Discover the mysterious history of Ancient Egypt.
When I was a child, I knew that the four great civilizations in the world were: ancient Egypt with the Nile, ancient Babylon with the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, ancient India with the Ganges and China in the hinterland of the Yellow River.
The birth of these ancient civilizations is inseparable from their mother river, so they are also called the Great River Civilization. I am extremely proud to be able to grow up in China, one of the four ancient civilizations, but at the same time, I am full of admiration for other ancient civilizations.
I've always wanted to be able to visit other ancient civilizations and feel different from the country where I grew up. Finally, at the invitation of a group of friends such as "Little Left Hand" and "Yellow Milk", my wish came true.
We took the children on a tour of Egypt and admired the ancient Egyptian civilization there. As the first country to enter the human civilization among the four ancient civilizations, ancient Egypt had the Menice pharaoh to unify upper and lower Egypt as early as 3200 BC, established the world's first slave state, created the rule of the first dynasty, and became the first pharaoh of ancient Egypt.
At that time, the rest of the world was still in the era of clans and tribes. The First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt entered the civilized society more than 1,000 years earlier than the Xia Dynasty founded by the Yan and Huang Emperors.
Unfortunately, however, the history of ancient Egypt did not last down. In 525 BC, which corresponds to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, the Persian Empire invaded ancient Egypt.
In 300 BC, the Greeks under Alexander the Great established the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, but instead of eradicating the ancient Egyptian culture, they pursued a policy of coexistence of native culture and occupier culture.
It was not until 640 A.D. that the Arabs fully promoted Islamic culture, and ancient Egyptian culture was completely eliminated. This was followed by the Ottoman Empire, France, and Great Britain until Arab independence was achieved in 1922.
In 1952, the Egyptian people overthrew the feudal rule of the Farouk dynasty and established the Arab Republic of Egypt. Now Egypt is an Islamic country with important influence in the Arab world, the capital Cairo is one of the most culturally developed cities in Africa, with the famous Al-Azhar University, Ain Shams University and Cairo University, producing more than 70 feature films every year, known as the "Hollywood of the Middle East".
In order to protect precious historical relics and improve the deteriorating living and working conditions, Egypt decided in 2014 to build a new capital in the desert area 45 kilometers east of Cairo, the new capital plans to invest 45 billion US dollars, covers an area of 700 square kilometers, accommodates 6.5 million people, is a collection of administration, finance, services, ** in one of the modern smart city.
The office area will be a mix of ancient Egyptian, Byzantine and Islamic buildings, including the ** government, the parliament building and 34 departments, of which the Ministry of Defense building will consist of 10 octagonal buildings.
* More than 20 towers will stand in the business district, including a landmark building with a height of 385 meters and a total of 78 floors, which will be the tallest building in Africa when completed.
After Egypt announced the construction of a new capital, it attracted builders from Germany, Japan and other countries to bid, and China's China State Construction Company successfully won the bid and completed the winning bid for the first district project on time.
Located in the Old City, the Al-Azhar Mosque was the first mosque in Cairo and is almost as old as the city. It is one of the most prestigious mosques in the world and the spiritual sustenance of Egyptian Muslim devotees.
The name of the temple is derived from the nickname of Fatima, the youngest daughter of Muhammad, which means beauty and light. The current mosque was renovated and expanded by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century AD, covering an area of 120,000 square meters, with square courtyards, many exquisite Islamic style sculptures decorated, once hailed as "the most gorgeous building".
The mosque is a place of worship, a university and religious studies, and is still home to students from all over the world studying the Quran and Arabic, as well as scholars studying theology and religious jurisprudence.
The Sultan Hassan Mosque, located at the end of Ali Avenue in the southeast of the city, is one of the representative buildings of the Maknu Dynasty and was built in 1356 AD. The gate of the mosque is 37Seven meters, inside the gate is a large square courtyard with three halls on three sides.
The temple has a rectangular inner courtyard, 32 meters long and 2 meters wide, with a small pool covered by a dome in the middle, and a door at each of the four corners of the inner courtyard that leads to the hall, listening to scriptures or worshipping.
The mosque has several minarets, the tallest of which was once the tallest building in the city at 85 meters, and the top of the tower offers a panoramic view of Cairo. Located on the eastern outskirts of Cairo, the Ali Mosque is located on the top of Muqatam Hill, built in the Saladin Citadel, and is also known as the Snowflake Mosque because it is built with alabaster.
The roof of the temple is made of metal, and from a distance, the silver light is shining, which is very eye-catching. Saladin's Castle was built in 1183 by the Ayyubid kings to defend against the Catholic Crusades, named after the king, who successfully kept the Crusaders out of the city.
Saladin thus became a warrior and was praised by the Muslim populace of Egypt, and now the golden eagle on the Egyptian coat of arms is called Saladin, which symbolizes loyalty, bravery, victory, and freedom to fly.
