Know your country Egypt

Who does not know his history, does not have a future...

Together we can learn, study, practice, enjoy and have fun …

I have been working in the field of tourism for more than 27 years, and I conduct tours to the different nationalities that come to visit Egypt. When I was taking the groups to the monumental sites of our beloved country Egypt, I was dreaming to taking the Egyptian children to explore their country and to know the heritage of the great civilization. From there I got the idea of starting to organize many trip to the school kids as well as a higher level of educational tours to youth.

It is very important, especially at this stage of our history to study the ancient history of Egypt and to learn and to get the benefits to be able to appreciate it and to use it in building a wonderful future for our country Egypt.

kidsology lectures

We provide in-house lectures on ancient Egypt as well as interactive seminars to help in knowing the history of our Country Egypt

Here are samples of our lectures:

RELIGION IN ANCIENT EGYPT

What is religion? It is what enhances the relationship between humans and God as well as amongst human beings. When life started in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, when the ancient Egyptians realised that the river Nile would provide them with the water they needed to survive, when they decided to settle
 on the banks of the river, when they learned stability, when they realised that the wonderful life they had was coming to an end sooner or later, they realised that there must be another life coming after death, which was the greatest motive for them to believe in a higher power to provide them with a secure journey to the afterlife. The community in Egypt started as a tribal community, each tribe formed a village later on. In addition to the chief of the tribe, they had a wise man. The wise man, or the magician, had some knowledge in healing and protecting the members of the tribe, as in the rest of Africa. They started forming some religious festivals and ceremonial rituals to celebrate their local gods and as they wanted to make their gods look different from human beings they used to give them different figures for their heads. That idea was born by the wise men, when they used to wear different masks of animals and birds for certain rituals. They also used to have statues for their local gods represented by either the most powerful or the most common animal or bird in that territory….

WOMEN IN EGYPT THROUGHOUT HISTORY

Egypt – the true definition of this word means the dawn of civilisation, thousands and thousands of years ago. When the Egyptian civilisation was well established, everything went hand-in-hand. Religion, construction, language, art, astronomy, medicine, social studies and human rights. Very early,                                                         

the ancient Egyptians realised how important the woman was. The English dictionary says the word ‘woman’ originally came from ‘wife of man’, which means that the women formed half of the civilisation, if not even more, as we will see. In ancient Egypt, they had a large number of gods; we can easily mention some of them here, noticing that there were many female gods, such as, Isis, Hathor, etc…..

FESTIVALS IN EGYPT

Although Egypt is considered a religious country both in ancient and modern times, we have to admit that traditions are much stronger than religions. In ancient Egypt there were more than 2000 gods and goddesses that were worshipped, whilst in the modern time, there are 2 main religions which are:  Islam 92% and Christianity (Coptic) 8%

We can feel the roots of  the ancient civilisation in the way the modern Egyptians practise their religions, which makes Egypt very different from all the other countries, either Islamic or Christian.

In ancient Egypt, whilst they worshipped such a large number of gods, they believed in only one main god, whilst the others, we can now call them ‘angels’. Worshipping all these gods required a large number of festivals for each one of them. Of course, we understand that some of the festivals were more important than the others. After many years those festivals became part of the lifestyle and converting to later religions never stopped the locals from celebrating those festivals but maybe in a slightly different way. Each one of the local gods in ancient Egypt had his own festival, which we find nowadays the modern Egyptians celebrate under the name al-moulid (which means birthday). These moulids are found in Christianity as well as in Islam. Also, according to the Islamic traditions, the birth or the death of anyone is not considered to be a memorable moment. Beside those festivals – the so called al-moulid - we find other religious festivals practised in Egypt for certain events, such as the beginning of the Spring season, which is a very special event for both Muslims and Christians, the festival is usually held on the Monday which comes after Easter and therefore does not occur on the same day each year….

EVOLUTION OF CONSTRUCTION

We don’t know when life started on earth. We are quite sure now that there was a form of civilisation in the Nile valley about 1 million years ago. There is some evidence found in the Nile valley, in a place called al-fayoum and the pictures here show some of the early tools used by those people, especially for hunting.       

