New Discovery, Alexandria: Mosaic Floor From Roman Period Uncovered in Alexandria

An Egyptian archaeological mission uncovered a Roman floor mosaic during excavation work in the Moharam Bek district of Alexandria. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

An Egyptian archaeological mission from the Ministry of Antiquities uncovered a Roman floor mosaic during excavation work at the Hend area in the Moharam Bek district of Alexandria.

Aymen Ashmawi, the head of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Section, explained that the floor mosaic is unique in Egypt but similar mosaics have been found in several areas in Rome, including the Baths of Trajan and Hadrian’s Villa. He said that the floor was in good condition.

Mostafa Roshdi, director of Alexandria and West Delta Antiquities, said that excavation work is continuing at the site in order to reveal more parts of the mosaic floor, and that comprehensive studies will be carried out on it.

Mohamed Farouk, director of Middle Alexandria Antiquities Department, told Ahram that the newly discovered floor bears an opus spicatum design which was well-known during the Roman period and used in the construction of the floors of baths and fortresses.

Egyptologist Mohamed Abdel-Aziz said that the Hend area was once home to workshops, and a large number of glass and clay ovens have been uncovered.

Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany has visited the site and given the go-ahead to continue the excavations and uncover more parts of the floor.

Source: Ahram Online

Explore Alexandria City From Here &  For All Related Posts of New Discoveries Click Here

News: EgyptAir Removed From Laptop Ban

Two and counting down: EgyptAir announced Wednesday that it had been removed from the March laptop ban for carry-on bags to the U.S.

The announcement left two airlines – Royal Air Maroc and Saudi Arabian Airlines – as the only remaining among nine airlines targeted by the Department of Homeland Security for the prohibition against electronics larger than cellphones. 

Those two have each said they expect to get off the list by July 19.

Kuwait Airways and Royal Jordanian Airlines were removed Sunday. Etihad, Emirates, Turkish and Qatar airlines were removed last week.

The department adopted the ban because of intelligence about terrorists getting better at hiding explosives in electronics. 

But the department said airlines could be removed from the prohibition against electronics larger than cellphones if they met tougher security measures announced June 28.

The standards are aimed at both detecting explosives hidden in electronics and thwarting airport workers from smuggling bombs aboard planes. 

The measures apply to 180 airlines flying to the U.S. from 280 airports in 105 countries.

If airlines don’t meet the standards, they could ultimately face a laptop ban for carry-on and checked bags on flights to the U.S.

Source: USA Today

News, Cairo: Three Islamic Monuments Inaugurated in El-Moez Street

Three edifices from the Mameluke, Ottoman and Ayyubid eras were inaugurated Monday in Historic Cairo after intensive restoration. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany along with Cairo Governor Atef Abdel Hamid and other high-ranking government officials and foreign ambassadors flocked to El-Moez street in Medieval Cairo to inaugurate three Mameluke, Ayyubid and Ottoman edifices.

Before cutting the red ribbon, the dignitaries, along with Archbishop of St. Catherine's Monastery Demitry Demianos, stood for a moment of silence on the stairs of the Sabil-Kuttab of Mohamed Ali in memory of the Egyptian officers and soldiers who were killed in a terrorist attack on Friday in Rafah, North Sinai.

Other officials present included Local Development Minister Hesham Al-Sherif as well as the ministers of culture and religious endowments and directors of foreign archaeological institutes in Egypt.

The inauguration tour started by the Sabil-Kuttab (public water fountain and Quranic school) of Khesru Pasha before moving to the Qubbet (Dome) Nagm El-Din Ayyub and finally Mohib El-Din El-Tayeb Hall.

The Ceiling of Khesru Sabil Kuttab

"Restoring these three monuments was part of a national campaign launched by the Ministry of Antiquities in 2015 to restore 100 monuments in Historic Cairo," El-Enany told Ahram Online.

He added that the newly inaugurated edifices are the first batch of a restoration campaign that includes seven monuments. The four still being restored include Maqaad Mammay Al-Seify, Al-Salihiyya Madrassa (school) Saeed Al-Saadaa’ Khanqah and the Abul Dahab monumental complex.

The ministry has allocated EGP 9 million to restore these seven. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, director-general of Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project explains that the first three monuments were like other Islamic ones in heavily populated areas like Al-Moez street: suffering from ill use by area inhabitants, excess subterranean water leaking in, and cracked walls.

The Al-Tayyeb Hall

Now after two years of work, he said, the edifices have regained their original grandeur. The sabil-kuttab of Khesru Pasha is one of the most beautiful Ottoman sabils with a sabil on the first floor and the kuttab on the second.