In Cairo, the capital of Egypt, there is a market with a long history, and that is the El Khalili Commodity Market. Founded in the 14th century, this market covers an area of 5 square kilometers and is one of the largest commodity markets in Egypt.
The unique style of houses, the close connection of shops, the crisscrossing of streets, the variety of goods, the bustling people, the noise and noise of the market, is the best place to experience the cultural customs of the Arab people.
The market not only has Arabic-style wood carvings, silk scarves, porcelain, clothing, perfumes, hookahs, papyrus paintings, gold, silver and bronze utensils, but also many goods from China's Yiwu small commodity wholesale market.
There are also a variety of cafés, bars, restaurants and barbecues that tantalize the taste buds, and at night they are brightly lit, smoky and noisy.
Locals love to spend the night here, enjoying the best of the day with Arabic food and drinks, and sipping on strong coffee.
Only here can you feel the love of life and the customs of the Egyptian citizens. Tahrir Square is located in the center of the city, with the ** building to the south, the Nile River and the famous Double Lion Bridge to the west, the east of the bridge belongs to Cairo Province, and the west of the bridge belongs to Giza Province.
To the north of the square is the Egyptian Museum. Tahrir Square is not only the largest square in Egypt, but also the heart of the country, where many important events take place.
Tahrir Square, formerly known as Tahali Square, was renamed Tahrir Square on July 23, 1952 after the Free Officers led by Nasser overthrew the Farouk feudal dynasty and established the Republic of Egypt.
February 10, 2011"Arab Spring"It was here that Mubarak, who had been in power for 16 years, was forced to be succeeded by Morsi, the chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party founded by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Two years later, in June 2013, the situation stabilized as a result of mass rallies and demonstrations by people who oppose and support Morsi, resulting in serious incidents, culminating in the intervention of the military, who deposed Morsi, characterized the Muslim Brotherhood as "terrorist" and arrested its leaders.
In 2014, military leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected as ** by a large number of votes and has remained in office ever since. Sisi attaches great importance to the construction of the city's image, and in 2020, the Liberation Square was upgraded and renovated, beautifying 44 buildings around the square, installing lights, and the square ** newly repaired a three-layer superimposed fountain, and the center of the fountain was moved to the obelisk of the Ramses II period, and the sphinx brought from the Karnak Temple was placed around the obelisk, which rejuvenated this 155-year-old ancient square.
The night light show is even more magical and not to be missed. In addition, the Egyptian Museum, located north of Tahrir Square, is one of the oldest museums in the world, built in 1863 AD, and houses more than 300,000 artifacts from prehistory, antiquity, medieval, Greek and Roman periods, of which 6 are on permanent display30,000 pieces, especially artifacts from the Pharaonic era, are the largest in the world.
Entering the gate of the museum, you can see ancient Egyptian artifacts with a history of more than 7,000 years of civilization, and in the garden planted with lotus flowers representing Upper Egypt and papyrus representing Lower Egypt, there are cultural relics collected from all over the country, such as obelisks, seated statues of pharaohs, human faces and sphinxes, and the eagle god Horus.
The museum building is an ancient and luxurious double-storey red stone building, the front of the building is a simple and dignified arched door, in the niches on both sides of the arched door, there is a relief of a pharaoh, one pharaoh holds a papyrus, the other pharaoh holds a lotus, so that the building collects and exhibits rare treasures from Upper and Lower Egypt.
The National Museum is located on two floors, with the lower floor exhibiting stone sculptures, statues and sarcophagi from the Egyptian to Roman periods in chronological order, and the upper floor arranged according to the theme.
Among them, in the Mummy Thematic Room, 11 mummies of pharaohs and concubines are displayed in a thermostatic glass cover, and the muscles and beards are clearly visible, which also displays the mummies of the most outstanding pharaoh Ramses II of ancient Egypt.
Tutankhamun's thematic room is full of the young pharaoh's burial belotments. Tutankhamun was the 18th pharaoh of the new Egyptian dynasty, who ruled ancient Egypt from 1336 BC to 1327 BC, although he died at the age of 19, his mausoleum was never damaged, so the more than 1,700 artifacts in his mausoleum give people a real understanding of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh's civilization.
These very complete and rich cultural relics, unearthed had caused a sensation in the world, including ** masks, human-shaped gold coffins, queen's gold crowns, ** ornaments, gold bottle rooms and gold thrones, etc., each of which is priceless, not only has incomparable cultural relics value, but also has high artistic value.
