#Dr Zahi Hawass

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[eretzyisrael]

Dr. Zahi Hawass, a former Egyptian Antiquities minister who styles himself as a real-life Indiana Jones, is about to embark on a 23-city lecture tour in the US, speaking at convention centers in all major US cities. No one seems very concerned that he is a Jew-hater. He has said that Jews immigrated to America, took over its entire economy, and now control the entire world. Hawass wrote in 2009, "The concept of killing women, children, and elderly people.... seems to run in the blood of the Jews of Palestine" and that "the only thing that the Jews have learned from history is methods of tyranny and torment—so much so that they have become artists in this field." "When I speak of the Jewish faith, I do not mean their [original] faith, but the faith that they forged and contaminated with their poison, which is aimed against all of mankind," he added. This distinguished academic also claims that the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, have nothing to do with Judaism. Hawass has repeatedly rejected the idea of a museum of Egyptian Jewish history, similar to  a museum of Coptic history in Egypt, saying, "How can we have a Jewish museum for the occupiers of Palestine?"\ If an avowed racist was to lecture in the US on any topic, there would be an uproar. But a Jew-hater, who happily spreads the most vile conspiracy theories about Jews? Not a word of protest. What would it take to get Jews to protest this lecture series? 

[blueiscoool]

A 4,300-Year-Old Egyptian Gold-Leaf Covered Mummy Discovered in Egypt

Egyptian archaeologists who have spent years meticulously excavating a site amid the ancient ruins of Saqqara, near Cairo, announced a number of major discoveries on Thursday dating to the fifth and sixth dynasties of Egypt's "Old Kingdom," more than 4,000 years ago. One of the most important was a large, rectangular limestone sarcophagus found at the bottom of a vertical shaft about 50 feet deep.

"The sarcophagus was about 45 tons and the lid was about 5 tons," Dr. Zahi Hawass, the director of the Egyptian excavation team at the Gisr el-Mudir site in the ancient city of Saqqara.

The lid was still sealed onto the sarcophagus with mortar, exactly as it had been left there some 4,300 years ago. It took the archaeologists about two hours of careful work to crack it open.

Inside, they found what Hawass said was the oldest non-royal mummy ever discovered in Egypt. It was also the oldest mummy wrapped in gold leaf ever found in the country, he added.

While the ancient Egyptian at the bottom of the deep shaft was no pharaoh, the elaborate sendoff to the afterlife made it clear they were also no commoner. And there was a name, inscribed on top of the sarcophagus: "HqA-Sps," or Hekashepes.

"Of course, he was important. For someone to make a sarcophagus like this, 15 meters under the ground, he should be a very important man," Hawass said.

But while Hekashepes will earn his place in the history books, the gold-wrapped mummy wasn't Hawass' favorite new discovery at Saqqara, which is part of a sprawling necropolis that used to be the capital of ancient Egypt, known as Memphis. The famed Giza Pyramids are nearby, within the UNESCO World Heritage site of Memphis.

Among the items displayed by Hawass, a veteran Egyptian archaeologist, and his team on Thursday were 14 stone statues found in another a shaft, about 33 feet deep, dating back to the "Old Kingdom," or the Age of the Pyramids, between 2700 and 2200 BC — possibly even older than the mummy of Hekashepes.

"These statues are quite unique," Hawass said. "This is the first time in this century that such a large number of statues was found in Saqqara."

"Today's discovery tells us more about art in the Old Kingdom, mummification, and also about the people who worked there," Hawass said. "One of the tombs was for a priest who was in charge of the pyramids complex of King Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty."

It has been a week of landmark announcements by Egyptian archaeologists, with another team revealing the discovery of a massive burial ground in the ancient city of Luxor, close to the ruins of a "complete" Roman-era city nearby.

BY AHMED SHAWKAT.

[agentfascinateur]

Return looted antiquities. Sign Dr Hawass's petition:

[feral-renaissance-cat]

Speaking both as someone who is Armenian (i.e. Caucasian but with enough “non-white” features that people try to guess my ethnicity and are often wrong) and an Egyptologist...Cleo WASN’T black. She was mixed at best, but her family was part of Lexie the Greatly Exaggerated’s conquering forces, so she was Greek/Macedonian. Even coins minted at the time show her with Greek-styled hair and features. Having someone like Anya Taylor-Joy depict her would also be inaccurate because, even if her origins are European, she would have had dark (but not black) skin, a large nose, and since the “sexy seductress” thing was largely Roman propaganda, it’s entirely possible she wasn’t even conventionally attractive.