We are also sure that mankind developed civilisation in Egypt over thousands and thousands of years and the Nile itself was their first teacher of civilisation. When life started in ancient Egypt it was more or less like a Bedouin life. They were travelling all over looking for food and water, hunting and fishing and fighting for survival.  When the Nile started flowing from south to north (the main sources of the river Nile are in East Africa in Lake Victoria in Uganda) it covered a distance of almost 4100 miles to reach the Mediterranean at the end. The Nile comes in a great inundation ( flood ) every year during the second half of July ,which provided them with water to irrigate the land and made the land fertile as the water covered the banks and deposited large amounts of silt. Then the ancient Egyptians realised that there was no need to travel. They could settle down by the river and they would have enough water and food. To do this they needed shelter and the materials available were mostly Nile silt or clay and wood. 
They started building very small primitive wood huts and after a while they realised that they had everything they needed and they started facing the reality and the true fact in this life, which is death. A question has been asked – ‘What happens when we die?’ and the answer to the question was given that it will be another life, another form of life, that we may call the second life or life after death. They imagined that going from the first life to the second life was like a journey, for that journey, they needed guidance, so they started forming holy figures and local deities, what we now call gods. To worship those gods, they needed to build houses for all those local gods; those houses were what we may call today ‘temples’.
  Humans are mortal, whilst gods are immortal, so if the houses for humans were built of mud brick and wood, so the houses of the gods should be built of a much better material, like stone, which would be used as well for the tombs or what we may call the Houses of Eternity  . This is the reason why we don’t find many examples of houses or even palaces left in modern times whilst we have a large number of 
temples and tombs. Although Egypt is dry and doesn’t have much rain, the mud brick houses couldn’t survive……

CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT

Egypt has always been a pioneer. When it comes to Christianity we find it very different in Egypt than the rest of the world in the way the religion was introduced, the way it was accepted and the way the Egyptian Christians are practising it until now. Long ago, since before the time of Jesus, the idea of Christianity has always been there, maybe even from the start of civilisation. Early Egyptians had their own legend of divine birth with the story of Osiris, Isis and Horus. 

The Holy Family escaping from the Romans travelled all the way from the Holy Land to Egypt     whilst Jesus was still a baby and spent almost 3 ½ to 4 years in Egypt. During that time they were met by many Egyptians who listened to the story of the divine birth and unlike in other countries, they were able to understand and to accept the birth of Jesus as the same idea had always been there in their religions. What united the Egyptians at that time with the Holy Family was the fact that the Romans were treating the Egyptians badly and they felt they should support Jesus and the Holy family as much as they could. Following the news from the Holy Land later on and knowing what happened to Jesus on the Cross, they had to wait until the year 61AD when St Mark officially introduced Christianity to the Egyptians….

The Coming of the Israelites to Egypt

To study the history of Egypt, we have 3 sources. The first one is all the writings of the ancient Egyptians themselves; either on papyri or on the walls and temples of the tombs or the statues and carvings. The second source is the Greek writings by the early Greek travellers and historians. The third source is the Holy Books, like the Old Testament and the Quran.

Reading the Old Testament and the Quran they both tell us stories about the Israelites in Egypt. So we know that the boy who was called Joseph – later known as the Man of the Coat of Many Colours was brought to Egypt as a child by some travellers after he was left alone by his brothers in a deep well. He was brought up in Egypt by one of the elite families as their own child. Later on, he was assigned as a high official by the vizier of Egypt. Later, he invited his family, including all his brothers and his father, to come over to live in Egypt, especially because at that time his family was suffering from the lack of food and they were buying food from Egypt, so it was a good chance for them to settle down in the wealthy country, supported by Joseph – the Man of the Coat of Many Colours.

The Lotus Revolution

The original meaning of the term Revolution is to change the Government and the Governor, as well as the political system but there are other meanings of the word as well. The best meaning of the Egyptian revolution is not to change the President and his corrupt regime and shuffle all the ugly faces around but it strives to change the way of life and thinking of the average Egyptian.

