Culture of Egypt

The Culture of Egypt has five thousand years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations. For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself came under the influence of Hellenism, for a time Christianity, and later, Arab and Islamic culture. Today, many aspects of Egypt's ancient culture exist in interaction with newer elements, including the influence of modern Western culture, itself with roots in Ancient Egypt.

Sprache

Main article: Languages of Egypt

File:Egyptian hieroglyphs Black Schist sarcophagus Ankhnesneferibre.jpg

Egyptian hieroglyphs, as this example from a sarcophagus from Thebes of about 530 BC, represent both ideograms and phonograms.

The Ancient Egyptian language, which formed a separate branch among the family of Afro-Asiatic languages, was among the first written languages, and is known from hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of papyrus. The Coptic language, the only extant descendant of Egyptian, is today the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The "Koiné" dialect of the Greek language was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was later studied by Arabic scholars.

Arabic came to Egypt in the seventh century and Egyptian Arabic has since become the modern speech of the country. Of the many varieties of Arabic, it is the most widely spoken second dialect, probably due to the influence of Egyptian cinema throughout the Arabic-speaking world.

In the Upper Nile Valley, around Kom Ombo and Aswan, there are about 300,000 speakers of Nubian languages, mainly Nobiin, but also Kenuzi-Dongola. The Berber languages are represented by Siwi, spoken by about 5,000 around the Siwa Oasis. There are over a million speakers of the Domari language (an Indo-Aryan language related to Romany), mostly living north of Cairo, and there are about 60,000 Greek speakers in Alexandria. Approximately 77,000 speakers of Bedawi (a Beja language) live in the Eastern Desert.

Literature

Sample of a Book of the Dead of the scribe Nebqed, c. 1300 BC.

Ancient Egyptian literature dates back to the Old Kingdom, in the third millennium BC. Religious literature is best known for its hymns to various gods and its mortuary texts. The oldest extant Egyptian literature are the Pyramid Texts: the mythology and rituals carved around the tombs of rulers. The later, secular literature of ancient Egypt includes the 'wisdom texts', forms of philosophical instruction. The Instruction of Ptahhotep, for example, is a collation of moral proverbs by an Egyptian administrator. The authors of the literature of the Old and Middle Kingdoms (through to the middle of the second millennium BC) seem to have been drawn from an elite administrative class, and were celebrated and revered into the New Kingdom (to the end of the second millennium). In time, the Pyramid Texts became Coffin Texts (perhaps after the end of the Old Kingdom), and finally the mortuary literature produced its masterpiece, the Book of the Dead, during the New Kingdom.

The Middle Kingdom was the golden age of Egyptian literature. Some notable texts include the Tale of Neferty, the Instructions of Amenemhat I, the Tale of Sinuhe, the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor and the Story of the Eloquent Peasant. Instructions became a popular literary genre of the New Kingdom, taking the form of advice on proper behavior. The Story of Wenamun and the Instructions of Ani are well-known examples from this period.

During the Greco-Roman period (332 BC − AD 639), Egyptian literature was translated into other languages, and Greco-Roman literature fused with native art into a new style of writing. From this period comes the Rosetta Stone, which became the key to unlocking the mysteries of Egyptian writing to modern scholarship. The great city of Alexandria boasted its famous Library of almost half a million handwritten books during the third century BC. Alexandria's centre of learning also produced the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint.

Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, a 1985 novel by Nobel Literature Laureate Naguib Mahfouz.

During the first few centuries of the Christian era, Egypt was the ultimate source of a great deal of ascetic literature in the Coptic language. Egyptian monasteries translated many Greek and Syriac works, which are now only extant in Coptic. Under Islam, Egypt continued to be a great source of literary endeavour, now in the Arabic language. In 970, al-Azhar University was founded in Cairo, which to this day remains the most important centre of Sunni Islamic learning. In the 12th century Egypt, the Jewish talmudic scholar Maimonides produced his most important work.

