RENOVATION TO MODERNIZE LUXOR UNDERWAY WHILE MANY FUME IN SILENCE

A large renovation and restoration project is currently underway in Luxor, home to Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Golf courses, five-star hotels, and an IMAX theater will appear in the city and lights will flood the Valley of the Kings by 2030. The Supreme Council of Antiquities is also working to restore the sphinxes along the way between the Karnak and Luxor Temples.

Many buildings have been demolished as a result of the project, including the old bazaar in Luxor, and homeowners living in the construction zone have been bought out. "We just cleaned the houses, cleaned the streets. You'll never find a clean city like Luxor now in Egypt,” said Samir Farang, who heads the renovation project. 

Many, however, including residents, architects, and archaeologists, are not happy with the project. Very few are openly vocal for fear of the consequences from the government, such as imprisonment or cuts in funding. "They want it to be all asphalt and strip malls and shopping centers. That's their idea of modern and progressive,” said one resident. "Many buildings from many different periods have been erased, or will be, and I think that's entirely negative," added an architect who works on Egyptian heritage projects. "At the end of the day, you're left with a kind of Disneyland piece of pseudo-pharaonic stuff, and the rest of it is swept away." 

Some homeowners in the area are prepared to take a stand. "They do what they want, we do what we want," said a resident of Maris. "We will beat and be beaten, we will kill and be killed. After we die they can take our homes." Despite this and other requests to halt the project, Farang remains seemingly unconcerned about the opposition. “Just a few people, maybe I removed their houses or something like that, they want to criticize,” he said. “We're talking about destruction for the public good. There are victims for every development."


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LOCATION OF PHARAOH USERKARE'S LONG-LOST TOMB POSSIBLY DISCOVERED

A professor of archaeoastronomy has tentatively discovered the location of 6^th Dynasty pharaoh Userkare’s long-lost tomb near Saqqara. Giulio Magli, of Milan’s Polytechnic University, will publish his research in the next issue of Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry. By connecting lines between the tombs of the rulers of Egypt’s 6^th Dynasty, Professor Magli has identified a location in South Saqqara where Userkare’s tomb may be located. "We are talking of meridian and diagonal alignments, with pyramids raised at their intersections. The only missing piece in this sort of grid is the pyramid of Userkare," he said. "Diagonal axes -- generally oriented northeast by southwest -- governed Giza, Abusir and the Saqqara central field. But we have a different pattern with some 6th dynasty kings: their funerary monuments in South Saqqara appear to have been  planned according to meridian, north-south axes.”

Pharaoh Userkare is known only from Egypt’s king lists. He was the second ruler of the 6^th Dynasty, between Teti and Pepi I. "When Pepi I took control a few years later, Userkare disappeared from history. Finding his tomb might help understand those obscure years. The walls in his burial might also contain intact copies of the Pyramid Texts," said Magli.

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OCTAVIAN WAS NAMED AS EGYPTIAN PHARAOH AT PHILAE

 

A newly translated Roman victory stele from the Temple of Isis at Philae shows Octavian’s name inscribed in a cartouche – proof that the Roman ruler was also viewed as an Egyptian pharaoh.

It is generally believed that Octavian was never crowned as pharaoh, although Egypt became part of his domain. The stele was erected in April 29 BC. Octavian became “Augustus” two years later, in 27 BC. The stele, which notes the end of Ptolemaic and Ethiopian rule in Egypt, was erected by the priests at the Temple of Isis and was commissioned by Octavian’s appointed prefect in Egypt, Gaius Cornelius Gallus.

The new translation was recently published in The Trilingual Stela of C. Cornelius Gallus from Philae. Professor Martina Minas-Nerpal, of Swansea University in Wales, was a part of the team who worked on the translation. “The name of Octavian is written in a cartouche - he’s treated as any other Egyptian king,” she said. “They had to have an acting pharaoh – the only acting pharaoh (possible) under Octavian was Octavian,” she said. “The priests needed to see him as a pharaoh otherwise their understanding of the world would have collapsed… He (Octavian) needed to have a calm province and the key element to keeping the province calm were the priests – they were key to the population.”

The Ptolemaic kings of Egypt used a similar strategy in order to relate to the traditional Egyptian kingship theology, especially strong in southern Egypt, where Philae is located.

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TWO LARGE STATUES UNEARTHED IN LUXOR

Two large statues, one of Thoth and another of Amenhotep III standing next to Re-Horakhty, have been discovered in Luxor near Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple. The discovery comes as archaeologists work to reduce underground water around temples in the area in order to help preserve them. Amenhotep III ruled during Egypt’s 18^th dynasty; the statues are approximately 3,400 years old.

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CAT SCANS REVEAL HEART DISEASE IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIES

American and Egyptian cardiologists have conducted CAT scans on 22 mummies in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities. The team’s findings show that, contrary to popular belief, heart disease is not just a modern problem. "We can confirm that the disease was present in many [of the mummies]," said one of the team’s researchers. "The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease." The oldest mummy with the symptoms dated to 1530 BC.
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