At the beginning of the revolution we all watched what the Egyptian people from all walks of life had done, which was quite unique by all means. A beautiful picture of the Egyptian people, a complete artist’s portrait of the great civilisation of mankind. The ordinary meaning of revolution is very different from what the Egyptians have asked for. The revolution in Egypt was not against the president, a presidential regime, the corrupt party but it was a revolution against ignorance and corruption. In spite of the poverty in Egypt, the revolution was not to fight poverty but to call for human rights and justice, to call for lost dignity. The revolution was a cry for clean streets and great schools, where a new generation will be educated to build the future civilisation of Egypt. It was a cry for clean hospitals where people can be well treated. It was a cry for policemen who work to serve both the country and the people who pay taxes, not to act as their masters. For a police force that is respected because they represent the country and the law and do not abuse their power…..

kidsology tours

We are specialized in conducting tours to different parts of our beloved Egypt

Get the most of our tours to explore Cairo and its fascinating monumental sites, and get to know the heritage of the city of more than 5000 years of history. Enjoy our guided tours escorted by a qualified Egyptologist and guest lecturer who will accompany you to explore the treasures of the beautiful city. This isn't your ordinary sightseeing tour folks, but rather an interactive experience that will keep your child engaged and excited about the history of his country. Sightsee some of the best spots in Cairo ( the Pyramids of Giza , the ancient necropolis of Sakkara , the Pyramids of dahshour and the old capital of Egypt ; Memphis

Get to know the Islamic sites of Cairo such as the citadel of Salah el Din, the magnificent Mosque of Mohamed Ali and the jewel of the Islamic monuments ; the Mosque and Madrash of Sultan Hassan .

Enjoy the walk into the heart of Cairo though the old gates and the street of Al Moez .

Visit the Coptic churches in old Cairo , know about the trip of the holly family and their flight into Egypt .

Experience the rich Egyptian museum and enjoy the treasures of the boy king and the golden pharos Tut Ankh Amon.

We organize tours with or without transportations .

The Egypt story......love in Ancient Egypt

Most people don't understand the ancient Egyptians because they look at them from the perspective of how humans live today, and they assume they were very much different from us. This is wrong simply because those ancient Egyptians were humans very much like me and you. They had their moments of happiness as well as sadness, had fun listening to music, dancing, traveling, hunting, camping, fishing and playing sports... and of course they had their love stories and made love. 

One of the most beautiful and true love stories comes to us from the time of the most famous pharaoh ever ruled, Ramses the Great, and his beloved queen Nefertari. Ramses the Great, like most of the pharaohs and the kings of the ancient civilization, had many wives. His main concern was to conceive as many children as he could, so one of them will succeed him upon the throne. The story between Ramses and Nefertari started while he was the crown prince, and even before becoming the king. Most likely she was a daughter of one of the nobles, and we are quite sure that between them was a great love story almost 3300 years old.

Nefertari was the most beloved woman by the king until she died after almost more than 25 years of marriage. He dedicated lots of work to her. Most of his statues have small statues of her attached to him, and although her size is much smaller than him, the difference in the size was not because she was a woman and he was a man. It was because he was a god and she was a queen (human). The way she was standing behind his left leg, touching it gently says a lot: "I am supporting my king, my beloved husband, I and push him to do all his best." His answer back is "My beloved, I believe that behind every successful man is a great woman like you, Nefertari." At the site of Abu Simbel, he built and dedicated a temple to her as a goddess, and next to his statues were statues of her, the same size as the king.

Nefertari held many titles, including, "bnrt-mrwt" (sweet of love), "nbt-im3t" (lady of grace), "wrt-hzwt" (great of praises), "hmt-niswt-wrtmeryt-f" (great king's wife, his beloved), "hmt-ntr" (god's wife), "hmnt-shm'w-mhw" (mistress of upper and lower Egypt), "nbt-t3wy" (lady of the two lands), "hmwt-t3w-nbw" (lady of all lands), and "hmt-k3-nxt" (wife of the strong bull). But the most beautiful title was given to her by the king himself: "The one for whom the sun shines." When he lost her after almost 25 years and was showing his weakness, he said: "My love is unique - no one can rival her, for she is the most beautiful woman alive. Just by passing, she has stolen away my heart."


Written by: 
Hisham El Meniawy
Guest lecturer & Egyptologist
www.hegyptology.com

The Egypt Story ......... People's management !

The quest for the past is discovering how the people in ancient Egypt lived thousands of years ago. While people in the rest of the world were still living in caves and chasing animals, how did the Egyptians manage to build the civilization which is still fascinating us until this day? Most people now focus on the great stone work, especially when it comes to the building of the pyramids. How did they cut the stone? How did they move them? How did they put them all together in that perfect way, in a very advanced and complicated form? All very valid questions. 

