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| Amasis II Today, we journeyed to Sais, the ancient city where Amasis II was born and reigned in 600 B.C.  The green area at the top of the satellite picture here is the portion of Egypt known as "Lower Egypt" although it is the northern most portion where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea... Most of you are aware that the Nile flows from South to North, unlike most rivers in the world... It is in this delta that Sais is located...  This city of approximately 30,000 is situated in a rich agricultural area of the north-eastern Delta of Egypt Interesting note: We had a police escort the entire 11/2 hour drive from Cairo to Sais...these were roads less traveled and according to Hadidi...my Egyptologist Guide...and new friend... "The reason for the police was to secure the tourism which is the most important part of the national income..."  Needless to say, we arrived safely...:) YESTERDAY  A statue of Chief of Physicians, Psammetik-seneb, originally installed in Sais. TODAY Today, Sais looks anything but like a city to westerners...and that is a valuable education I have received here...the flow of life...here is a slide show of what I mean...So I am going to pause here to share with you some observations that have touched me... |
Different rules here...people take responsibility for their movements...few if any traffic signals...their horns honk in the cities, in the great majority of cases, to warn instead of register complaint...Cairo, to me, is something akin to observing an ant hill...to the untrained eye it appears as chaos...upon closer observation, there is an order here that is a dance of life...
People, motorcycles and cars as well as horse drawn carts share the streets...I can see where many westerners would be horrified to see a mother with a child on each arm crossing a highway with cars buzzing around her like a bee hive...but there is a respect and awareness going on here...
Back to Sais...
The Rosetta Stone came from Sais...
This is how it worked...
King Amasis is the father of Hyksos, the focal character of my new book...Ancient Sais will play an important role in it...as well as Samos and Sardis...
The people who inhabit Sais (Sa el-Hagar) today live in very similar ways as they did in 600 B.C., you probably noticed that in the slide show...
Where there once were chariots...(2 wheeled carts powered by horses in front of the vehicle) there are now small motorcycles (a two wheeled vehicle powered by 'the horses' between your legs)
This is old world...women and men perform their roles as they have for ions...the man provides...the woman manages and raises her progeny...(I did see a lot of involvement from the fathers and I was not around to see if it was that way in 600 B.C.)
All marriages are arranged...keeping the land in the family...deals are made...
I saw content people going on with their lives...children playing everywhere with sticks and stones...playing a form of 'Hopscotch' and, as I see wherever I go today...where there is a ball handy...they played futbol (soccer)
There is a wall that blocks visitors from the ancient city which is buried...excavations are planned...
This was a once in a lifetime experience for me...it will live in me henceforth...
People, motorcycles and cars as well as horse drawn carts share the streets...I can see where many westerners would be horrified to see a mother with a child on each arm crossing a highway with cars buzzing around her like a bee hive...but there is a respect and awareness going on here...
Back to Sais...
The Rosetta Stone came from Sais...
This is how it worked...
King Amasis is the father of Hyksos, the focal character of my new book...Ancient Sais will play an important role in it...as well as Samos and Sardis...
The people who inhabit Sais (Sa el-Hagar) today live in very similar ways as they did in 600 B.C., you probably noticed that in the slide show...
Where there once were chariots...(2 wheeled carts powered by horses in front of the vehicle) there are now small motorcycles (a two wheeled vehicle powered by 'the horses' between your legs)
This is old world...women and men perform their roles as they have for ions...the man provides...the woman manages and raises her progeny...(I did see a lot of involvement from the fathers and I was not around to see if it was that way in 600 B.C.)
All marriages are arranged...keeping the land in the family...deals are made...
I saw content people going on with their lives...children playing everywhere with sticks and stones...playing a form of 'Hopscotch' and, as I see wherever I go today...where there is a ball handy...they played futbol (soccer)
There is a wall that blocks visitors from the ancient city which is buried...excavations are planned...
This was a once in a lifetime experience for me...it will live in me henceforth...
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