The site was built in honour of early Christian martyr, Saint Menas of Alexandria, who died in 296 AD. Various 5th-century accounts give slightly different versions of his burial and the subsequent founding of his church, but essentially his body was taken from Alexandria on a camel, which was led into the desert beyond Lake Mareotis. At some point, the camel refused to walk any further – this was taken as a sign of divine will, and the body’s attendants buried it on that spot.
The tomb’s location was then thought to be forgotten until its miraculous rediscovery by a local shepherd, who is said to have seen a sheep healed by the site’s water and then used the water and dust from the tomb to heal sick people brought to him. Word of the shepherd’s healing powers spread rapidly, and the synaxarium (a book that includes short accounts on the lives of the saints) describes Constantine I sending his sick daughter to the shepherd to be cured. The book credits her with finding Menas’ body, after which Constantine ordered the construction of a church at the site.
By the late 4th century, it became a major pilgrimage destination for Christians. Small terracotta ‘Menas flasks’ were sold to pilgrims as containers for holy water, and are found widely around the Western Mediterranean, dating roughly from the century and a half before the Muslim conquest. Roman Emperor Arcadius ordered a major expansion of the facilities, and by the end of Late Antiquity, Abu Mena had become the leading pilgrimage site in Egypt, yet was destroyed during the Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century.
The site was first excavated from 1905-1907. There are very few standing remains, but the foundations of most major buildings, such as the large basilica church, are easily discernible as well as monastic buildings, a baptistery and Roman baths. The highlight is the stunning underground tomb of Saint Menas, adorned with beautiful frescoes. More recent excavations in 1998 uncovered a large dormitory for poor pilgrims, a complex to the south of the great basilica (likely the abbot’s residence) and a complex of wine presses, including underground storage rooms, dating to the 6th/7th centuries.
However, excessive groundwater extraction has caused land subsidence, meaning the site is at risk of irreparable damage. A number of the site’s buildings have collapsed or are now unstable, and the site was added to the List of World Heritage Danger in 2001. Since then, efforts have been made to preserve and stabilise Abu Mena, including the placing of sand in endangered buildings and closing them off to the public.
Abu Mena is located about 31 miles southwest of Alexandria, near New Borg El Arab city.
]]>Known as Ramesses the Great (sometimes spelt Ramses), Ramesses II is one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs and formed part of the Nineteenth Dynasty. From 1279 BC, he built the temples at Abu Simbel as a way to immortalise himself, a feat he certainly seems to have achieved with these two vast structures and the large statues of himself which guard it.
The temples were carved directly into the sandstone outcrops located on the west bank of the Nile River, south of Aswan in the land of Nubia. These sacred temples were each dedicated to the gods as well as to Ramesses and his wife, Nefertari. The larger one, known as the Great Temple, honoured Re-Horakhti, Amon Ra and Ptah and the smaller, Hathor.
One of the most startling sights at Abu Simbel is the main hall of the Great Temple. This was also cut into the sandstone and along the hand hewn length are two rows of Osirid statues of Ramses, each one 30 feet high. Those on the north side wear the white crown of Upper Egypt, while those on the south side wear the double crown of Lower Egypt. This hall is precisely cut so that the early morning sun rays on 22nd of February and 22nd of October shine down the entire length to light up the back wall where the statues of four gods are seated.
Incredibly, the temples at Abu Simbel were once located elsewhere, but were moved – with the help of UNESCO – to their current location in order to protect them from flooding. The place they once stood is now under water.
Today, the Abu Simbel temples form part of a UNESCO World Heritage site known as the “Nubian Monuments”. This site also features as one of our Top 10 Tourist Attractions in Egypt.
Abu Simbel is a small village in the southernmost region of Egypt, just 25 miles away from Sudan. The closest major city is Aswan. Abu Simbel has its own airport and a few hotels and hostels but Aswan provides more options to overnight.
Abu Simbel is about a three-hour drive away from Aswan and there are many tour operators that can take you there.
]]>Several of the Abusir Pyramids are relatively well preserved, particularly that of Nyuserre Ini. Overall, Abusir’s pyramids are not as impressive as those in Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur, in part due to the lower quality of the construction and stones used. Nonetheless, the quieter and less tourist-targeted site of Abusir still provides visitors with a worthwhile glimpse into the ancient Egyptian world.
Abusir was established during Egypt’s Old Kingdom, encompassing the period between 2700 to 2200 BC. The period saw Egypt reach its first peak of civilisation in the lower Nile Valley, marked by significant pyramid building, including those at Abusir. It was under the reign of Userkaf, first king of the dynasty, who chose to build his Solar Temple at the site.
At the time, Abusir was a royal necropolis during the Fifth Dynasty, operating out of then-capital Memphis. Gaza had been filled with prestigious dead, and so the pharaohs of the early 25th until the mid 24th centuries needed somewhere new to build their fantastic funerary monuments.
The major pyramids at Abusir were step pyramids – rising in stacked platforms with a single large staircase to climb to the top. The Pyramid of Neferirkare is believed to have originally been such a pyramid, but was later filled in to resemble those at Gaza. Additionally, the materials used to construct the monuments at Abusir were of poorer quality to their earlier counterparts, signalling a decrease of royal power or a declining economy.
Abusir remained an important funerary site until the end of the pharaonic times and was excavated in the late 19th century. Their finds included the Abusir Papyri, found in 1893, constituting the largest collection of Old Kingdom papyrus. The papyri documented how the mortuary temples were run, including lists of daily offerings and even a work rota for priests.
Today, the ancient pyramids are still visible as towering mounds of bricks in the rough shapes of triangular prisms that touch the sky. Visitors can walk amongst the large rubble making out columns and patterns carved into the rock.
However, the Abusir Pyramids are undoubtedly a shadow of their formerly grand selves, once great funerary monuments to Egypt’s elite members of society. For this reason, be aware the site is not always included in tour itineraries, although this just lends to the peace and lack of crowding at Abusir.
There are currently no public transport services running to the Abusir Pyramids so the easiest way to get their is via hired car or with a guide/driver. From Cairo, the Abusir Pyramids are a 40 minute drive via the ring road and route 75M.
]]>