Egypt's vast and rich literature constitutes an important cultural element in the life of the country and in the Middle East as a whole. Egyptian novelists and poets were among the first to experiment with modern styles of Arabic literature, and the forms they developed have been widely imitated. The first modern Egyptian novel Zaynab by Muhammad Husayn Haykal was published in 1913 in the Egyptian vernacular. Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many Egyptian books and films are available throughout the Middle East. Other prominent Egyptian writers include Nawal El Saadawi, well known for her feminist works and activism, and Alifa Rifaat who also writes about women and tradition. Vernacular poetry is perhaps the most popular literary genre amongst Egyptians, represented most significantly by Ahmed Fuad Nigm (Fagumi) and Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

See also: List of writers from Egypt

Religion

Main article: Religion in Egypt

Ramesses II was an Egyptian pharaoh. He lived from c. 1314 BC to 1224 BC

Ancient Egyptian religion was a polytheistic system that saw the world as in conflict between forces of order and chaos. The Pharaoh, representative of order on Earth, was seen as divine and descended of the falcon god Horus. There was a strong cult of resurrection in the next life centered around the god Osiris.

Coptic Christianity became popular in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and Egypt was indeed one of the strongest early Christian communities. Today, Christians constitute about 10% of the population.

Islam in Egypt came to the country with the successors of Mohammed, and is today the dominant faith with 90% of the population adherents, almost all of the Sunni denomination.

Visual art

Main articles: Art of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Egyptian architecture

Egyptian art in antiquity

The Egyptians were one of the first major civilizations to codify design elements in art. The wall paintings done in the service of the Pharaohs followed a rigid code of visual rules and meanings. Early Egyptian art is characterized by absence of linear perspective, which results in a seemingly flat space. These artists tended to create images based on what they knew, and not as much on what they see. Objects in these artworks generally do not decrease in size as they increase in distance and there is little shading to indicate depth. Sometimes, distance is indicated through the use of tiered space, where more distant objects are drawn higher above the nearby objects, but in the same scale and with no overlapping of forms. People and objects are almost always drawn in profile.

Antiquity and modernity stand side-by-side in Egypt's chief Mediterranean seaport of Alexandria.

Early Egyptian artists did have a system for maintaining dimensions within artwork. They used a grid system that allowed them to create a smaller version of the artwork, and then scale up the design based upon proportional representation in a larger grid.

See also: African art (Egypt)

Egyptian art in modern times

Modern and contemporary Egyptian art can be as diverse as any works in the world art scene. Some well-known names include Mahmoud Mokhtar, Abdel-Hadi el Gazzar, Farouk Hosny, Gazbia Sirry and many others. Many artists in Egypt have taken on modern media such as digital art and this has been the theme of many exhibions in Cairo, in recent times. There has also been a tendency to use the world wide web as an alternative outlet for artists and there is a strong Art-focused internet community on egroups that has found origin in Egypt*.

Science

Egypt's cultural contributions have included great works of science, art, and mathmatics, dating from antiquity to modern times.

Ptolemy

File:Ptolemy.jpg

Claudius Ptolemaeus, given contemporary German styling, in a 16th century engraved book frontispiece

Ptolemy is one of the most famous scientists associated with Egypt. Although he was born in Greece, he is famous for his work in Alexandria. Born Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαίος; c. 85 – c. 165),he was a Greek geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. He is considered by many to be the father of astronomy.

Ptolemy was the author of two important scientific treatises. One is the astronomical treatise that is now known as the Almagest (in Greek Η μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise"). In this work, one of the most influential books of Antiquity, Ptolemy compiled the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Greek and Babylonian world.

Ptolemy's other main work is his Geography. This too is a compilation, of what was known about the world's geography in the Roman Empire in his time.

In his Optics, a work which survives only in a poor Arabic translation, he writes about properties of light, including reflection, refraction and colour. His other works include Planetary Hypothesis, Planisphaerium and Analemma.

Ptolemy's treatise on astrology, the Tetrabiblos, was the most popular astrological work of antiquity and also enjoyed great influence in the Islamic world and the medieval Latin West.