Yet the most important question of all is, how did they manage the 100,000 builders and stone masons who were gathered there? As Herodotus mentioned (even if it was not 100% correct),people management was the secret of success in ancient Egypt! Over thousands of years, how did they manage to move, train, educate and control those thousands of people? Every one of them knew exactly what he was supposed to do, which might be different from what he did yesterday, or what he might do tomorrow. How can we imagine feeding that number of people? What sort of catering was used that long time ago? What was the health condition? The medical care? The death and accident rate? How did they manage all of that? 

A popular theory is that the ancient Egyptians used slaves to build those pyramids. This theory is so wrong if we just think of all the logistical issues. How can you control thousands of slaves in the open desert without the fear of every one of them rising up to fight for his freedom? The pyramids, as well as the rest of the Egyptian civilization, were built with love, not fear; with happiness, not slavery. It was an immensely great honor to be among the team selected to build the house of eternity for the god king. If we keeping trying to understand the ancient Egyptian civilization through our backgrounds of today, we are making a big mistake; we have to see life through their eyes.

Written by :

Hisham El Meniawy
Guest lecturer & Egyptologist
www.hegyptology.com

The Egypt Story....... (Life & Death )

The ancient Egyptians had a great respect for life and all different creatures. For hours and hours, day after day, they watched what happened around them in the natural world. They had everything; water, food, fertile land, animals, birds, the sun and lovely weather. They then faced the inevitable fact of this life, which is death; sooner or later they would die and their life would come to an end. They started to wonder what would happen to them after death!

From there they started to believe in a second life; life after death in the hereafter, which would be an eternal life and would last forever. They loved life and wanted to be immortal, so they kept their eyes on the second life even more than the first. In believing in life after death, they assumed they would take a journey from the first life to the second one in the underworld. That journey would be very dangerous and full of enemies and bad spirits, so they needed guidance and guardians, and their gods would fill that role. They also needed guide books to direct them and usher them into the underworld, so books like the Book of the Dead, the pyramid texts and coffin texts were there to help them and show them the way.

To come back in the afterlife, they needed their bodies well preserved, so they practiced mummification to keep the body in good form. They built the tombs, which were known as the houses of eternity, where they would live until they were called by the gods on the judgment day. On that day they would be judged by the god Osiris, and their heart would be weighed against the feather of justice. If the heart is heavy it means that person was evil and will be sent to hell, while if his heart is lighter than the feather, it means he was good and will go to heaven. Heaven or hell would be eternal, so we can understand how important the second life was. That is why when they built tombs or temples, they used stone, while building their houses and even their palaces, and they used mud brick and wood. In most of the cases, these houses couldn't survive to today.

We can never say that the ancient Egyptian art was boring or dull, because they always mention death and the afterlife. One could say it was very practical to dream of the eternal life in heaven, which was their main motive to build that great civilization.

written by :

Hisham El Meniawy
Guest lecturer & Egyptologist

www.hegyptology.com

The Egypt story....... (The quest)

The ancient Egyptian civilization has been always fascinating, and since the time of the early Greek travelers to Egypt, people have been wondering about the secret of the mystical civilization. People always wonder why and how the ancient Egyptians managed to build all those massive buildings, and why what is left is only what was built for the afterlife. It's very important to understand what the ancient Egyptians thought about life and death in order to be able to answer all the questions.

Egypt, which is located in the very northeast part of Africa, is considered part of the Sahara desert, and the Nile has been always the main source of water. It taught them how to form villages and towns, and how to learn to live together. The Nile was the first lesson of stability, teaching them agriculture; they needed to live by the river and use its water and silt to farm their land. It becomes very fertile because every year during the summer, the Nile rushes in a great inundation, covering the banks with lots of water for irrigation and it gives life to the soil and the people.

The symbol of life in ancient Egypt was the form of a key, called the "ankh", which is known as the key of life or the key of the Nile. We notice two things here; first that the river Nile and life have the same meanings, and second, it has the form of a key. The ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile god Hapi used that key to open the gates of the Nile in central Africa to let the Nile flood, creating life in its path.

By :

Hisham El Meniawy
Guest lecturer & Egyptologist
www.hegyptology.com