Middle East - Anthony Ham [97]
Little is known of the immediate successors of Menes except that, attributed with divine ancestry, they promoted the development of a highly stratified society, patronised the arts and built numerous temples and public works. In the 27th century BC, Egypt’s pyramids began to materialise. Ruling from nearby Memphis, the Pharaoh Zoser and his chief architect, Imhotep, built what may have been the first, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
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EGYPT IN…
ONE WEEK
Upon arrival in Cairo (Click here), spend your first day braving the crowds to view the magnificent exhibits at the Egyptian Museum (Click here). Another whole day could easily be spent wandering Islamic Cairo and the medieval Khan al-Khalili Bazaar (Click here), where you can hone your haggling skills with gregarious stall owners. Day three is reserved for the seventh wonder of the ancient world, the Pyramids (Click here). You’ll need at least four hours here, and should explore the interior of at least one of these monolithic stone structures. From Cairo, catch the overnight train up the Nile valley to Aswan (Click here), from where a day visit to the awesome Abu Simbel (Click here) and a felucca trip (Click here) are an absolute must. For the remainder of your first week, train it up to Luxor (Click here) and spend a few days marvelling at the dozens of tombs and temples (Click here) that remain from the ancient capital Thebes.
TWO WEEKS
Complete the trip outlined above in your first week and then you will have to make a hard choice between desert adventure or beach-side frolics. Either head off to the Western Oases (Click here) to see the ancient fortified forts of Dakhla (Click here), the eerie rock formations of the White Desert (Click here) and the crystal clear springs of Siwa (Click here). Be warned that from Siwa it will be a long slog on several buses to get to Taba/Nuweiba for the border crossing to Israel/Jordan. Alternatively, spend your last week in Sinai (Click here), partying in Sharm el-Sheikh (Click here), climbing Moses’ famed Mt Sinai (Click here), and diving and chilling in the backpacker nirvana of Dahab (Click here). From Dahab, it’s a short bus ride to the Nuweiba ferry for Jordan, or the land border of Israel at Taba.
JOIN THE ITINERARIES
Israel and the Palestinian Territories (Click here)
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For the next three dynasties and 500 years (a period called the Old Kingdom), the power of Egypt’s pharaohs and the size and scale of their pyramids and temples increased dramatically. The immense dimensions of these buildings served as a reminder of the pharaoh’s importance and power over his people. The last three pharaohs of the 4th dynasty, Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaure (Mycerinus), left their legendary mark by commissioning the three Great Pyramids of Giza.
By the beginning of the 5th dynasty (about 2494–2345 BC), the pharaohs had ceded some of their power to a rising class of nobles. In the following centuries Egypt broke down into several squabbling principalities. The rise of Thebes (Luxor) saw an end to the turmoil, and Egypt was reunited under Montuhotep II, marking the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. For 250 years all was well, but more internal fighting and 100 years of occupation by the Hyksos, invaders from the northeast, cast a shadow over the country.
The New Kingdom, its capital at Thebes and later Memphis, represented a renaissance of art and empire in Pharaonic Egypt. For almost 400 years, from the 18th to the 20th dynasties (1550–1069 BC), Egypt was a formidable power in northeast Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. But by the time