Egypt after the Pharaohs: The Archaeological Evidence - Research Paper Example

 EGYPT AFTER THE PHARAOHS: THE ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE Introduction The post-Pharaonic period in Egypt starts from 332 BC. There is very little archeological evidence related to the period after Pharaohs in Egypt as almost all the Egyptologists had been obsessed with the “sites of Pharaonic interest” and most of them carried out excavations limited to such sites (Bowman 1996:239). Yet the excavations carried out in the village of Karanis in Fayum, by an expedition from the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s is seen by researchers as a valuable store of archeological evidence of the post-Pharaonic period (Bowman 1996: 239). But a detailed study and integration of all available data are still pending. The sites having physical remains of the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods are in need of a systematically organized excavation (Bowman 1996: 239). Also, the pagan-Christian clashes had effected the destruction of many archeologically important structures during this period (Bowman 1996:214). It has been recorded in history that “native Christians were determined to erase all traces of ancient heretical ways” (Brewer and Teeter, 1999: 4). In AD 392, Theodocius, the ruler of Rome and Egypt put forth an edit by which all the pagan temples in the Empire were closed (Brewer and Teeter, 1999: 4). The city of Alexandria was a treasure trove of archeological evidence, which was wholly wiped away by the Christian attacks (Bowman 1996: 207). Of the 2478 temples, 6152 courts, 24296 houses, 1561 baths, 845 taverns and 456 porticoes listed as to have existed in the great city of Alexandria by Patriarch of Antioch in the Twelfth century, only some modest structures near the theatre dating back to late Roman and Byzantine periods remain as an archeological relic (Bowman 1996: 208). In 642, Egypt was surrendered to the Arabs by Byzantium (Bowman 1996: 234). Though the Egyptian culture was made obscure by this change of rule, the archeological evidences that garnished the entire landscape remained the only source of information about the earlier culture (Bowman 1996: 234). The temple of Luxor and the Dakhla oasis are some other very important archeological sites, which present layers of stratigraphy covering periods of more than two thousand years (Grimal and Grimal, 4). When the Arabs conquered Egypt, they marveled in the temples and pyramids of Egypt but they also carried out destructive explorations of monuments to search for written texts on ancient Egypt (Brewer and Teeter, 1999, 4). Brewer and Teeter (1999:4) have also described the passion of Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, who ruled between AD 786 and 809, and who was the central character in the literary classic, ‘Arabian Nights’, in paying translators “gold based on the weight of each translated manuscript”. The treasure hunting pursued by Arabs also had depleted the archeological evidences in Egypt (Brewer and Teeter, 1999, 4). But all these fragmented evidences lack cohesion in informing us about the social life and culture of Egypt in the post-Pharaonic period, in a comprehensive way. Hence this study will try to compile the observations made by different literatures on the topic so that a real picture of the transformation from ancient Egyptian social life to the succeeding Islamic socio-cultural atmosphere can be revisited in a candid manner. Research Design This research hypothesizes that the socio-cultural life in Egypt in the post- Pharaonic period had evolved as a natural heterogeneous interlacing of ancient Egyptian, Christian and Islamic religio-cultural practices and vision rather than as an act of cohesion. Particularly, art and architecture has played a leading role in bringing about a peaceful and gradual change from half-pagan Christianity to Islam in this era. It was a new kind of indigenous Islam that emerged out of this whole process. It is also argued that this socio-cultural base anchoring upon religious and cultural tolerance had a role in developing modern Egypt as a non-fundamentalistic Islamic state. Researchers as well as social analysts have suggested that “a stable political future of Egypt depends upon an ability to integrate pasts and recognize its Pharaonic, Hellenistic and Islamic heritage, and to place that variegated heritage within the course of a global civilization” (Meskell, 1998: 212). It is to contribute to that search for stability and progress, this study intents to find out the real socio-cultural fabric of Egypt with its roots deeply spread out in its past. Review of Literature The last Pharaoh, king Nectanebo 2 was defeated and his kingdom captured by Persians in 343 BC (El-Daly 2005: 140). Greek and Roman occupation of Egypt followed soon. When, Cleopatra committed suicide