Day Three
Part Three
April 9, 2008

"From Rectangles to Pyramids"

It's been a few days since I last posted something. There are still some thoughts left blowing from the trip to the pyramids on Tuesday. So this is a continuation.

If you remember Rafek our Egpytian guide was also an effective historian. One of the things he talked about was how the statues of people in ancient Egypt had one thing in common. They all had the left foot of the subject, (royalty, Gods and dieties mostly,) forward and the right foot back. Turns out it's because this ensured they would cross over into afterlife, and with their heart first. Preparing for just this afterlife was the preoccupation of most of the ancient Egyptian society. The flip side of this belief was that as you crossed into the underworld, there would be dogs awaiting you. If you were a good soul they would let you go through. If you were a bad soul they would eat your heart. Interesting parallel to many Christian beliefs of judgement.... four to five thousand years before Christ.

Speaking of the afterlife. The mummification chamber just in front of the Sphinx was of most interest to me. It's where they cleaned out the bodies, removing the organs and storing them in clay jugs.

While the pyramids lived up to the best efforts of my western education....they are big and stunning and indestructable. They are absolutely worth a trip here. Rafek also told us that the original burial monuments were large, but rectangular in shape. The pyramidal shape came later and accomplished several things. It allowed them to build taller monuments to honor thier kings, taking less blocks to do so. It also had the unplanned effect of allowing the towering things to withstand thousands of years of desert storms, allowing the winds and destructive sands to move around the shape easily. Wow!

The Sphinx surprised me. It is much smaller than I'd expected. I can credit this I think to Hollywood. With all due respect to Charlton Heston, I probably watched the Ten Commandments a few too many times. The Sphinx is also at a different level than the Giza pyramids. I'd always imagined it as being close to the pyramids and at the same ground plane. In actuality the Pyrimads exist on a hill, the Giza Plain, and thus are the highest objects for miles around. Again reminding me of Christianity in the way that Catholic cathedrals are often found on the highest points of land. Inside the mummification chamber, the path leading to the Shpinx is paved with these magnificent flat stones of granite and limestone . They are beautiful and I can only imagine that 4000 years ago they were polished to a bright shine with their colors showing clear.

The Giza pyramids are surrounded by deep swirling neighborhoods of tan residential buildings. On the first floor of each is some type of small shop, rugs, scarves, trinkets, food. It's all available right there. So when our hosts said they'd like to take us to lunch we hadn't imagined the two choices they would offer.

Yes, here is the rather ironic "KFC SPHINX!" I won't describe the meal for you.

On the way home from the pyramids we got behind one of the ubiquitous white VW vans that act as inexpensive taxis. The big sliding passenger door is missing on these. People just jump in, often while the thing is still moving. You can ride across town on one of these for five cents. This one has a fat bumper on the back and it's perfectly normal for them to jump on the back. Rafek says these people pay about half price.