GIZA & CAIRO: THE END OF THE MYSTERY ON THE NILE

The Grandma at Giza in the past

The trip is arriving to the end. The travel along the Nile River has been an incredible and unforgettable experience. Every member of the group has different favourite places to choose and to explain and they have edited some videos to remember their travel.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon loves Archaeology and he has chosen the Land of the Pharaohs as his best experience. For Tina Picotes and Claire Fontaine it's impossible to choose only one site and they prefer to remember every place they have visited. The Grandma is a fan of Saint George and she remembers with a special feeling the visit to the Copts and Saint George's churches.

They are living the lasts hours in Egypt and they're enjoying the wonderful pyramids of Giza and the incredible activity of the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Before finishing this amazing travel, The Grandma has studied two new chapters of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 13 & 14).

For The Grandma, it has been a very special travel because she wanted to discover the origins of Saint George, a very important figure for lots of communities and for their culture.

More information: Travel and holidays & Interests and free time

  

Giza is the third-largest city in Egypt and the capital of the Giza Governorate. It is located on the west bank of the Nile, 4.9 km southwest of central Cairo.

Giza's most famous land form and archaeological site, the Giza Plateau, holds some major monuments of Egyptian history, and is home to the Great Sphinx. Once thriving with the Nile that flowed right into the Giza Plateau, the pyramids of Giza were built overlooking the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis, across the river from modern day Cairo.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon & The Great Sphinx, Giza

The Giza Plateau is also home to Egyptian monuments such as the tomb of Pharaoh Djet of the First Dynasty, as well as that of Pharaoh Ninetjer of the Second Dynasty.

The Great Pyramid of Giza at one time was advocated (1884) as the location for the Prime Meridian, a reference point used for determining a base longitude. Giza lies less than 20 km north of Mn Nefer, Memphis, which means the beautiful wall in the ancient Egyptian language, and which was the capital city of the first unified Egyptian state since the days of Pharaoh Narmer.

Memphis was the ancient Pharaonic capital of the Old Kingdom. Its St. George cathedral is the episcopal see of the Coptic Catholic Eparchy of Giza.

The Giza pyramid complex is an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo. It includes the three Great Pyramids, Khufu/Cheops, Khafre/Chephren and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex. It is located in the Western Desert, approximately 9 km west of the Nile River at the old town of Giza, and about 13 km southwest of Cairo city centre.

More information: History

The pyramids, which have historically been common as emblems of ancient Egypt in the Western imagination, were popularised in Hellenistic times, when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is by far the oldest of the ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence.

The Pyramids of Giza consist of the Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu and constructed c.2560 – c.2540 BC, the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre or Chephren a few hundred meters to the south-west, and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure or Mykerinos a few hundred meters farther south-west.

The Grandma, Joseph & The Great Sphinx, Giza

The Great Sphinx lies on the east side of the complex. Current consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of Khafre. Along with these major monuments are a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as queens pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids.

Khufu’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, now buried beneath the village of Nazlet el-Samman; basalt paving and nummulitic limestone walls have been found but the site has not been excavated. The valley temple was connected to a causeway which was largely destroyed when the village was constructed.

The causeway led to the Mortuary Temple of Khufu. From this temple the basalt pavement is the only thing that remains. The mortuary temple was connected to the king’s pyramid. The king’s pyramid has three smaller queen’s pyramids associated with it and five boat pits. The boat pits contained a ship, and the 2 pits on the south side of the pyramid still contained intact ships. One of these ships has been restored and is on display. Khufu's pyramid still has a limited collection of casing stones at its base. These casing stones were made of fine white limestone quarried from the nearby range.

More information: National Geographic

Khafre’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, the Sphinx temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple and the king’s pyramid. The valley temple yielded several statues of Khafre. Several were found in a well in the floor of the temple by Mariette in 1860. Others were found during successive excavations by Sieglin (1909–10), Junker, Reisner, and Hassan.

Khafre’s complex contained five boat-pits and a subsidiary pyramid with a serdab. Khafre's pyramid appears larger than the adjacent Khufu Pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location, and the steeper angle of inclination of its construction, it is, in fact, smaller in both height and volume. Khafre's pyramid retains a prominent display of casing stones at its apex.

Visiting The Great Sphinx, Giza

Menkaure’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple, and the king’s pyramid. The valley temple once contained several statues of Menkaure.

During the 5th Dynasty, a smaller ante-temple was added on to the valley temple. The mortuary temple also yielded several statues of Menkaure. The king’s pyramid has three subsidiary or queen’s pyramids. Of the four major monuments, only Menkaure's pyramid is seen today without any of its original polished limestone casing.