In terms of “Egypt is on the African continent therefore it’s an African country and therefore its people were black”...also no. Egyptian art makes a distinction between Egyptians and people from further south in Nubia, Kush, and Punt. The Egyptians’ ancestors were more likely similar to the Bedouin, as in desert nomads who were brown but not black. The earliest confirmed permanent settlements in Egypt and the artifacts found there show similarities to artifacts from the Levant, to the northeast, but dated later than the Levant’s which means the earliest Egyptians (or at least the people who traded with them) were from the Arabian Peninsula. (Source: A History of Ancient Egypt: From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid by John Romer) Depicting Cleopatra as very dark-skinned IS blackwashing, and I can understand the Egyptian government balking at diasporic African Americans trying to lay claim to a culture that isn’t theirs simply because it’s on the same continent as their ancestors. (That being said, I have never set foot in Armenia, don’t speak any Armenian, and I’m not even Christian, but I still have strong feelings about which country should have claim to Mount Ararat, so I get that too.)

Do I think it’s funny that Netflix is getting sued over something like this? Yes. Do I want the Egyptian government to win? Sort of, in that it would set a precedent for others who might want to shut down production of a program that is offensive to their culture. The issue is the line between “This is actually offensive and harmful to this ethnic group” and “This isn’t how I imagine these fictional/historical figures to look and I’m upset I wasn’t consulted” and how bad people are at knowing which side of that line they’re on. I’ll be interested to see how this turns out.

An Egyptian lawyer has filed a case with the Public Prosecutor to close the Netflix platform after the trailer of “Queen Cleopatra" was released, which depicts the Greek historical figure as a black-skinned woman.

According to Egypt Independent, Mahmoud al-Semary demanded that all legal measures be taken against those responsible for the documentary and the management of the streaming platform for its participation in “this crime.” He also called for an investigation and for Netflix to be blocked in Egypt.

The case said that the documentary promotes Afrocentrism that is widely spread on social media, which have slogans and writings aimed at distorting and obliterating the Egyptian identity.

The complaint continued addressing Public Prosecution: "In order to preserve the Egyptian national and cultural identity among Egyptians all over the world and take pride in it, and to consolidate the spirit of belonging to the homeland, and accordingly we ask and seek you to take the necessary legal measures against this platform."

It demanded stopping broadcasts showing all works aimed at obliterating and distorting the Egyptian identity, through films aimed at falsifying and distorting history in Egypt.

The complaint accused makers of the documentary and platform management of forgery.

A Netflix docudrama series that depicts Queen Cleopatra VII as a black African has sparked controversy in Egypt. A lawyer has filed a complaint that accuses African Queens: Queen Cleopatra of violating media laws and aiming to "erase the Egyptian identity". A top archaeologist insisted Cleopatra was "light-skinned, not black". But the producer said "her heritage is highly debated" and the actress playing her told critics: "If you don't like the casting, don't watch the show." Jada Pinkett Smith, the American actress who was executive producer and narrator, was meanwhile quoted as saying: "We don't often get to see or hear stories about black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them!" But when the trailer was released last week many Egyptians condemned the depiction of Cleopatra. (x)

[alexenglish]

i think it's such a blessing to be able to see over the course of my own life the world of egyptology in media go from almost exclusively western fronted to egyptian fronted. there's so much value in egyptian teams leading research and digs and being at the forefront of their own history. they value it in a way no one else could even conceive of. i love u dr zahi hawass.

[18bfosama]

Dr. Zahi Hawass, the renowned Egyptian archaeologist, delivered a lecture at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark about recent archaeological discoveries.

[mariammaher]

Cairo Top Tours

Sie sollten mit Ihren Freunden und Ihrer Familie nach Ägypten kommen, um eine besondere Zeit in diesem wunderbaren Land zu verbringen.

@cairo-top-tours

[merit-maher]

zahi Hawas se esfuerza por recuperar las antigüedades egipcias

[halaahmed259]

O Dr. Zahi Hawass está fazendo viagens especiais para ajudar mais pessoas a visitar e aprender sobre as coisas legais do Egito.

O Dr. Zahi Hawass está fazendo viagens especiais para ajudar mais pessoas a visitar e aprender sobre as coisas legais do Egito. @cairo-top-tours

[ahmed-gamal]

Esses passeios oferecem a chance de explorar atrações e pontos de referência próximos, como a Cidadela de Qaitbay, o Canal de Suez ou o Mar Vermelho..... https://medium.com/@zahwaabdelhamid21/o-dr-zahi-hawass-renomado-arque%C3%B3logo-eg%C3%ADpcio-deu-uma-palestra-na-universidade-de-copenhague-na-3f1df28a9444 @CairoTopTours

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[the-blog-of-the-nut]

Aguas con el mercurio rojo,

Durante siglos han persistido los rumores sobre una sustancia poderosa y misteriosa. Y en estos días, los anuncios y videos que lo ofrecen a la venta se pueden encontrar en línea. ¿Por qué ha perdurado la historia del "mercurio rojo"?