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Eratosthenes (Ερατοσθένης)

Ptolemy also wrote an influential work Harmonics on music theory. After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argued for basing musical intervals on mathematical ratios (in contrast to the followers of Aristoxenus) backed up by empirical observation (in contrast to the overly-theoretical approach of the Pythagoreans). He presented his own divisions of the tetrachord and the octave, which he derived with the help of a monochord. Ptolemy's astronomical interests also appeared in a discussion of the music of the spheres.

Tributes to Ptolemy include Ptolemaeus crater on the Moon and Ptolemaeus crater on Mars.

Eratosthenes

Another important scientist of Hellenistic Egypt was Eratosthenes. He was the first to measure Earth's circumference. He also measured a number of other important astronomic distances, such as the Sun-Earth distance, and introduced the Sieve of Eratosthenes – a way of finding prime numbers.

Library of Alexandria

Inscription referring to the Alexandrian library, dated AD 56

The Royal Library of Alexandria was once the largest in the world. It is usually assumed to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt after his father had set up the Temple of the Muses or Museum. The initial organization is attributed to Demetrius Phalereus. The Library is estimated to have stored at its peak 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls.

One of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries after its creation. All that is left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost due to the building's destruction. Few events in ancient history are as controversial as the destruction of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Its destruction has been attributed by some authors to, among others, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Catholic zealots during the purge of the Arian heresy, Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol of knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant barbarians, often for purely political reasons.

A new library was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old library.

Ahmed Zewail

Ahmed Zewail (Arabic: أحمد زويل) (born February 26, 1946) is an Egyptian chemist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry. Born in Damanhur (60 km south-east of Alexandria) and raised in Disuq, he moved to the US to complete his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He was awarded a faculty appointment at Caltech in 1976, where he has remained since.

Zewail's key work has been as the pioneer of femtochemistry. He developed a method using a rapid laser technique (consisting of ultrashort laser flashes), which allows the description of reactions at the atomic level. It can be viewed as a highly sophisticated form of flash photography.

In 1999, Zewail became the third Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize, following Anwar Sadat (1978 in Peace) and Naguib Mahfouz (1988 in Literature). In 1999 he received Egypt's highest state honour, the Grand Collar of the Nile.

Egyptology

In modern times, archaeology and the study of Egypt's ancient heritage as the field of Egyptology has itself become a major scientific pursuit in the country itself. Led at first by Europeans and westerners, this modern rediscovery has in recent decades been taken up by Egyptian archæologists such as Zahi Hawass and the Supreme Council of Antiquities he leads. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a tablet written in ancient Greek, Egyptian demotic script, and Egyptian hieroglyphs, has partially been credited for the recent stir in the study of Ancient Egypt. Greek, a well known language, gave linguists the ability to decipher the mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphic language. The ability to decipher hieroglyphics facilitated the translation of hundreds of the texts and inscriptions that were previously indecipherable, giving insight into Egyptian culture that would have otherwise been lost to the ages. The stone was discovered on July 15, 1799 in the port town of Rosetta, Egypt,and has been held in the British Museum since 1802.

Sports

The most played most-watched sport in Egypt is Football (Soccer). Egyptian Soccer clubs especially Al Ahly and Al Zamalek are known throughout the Arab World and Africa and enjoy the reputation of long-time champions of the sport regionally. They enjoy popularity even among non-Egyptians in the Arab countries.

Among the most-watched sports in Egypt are basketball, handball, squash and tennis. The Egyptian Squash team is always known for its fierce competition in world-wide championship in the 1930s and today. Handball has become another growingly popular sport among Egyptians as well. Since the early 1990s, the Egyptian Handball Team has become a growing international force in the sport, winning regional and continental tournaments as well as reaching up to fourth place internationally in 2001.

Local sports clubs receive financial support from the local governments, and many sporting clubs are financially and administratively supported by the government.

