Miscellaneous Pictures

A lady watching over bread during the preparation process.

Begging by boat - is was very early in the morning and these boys often take home something like croissants for breakfast

Snake charming on the way up to one of the temples.

Apricot - The head of the Nubian village and a friend who is smoking a cigarette.

An oven

Goats roam wherever they will - even on the main roads in villages.

This man is injecting something into the stone work to preserve the temple. It is debatable whether this is necessary or whether he is posing in hopes of raising some money. Many carvers can be seen round the temples, but nothing is really being carved! Old men sit chipping away at bits of rock - but there is nothing to see, they just hope people will pay to take photographs of them working.

A police truck

Papyrus was first used about 4000BC. This paper was made from the pith of papyrus, a common marsh plant. The tall stems are cut down and carried off in bundles.
Each stem is stripped of it's rind and cut into short pieces. These pieces are then cut lengthwise into narrow strips. It is essential to keep the papyrus pith moist.
Two layers of strips at right angles are put on a hard surface and beaten until they fuse. The papyrus sheets are polished and then glued together to make scrolls.

You can see the formation of the papyrus from the back of the picture.

Modern ornaments in the old style. These are traditionally carved out of granite stone but often now are carved from cheap soft stone for the tourist trade.

The sacred Egyptian cat is the animal incarnation of the goddess Bast or Bastet. She was the protector of women and motherhood, as well as the loving goddess who enjoyed music and dance. As a protector against disease and evil spirits, Bastet was a highly regarded goddess in Egyptian culture.

The scarab beetle, otherwise known as dung beetle is famous for rolling balls of dung along the ground and depositing them in its burrows. The female lays her eggs in the dung and When they hatch the larvae use the ball for food. Having consumed its first meal the young beetles would emerge from the hole.

It has always been used widely as a symbol in Egypt symbolising the young scarab beetles who seemed to emerge spontaneously and were worshipped as "Khepera", which means "he was came forth." That was associated with the creator god Atum. The scarab-beetle god Khepera was believed to push the setting sun along the sky in the same manner as the beetle with his ball of dung. In many artefacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky.

Scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of a mummy. These "heart scarabs" were meant to be weighed against the feather of truth during the final judgement. The amulets were often inscribed on the base with a spell from the Book of the Dead which entreated the heart to, "do not stand as a witness against me."

The Egyptians had lots of jewellery made of gold and semi precious stones. This is a replica headdress.

Haematite jewellery was and still is very popular all over Africa.

The Banks of the Nile ~ The Valley of the Kings ~ Messing about on the river ~ Aswan ~ Pyramids ~ Lord Kitchener's Island ~ Luxor from the air ~ The Nubian Museum ~ Luxor and Karnak ~ Abu Simbel ~ Kom Ombo ~ Edfu and Philae ~ The Desert Landscape ~ The Nile Adventure ~ Homes ~ Esna and Edfu Town ~ Miscellaneous Pictures ~ Home