The Sphinx dates from the reign of king Khafre. During the New Kingdom, Amenhotep II dedicated a new temple to Hauron-Haremakhet and this structure was added onto by later rulers.

Khentkaus I was buried in Giza. Her tomb is located in the Central Field, near the valley temple of Menkaure. The pyramid complex of Queen Khentkaus includes: her pyramid, a boat pit, a valley temple and a pyramid town.

Most construction theories are based on the idea that the pyramids were built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. The disagreements center on the method by which the stones were conveyed and placed and how possible the method was.

More information: Discover Magazine

In building the pyramids, the architects might have developed their techniques over time. They would select a site on a relatively flat area of bedrock, not sand, which provided a stable foundation. After carefully surveying the site and laying down the first level of stones, they constructed the pyramids in horizontal levels, one on top of the other.

For the Great Pyramid of Giza, most of the stone for the interior seems to have been quarried immediately to the south of the construction site. The smooth exterior of the pyramid was made of a fine grade of white limestone that was quarried across the Nile. These exterior blocks had to be carefully cut, transported by river barge to Giza, and dragged up ramps to the construction site. Only a few exterior blocks remain in place at the bottom of the Great Pyramid. During the Middle Ages, 5th century to 15th century, people may have taken the rest away for building projects in the city of Cairo.

The Grandma & Claire contemplate the pyramids

To ensure that the pyramid remained symmetrical, the exterior casing stones all had to be equal in height and width. 

Workers might have marked all the blocks to indicate the angle of the pyramid wall and trimmed the surfaces carefully so that the blocks fit together. During construction, the outer surface of the stone was smooth limestone; excess stone has eroded as time has passed.

The pyramids of Giza and others are thought to have been constructed to house the remains of the deceased Pharaohs who ruled over Ancient Egypt. A portion of the Pharaoh's spirit called his ka was believed to remain with his corpse. Proper care of the remains was necessary in order for the former Pharaoh to perform his new duties as king of the dead. It's theorized the pyramid not only served as a tomb for the Pharaoh, but also as a storage pit for various items he would need in the afterlife.  

The people of Ancient Egypt believed that death on Earth was the start of a journey to the next world. The embalmed body of the King was entombed underneath or within the pyramid to protect it and allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife.

The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids were astronomically oriented to the north-south and east-west within a small fraction of a degree. The arrangement of the pyramids is a representation of the Orion constellation according to the disputed Orion Correlation Theory.

More information: UNESCO

When we find something new at Giza, 

we announce it to the world. 

The Sphinx and the Pyramids are world treasures. 

We are the guardian's of these treasures, 

but they belong to the world.

Zahi Hawass

Cairo is the capital of Egypt. The city's metropolitan area is one of the largest in Africa, the largest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and the 15th-largest in the world, and is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area.

Located near the Nile Delta, modern Cairo was founded in 969 CE by the Fatimid Dynasty, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of ancient national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo.  

Tina Picotes in the market, Cairo

Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life, and is titled the city of a thousand minarets for its preponderance of Islamic architecture.

Cairo is located in northern Egypt, known as Lower Egypt, 165 kilometres south of the Mediterranean Sea and 120 kilometres west of the Gulf of Suez and Suez Canal. The city lies along the Nile River, immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region.

Until the mid-19th century, when the river was tamed by dams, levees, and other controls, the Nile in the vicinity of Cairo was highly susceptible to changes in course and surface level. 

More information: Lonely Planet

Over the years, the Nile gradually shifted westward, providing the site between the eastern edge of the river and the Mokattam highlands on which the city now stands. The land on which Cairo was established in 969, present-day Islamic Cairo, was located underwater just over three hundred years earlier, when Fustat was first built.

Low periods of the Nile during the 11th century continued to add to the landscape of Cairo; a new island, known as Geziret al-Fil, first appeared in 1174, but eventually became connected to the mainland. Today, the site of Geziret al-Fil is occupied by the Shubra district. The low periods created another island at the turn of the 14th century that now composes Zamalek and Gezira. Land reclamation efforts by the Mamluks and Ottomans further contributed to expansion on the east bank of the river.

Visiting the Salah El Din Citadel, Cairo

Because of the Nile's movement, the newer parts of the city, Garden City, Downtown Cairo, and Zamalek, are located closest to the riverbank. The areas, which are home to most of Cairo's embassies, are surrounded on the north, east, and south by the older parts of the city.  

Old Cairo, located south of the centre, holds the remnants of Fustat and the heart of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, Coptic Cairo. The Boulaq district, which lies in the northern part of the city, was born out of a major 16th-century port and is now a major industrial centre. 