Cinema

Main article: Cinema of Egypt

Egyptian cinema is a flourishing film industry with a long history. As a result, the Egyptian captial has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the Middle East", where the world-renowed Cairo International Film Festival is held every year.

Music and dance

Main article: Music of Egypt

File:Oud.jpg

Front and rear views of an oud.

Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous Egyptian, Arabic, African and Western influences.

As early as 4000 BC, ancient Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, as well as two indigenous instruments: the ney and the oud. However, there is little notation of Egyptian music before the 7th century AD, when Egypt became part of the Muslim world. Percussion and vocal music became important at this time, and has remained an important part of Egyptian music today.

Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by Khedive Ismail and who influenced the later work of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and other Egyptian music giants.

From the 1970s onwards, Egyptian pop music has become increasingly important in Egyptian culture, particularly among the large youth population of Egypt. Egyptian folk music is also popular, played during weddings and other festivities. In the last quarter of the 20th century, Egyptian music was a way to communicate social and class issues. The most popular Egyptian pop singer is Amr Diab.

Belly dance, or Raqs Sharqi in Arabic, may have originated in Egypt, and today the country is considered the international center of the art.

The Egyptian Center for Culture & Art (ECCA)Makan

Was founded in 2003 to record and promote traditional music in Egypt. Traditional Egyptian music is increasingly in danger of being relegated to the status of an exotic and de-contextualised tourist curiosity or to a place on the shelves of academic archives far from the daily lives of its dwindling practitioners. ECCA aims to document, renew and present traditional music in Egypt as a vibrant and renewable resource, a multi-layered point of reference to the cultural richness of Egyptian music and arts. ECCA further encourages efforts to return the music to the critical role it has played in the daily life and imagination of the Egyptian people, to counter the trend to isolate it from its original communities and to share this rich resource with the world community. A number of strategies activities support these aims:

1-to systematically record, document and archive current practice so as to make it available to scholars, musicians and to an increasingly broad-based audience. ECCA's commitment to high technical standards of documentation, whether photographic, film or audio recordings facilitates the distribution of material beyond local audiences to television stations, festivals and photo exhibitions.

2-to promote an audio aesthetic that respects the integrity of the instruments and voices, an alternative to the aesthetic that imposes echo, reverb and other effects dominating the popular market.

3-to provide increased and diverse performance possibilities for its practitioners, thereby expanding the audience for this tradition, renewing the lively performer-audience relationship and increasing performers' opportunties for financial sustainability.

4-to organise encounters among a range of performing artists (musicians, poets, dancers, storytellers), as well as sound, video and light technicians involved in the performing arts, bringing them together in the context of workshops, rehearsals, facilitating their participation in festivals or just socialising. Makan offers these artists and technicians the basic and necessary infrastructure, together with an ambiance and spirit that can inspire the creation of new forms and traditions as a strategy for self-sustainability.

5-to expand its already substantial network of contacts in order to further cooperation and the establishment of partnerships with a wide range of cultural organisations and scholarly institutions from all over the world.

The value of cultural diversity to the human community, like the value of biological diversity to continued life on this planet cannot be underestimated. As the world shrinks, dominant ideologies, religions and cultural expressions overwhelm the margins and we lose essential elements of the creative process-our appreciation of difference, our freedom to choose, to experiment and to dream of alternatives. ECCA will continue to build on its activities and strategies to promote creative dialogue among people and cultures with special focus on Mediterranean and African people and to encourage perception of these traditions as important and critical to the human community.

Cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Egypt

Egyptian cuisine consists of local culinary traditions such as Ful medames, Kushari and Molokhia. It also shares similarities with food found throughout the eastern Mediterranean like kebab and falafel.

See also

• Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Egyptians
• Egyptian television
• List of museums in Egypt
• Music of Egypt
• Rosetta stone

External links

• Egyptian Center for Culture and Art
• "The Library of Alexandria" by Ellen N. Brundige
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Ahmed H. Zewail's website at CalTech
• The Art of Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian contributions to art
• Cairo Opera House