Egypt - The Land of of the Nile

So begins the introduction in the book "Pharonic Egypt Illuminated" by Samiha Hamdan, whose son was to accompany us on our trips to many of Egypt's ancient temples.

Egypt, the land of the Pharaoes and the Sphinx; the land of the pyramids and the Nile; a land of contrast with the lush fertile plains on the banks of the Nile, yet with hundreds of square miles of sand and desert. Egypt, the land famous throughout the world after the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen by the English archaeologist, Howard Carter in 1927 in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank near Luxor.

The ancient kingdom of Egypt was founded by King Menes, the first king of the first dynasty who united Upper and Lower Egypt. From the same dynasty came King Zoser who built the Saqqara pyramid, the first large scale stone structure in history.

The Middle Kingdom was accompanied by an artistic rennaissance, agricultural development and trade with Bilad al Sham and the Sudan. The capital of the Middle Kingdom was Thebes which is now known as Luxor - the City of Palaces.

The New Kingdom began with the 18th dynasty founded by King Ahmos. Thebes remained the capital but for a short period when King Akhen-Aton moved it to Tel-el-Amarna. One of the greatest kings of this period was Ramses II who was responsible for the two Abu Simbel Temples, one dedicated to the sun gos Ra-Harakhte, the other to the wife of Ramses II, the beautiful Nefatari.

So join me as I offer some of my photographs, recollections and thoughts of my visit to this wonderful and ancient land, a land steeped in history, mystery and wonders.

Ray Banister, June 2001.

Footnote: We repeated this trip in April 2005 on the Crown Prince so some of this information is a little dated. For example, the exchange rate was about 10LE to £1.