This is the home of Egypto: March 2008

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Here is your passport to Egypt! This is my new online store! Thanks to CafePress.com, I am now selling a number of products with unique graphics on them. This is the home of Egypto all images are old Images or designed by Christina Brinkley! Images by Christina are Copyrighted. All Images © Copyright 2007 By The U.S. Copyright Office

http://www.cafepress.com/egypto

Mena House Hotel Cairo

Louxor Hotel 1950's AD

Guezireh Palace Hotel Cairo

Nile Hilton Egypt

To Egypt By Sabena

Cleopatra

make custom gifts at Zazzle

The Body to the Soul

Said the body to the soul,

You are Master, you control;

Viewless, coming from afar,

Mystery to yourself you are.

I, of earthly atoms made,

Stand erect, am not afraid;

Must forever, as I run,

Cast a shadow in the sun.

All the worlds are turning round,

We are strangers, outward bound,

Down the roads we do not know,

With our orders sealed we go.

You are awful in your might,

Swift and strong, you feel delight

In the movement of the years,

In the splendor of the spheres.

Strange companionship is ours,

Separate lives and mingled powers;

You will conquer time and death,

In my nostrils is my breath.

Can you tell me when we met?

Know you where our bounds are set?

Can you see the certain line,

Where we whisper “mine” and “thine” ?

I, your comrade made of clay,

Uncomplaining go or stay;

Kiss your sceptre, fear your frown,

Own your right to wear the crown.

I have fled at your command

O’er the burning wastes of sand:

Heard the icebergs grind and groan

In the lonesome Arctic Zone;

Plunged for you beneath the waves;

Faced the wild beasts in their caves;

Fought your causes on the fields

Where the foeman never yields.

I have wasted `neath the strain

Of your unacknowledged pain;

If dishonor touched your name,

Cheek and forehead flushed with shame.

When you conquered grief or wrong,

I have sung the victor’s song;

In your shining, love-lit hours

I have wreathed myself with flowers.

Now more swiftly drop the sands

Through the hour-glass in my hands,

And more oft I hear you say

I am but the hindering clay.

I arraign you, Sovereign Soul;

I, the slave whom you control,

Face you boldly; you have done

Scarce your part beneath the sun.

He who made you made me too;

In my face His breath He blew;

In to my veins, with art divine,

Mixed the blood as red as wine.

Since His hands have fashioned me,

I must unforgotten be;

If you cause me needless pain,

He will hear His dust complain.

Restless, wayward as the wind

You have suffered, you have sinned,

Urged me onward in your pride,

Beauty fleeing, rest denied.

Oft my lips are parched with thirst,

While you give me drink accurst;

oft I starve for bread to eat,

While you burn the fields of wheat.

Through his throne-room, may the king

Send his soldiers rioting?

While the workmen humbly toil,

Should the priest the temple spoil?

Sovereign Spirit, back I thow

Blame and failure; I shall go

Unaffrighted to my place,

Undishonored by my race.

You are lonesome, homesick, tost;

You have learned what life can cost;

Leaping upward like a flame,

You will vanish whence you came.

Through my fibres I shall feel

New sensations, I shall reel,

Drooping earthward, be a part

Of old Nature’s peaceful heart.

Soul of mine, if e’er you pass

Lake of heaven, as smooth as glass,

Bend above it, you may see

Some transfigured type of me!

Cleopatra

patricia

Anubis

Monday, March 3, 2008

Ancient Egyptians

At first glance, the ancient Egyptians and their gods appear formal and distant from everyday life as we know it. The impressive remains of vast temples, massive pyramids, rows of carvings in relief, stylized images, and rigid postures, along with their amazing paraphernalia of wealth, is evidence of ancient Egyptians pomp and power. Yet the details within these colossal remains-the methodical paintings depicting daily life, the meticulous care with which the dead were attended to-attest to a highly complex religious life. The extensive number of Egyptian gods and goddesses, the complex combinations of their names, the overlapping of their roles, and the multiplicity of local variations on their myths weave a complex web that is as confusing as it is fascinating.

King Farouk & Khedive Ismail Pasha

King Farouk

King Faud Queen Nefertiti

Post Day Giza Pyramids

Pharaonic Dresses

Ancient Minarets

Wood Statue, Princess Nefert., Prince Ra-Hotep

Amonet

Amonet was the female form of the original deity, Amun who was without a gender since it was a concept. Amun/Amonet originally were the aspects of the primordial concept of air, in the Ogdoad cosmogony. Of the name for primordial air meaning, (one who) is hidden, the male aspect is Amun, and the female aspect is Amonet. Amonet, as the female aspect, became increasingly identified with Iusaaset, Atum's shadow. By becoming identified as Iusaaset, Amonet was regarded as the mother of creation and she was seen as owning the tree from which all life emerged and returned, the tree of life, an acacia tree said to reside on the desert's edge.

Nut

Her name means Night. Some of the titles of Nut were Coverer of the Sky, She Who Protects, Mistress of All, and She Who Holds a Thousand Souls. Originally she was the goddess of the daytime sky, but in later times she was known simply as the sky goddess. Nut was said to be covered in stars touching the cardinal points of her body. Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. The ancient Egyptians said that every woman was a nutrit, a little goddess.

Nephthys

Nephthys is a goddess of undetermined origin, but contrary to many erroneous claims, her ancient Egyptian name did not, in any way, mean "Lady of the House," as if referring to an ordinary human home. Perhaps most interestingly for our current consideration, Nephthys was not at all restricted to the purely passive and/or formless status so often accorded to her by various commentators. On the contrary, Nephthys is quite often featured as a rather ferocious, dangerous divinity, capable of incinerating the enemies of the Pharaoh with her fiery breath.

Bast

Bast is an ancient solar and war goddess, worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty. The centre of her cult was in Per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek), which was named after her. Originally she was viewed as the protector goddess of Lower Egypt, and consequently depicted as a fierce lioness. Indeed, her name means (female) devourer. As protector, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra, who was a solar deity also, gaining her the titles Lady of Flame and Eye of Ra.

Selket

In art, Selket was shown as a scorpion, or as a woman with a scorpion on her head, and although Selket doesn't appear to have had temples, she had a sizable priesthood. The most dangerous species of scorpion resides in North Africa, and its sting can kill, so Selket was considered a highly important goddess, and was sometimes considered by pharaohs to be their patron. As the protector against poisons, and snake bites, Selket was often said to protect the gods from Apep, the great snake-god of evil, sometimes acting as the guard when Apep was captured.

Anuket

Being the deification of the Nile herself also lead to the two tributaries of the Nile being considered the arms of Anuket. Ceremonially, when the Nile started its annual flood, the Festival of Anuket began. People threw coins, gold, jewelry, and precious gifts into the river, in thanks for the life-giving water and returning benefits derived from the wealth provided by her fertility to the goddess. The taboo held in several parts of Egypt, against eating certain fish which were considered sacred, was lifted during this time, suggesting that a fish species of the Nile was a totem for Anuket and that they were consumed as part of the ritual of her major religious festival.