The magnificence of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's throne alone shows the remarkable nature of these relics. An archaeologist once said, "Masks, coffins, and thrones, no matter which one of them is taken out, it is better than the most boastful artifact of any museum in the world." ”
Pharaoh Tutankhamun's Throne, a wooden armchair with a backback from more than 3,000 years ago, is still intact today. The chairs are inlaid with **, glazed stones and precious stones, and the relief paintings on the backrests depict scenes from the lives of the pharaohs and queens.
Pharaoh faced the queen, rested his right hand on a chair, and stared at the queen lovingly, while the queen stroked pharaoh's left hand with her right hand, and the two of them moved lovingly. The bezel on either side of the chair is carved with the face of an antelope and the head of a lion at the end of the armrest, all of which make this chair a national treasure.
The treasures of the National Museum don't stop there. The statues of Laltai and Neflet found in the tomb of Sneproru are not damaged in any way. An eye made of amethyst allows you to see the separation between the pupil and the crystal.
In the ancient city of Medum, the mural painting of a group of geese in the tomb of a prince and his wife has a history of more than 4,500 years, but the painting style is very similar to modern pictures, which is of great value for the study of ancient Egyptian painting techniques.
The statue of Kafra is also one of the treasures of the National Museum. Kafra was the third pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty and was built during his reign as a stone sculpture of the Sphinx, known as the Sphinx.
This stone sculpture epitomizes the worship of nature, kings, and spirits in ancient Egyptian culture. It has the body of a lion and the face of Pharaoh Khafra, both the guardian of Pharaoh's own soul and the incarnation of the sun god Amun, demonstrating the ancient Egyptians' eternal quest for the forces of nature.
The statue of Queen Khatsepsut is a rare treasure in the National Museum. Hatseipsut was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt who ruled for 21 years, from 1479 BC to 1458 BC.
After she became pharaoh, she appeared in the public eye in **, with a wide corset, a fake beard, and a scepter in her hand. During her reign, she stopped foreign wars and actively engaged in commerce and trade, and the country prospered and prospered.
After her death, she was retaliated against by her successor, Intramuros III, destroying the traces of her time in power. Therefore, the existing statue of Khatseepsut is very precious.
The performance characteristics of this statue are very similar to those of Hatseepsut during his lifetime, including the red ** of a man, the beard of God, and the soft facial lines, beautiful eyes and characteristic demeanor of a woman.
With the development of archaeological work and the advancement of science and technology, the Cairo National Museum, which has a history of more than 100 years, has exposed more and more shortcomings and can no longer meet the needs of tourists from all over the world.
Therefore, Egypt raised funds from various sources to build the Giza Grand Egyptian Museum on the west bank of the Nile, which integrates exhibition, preservation, scientific research, education and exchange. Located at the confluence of the alluvial plain of the Nile and the Giza Plateau, 3 kilometers northwest of the Great Pyramids, the new museum covers an area of 500,000 square meters and is now largely completed, making it the largest single-building museum in the world.
It is the world's first museum to use modern information technology and virtual technology on a large scale. The new museum has a triangular roof, which is very similar to several large pyramids nearby, and is expected to accommodate 3 million visitors a year, which will play a positive role in understanding ancient Egyptian civilization.
You can't learn about ancient Egyptian culture until you've been to Egypt. Just looking at the pyramids, you can't understand the significance of their construction. The pyramid is a symbol of ancient Egyptian civilization and a manifestation of the ancient Egyptians' faith, wisdom and civilization.
The pyramid is the mausoleum of the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, which is equivalent to the emperor of our country. The pharaonic tombs of this period are quadrangular triangular cubes, which resemble the golden characters in Chinese characters, so we Chinese call them pyramids.
Among the nearly 100 pyramids, the most famous is the Giza Pyramid Group, which is the mausoleum of three generations of pharaohs. Grandpa's mausoleum is the largest pyramid in Egypt, called the Pyramid of Khufu, which is 146 high5 meters, the base of the tower has been buried by wind and sand for thousands of years, and now it is only 137At 18 meters high, the tomb is built with 2.3 million boulders, with the heaviest stones weighing 160 tons and the smallest weighing 2 tons.
More than 30,000 migrant workers participated in the construction every day, and it took 20 years to complete. For more than 4,000 years, it was the tallest building in the world until the end of the 19th century when it gave way to the Eiffel Tower in France.
Next to the Pyramid of Khufu is the tomb of the son, called the Pyramid of Kafre, which is 3 meters lower than his father's Pyramid of Khufu. The Menkaure Pyramid of Sun Tzu is the smallest, only 66 meters high.
Of the seven ancient architectural wonders of the world, only the pyramids have survived intact, so there is a proverb in Egypt: "Man is afraid of time, and time is afraid of the pyramids." ”
So far, time has only added to the vicissitudes of the pyramid, not destroyed it. The tomb owner of the Pyramid of Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.
His full name is Hunihuf, which means "the god Henum protects me", and among the ancient Egyptian gods, the god Henum was in charge of the underworld and was in charge of life and death in the world.