The Citadel is located east of the city centre around Islamic Cairo, which dates back to the Fatimid era and the foundation of Cairo. While western Cairo is dominated by wide boulevards, open spaces, and modern architecture of European influence, the eastern half, having grown haphazardly over the centuries, is dominated by crowded tenements, and Islamic architecture.

More information: Ask Aladdin

Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's importance for the country. Its official name al-Qāhirah  means the Vanquisher or the Conqueror, supposedly due to the fact that the planet Mars, an-Najm al-Qāhir, the Conquering Star, was rising at the time when the city was founded, possibly also in reference to the much awaited arrival of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'izz who reached Cairo in 973 from Mahdia, the old Fatimid capital. The location of the ancient city of Heliopolis is the suburb of Ain Shams, Eye of the Sun.

Claire Fontaine in the Cairo Citadel

The Coptic name of the city is Kashromi which means man breaker which is akin to Arabic al-Qāhirah . Sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro by people from Alexandria.

The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis that was the old capital of Egypt, had long been a focal point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the modern city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. 

Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance, the Romans established a fortress town along the east bank of the Nile. This fortress, known as Babylon, was the nucleus of the Roman and then the Byzantine city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, which separated from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the late 4th century.

More information: Britannica

Many of Cairo's oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo.

The Church of St. George is a Greek Orthodox church within Babylon Fortress in Coptic Cairo. It is part of the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of St George under the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa. 

The church dates back to the 10th century or earlier. The current structure was rebuilt following a 1904 fire, construction was finished in 1909. Since 2009, the monastery's hegumen has had the rank of bishop with title Bishop Babylonos.

The Grandma at the Church of Saint George, Cairo

St. George is the only round church in Egypt, but unlike the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre and its many imitators, such as Rome's Santa Stefano Rotondo and London's Temple Church, this is only for practical reasons, it is built atop the foundations of a Roman round tower.

Inside, the dark interior is heavy with incense and pierced by sunbeams that filter through its stained glass windows. A closed flight of steps leads down into the old Roman tower, once believed to be peopled by devils.

Next door, the Monastery of St. George is now the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. The monastery rarely admits tourists.

More information: Britannica

There are another Church of St. George and a Convent of St. George, the latter of which opens its chapel to visitors and has some English-speaking nuns. Both of these institutions are Coptic Orthodox.

The Church of Saint George is situated in the district of Old Cairo, is an area known as Coptic Cairo, the first settlement of Christians in central Egypt back in the 10th Century. The word Copt means Egyptian Christian.

The Grandma loves Saint George, Cairo

The Church of Saint George is located about 30 minutes from Downtown Cairo, Saint Georges Church sits in the heart of Old Coptic Cairo in the Old Cairo district. It is located amongst several other Churches in a private Christian community which has been established and preserved since the 10th Century.

The Church of Saint George, which is Greek Orthodox,was built by Athanasius during the reign of Ibn Marwan, Governor of Egypt, and was mentioned in the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church and by Al-Maqrizi.

The church was destroyed by fire in the middle of the last century and later reconstructed without cupolas. The modern church, of the four pillar type, is without architectural interest, but the Qa’at Al-Irsan, the Nuptial Hall, which belong to the complex, is a small palace from the 13th/14th century measuring 15 by 12 meters. The hall contains beautiful tracery and carving reminiscent of ornamentation found in some Cairo mansions from the Mameluke Period.

Old Cairo is well and truly a fantastic part of Cairo where visitors can easily spend an entire day or more exploring the many ancient sites.

More information: Coptic Cairo

The Coptic area in particular is a place not to be missed, since it is home to many famous religious buildings, one of which is the delightful Church of St. George. In fact, many visitors believe that the Church of St. George is the most eye catching building in the area.

Dragon weather vane, Church of St. George, Cairo

The interior of the Greek Orthodox St. George church is accessed through the massive front doors. The interior of the church is renowned for its beautiful stained glass and the abundance of rich darkly stained wood. The closed stairs go down into the ruins of the older Roman tower.

There are some interesting places to visit in the Coptic area. The Coptic Museum; Hanging Church; Ben Ezra Synagogue; Church of St. Barbara and the Coptic St. George Church are all within easy walking distance of each other.

It's possible to ascend the steps along the Roman towers and see a relief of St. George slaying a dragon on the outer brickwork of the wall. Inside, the austere ancient artwork grace the church with depictions of St. George and his quest to defend Christianity.
 

 More information: Smithsonian

I love the Middle East. I love the colors and smells 

and cadence of Arabic spoken in the streets of Cairo. 

Kai Bird