Egypt's Paths

Egypt is a "Gift of the Nile." This famous quote from Herodotus, who traveled through the country in around 650 BC, is still relevant today. Modern-day visitors make the same observation: the Nile is like a green snake winding through the desert. From Rosetta, where it flows into the Mediterranean, to Abu Simbel, where it leaves Egyptian territory to begin its journey through Sudan, the banks of the great river are covered with a thick layer of silt deposited over thousands of years. Today, the majority of Egyptians live on its shores. As in the time of the pharaohs, they fish and channel water from the river to irrigate fields plowed by oxen. These same scenes, familiar to Egyptians of the 21st century, have their equivalents on the walls of tombs and temples in Pharaonic Egypt, some of them over 3000 years old.

The cult of death occupies a prominent place in ancient Egypt. Necropolises, pyramids, mummies and sarcophagi... three-quarters of the archeological discoveries made on Egyptian soil are directly linked to funeral rites. The ancient Egyptians loved life so much that they hoped they could benefit from it even after death. They had themselves mummified to preserve their bodies for eternity. Burial places were designed as dwellings, with walls painted in the colors of life. But that was not enough. The deceased also had to face Osiris, the God of the dead, who judged their actions and decided whether or not to grant eternal life. This old idea of judgment after death has not gone away. Egyptian Christians and Muslims hope to join the chosen ones at the Last Judgment. Because yesterday, as today, death was not an end for believers.

Ancient Egypt gave the world the most extraordinary monuments in all mankind. Its 3,500 year long history came to an abrupt end with the triumph of Christianity in the 4th century. But for all that, this extraordinary civilization has not disappeared. When in the 19th century, Jean-François Champollion managed to decode hieroglyphics, the form of writing used by the ancient Egyptians, the world understood what it owed to the ancient Egyptians. The architecture, necropolises, shipbuilding and Coptic language of the Egyptian Christians have their roots in this thousand-year-old history. Contemporary Egypt is indeed the daughter of ancient Egypt.

While traveling through the land of the Pharaohs in around 450 BC, Herodotus proclaimed that Egypt was a "gift of the Nile". Like any visitor of yesterday and today, he was struck by the contrast between the luxuriance along the banks of the great river and the aridity of the surrounding desert. These inhospitable expanses cover 96% of the country, and only 1% of the population lives there. The desert is also the gateway for many foreign invaders, and the domain of nomads, whom Egypt's settled population is very wary of. Despite the military presence, the Egyptians of the Nile never really succeeded in controlling this arid territory: it remains today a place of danger and rebellion.