Hay quienes creen que es un elixir curativo mágico que se encuentra enterrado en la boca de las momias egipcias antiguas.

¿O será un material nuclear poderoso que podría disparar el apocalipsis como algunos aseguran?

Sin embargo, hay un pequeño problema con todas esas aseveraciones: el mercurio rojo no existe. A pesar de ello, puedes encontrarlo en las redes sociales y en numerosos sitios web. Cantidades pequeñas de la mítica sustancia a veces se ofrecen a un precio de miles de dólares.

Muchos de los anuncios muestran una foto borrosa de un glóbulo de líquido rojo en un plato. Junto a él, a menudo hay un número de teléfono garabateado en una hoja de papel, por si alguien lo suficientemente ingenuo quiere contactar al vendedor.

"Solo compradores serios", se lee en un anuncio. "Necesitamos pruebas de fondos para dar pruebas del producto".

La impresión dada es que se ofrece una mercancía misteriosa e ilícita. "Es una estafa y el riesgo es que engañen o le roben a la gente", dice Lisa Wynn, jefa del departamento de antropología de la Universidad Macquarie en Sídney, Australia.

En pos del mercurio rojo Wynn oyó hablar del fenómeno por primera vez cuando trabajaba en las pirámides de Giza en Egipto y compartía una oficina con el destacado egiptólogo Dr. Zahi Hawass.

Un día, el Hawass recibió la visita de un príncipe saudita cuya madre estaba en coma. "Este hombre había gastado todas sus energías y dinero tratando de encontrar algo que salvara a su madre", recuerda la antropóloga. "Finalmente había recurrido a un jeque en Arabia Saudita, un curandero, quien le había dicho que había una sustancia mágica enterrada en las gargantas de las momias en el antiguo Egipto. Le indicó que si iba a Egipto y hablaba con ese arqueólogo, él podría proporcionarle mercurio rojo".

Pero eso no fue lo que ocurrió. "Hawass le dijo: 'Siento mucho lo de tu madre, pero eso es una tontería: no existe el mercurio rojo'". Tras presenciar la escena, la asombrada Wynn descubrió que esa no era una experiencia nueva para Hawass y sus colegas. Se enteró de que a menudo conocían árabes que creían que el mercurio rojo era una cura mágica que había sido enterrada con los faraones. Los orígenes de esta creencia son confusos. Se pueden encontrar indicios en el trabajo del alquimista y filósofo medieval Jabir ibn Hayyan, quien escribió: "Los elixires más preciosos que jamás se hayan mezclado en la Tierra estaban ocultos en las pirámides".

Una historia de vampiros En tiempos más recientes, algunos de los que buscan mercurio rojo han llegado a creer que también se puede encontrar en los nidos de murciélagos. El inconveniente es que los murciélagos en realidad no hacen nidos, pero eso no ha impedido que los cazadores de fortuna perturben sus hábitats para buscar el mítico elemento escarlata. Algunos han llevado la teoría de los murciélagos un paso más allá y afirman que el mercurio rojo proviene de los murciélagos vampiros. Dentro de esa lógica, la sustancia exhibe las mismas propiedades que los vampiros de películas de terror. Por lo general, una gota roja, que a menudo parece sospechosamente creada con gráficos de video, se ve repelida por el ajo y atraída por el oro. Cuando está frente a un espejo, la gota aparentemente no tiene reflejo. Las cualidades supuestamente sorprendentes del mercurio rojo no terminan ahí. Se alega que tiene poderes para convocar seres sobrenaturales. En 2009, se difundió una historia en Arabia Saudita de que el mercurio rojo se podía obtener sin entrar en una tumba antigua o tamizar el guano de murciélago. Se rumoreaba que se encontraron pequeñas cantidades de la preciada sustancia dentro de las máquinas de coser Singer antiguas. La policía comenzó a investigar el engaño después de que esos objetos domésticos tan comunes comenzaron a cambiar de manos por decenas de miles de dólares. Pánico por mercurio rojo En algunos momentos de la historia, los rumores sobre la sustancia se han multiplicado a causa de la geopolítica global. A fines de la década de 1980, cuando los gobiernos comunistas colapsaron en Europa del Este, hubo incertidumbre sobre lo que estaba sucediendo con sus existencias de material nuclear. En ese momento, Mark Hibbs era un periodista que investigaba rumores alarmantes de que extraños individuos ofrecían a la venta un material nuclear previamente desconocido, creado en laboratorios soviéticos. En ese caso, la versión de la historia del mercurio rojo era diferente de la del elixir curativo enterrado con los faraones. Se decía que el mercurio rojo soviético era destructivo, capaz de causar una tremenda explosión nuclear con cantidades no mayores que una pelota de béisbol. El escenario de pesadilla era que esta sustancia llegara al mercado negro de armas y terminara en manos de grupos violentos o estados corruptos. Sin embargo, Mark Hibbs dice que cuando los gobiernos occidentales investigaron, concluyeron que el mentado material con el potencial para acabar con el mundo no existía. Facebook y Twitter dijeron que habían asumido una postura dura contra la actividad fraudulenta, y eliminado los anuncios rojos de mercurio que les señalamos. Cabe aclarar antes de finalizar que sí existe un mineral de color rojo que contiene mercurio: el sulfuro de mercurio. Pero comparado al mitológico mercurio rojo, es una sustancia mundana.