foreseeing the defeat in war with Romans, it was the end of the bloodline of the Ptolemaic rulers (El-Daly 2005: 140). AD 451 saw the establishment of Christian church in Egyptian land. In 639, Arab invasion absorbed Egypt into the Islamic Empire (El-Daly 2005: 140). El-Daley (2005) has also drawn attention to the fact that Arabic world had contact with Egypt even before the Pharaonic period (13). It has also been argued that there was a shared artistic tradition “ in which Egyptian art motifs form the basis of much Coptic and Islamic art, for example, the patterning commonly referred to as Arabesque, together with the non-employment of Coptic artists in the decoration of both Christian and Muslim buildings and materials” (El-Daley, 2005: 22). Daly and Petry (1998: 181) have observed that “the wealth of written material from the Cairo Geniza provides extensive evidence for the relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims” in the post-Pharaonic era. Archeological evidences have also shown that after the Islamic conquest, “life continued to be much as it had been before the conquest” (Daly and Petry, 1998: 181). Practical issues including taxation of Christians and land tenure had caused the earliest conversions from Christianity to Islam (Daly and Petry, 1998: 183). The Greeks, Ptolemies and Hellenes were found to have been “selecting, emphasizing and glamorizing the wisdom of ancient Egypt and developed their own version of Egyptian civilization” (Wendrich: 2010: 260). Though Muslims were not so direct in adopting this tradition, the process of assimilation and synthesis was going on. The Egyptian intellectuals have also stressed the continuity element in Egyptian civilization and have cited many examples of Egyptian conceptions from Pharaonic period surviving even in modern times (Wenrich, 2010: 265). In the middle ages, there was a boom in construction of Madrassas promoted by the Islamic rulers. This religious institutional network, in turn, provided social channels through which, Islamic ideology and culture could be transmitted to the masses (Daly and Petry, 1998: 379). But it has to be remembered that the flexibility of Islamic social and cultural life had made this transformation possible and even easy (Daly and Petry, 1998: 379). Egypt after the Pharaohs had thus gone through an unprecedented flux of incoming cultural and socio-political influences. For example, the archeological evidences collected from the Egypt under the Mamluk Sultans, have shown traces of influences of “jurists and mystics from Anatolia, the Caucusus and Iran, such as those, fleeing the Timurid invasions” (Daly and Petry, 1998: 381). It should also be noted that refugees and pilgrims from the Islamic West had been moving for centuries through Egypt to the holy cities of Hijaz (Daly and Petry, 1998: 381). Thus Egypt is observed to have developed a national culture, which was independent and separate from that of “Arab and Muslim legacy” (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 88). Scholars who have studied Egyptian history have different opinion about the influence of Islam in Egyptian social life and national identity (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 113). Some scholars have expressed the view that Egyptian culture was destroyed by the onslaught of Islam while others believe that it was only cherished and supplemented by Islamic culture (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 113). Many scholars have noticed that it is very difficult to classify any work of art or architecture of post-Pharaonic Egypt as purely Islamic, because, “the development of art and culture in Egypt is indissolubly connected with that of the whole Eastern Mediterranean” (Houtsma, 1987: 22). During the initial decades of Islamic occupation, Coptic art had occupied an important position and even the mosques had the general outlay prescribed by Coptic art (Houtsma, 1987: 22). Some scholars believe that Muslim art in Egypt began with the construction of Talunid mosque on which there are distinct ornamentation based on Islamic architectural principles (Houtsma, 1987: 22). “The pointed arches, innumerable patterns and exuberant kufic” of the Fatimid period bears marks of Persian influence (Houtsma, 1987: 23). The Coptic peasants gradually even abandoned their indigenous language to accept Arabic (Houtsma, 1987: 7). This was not a new phenomenon for Egypt as earlier also, Christian church had replaced Egyptian language with Greek in their religious literature and “Greek language became universal until the Byzantine period” (Bowman, 1996, 161, 124). In the 1920s, Egyptian intellectuals had accused that “Arabic was a language of rhetoric and speech and not the language of writing” (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 122-121). But despite this criticism, Arabic has remained the official language of