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fardistantshores.com... travel and art photography by George Cruickshank

  2. Travel

Egypt

December 2003 - January 2004
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The Temple of the Oracle of Amun, Siwa. Alexander the Great visited here - and probably stood right where I was standing when I took this picture - after his conquest of Egypt. The Oracle conveniently declared young Alex to be the son of Amun, which must have helped bolster his confidence somewhat, because he went on to conquer the Persian Empire and much of the rest of the known world almost immediately thereafter. Amun was silent during my visit.
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The Temple of the Oracle of Amun, Siwa. Alexander the Great visited here - and probably stood right where I was standing when I took this picture - after his conquest of Egypt. The Oracle conveniently declared young Alex to be the son of Amun, which must have helped bolster his confidence somewhat, because he went on to conquer the Persian Empire and much of the rest of the known world almost immediately thereafter. Amun was silent during my visit.

siwa

  • Pharaoh embracing the god Khnum; late afternoon shadows at the Temple of Satet on Elephantine Island, Aswan.
  • Late afternoon cloud formation above the Western Desert, near Siwa.
  • Fatnas Island sunset, Siwa.
  • Sunset on Fatnas Island, Siwa.
  • Glorious sunset at Fatnas Island, near Siwa in the Western Desert, about 50km from the Libyan border.
  • Detail of a relief on the exterior of the National Insurance of Egypt Building, An-Nabi Danial Street, Alexandria. Just what a bare-breasted 1930s-style Cleopatra has to do with the staid business of insurance is anyone's guess.
  • Alexandrian sunset with minarets, onion domes, date palms and streetlights.
  • Face of the alabaster sphinx at Memphis, near Saqqara.
  • Main pylon of the Temple of Horus at Edfu.This is the best preserved of all of Egypt's ancient temples - and among its largest; it looks like the priests only abandoned the place yesterday.
  • Detail of a relief carving on the side of one of the monumental figures of Ramses II flanking the entrance to the Temple of Abu Simbel.
  • Detail of the main pylon and gateway to the Temple of Horus, Edfu. The female pharaoh depicted on either side of the entrance is Cleopatra VII (of Antony and Cleopatra fame). Note the remnants of red, white and blue paint surrounding the Uraeus at the top of the lintel; originally the entire temple exterior and interior walls would have been brightly painted in these colours.
  • Archway detail from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo.
  • Domes of the Mosque of Abu Al Abbas Al Mursi, Alexandria.
  • Not happy, Jan! Detail of a Roman-era marble sarcophagus in the courtyard of the Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexandria.
  • Part of the 10 metre-high limestone perimiter wall surrounding the pyramid complex of Djoser at Saqqara. Constructed over 4500 years ago, it is the oldest dressed stone monument in the world.
  • Late afternoon at Luxor Temple, Luxor, Egypt. Despite appearances, this massive complex is situated beside the Nile, right in the middle of a vibrant city, surrounded on all sides by crowded multi-lane roadways.
  • The Temple of the Oracle of Amun, Siwa. Alexander the Great visited here - and probably stood right where I was standing when I took this picture - after his conquest of Egypt. The Oracle conveniently declared young Alex to be the son of Amun, which must have helped bolster his confidence somewhat, because he went on to conquer the Persian Empire and much of the rest of the known world almost immediately thereafter. Amun was silent during my visit.
  • The victory of Christianity over the ancient gods of Egypt is epitomised by this carving on a pillar at the Temple of Isis at Philae; the temple was the last place where the ancient Egyptian religion was practised - and it survived for several hundred years after the Edict of Theodosius outlawed paganism throughout the rest of the Roman Empire. Eventually however even Isis couldn't hold back the Christian tide, and her temple was converted into a church.
  • Hypostyle hall of the Temple of Hathor, Dendera.
  • One of two massive granite obelisks raised by order of the New Kingdom female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, at the Temple of Karnak.
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