In fact, the god Henum did not favor this pharaoh, he ascended the throne at the age of 8, reigned for 23 years, gave birth to 39 sons, 15 daughters, and died at the age of 32, the most vigorous of his life, in the words of the common people of our country, a short-lived ghost.
Although his life was short, his political achievements were outstanding, he consolidated the centralized rule of ancient Egypt, led his army to conquer Libya, Nubia, and the Sinai Peninsula, and expanded his territory.
The pyramid is not only majestic, but also magical, and there are too many puzzles on its body that have not been solved, and the body of Pharaoh Khufu has not been found;The incantation in the Pyramid of Khufu, "Whoever disturbs the peace of the pharaoh, the wings of death will descend on him" has always haunted people's hearts.
It has been calculated that 40% of the 100 people who enter the Pyramid of Khufu die of cancer within 10 years;The Englishman John Taylor discovered that the ratio of the height of the pyramid to the circumference of the base of the tower is equal to the ratio of the radius of the earth to the circumference of the earth, and the height of the bottom of the tower is divided by 2 times the height of the tower is pi.
It has also been discovered that the 9th power of the pyramid tower height is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Why did the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom build the pyramid mausoleum?This is closely related to his perception of himself and his life.
The pharaohs considered themselves to be the sons of the sun god Amun-ra, who ruled the earth on behalf of the sun god, and their subjects had to revere them as if they were gods. They firmly believe that "life on earth is only a short stay, and after death is eternal enjoyment".
Therefore, when they are alive, they must spare no effort to build tombs and prepare for their deaths, and the tombs can be built high so that they can live a fairy-like life after their deaths. They also believed that the pyramid-shaped mausoleum could lead them to death**, because the pyramid was made of layered trapezoids that gradually shrank and shrunk, just like the ladder to climb the fairyland, and the cone tip of the mausoleum symbolized the light emitted by the sun god, implying that they were the sons of the sun god.
In fact, the pyramids were only the tombs of the pharaohs during the ancient dynasties. The tombs of the pharaohs of the Early Kingdom and the New Kingdom were not pyramids, and the answer can be found in the Saqqara Pharaoh Tomb Complex and the Valley of the Kings Pharaoh Tomb Complex.
Before the Second Dynasty, the tombs of the pharaohs were rectangular with flat tops. The Mausoleum of Zusel, the second pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, pioneered the pyramid mausoleum, which was a stepped six-tiered pyramid that gradually contracted upwards.
His successor, King Huni, the third pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, built his own mausoleum in Medum, following Zusel's example, and built a conical pyramid with a height of 92 meters.
From then on, the pharaoh's mausoleum entered the pyramid era, and reached its peak at the Pyramid of Khufu of the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty.
In ancient Egypt, since the 18th Dynasty, pharaohs no longer chose to bury themselves in the pyramids, but instead chose the Valley of the Kings, located west of Luxor, seven kilometers from the Nile.
The hills are bare, the yellow sand glows, and the shape of the mountains is almost cone-shaped, which is considered to be a natural pyramid. The pharaohs chose to be buried here because they believed it was both in line with their culture of death and more secluded and safe than building pyramids on the ground.
The tombs of the Valley of the Kings are very hidden on the outside, but ornate on the inside. At the entrance to the tomb, brightly coloured, quaint murals depict the pharaoh's past and future lives, as well as the power of the gods, on the top and sides of the tomb.
In the burial chamber, you'll see the mummies of the pharaohs and priceless funerary goods, including the famous tombs of Tutankhamun and Ramses II. The remains of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt are among the best-preserved of all the emperors and generals in the world.
Through the processing of modern technology, we can restore their true face and truly know them. Why, then, were their bodies so well preserved? This is directly related to the ancient Egyptian technology of handling human remains.
Known as the "City of the Dead", the Saqara burial area is the royal burial area of Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt, more than 200 years before the history of the Pyramids of Giza.
Here, archaeologists have found not only more than 100 mummies of pharaohs and princes, but also many mummies of dogs, cats, snakes, crocodiles and lion cubs. In 2018, archaeologists discovered a shaft here, and at a depth of 30 meters, there was actually a mummification-making workshop.
This workshop has three main rooms, the first is the "mortuary", where the internal organs of the deceased are removed, leaving only the heart, and then the body is disinfected with palm wine; The second room had a number of benches, on which the corpses were dried, spices and antiseptics were stuffed into the cavities for stitching, and then grease was applied to the surface of the corpses to block the corrosive effect of the air on the corpses, and finally they were wound with linen; In the third room, the prepared corpse is placed and buried at the right time.
Before making a mummy, it is necessary to use bubble alkali to quickly absorb the moisture inside the corpse and let the corpse dry. This underground workshop reveals the secrets of mummification.