Predynastic Egypt
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The Pyramids and the Sphinx stand as monuments of time in a land known for its antiquity. When Napoleon visited the Pyramids, it was two-thousand years after Alexander the Great’s trip which was two-thousand years after they were built. The Pyramids of Egypt are the only standing monuments of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Egypt, however, is about more than pyramids. It is a land of mystery, of obscure origin that has captivated the world for almost five thousand years.
Ancient Egypt (often referred to as the gift of the Nile) was a gift to humanity bequeathed to Western Civilization by the Greeks, Romans and Hebrews. This great civilization shines through the Greco-Roman and Hebrew windows casting light on a much greater antiquity. Before the “Glory, that was Greece” and the “Grandeur that was Rome”; Egypt played a critical role in the development of the pillars of Western Civilization. For Abraham, Joseph and Jacob, it was the Land of Plenty where famine victims found food. For Moses, it was the Land of idolatry and of the enslaved wanting to be free. In this regard, it served as a canvas from which the portrait of greater antiquity was drawn.
The classical writers of Greece and Rome saw Egypt as a land of wonder, a paragon of technical excellence and a source of arcane knowledge and wisdom. Its pyramids continue to stand not only as a testament of time but to the greatness of the race and the people that erected them. Greece lasted five hundred years, Rome lasted a thousand years; but Egypt lasted for almost three thousand years. Even though Egypt has been studied in great detail since the hieroglyphics were deciphered almost two hundred years ago, we are just beginning to understand the origins of this ancient empire.
The Gift of the Nile
In Africa, there is a great river known to us as the Nile. It rises from the heart of Africa, from the continent that gave birth to humankind. For thousands of miles, it makes its journey, through rocky terrain and desert sands flowing continuously through the land like time flowing through our existence; perhaps its journey is a metaphor for life itself. The waters of the Nile like all rivers seek the path of least resistance, and when it reaches the delta after its arduous journey of four thousand miles its spreads its wings like a majestic bird gliding…
