide, flanked on both sides by high cliffs that are the color of sand. ![]() Upper Egypt lies to the south, where the river has carved a deep gorge into the North African plateau. The ancient Egyptians separated their land into Upper and Lower, a division that confuses moderns who orient themselves by the compass rather than by the Nile. This region has been a world apart ever since Pharaonic times. From Cairo, it’s only about three hundred miles to Abydos, in Upper Egypt, but the distance feels much greater. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |