Glossary & Info.

  1. Food and Drink
  2. Gods
  3. Glossary
  4. How to get to Egypt
  5. Shopping & Money
  6. Further Information


Food and Drink

On board and Hotel meals

Egyptian hotels and cruise ships serve European style meals, often in a buffet fashion, and vegetarians are catered for. Of course, you get what you pay for, but our cruise ship's food was pretty good - except for the 2 girls who wanted chips! (However, the Thomsons rep. managed to organise some for them!) On one evening, we were served up a selection of Egyptian dishes - not to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed it. Bigger, more expensive hotels and ships may have a choice of menus including local delicacies.

Local Delicacies

There is a broad selection of Egyptian food, some quite spicy. Here is a small selection:

Mezze
Egyptian Hors d'Oeuvres - a selection of normally salad items eaten on pitta bread or with your fingers.
Humus
A smooth creamy dip made from pureed chickpeas.
Falafel
Deep-fried balls of minced broad beans with onions, garlic, coriander and sometimes egg or minced meat. Eaten with...
Tehina
A sesame seed paste with water and lemon juice, used as a dip.
Kofta
Barbecued meatballs of lamb with chopped onions, herbs and spices and occasionally local cheese.
Shwarma
Lamb sliced and grilled on a rotating skewer, often served with pitta bread.
Fataya
Baked spinach pastry
Desserts
A vast selection, usually extremely sweet with loads of syrup or sugar. Try them all, or if you haven't got a sweet tooth, or you're on a diet, there is plenty of fresh fruit.

Street Food

There are often many stalls at roadsides and markets selling sweetmeats and savoury items. These stalls are best avoided, as the hygiene standards are not what the Western stomach is used to!

Alcohol

Although Egypt is a Muslim country, alcohol is permitted, and there are some perfectly palatable local beers. However, as Muslims do not drink alcohol, it's sale is pretty much restricted to hotels, some restaurants and the cruise ships, with the occasional tourist off-license in the main towns.

Coffee

Unless you ask specifically for Nescafe, the coffee is in the Turkish style - thick, black, hot and sweet! ask for Saada if you don't want sugar.

Mint Tea

Again served hot and sweet as a rule - very refreshing. Ordinary tea is also available.

Karkadeh

A hot infusion of dried hibiscus flowers, served with or without sugar. You will either love it or hate it - I loved it and found it very refreshing.


Gods and Goddesses

Amun

Lord of all the Gods and father to the kings. The God worshipped in ancient Thebes, and resident in Karnak Temple.

Amun-Ra

King of the Gods - a fusion of Amun and Ra, the sun God.

Anubis

The black jackal-headed god of mummification - figures prominently in the murals in the tombs on the West Bank.

Anukis

A bird god, similar to an egret, who was the carrier of the sun.

Atum

The god of eternity, mainly worshipped in the Old Kingdom, and said to have created all the other gods.

Bastet

The cat goddess of the Late period, the goddess of fun and music.

Geb

God of the earth, son of Shu and brother to Nut.

Haroeris

Worshipped in Kom Ombo during the Greek and Roman conquests. represented the sun, and shown as a falcon.

Hathor

Goddess of beauty, joy, love, dance and music as well as representing fertility, both of land and animals. Usually shown as a woman with a cow's head, or just the ears and horns.

Horus

Son of Isis and Osiris, Horus defeated the evil god Seth, his uncle, in revenge for his murder of his father Osiris, regaining control of the world in the process. The Pharaohs were held to be the incarnation of Horus. God of the sky, with the Sun and moon as his eyes, depicted as the falcon-headed god.

Ihy

The god of the necropolis (City of the Dead) portrayed in dog form.

Isis

Wife of Osiris, mother of Horus. The goddess of love and maternity, her love of Osiris was so strong she managed to resurrect him from death. Also the goddess of magic, able to appear in many forms.

Khum

Shown with a ram's head, the creator of man and woman on his potter's wheel.

Khonsu

Son of Mut and Amun, and prophet and assistant to Toth. God of the moon and usually depicted with a hawk's head.

Maat

Always shown with a feather on her head, and goddess of truth and justice.

Min

God of fertility, and depicted with two feathers and a huge erect penis.

Montu

God of war, shown in human shape.

Mut

Wife to Amun, who she married in the 18th Dynasty. The vulture-headed goddess of nature, who lived at Luxor Temple.

Neith, Nekhbet, Nepthys, Selket

The quartet of protective goddesses whose wings became the sarcophagus for the Pharaohs, and therefore found depicted on the sarcophagus. Nepthys was the sister of Isis and helped her resurrect Osiris, and is goddess of the funeral rites.

Nut

Goddess of the sky, her body stretched across from horizon to horizon, and she gave birth to the sun each morning and swallowed it each night. She was supported by her father Shu, god of the air. Married Geb and gave birth to Seth, Isis, Osiris and Nepthys, the gods of ancient Egyptian mythology.

Opet

The goddess of feasting. Accompanied Amun on his annual honeymoon to Luxor, which became known as the Feast of Opet.

Osiris

Married to his sister Isis and killed by his brother Seth, who cut the body into 14 pieces and hid them all over Egypt. Isis managed to recover them and mummified the rejoined pieces. Osiris was resurrected and took over rule of the underworld.

Ptah

The Creator, who spoke the name of each thing, and thus brought it into existence. Worshipped in ancient Memphis. Husband of Sekhmet.

Ra

The sun god, the supreme god/creator. Could appear in the form of any other god, but distinguished in any form by the sun disc on his head.

Ra-Harakhty

A fusion of Ra and Horus, who opened the gates to the afterlife to allow the Pharaohs to begin their journey there.

Sekhmet

The wife of Ptah, goddess of war, shown with a lioness head.

Serapis

The god of power and great strength, depicted as a bull.

Seshat

The goddess of writing, she always wrote in complimentary terms about the current Pharaoh. (Handy, that!) Had a star-shaped crown.

Seth

Evil brother and murderer of Osiris. Defeated by Osiris' son, Horus, and exiled. God of the desert and mountains.

Shu

God of air, Shu held up his daughter Nut.

Sobek

God of the annual flood. The crocodile god, and a symbol of great fear.

Thoth

The intellectual god of writing and wisdom. Shown with an ibis head, he helped judge the dead for entry to the afterlife, and is therefore seen in many tomb murals.


Glossary

Bas-reliefs

A stone carving technique where the resulting sculpture is left raised from the surrounding stone and background. The opposite of a sunken relief, cut into the stone. Ancient Egyptian reliefs were brightly painted, and some of the paint work survives to this day.

Chapels

Storage rooms and small rooms for worship of the lesser gods.

Colonnades

Rows of columns, usually as a feature lining the sides of open courtyards of a temple. Individual columns were usually sumptuously decorated, and in the better examples, each column is unique.

Colossi

Extremely large statues, usually carved from a single block of stone, such as those at Abu Simbel.

Double Crown of Egypt

Ancient Egypt was comprised of two kingdoms - the Lower Kingdom, comprising the Nile delta, and the Upper Kingdom comprising the Nile valley from Aswan to the delta. Each kingdom had it's own crown, white for the upper and red for the lower. The two crowns could sit together on a Pharaoh's head, signifying his rule over both kingdoms, and therefore his strong rule. There were many times when the Upper and Lower Kingdoms were under separate Pharaohs, and it appears a little dishonesty crept in when depicting weaker Pharaohs, who were still shown with the double crown, even though they may have lost control of one of the Kingdoms!

Hypostyle Hall

A roofed hall with the roofing slabs held up by a multitude of columns. The most impressive is at Karnak Temple, with 134 columns.

High Dam

Built between 1960 and 1972 by Russian engineers, the High Dam has meant the end of Egypt's dependence on the annual flooding of the Nile, and has increased the amount of productive land on the banks of the Nile through irrigation. However, it is a two-edged sword. The annual floods used to bring rich, fertile silt down the river, and there is now a danger of the Nile soil becoming unfertile. Also, the water table is rising in the Nile valley, causing major erosion of the foundations of the ancient temples and monuments. Some experts predict the temples and monuments could be destroyed by this threat unless action is taken.

Obelisks

Monolithic monuments to Ra, the sun god, These originally had gold or gold/silver alloy plate on the tip, and the sun's reflection could be seen for miles. Many obelisks have been removed from Egypt, for instance Cleopatra's Needle in London. An unfinished obelisk still lies in place in it's quarry near Aswan, where it was abandoned when it cracked during excavation.

Old Dam

Originally built by the British between 1898 and 1902, the Old Dam was enlarged twice in the early part of this century. However it proved insufficient for Egypt's perceived needs, and the High Dam project was undertaken. The Old Dam had to be opened annually to allow the flood waters of the Nile through. This allowed Philae Temple to be visited, before it disappeared again under the artificial lake formed when the dam was closed.

Pylon

The huge monumental gateway at the entrance to a temple. There may be more than one in a temple, as a succession of gates sometimes separated the areas accessible to each class of citizen. Pylons usually bear huge reliefs of the gods and the Pharaohs in traditional poses, and often have recesses where flags and huge decorative hangings could be fixed.

Son et Lumiere

Literally "Sound and Light". Usually a walk through presentation of the various areas of a temple, with a soundtrack of narration and music telling of the history and features. A good way to get into the history and atmosphere of the Pharaohs. There are famous ones at Karnak and Philae temples, and also at the pyramids to the north.


Shopping and Money

Currency

The currency is the Egyptian pound (LE), and as a rough guide, the exchange rate is around 5LE to 1GBPound, or 3LE to 1US$. You cannot take Egyptian currency in or out of Egypt - take Sterling or Dollar Traveller's Cheques, don't exchange more than you need and keep the receipts! Do not exchange on the black market, you will probably get ripped off, and there is a standard official exchange rate, so all Bureau de Change give the same rate. Keep a stock of small change - it's in short supply.

Shopping

There are extensive bazaars in both Luxor and Aswan, and a few fixed-price stores. Apart from the fixed-price stores, haggling is the norm, and should be undertaken vigorously! As a rule, expect to settle for around 25 - 30% (or less!) of the stall owner's first price at tourist sites, so counter-offer about 10%! Shopping bazaars in towns are less outrageous, but haggle hard. Egyptian products such as cotton, rugs, spices, jewellery, leather goods, alabaster and papyrus are available at bargain prices. Don't be afraid to haggle hard - it's unlikely you'll pay as low a price as a local would! It's all part of the game for the locals. A good tip is not to look too interested, and let it be known that you're shopping around, and have seen / been offered the item cheaper elsewhere. In the larger shops you may be offered a refreshment and pleasantries before the serious business of selling you something gets under way. Friendly taxi drivers/carriage drivers/youths will offer to take you to the best shops - avoid this if you can as they will get commission from the shop they take you to and reduce your bargaining power.

Baksheesh

Tipping is a way of life in Egypt, due to the low wages. The constant wheedling for "Baksheesh" can become irksome, but a determined "No" or "La'a" usually does the trick. Waiters should get about 10%, and your holiday rep. will advise on current tipping levels on your ship/hotel. Allow around 10-15LE per week for your chambermaid, for instance. Taxi and horse carriage drivers expect baksheesh, so negotiate the fare beforehand with no baksheesh - not even for the horse!


Further Information

Here are some other Web sites about Egypt:

Visit Egypt
A tour of Egypt, these pages are still under construction.

Egypt Interactive -- Home Page
A "complete guide to Egypt on the Internet". Egyptian Internet Resources . An annotated index to Egypt on the Internet. Links to information on all aspects of Egypt.

Guardian's Egypt Homepage
An Egypt page which provides links to Egyptology and Egypt resources on the WWW. Enjoy!

Egypt Tours and Travel Homepage
Egypt Tours and Travel is an Egyptian Land and Cruise Tour operator which is specialized in tours to Egypt, based in the US.

Egypt
Resource Map (Still under construction) . Home Pages and Guides: . Egyptian Information . Egypt Page . The Unofficial Egyptian Homepage . Colour Tour of Egypt . General Country Information: . Egypt GIFs .

Reeder's Egypt Page
Greg Reeder's home page, dedicated to Egypt with lots of links.

Thomas Cook Holidays Home Page
For those who can't bear to leave their 'puter to go to the travel agents! These pages are currently under construction. You can request a brochure, explore the Caribbean or Egypt .


Any comments, or if you want some further info I'll try to help, e-mail me on
graham@horus.demon.co.uk


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