Al-Sultan Al-Saleh Negm El-Din dome is a rare example of a significant period in Egyptian Islamic history, when the Mamelukes took the Egyptian throne from the Ayyubids. The dome, he explains, was built by Shagaret Al-Dor as a burial place for her husband Al-Sultan Negm Al-Din, the last Ayyubid ruler. It consists of a large hall with a wooden sarcophagus in the middle and two other halls holding a kuttab and a small mosque.

Sherif Fawzi, coordinator of the El-Moez street project, said that the Moheb Al-Din Abul-Tayyeb Hall was originally the reception hall of a palace built during the 14th Century. During the 1940s, the palace was severely damaged when work began on Beit Al-Qadi road. The hall was the only section left intact in the stunning palace.

Today, it is a vast square visitor hall with a large mashrabiya façade. A marble water tap decorates the center and overhead is a fine wooden ceiling ornamented with colourful foliage and geometrical drawings. To the left is a small passage leading to a bathroom with a vaulted ceiling.

Source: Ahram Online

More about Islamic Cairo Click Here

Short Story: The Myth of Red Mercury

The myth of red mercury, a substance supposedly found in the throats of ancient Egyptian mummies, is still widespread in Egypt, writes Zahi Hawass.

The stories of tomb robberies are amazing but also tragic. The robbers do not realise that by cutting scenes and reliefs out from ancient temples and tombs they are damaging not only the history of Egypt but also that of the world as a whole.

During the 25 January Revolution, Egypt went through difficult times. On 28 January 2011, over 1,000 people sneaked into the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. That night, the police had left Cairo and the city did not have a single policeman on the streets. We have to thank God for saving the museum, because the people who sneaked inside it did not find the gold room or the room containing the golden mask of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

When we entered the museum the next day, we found many gilded statues thrown on the ground. But the museum as a whole was saved because the mummy room was locked and the building was dark, so the robbers could not find its location. If these people had found the mummy room, the royal mummies could have been destroyed.

“Red mercury”, one of the things the robbers may have been looking for, is a mythic substance for many Egyptians. They believe that in the throats of mummies there is a liquid called red mercury. If someone possesses this liquid, he or she will be able to control the spirits and become rich. Of course, there is no such thing as red mercury, but many people still believe in it all over Egypt. A daughter of a friend of mine called me one day and said that her father had held a zar (a kind of religious ceremony) at his house and brought in a Moroccan magician who had made her father believe that he could summon up the djinn, or spirits, to provide him with red mercury.

The secretary of an Arab prince also once called me and said the prince would like to meet me. I agreed. The prince came and said that he would make the story short. “My mother is very sick, and we have taken her to doctors in Egypt and all over the world, but she is still sick. A sheikh who lives near us told me that the remedy for my mother was in the hands of Zahi Hawass.” I did not know what to say, because I did not understand why he was telling me what he was saying. “I am an Egyptologist and not a doctor,” I said.

A few months later, he called me one evening and said he wanted to see me. On his arrival he said, “I have $100,000 in my bag. If you will give me some of the liquid you have, I have the same amount at my hotel.” I realised that he was referring to red mercury. I told the prince that there was no such thing as red mercury. I found out from the prince that the reason he had come to me was because I had been working on a major excavation called the Valley of the Golden Mummies in the Bahareya Oasis and had found a large cemetery full of mummies dating to the Roman period and covered with gold.

The people of Bahareya had become rich because of the production of wine, and it was wine that everyone in ancient Egypt wanted to drink in the afterlife. The discovery of the mummies happened by accident when the antiquities guard of the Temple of Alexander the Great in the Oasis had been riding his donkey whose leg fell into a hole. He looked inside and saw mummies covered in gold. We excavated the discovery, which the foreign press called the “Tutankhamun of the Greek and Roman Period”... READ MORE.

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly

New Discovery, South Sinai: Sixth Century Medical Recipe Uncovered in St Catherine's Monastery

The medical recipe uncovered is one of the renowned Greek physician Hippocrates. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Newly Discovered Manuscript

In a ceremony held at his ministry's headquarters, Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany announced the discovery of a very important medical manuscript uncovered by the monks of St Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai during restoration works carried out in the monastery's library.

The ceremony was attended by Greek Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media Nikos Pappas, the Archbishop of Saint Catherine's Monastery, Egyptian Cultural Minister Helmy El-Namnam,  Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Yasser El-Kadi, Egyptian Minister of Tourism Yehia Rashid, and South Sinai Governor Major General Khalid Fouda.

Mohammed Abdel-Latif, assistant minister of antiquities for archaeological sites, explained that the discovered manuscript is one of those known as "Palmesit" manuscripts, dating to the 6th century AD. The manuscript is written on leather and bears parts of a medical recipe of the renowned Greek physician Hippocrates.

