These pyramids not only tell us stories about the cultures, traditions and customs of the people who lived years ago, but they also tell what kind of rulers used to rule the world and how their empires, religion and way of life came to be known in other lands.
Did others worship them or follow them? Did they follow a religion? Did the people go through torments and miseries if they violated the laws? All these questions come to mind and historians have figured out the truth through remarkable research. These monuments have revealed the artefacts that led to other hidden treasures of history.
I don't like history much but a day came when my family and I decided to take a trip to Egypt. I had heard that the pyramids consisted of many structures that were built 3000 or more years ago and I was excited to take a look at them. Before the trip, I did a little research on this African country Egypt is located in the northeast of Africa. Its capital is Cairo and its language is Arabic (which was why it was hard for us to get by in English with the local population).
It is a Muslim country. I also came to know that the world's longest river is located in Egypt; the River Nile, from which the farmers long ago grew food crops. The most fascinating feature of Egypt was its history, the Ancient Egypt.
It was one of the greatest civilisations of all time. Egypt is mainly a desert country as you could find a lot of sand everywhere. When we finally reached Egypt, our first destination was Cairo. It was a busy city, much like Karachi.
I noticed the people there seemed to be calm and collected without even the slightest urge for disturbance in their midst.
As our tour began, we first visited the astonishing Pyramids of Giza. I could see the height of those magnificent pyramids from a distance from the window of our car.
When we finally reached there, our mouths dropped open. There they stood; all made of limestone and granite. The three Pyramids of Giza lined beside each other like three gold prisms surrounded by sand. According to our tour guide, there were actually 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt, but these were the largest of among them all. The shape of the pyramids was thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun, which the ancient Egyptians worshipped.
Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the River Nile, which as the site of the setting sun was associated with the realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology. These Giza Pyramids are one of the seven wonders of the world.
Just in front of the middle pyramid stood the Sphinx (pronounced as 'sfinx'), or the Great Sphinx of Giza. It still isn't known who the face of the Sphinx represents as no inscriptions were found. Nonetheless, it stands as the world's largest and oldest statue. I couldn't believe how marvellous these structures were but the only words that came out of my mouth were, “Wow, that's amazing!”
After the trip to Giza, we took a tour round the city of Cairo. The most beautiful feature of Cairo was the River Nile. The water seemed crystal clear with waves softly drifting above the surface. It has a total of 11 bridges across Giza and Cairo. We took a cruise on the River Nile which was really exciting.
Nighttime rolled in quickly and we went to bed in our hotel with the thought of the next trip bustling in our minds.
The next day we went to see Alexandria, one of the most beautiful historical cities. It was once the world's greatest trading city 2,000 years ago. As we drove around the city, we saw the Mediterranean Sea lined with apartments. Because of the hot weather in Egypt, residents were seen cooling down on the beach. Alexandria was a beautiful place and we saw the Qaitbay Citadel which was made to protect the city from invaders.
We also visited the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Library, one of the largest digital libraries. Actually, it was burned down by a warrior many years ago, so now the government decided to build a new digital one. So as we visited it, it was like we had stepped into a world of modern technology enmeshed with the old design. It had loads of books and computers to accompany them.
We also visited a Coptic Church, popularly known as the 'Hanging Church'. Then we stopped by the Egyptian museum to see the artefacts from the tombs of the great Egyptian emperors. We even got to see the exquisite tomb of the young king Tutankhamun who lived from 1341-1323BCE. His tomb was discovered in 1922.
We explored how paper was made from the plant papyrus for Egyptian inscriptions. I also found that the Egyptians were one of the first to make a calendar of 365 days.
Our Egypt tour turned out to be a great success. It gave us the chance to see one of the greatest civilisations of all time. I was awestruck by the treasures of history in Egypt and couldn't help but 'walk like an Egyptian'.
