AUGUST 2007

RUNOKO RASHIDI IN THE CAVES OF EGYPT

23 July 2007

Greetings Family,

How are you? I am confident that I am okay, but as of right now if anyone were to call me crazy I would
probably not dispute them as I have spent the past three days climbing in and out of cliff side tombs,scouring isolated archaeological sites, and wandering in the desert in Egypt in temperatures exceeding one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

To many, this may qualify me for the insane asylum and I have to admit that some people here have been
looking at me as though I should be wearing a straight jacket. Allow me to recap for you, and I will try not
to be overly long and rambling.




Early Saturday morning, July 21, accompanied by a good driver, brother Abdul (my travel agent operations manager), and a constant police escort, I left the comfort of my deluxe hotel in Giza and headed south to the border of Upper Egypt to the city of Minya.

For foreigners in Egypt this is regarded as dangerous territory. It was not far from Minya, for example, in the city of Mallawi, that the assassin of Anwar Sadat was born, and the entire region has a reputation as a breeding ground for Muslim fundamentalists. Minya would be my base for three days of exploration and discovery.

Mid-morning Friday I passed through Minya but I did not stop there. Instead, I went straight to the tombs of Beni Hasan--a place that I've wanted to visit for at least twenty-five years now, for here are located, as far as I know, the first known depictions of martial arts on earth. Ivan Van Sertima and I published photos from one of the tombs in the first and second editions of the African Presence in Early Asia anthology in 1982 and 1988. And here I was finally, face to face with them.




Of the thirty-nine tombs of African noblemen at Beni Hasan, all dating to about thirty-eight hundred years ago, only four are open to the public. With the help of some small bribes, however, I was able to enter into six of them. A few extra dollars placed in the right hands goes a long way here!



I first went into the tomb of the nobleman Baqet, where the scenes of martial arts were brilliantly
done. This was followed by a visit to the tomb of Kheti (where the scenes were even better than those of Baqet's), followed by a visit to the tomb of Khnumhotep (marked by exquisite green colored hieroglyphs), and then Amenemhet's (the most magnificent tomb of them all). I was spell bound to the extent that I barely remember the rest of the morning.


Amenemhet

The whole experience was just incredible, and gettingup to the tombs was no joke either. The tombs are carved into the side of a cliff and we had to climb a thousand steps to reach them. My legs were like rubber and I hardly recall the last two tombs that we entered. The intensely hot weather did not help things either, and I descended the steps exhausted physically and emotionally. Thank god I was able to get a few photos.

>From Beni Hasan we drove farther south into the desert. Among the highlights were the gigantic
remains of two stone baboons (representing the deity Thoth) that once stood in front of a temple of the great Amenhotep III, and a magnificent tomb of a fourth century B.C.E. Egyptian high priest where the colors even now remain bright and vivid. What a day!

Our adventure on Saturday equaled that of the previous day. Driving even farther south, we visited the ancient city of Ahketaten. Now known as Tell el-Amarna, this was the marvelous capital of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. In order to get there we had to drive through an untold number of back ways and villages, and then cross over by ferry to the west bank of the Nile.

Here I photographed the remains of Nefertiti's palace (complete with swimming pool) and the meager remains of what was once a great temple. But the true highlight of the day was a journey into the tomb of Akhenaten himself. Even the Discovery Channel could not have staged anything as dramatic, and like Beni Hasan the day before, there were no other tourists around. It was just us.


(Furthermore Akhenaten's tomb was in line with this break further back in the cliffs and therefore also in line with the rising sun - Akhenaten was making himself into the Aten sun god each morning, the birth of the sun each morning was from his tomb, Akhenaten was showing that he was the one true god, the only god by this action, and had gone much further than any had gone before. www.ib205.tripod.com )

Akhenaten's tomb is simply enormous and contains several large, rock cut chambers. The tomb was badly damaged fourteen years ago as it was inundated by a major flood, and you can still see a lot of the damage from the water. On the walls, though, were excellent depictions of Nefertiti and three of her daughters. And it seemed to me that the shape of their bodies alone, more than anything else, demonstrated beyond any doubt that they were African women.

Nothing could really top what I had seen that morning but another visit to a high cliff tomb belonging to one Meryre came close. I went into I think four or five tombs that morning but the tomb of Meryre had possibly the most beautiful wall paintings that I have ever witnessed. They just took my breath way. And, for the only time during the three days, I saw a few other tourists, a small Dutch group.

And then brother Runoko, with no fear, went boldly in the town of Mallawi, home of Sadat's assassin, to tour the local museum. I think that all of the local people realize the town's reputation and when word got around that someone from the United States was there everybody in the museum went out of their way to welcome me and make me comfortable.



This morning we began the journey back to Giza with a prolonged visit to the Fayoum Oasis--another area with an anti-foreigner reputation. And, once again, we had a police escort of eight men with machine guns. I have to confess that it was a bit unsettling but their presence did not stop us and we bribed them too in order to have a little more flexibility in our movements. This time we visited three pyramids. And again, there were no other tourists.




The first pyramid belonged to Senusret II of Dynasty Twelve. Unlike the pyramids at Giza, this one was made of mud brick but it was still wonderful to look at. We followed this up with a visit to one of two pyramids of Amenemhet III (my favorite monarch of all time). This pyramid was also made up mud brick, but, like the one before it, was splendid. I walked around the first pyramid and this one I entered into the tomb chamber itself until I was stopped by a deep pool of water.

cartouche of Khufu in Amenemhet I's pyramid

In front to Amenemhet's pyramid were the scanty remains of the structure the Greeks called the "Great Labyrinth" and described as the largest building in ancient times.

The third pyramid we saw this morning was the pyramid of king Huni, built between the time of Imhotep's Step Pyramid designed for king Zoser in Dynasty Three and the massive pyramids on the Giza Plateau from Dynasty Four.

So, to make a long story short, I had three days that I will never, ever, forget. Your prayers must have worked and instead of being intimidated by the dangers we faced I became bolder and went with no fear. I actually had fun, and ventured out every night, something I rarely do.

Tomorrow I revisit the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. I intend to take my time and spend the better part of the day there. I am specifically looking for a large fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx and the newly discovered body of Makare Hatshepsut. God willing, I will post you the results of my search tomorrow.

Right now though, I think that I'm going to take a little walk. I have a lot of reflecting to do.

In love of Africa,

Runoko Rashidi Okello, safe and sound and on a roll in
Giza, Egypt
http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html