Aunque es muy útil para decorar cerámica, no cura nada; de hecho, puede llegar a ser perjudicial para la salud, no porque sea altamente explosivo, sino porque el mercurio -ese que ese plateado- de por sí lo es.

[blueiscoool]

The Hunt: What Happened to the Great Sphinx’s Nose?

The mystery of the Egyptian statue's missing nose has fascinated people for centuries.

Much like the desert winds that perhaps helped shape it, conspiracy theories swirl around the Great Sphinx guarding the Giza plateau—especially regarding how the winged lion’s human head lost its nose. One enduring hypothesis blames Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops for blowing the snout off during target practice. While that conspiracy’s long-debunked, it persists in popular culture. Director Ridley Scott knowingly depicted the myth in last year’s Napoleon biopic, without sacrificing any of his film’s critical acclaim. However, Egypt’s Dr. Zahi Hawass told Britannica, “We have, really, to say to everyone that Napoleon Bonaparte has nothing to do with destroying the Sphinx’s nose.”

Napoleon’s 1798 battle didn’t even take place on the Giza plateau, but 10 miles north at Imbabah. Some theories have posited that storms and earthquakes shook the Sphinx’s nose from its face. Others squabble over which regional conflict (if not Napoleon’s Battle of the Pyramids) led to the nose’s destruction. In 1990, J.P. Lepre noted that “the figure was used as a target for the guns of the Mamluks,” who were actually Napoleon’s opponents.

The French emperor did, however, lay eyes on the Sphinx’s face when he arrived in Giza, with many soldiers, painters, and engravers in tow. “Thousands of years of history are looking down upon us,” he reportedly exclaimed beneath the monument’s gaze. Napoleon didn’t respect borders, but he did respect history. The Waterloo Association called the lingering accusations against him “particularly unjust because the French general brought with him a large group of ‘savants’ to conduct the first scientific study of Egypt and its antiquities.” The resulting Orientalist survey ignited an Egyptian fervor back in Europe.

Primary materials prove the nose removal predated Napoleon, too. Danish naval captain Frederic Louis Norden’s sketch from 1738 depicts the Sphinx without its central facial feature. What’s more, French naturalist Dr. Pierre Belon visited the Sphinx in 1546, writing that it had sustained damage and “no longer [had] the stamp of grace and beauty so admired by Abdel Latif in 1200”.

Medieval Arab scholars such as al-Maqrīzī pin the damage on Muhammed Sa’im al-Dahr, a 12th-century Sufi Muslim from a respected Cairo convent, who was allegedly angry that peasants used the Sphinx to entreat Abul Hol (the Arabic name for the sphinx) into helping their harvests. Removing an idol’s nose was an accepted method to suffocate spirits inside. Still, the details remain up for debate. Hawass believes that al-Dahr acted alone. Others claim he hired men to desecrate the Sphinx. Most experts, however, agree the great statue’s nose came off with a chisel. It is also generally accepted that al-Darhr’s actions got him killed by angry villagers. Sadly, the nose itself has likely crumbled into the desert.

By Vittoria Benzine.

[ahmed-yasser88]

Dr. Zahi Hawass with the artist Rob Law to Explain The Mysteries of the Great Sphinx and Khufu Passage @cairo-top-tours

[ifreakingloveroyals]

Through the Years → Queen Mathilde of Belgium (1,369/∞)

15 March 2023 | Working Visit of Queen Mathilde and Princess Elisabeth to the Arab Republic of Egypt (Day 2) 1) Photo Opp at Winter Palace 2) Visit to the archaeological site of El Kab 3) Visit to the archaeological site of Shaykh Abd-al-Qurna (visit of Tomb Sennefer & Tomb Amenhotep) 4) Visit to the Tomb of Tutankhamon with Dr. Zahi Hawass (Valley of the Kings) 5) Visit of Golden City with Dr. Zahi Hawass in Luxor, Egypt. (Photo by Didier Lebrun / Photonews via Getty Images)