Egypt. Many Egyptian temples were made into homes by Muslims and it was well known that Al-Nun Al-Misri of Akhim had spent a major portion of his life inside the birba of Akhim reading ancient script and trying to find out connections between Egyptian religious ideas and Muslim Sufism (El-Daly, 2005: 51). The rich engravings on Egyptian temples had fascinated many an Arab travel writers and this had in turn influenced the Arabic tradition of engraving as well (El-Daly, 2005:52). It has also been inferred that Islam was so easily acceptable to Egyptians because Islam provided “both a spiritual and civic religion” (Sullivan and Abed-Kotob, 1999, 45). Islamic art has also been described as having a harmony of unity and diversity (Sullivan and Abed-Kotob, 1999, 7). Mishkahs, the glass coverings for lanterns, inscribed with beautiful and colorful engravings and dated back to Mamluk period, have been viewed as the epitome of Islamic art in Egypt (Sullivan and Abed-Kotob, 1999, 114). It was the Islamic Egypt that introduced to the world the art of sunken or embossed engraving (Sullivan and Abed-Kotob, 1999, 114). Ornamentation in the mausoleums of Imam al-Hussein and Imam al-Shafi’ie and in Tolon’s mosque minbar have been another contribution of Islam to Egyptian art (Daly and Petry, 1998: 356). By the 14th century, Cairo became one of the most flourished academic centers of Islamic world (Daly and Petry, 1998: 360). It has been concluded by researchers (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 123) though Arabs were expers in technical ornamentation, they had “little capacity for architecture and the building arts in a broader sense” (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 122-123). On the other hand, Egyptians had created monumental architecture, made it a part of life and even built the pyramids, the architectural wonders of all times. So Cairo’s leading mosques, blended these two traits and were shaped as architectural beauties with extensive ornamentation (Gershoni and Jankowski, 1986: 158). . Conclusion On a peripheral look, the post-Pharaonic period in Egypt can only be seen as a dull period compared to the well-established monolithic Pharaonic period. But sociologically and culturally, the post-Pharaonic period has a relevance that surpasses even the importance of the period of Pharaohs. The change over of a society, under the influence of a wide range of cultures that happened in Egypt is a model to which multicultural societies can return in search of a workable model. The archeological evidences suggest that Egypt has retained the essence of ancient Egypt till date in social life and culture but has also been open to new civilizations and new cultural innovations and getting transformed by them. This can be seen as the essence of Egypt, the spirit of Egypt, as it evolved after the period of Pharaohs. Thus Egypt has also presented a classic example of secular Islam, which gains importance in the face of the ongoing branding of Islam as the religion of terrorists. The majority of researchers who have studied this topic have arrived at conclusions in their research paths, indicating the progress of Egypt as a process of socio-cultural synthesis rather than violent conquests alone (Bowman, 1996; Daly and Petry, 1998; El-Daly, 2005, Houtsma, 1987). But they have not projected their conclusions to the social fabric of current Egyptian realities. This is the area where there is scope for more research and exciting new information. The present socio-cultural characteristics of Egypt should be revisited in this backdrop. References Bowman, Alan.K. (1996) Egypt after the pharaohs: 332 BC to AD 642: from Alexander to the Arab conquest, California: University of California Press. Brewer, Douglas.J., and Teeter, Emily (1999) Egypt and Egyptians, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Daly, M.W. and Petry, Carl.F., (1998) The Cambridge history of Egypt: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. El-Daly, Okasha (2005) Egyptology: The missing millennium, London: UCL Press. Gershoni, I., and Jankowski, James. P. (1986) Egypt, Islam and the Arabs: The search for Egyptian nationhood, 1900-1930, New York: Oxford University Press US. Grimal, Nicholas and Grimal, Nicolas-Christophe (1994) A history of ancient Egypt volume 1992, London: Wiley-Blackwell. Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1987) E.J.Brill’s first encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936, Volume 8, Leiden: Brill. Meskell, Lynn (1998) Archeology under fire: nationalism, politics and heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, London: Routledge. Sullivan, Denis Joseph and Adab-Kotob, Sana, (1999) Islam in contemporary Egypt: civil society vs the state, Boulder: Lynne Reiner Publishers. Wendrich, Willeke (2010) Egyptian archeology, Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Read More