Egyptians Living in the Past

Hussein Bassir

Director of the Antiquities Museum, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt

Civilization began in Egypt’s Nile valley and delta. The Egyptians, builders of this unique civilization, had always been distinguished by their skill, perseverance, silence, calmness, forbearance, faith and tolerance.

Egypt is a meeting place for civilizations; a crucible for cultural exchange and an object of desire for invaders throughout its long history.

The names given to the land are numerous. The name Egypt comes from the ancient term Hutkaptah, meaning “temple of the soul of Ptah”, who was the god of the ancient capital Memphis. Egyptians belong to both Semitic and Hamitic peoples.

The written story of Egypt begins around 3000 BC. When the legendary king Menes unified Upper Egypt (the south) and Lower Egypt (the delta) and established a centralized state around 3000 BC, values and standards were introduced that still govern the state of Egypt. Egypt then entered the period of the Old Kingdom, the age of the pyramids, which lasted from 2686 to 2160 BC. During this time, the Egyptians built the pyramids at Giza and Saqqara, and carved the statue of the Great Sphinx by the pyramids on the Giza plateau, which represented King Khafre, builder of the second pyramid at Giza. These magnificent monuments bear witness to the archaeological, engineering, astronomical and administrative skills of the ancient Egyptians.

After that golden age, Egypt entered a period of decline, before emerging as a powerful force in the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC), the age of Egyptian classical literature. Following this second golden age, Egypt embarked on the most difficult period in its ancient history, namely the occupation by foreign tribes known as Hyksos, meaning “rulers of foreign lands”. They crept peacefully over the country’s eastern boarders and took control of large parts of the land, when the Egyptian state was weak. After a long and bitter struggle, the southern Egyptian king, Ahmose I (1550-1525 BC), managed to expel them from Egypt; driving them to Palestine. The New Kingdom, the final golden age of Ancient Egypt, was now established. Egypt adopted a new foreign policy based on expansion and foreign conquests, and brought numerous powers under its control. This period, which lasted until 1069 BC, is known as Pharaonic Egypt’s age of empire. Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) is considered the founder of the Egyptian Empire in Asia and Africa, while other famous pharaohs of this age are Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses III.

After this age of empire, Egypt entered the Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC), in which tension and lack of centralization prevailed. The Late Period (664-332 BC) followed, during which various Egyptian dynasties ruled, with some periods of Persian occupation, until the arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. At his hands and those of his successors, the Ptolemaic kings (332-31 BC), Egypt was transformed into a Graeco-Roman kingdom. With the defeat of the Romans of the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII in 31 BC, Egypt became an important part of the Roman Empire (31 BC - 395 CE), and then the Byzantine Empire (395-641 CE). In 641 CE, the Muslim Arabs took control and Egypt became one of the states of the Islamic Caliphate. Then, in the early 19th century, when the Albanian soldier Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849) founded the modern state of Egypt, along European lines. His family’s rule came to an end with the revolution of the 23rd of July in 1952, which established the Republic of Egypt under President Muhammad Naguib (1952-54), and then subsequent presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser (1954-70), Muhammad Anwar Al-Sadat (1970-81) and Muhammad Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011) and then Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (2014-current). An unavoidable characteristic of Egyptian cultural experience throughout this long history is its stability; it is distinguished by continuity and accumulation, not interruption.

The 1952 revolution, carried out by a group in the army known as the “Free Officers Movement” during the reign of Farouq I king of Egypt and Sudan (1920-65; r. 1936-52), represented the end of the monarchy that had prevailed since the beginning of Pharaonic Egypt.

While the defeat of 1967 was a shock, the glorious victory against Israel on the 6th of October, 1973 was unprecedented. The hero of this war and subsequent peace agreement, President Sadat, described it as “one of the greatest days in history”. On this day, the brave Egyptian army forces washed away the shame that the 1967 defeat had attached to Egypt and the entire Arab race, and brought Egypt back its occupied territory.

The establishment of the Islamic movement known as the Muslim Brotherhood by Sheikh Hassan Al-Banna in 1928 and early 21st century. A number of contentious issues began to emerge, such as Islam and modernity, Islam and democracy, the religious state, the system of rule and counsel, religious power, the position of Coptic Christians in an Islamic state, the Islamic economy, and the role of women and hijab. Most of these problems were concerned with form rather than substance.

King Farouq, a television series broadcasted in 2007, related the story of the life of Farouq I. It presented the last king, as he truly was a humane ruler, who loved his people and who yielded to the expression of their power through the ballot box. He did what the prime minister and government ministers asked of him, consulted his officials and did not enforce his own opinions. The series was unprecedentedly popular, particularly among the younger generations, who were born after his reign. This nostalgia for the past and for the monarchic era in particular, suggests the Egyptian people’s interest in revival and a keen awareness of their history.

There are many Egyptians who are proud of the monarchic era and regret the abortive experiment with democracy. They remember this era fondly for the effectiveness, continuity and interaction of their authorities the power and vitality of the economy, Egypt’s progress in many fields and its cultural progress. They look back on the productive contact with the West, particularly Europe, following Muhammad Ali Pasha’s decision to establish modern Egypt with the help of the Europeans, despite the British occupation in Egypt at that time. Then there are those who passionately support the July revolution and liken it to the beginning of history. They tend to consider President Nasser the last of the prophets. There is much disagreement between followers of Nasser and supporters of his successor, Sadat, who discarded the single-party socialist state and its solitary, dispassionate leader. Sadat took great strides towards political openness and liberalization of the economy, particularly with respect to the poor and social responsibility. In liberating Sinai from Israeli occupation and making peace, he followed the example of his ancestor Ramesses II, the pharaoh who had battled the Hittites for dominance in Syria in the 13th century BC. He did, however, loosen the reins on the political Islamic groups, which led to his assassination.

A third group rejects both monarchic and republican eras. Its members may be facetiously negative, or they may be frustrated by circumstances, yet eager for the best. Some recognize no difference between the two eras and are indifferent to both.

Egyptians get excited about the national football team winning the African Nations Cup, or qualifying to the World Cup. The spirit of Ancient Egypt - revival, persistence, renewal and continuity - could motivate modern Egyptians to restore the country to its former glory. Egypt, today, is looking proudly to its past when it was master of the entire ancient world. It is going through a process of contemplation and adjustment, searching for the right way to achieve this renaissance, full of hope.