Getting Up to Speed

"When you think of ... , what comes to mind?" is the kind of question Lee asks students new to the study of any particular history and/or culture. It's the kind of question meant to make concrete all those vague images and influences that have embedded themselves in one's memory bank over the years, comprising the impact of the past on one's present state of understanding. Even when one doesn't think there are any such images or influences lingering in the mind, there inevitably are, and acknowledging them goes a long way towards providing the opportunity to deepen them, alter them or abandon them altogether.

So when Lee thinks of "Egypt," what comes to his mind? Well, the pyramids and the Sphinx, for sure, the iconic images everyone associates with this part of the world -- and all those huge statues of various pharaohs in front of grand pillared temple ruins.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor's CLEOPATRA; the Suez Canal, Cairo, the library in Alexandra, the Nile River; King Tut and crowded museum exhibits of objects from his tomb; the beauty of Nefertiti; Shakespeare's ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA and the Roman history associated with her other conquests, Julius Caesar and Pompey.

Perhaps the strongest association, however, is with Erich von Daniken's The Chariot of the Gods from the late 1960s, a book which posited extraterrestrial influence at work in the construction of the pyramids (and similar structures in Latin America and elsewhere).

All in all, Egypt, its history and culture, seems both pretty exotic and VERY remote, historically and otherwise.

So what has our pre-trip preparation done to help us move beyond these common shared stereotypes and to get us ready for the experiences ahead? Has it added any meat to the bone of our pre-existing images and sketchy ingrained memories from times past?

But wait. Maybe this is not something we should be worrying about at all. Surely it would be tempting simply to let everything "just happen," allowing visits to all those temples and tombs and everything else just to wash over us, in the end resulting only in the ability to say, "Oh, yeah. I was in Egypt once. Interesting place!"

But the effort,we're sure, WILL prove worthwhile. Our tour to India last December showed us the real power of travel to alter one's perceptions of a culture and a people dramatically. Our visit to Egypt will likely have the same effect. And being prepared to take it all in should make a huge difference in our abilities to absorb what we encounter.

In this respect, having a basic handle on chronology, the names of the sites to be visited and of historically important figures helps, no doubt. So does an understanding of the sequence involved in the rediscovery of Ancient Egypt initiated by Napoleon in the eighteenth century and continued thereafter into the present by a whole host of historically important persons. We hope we have developed a basic appreciation of what to expect culturally while "in country" as well.

One of our most useful resources in gaining this appreciation of the possibilities which lie ahead has been John Anthony West's The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt. West examines each site we will visit, describing everything we're likely to encounter in great detail. More importantly, he provides context -- religious, cultural, historical, theoretical. Introductory chapters provide a chronological overview, an introduction to Egyptology, and a discussion of religious symbolism filled with insightful observations, useful comparative analogies and fruitful links between past and present realities.

Even given all the DVDs we've watched, the books we've read and the photographs we've studied, there's still much too much to absorb, especially if one were to attempt to expand one's interests to include a consideration of, for example, Coptic Christianity or Islamic Art or the impact on Egyptian culture of Greece and Rome (and vice versa). But we think we have enough to go on at this point to make our experiences fruitful, entertaining and educational.

After all, isn't travel supposed to broaden the mind, warm the soul and enhance one's appreciation of the human condition?