The Sands of Time

There has been some form of cultural organization in this place for at least 8000 years. At that time most of the great Sahara Desert was not yet great, being occupied mostly by dry grasslands. Desertification, hastened in part by overgrazing, was just beginning to establish itself. Long ago, here in the Nile Valley, a number of independent, small societies began to coalesce. It is here, in the broad river valley that stretches endlessly from the lush jungles of equatorial Africa to the wide delta emptying into the Mediterranean, that the nation of Egypt was born.

If legend is to be believed, two of these small, independent Nile valley societies grew prosperous, becoming small kingdoms. The Nile, a broad, azure ribbon meandering through arid and semi-arid regions, brought fertile soil to these kingdoms, it's gradual and regular flooding depositing fresh earth every year. The gentle flooding was regular enough to allow ancient farmers to use the river as a basis by which to distinguish the seasons; the development of a calendar was not far off. The river also served as a trade route, connecting the two small kingdoms and bonding them in ways that even conquest could not accomplish. 

Time passed. The kingdoms continued to grow. Monarchs grew powerful. Let's call the southern kingdom 'Upper Egypt,' because of its relatively higher land elevation. Let's call the northern kingdom 'Lower Egypt.' It's location in the Nile delta was at a lower land elevation in comparison to its southern neighbor.  As their status and prestige grew, the powerful monarchs of their respective kingdoms each chose a unique crown, a symbol of their success: for the ruler of the southern kingdom, an alabaster, oblong skull-cap of sorts, elongated and stretched at the top; for the ruler of the northern kingdom, a crimson cylinder with a sprout at the front and a high cowl at the back.

Some time around five thousand years ago, the people of the two successful Nile kingdoms united under one king and one unified crown, the pharaoh's crown that we recognize today; this being made up of the basic elements of the separate crowns worn by the monarchs of pre-historic Egyptian kingdoms shrouded by the sands of time.

Since then, unity among the people of Egypt has ebbed and flowed like the steady flooding of the Nile. The unity forged five thousand years ago came to an end a thousand years later with the coming of a group of either immigrants or invaders that the ancient Egyptians called the Hyksos. The Hyksos were probably a Semitic people pushed into Egypt from the area we would call the Middle East. Strong Egyptian pharaohs were eventually able to drive out the Hyksos, but there would be other invaders hundreds of years later coming at fairly frequent intervals; invaders from North Africa, invaders from the southern parts of Africa, invaders from the nearby Assyrian Empire, and finally invaders from the mighty Persian Empire. All of the invaders brought a demise of Egyptian unity long since established. Invaders brought new technologies and new ideas, however. There was the inevitable intermingling of peoples. Egyptians changed and adapted, ultimately renewing their unity and identity.

Then came Alexander and his fellow Hellenes. Wealthy Egyptians once again adapted, but this time they took on Greek customs and social mores. Egypt became a part of the Hellenic world and the Mediterranean world. A period of gradual urbanization followed as well as a gradual demise of old ways and customs. The powerful city of Alexandria, with its renown library and lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was born. More intermingling ensued. Even today, the women of Alexandria are considered by Egyptians to be among the most beautiful in all of Egypt with their ebon hair, smooth olive skin and hazel/green eyes.

Then came the Romans, and Egypt became a colony within one of the largest empires the world had yet seen. Yet even more intermingling occurred. During the Roman period, Christianity quickly and quietly spread to the area. A unique Coptic Christian community developed independently of the church in Rome. Within a half a millenia, Rome became a distant memory for the people of Egypt, but the Coptic Church remained.

Some 800 years after the Romans first arrived, the prophet Mohammad began his preaching, developing a following on the Arabian Peninsula that would soon gather sufficient strength to spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Islam came to Egypt quickly through a clever combination of Arab conquest and conversion. More intermingling occurred with the coming of the Arabs. Intermarried or not, the Egyptian aristocracy had to be conquered, but ordinary Egyptian farmers found comfort in the words of the Quran and the egalitarianism of Islam. People converted by the thousands. Today, Egyptians are predominantly Muslim. 

The Kurds came generations later to establish a kingdom within the larger Muslim kingdom. Then came the Turks, followed by the Ottomans. Each successive wave of conquest brought more intermarriage. 

Some 200 years ago, an upstart, Albanian general named Muhammad Ali, wrested control away from Ottoman rule and founded the Kingdom of Egypt, a monarchy that was to continue until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and the coming of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Although initially successful, the monarchs of Egypt became embroiled in European politics, intimately and inextricably enmeshed in European disputes. Close ties with Europe and the end of World War II would prove to be these rulers' undoing as a wave of anti-monarchical fervor gripped Egyptians in the early 1950s. 

The revolution of 1952 was orchestrated by a council of generals, chief among these being General Nasser. A republic was declared in 1953, and one of the ruling generals became the republic's first president. Within a year, he had been removed in favor of Nasser. Calling himself a 'president,' Nasser ruled until his fatal heart attack in 1970. After Nasser's death his protege, Anwar Sadat, presided over Egypt.  I remember Sadat, the man who signed a controversial peace agreement with his Israeli counterpart, Menachem Begin; an agreement that would ultimately contribute to Sadat's assassination in 1981. Enter Hosni Mubarak, Sadat's successor. Mr. Mubarak ruled Egypt from 1981 until the Arab Spring Revolution of 2011. The Revolution ended with the first-ever democratic elections in Egypt and the first democratically elected President, Mohamed Morsi. 

Of all the various Egyptian governments to which I have referred, Morsi's government has had perhaps the shortest life span, lasting just a little over one year. Today, Morsi is being held by the interim government to answer for crimes he allegedly committed in 2011. Where he is being held is unknown. Ironically enough Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, has been held under house arrest since Morsi took office. Mubarak is being held in a heavily protected military hospital located just a few short kilometers from where I write. Rumors in the local press, swirling like the sands along either side of the Nile, indicate that he is due to be released by the interim government any day now.