The manuscript has also three other medical recipes written by an anonymous scribe, one of which contains drawings of medicinal herbs of the Greek recipe.

The second layer of writing found on the manuscript is a text of the Bible known as the "Sinaitic manuscript," which spread during the Middle Ages.

Ahmed Al-Nimer, supervisor of Coptic archeology documentation at the ministry, told Ahram Online that "Palmesit manuscripts" are a very well-known type of manuscript written on leather and formed of two layers. The first one, he explained, was previously erased in order to be re-written on the leather again. "This was done due to the high cost of leather at that time," Al-Nimr pointed out.

The monastery of Sainte Catherine's contains many "Palmesit" manuscripts in addition to a library containing 6,000 manuscripts, among them 600 manuscripts written in Arabic, Greek, Ethiopian, Coptic, Armenian and Syriac. They are mainly historical, geographical and philosophical manuscripts and the oldest dates to the 4th century AD.

Source: Ahram Online

• About Saint Catherine Monastery Click Here

News, Cairo: Roof of Ottoman-Era Cairo Mosque Reinforced After Partial collapse - Ministry

Marzouk Al-Ahmady in Gamaliya district has been closed to worshippers because of the collapse. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Ottoman-Era Cairo Mosque 

The Marzouk Al-Ahmady Mosque in the Al-Gamaliya district of medieval Cairo has been reinforced by the antiquities ministry after the collapse of part of the roof.

Mohamed Abdel-Latif, the deputy minister of antiquities, told Ahram Online that the partial collapse was due to the impact of erosion elements and heavy rain over a period of time.

An archaeological committee led by El-Saeed Helmy, the head of the Islamic and Coptic Antiquities Section at the ministry, has inspected the mosque and closed it to worshippers due to safety concerns.

Helmy said that there were plans to restore the mosque, which dates to the Ottoman era, but it has not yet been implemented due to lack of funds.

According to Article 30 in the antiquities law, he pointed out, the Ministry of Religious Endowments is required to fund the restoration.

The mosque contains the mausoleum of a clergyman from Yemen. It also boasts a distinguished minaret that combines Ottoman and Egyptian architectural styles.

Source: Ahram Online

More about Islamic Cairo Click Here   &  About Cairo City Click Here 

News, Esna: Al-Maala Necropolis Site in Upper Egypt is Scientifically Documented

The archaeological documentation of Al-Maala necropolis in Upper Egypt was carried out. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Al-Maala Necropolis

The Antiquities Documentation Centre has completed its project to document Al-Maala necropolis, which is located in the town of Esna in Luxor governorate.

The necropolis is a very important archaeological site because it was the official cemetery of the rulers of the third nome of Upper Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period. Hisham El-Leithy, the director general of the centre, explained that the documentation work was carried out by an Egyptian mission from the centre.

Al-Maala is the second site in the town of Ensa to be subject to the process; Esna temple was the first. The documentation project, he explained, aims to record information about every inch of every monument in Egypt according to the most up-to-date scientific and archaeological techniques.

“The actual documentation methods will consist of computer-data sets, plans and sections, as well as photographs, drawings and illustrations, recording forms, logbooks, site notebooks, diaries and dive logs,” El-Leithy said. He added that GIS systems, 3D reconstructions, applications that support on-site recording processes, modern measuring techniques and data-processing software used in geophysical research would also be used.

El-Leithy said that the project to document all the archaeological sites in Egypt was also stopped in the aftermath of the 25 January Revolution due to budgetary problems.

Decorated Pillars Found Inside One of The Tombs

The ministry however resumed the documentation project earlier this year and started with the Esna Temple and the Tanis site. At Al-Maala, the mission documented the architecture of the seven tombs that compose the necropolis as well as their engravings and paintings. All the pillars found there were also documented and given a special number.

The Al-Maala necropolis consists of seven tombs divided into two groups: the southern and northern groups. The southern group, El-Leithy said, is composed of three tombs, with the main one belonging to Ankh-Tify, the ruler of the Nekhen area found between Edfu and Isna towns during the reign of King Nefer-Ka-Re of the Third Intermediate Period.

The tomb is decorated with his biography and different titles, and contains information about the period. The other two other tombs have not been identified yet, but one of them is decorated with scenes showing the process of grain storage as well as the tomb’s owner in different positions with his family members. The second tomb has no decorations.

The southern group at the necropolis, El-Leithy said, consists of four tombs, the main one belonging to Prince Sobek Hetep, believed to be the son of ruler Ankh-Tify. The tomb is decorated with scenes of daily life. It is surrounded by three other undecorated tombs that have not yet been identified.

Source: Ahram Online