Season 2 Episode 2: Journey Down the Nile

With a river as widely known as the Nile, you’d think the average would know a little more about it. You’re in luck! Listen in, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Nile River and its purposes over time. We will then explore how changes over time brought the Nile to where it is today; and then see how time might’ve changed the way we even think about it.

Featuring: (not pictured) Amr Shahat, PhD Candidate, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA

Transcript

[Introduction 00:00-2:59]

RUBY PROSSER: *background music* Perhaps the most famous river in the world, The Nile River has been a source of life for Egyptian civilization for thousands of years. It is the world’s longest river, spanning more than 6,800 kilometers (~4225 miles) and runs through 10 different countries. While it is so long, its drainage is a mere fraction of rivers such as the Amazon, Congo, and Danube. All of this water not draining out into the ocean flooded and irrigated the river’s banks and provided sustenance for the people who lived near. ¹There were also widely known cultural beliefs about the river such as its personification as a god, explaining the Nile’s power to give life in the otherwise desert climate of Egypt. ²And for its time, the Nile was also known as an extensive trade route, and inspired plans for socio-political structures and settlements throughout Egypt.³ You wanna hear more? Let’s go for a “Journey Down the Nile”.

PROSSER: Thanks for dropping by, my name is Ruby Prosser and welcome to Season 2 Episode 2 of of Now As Then, a podcast series exploring differences and similarities in perceptions of Ancient Egypt over time. In this episode called “Journey Down the Nile”, I will be talking about many aspects of Pharaonic, Ptolemaic/Roman, and modern Egypt that had built up as well as changed Western perceptions of the Nile River. We’ll be learning some of these changed perceptions were created in part by ideas of globalization and ethnocentrism, and contribute to damaging practices of commercialization and notions of Orientalism. This is a whole lot to hear right now, and I promise I’ll be explaining all of this… but that’s for later. For our special guest, we are joined throughout the podcast with the wonderful Amr Shahat.

AMR SHAHAT: My name is Amr Shahat I am a fourth-year PhD student in Egyptian archaeology and my specialization is archaeobotany. So when I dig in archaeological sites I look for food and plant remains and I explore the history of culture and cultural interaction through the lens of plants. How do they use these plants for their food system, agriculture, medicine, clothing and for trade interactions?

PROSSER: Great! There’s so much more to hear, so stick around!

*Switch up music*

[Section 1: Ancient Egypt 3:00- 14:24]

[Subsection: Agriculture]

PROSSER: *background music* So we’ve all heard the phrase “Water is life”. And for ancient Egyptian civilizations, the Nile River was the source of all things needed to survive. The Nile River first provided irreplaceable water, and then humans learned to control it for agriculture. With years of surpluses, this aspect of Egypt was a flourishing one, but farmers had to have technology to calculate ways to get the best crop yield. *river sounds* Let’s start with the very basics according to Nezar AlSayyad, a professor and urbanist with interests in Islamic architecture and urban history. Water goes through natural processes, like precipitation, can gather in a lake, glacier, and be released by rivers and streams into the ocean. The most natural form of water ancient Egyptians learned to control was, of course, the river that we call the Nile today. We can learn about the Nile’s natural cycle in the terms of the ancient Egyptians and their agricultural calendar. The three seasons were named Akhet, Peret, and Shemu, or Inundation, Growing, and Harvest. These parts had about four months each, and were all very distinctive parts of the Nile’s agricultural “cycle”. First, Akhet or Inundation was the four month’s time in which the Nile’s water levels rose up to extensively flood the soil on the banks of the river. This left farmland well-watered and very fertile for the next growing season. *background music ends* This sudden rise in the waters, though, created devastating floods, ruining the farmland and the previous harvest of crops if not measured correctly. I’ll talk a little more about Hapy *sparkle sound*, the personification of the power behind these floods, when we talk about the Nile’s cultural significance. Further, to combat this power, ancient Egyptians created a very, very advanced irrigation system. This system allowed for many canals to reach the innermost parts of land to water the crops. Systems like shadufs, which were long poles attached to a water bucket, allowed for farmers to easily allocate the river water to these canals. The next season is called Peret, when farmers plant multiple crops in the silt, including but of course not limited to barley, onions, wheat, and lettuce. Ancient Egypt used tools such as the ox-drawn plow, hoes, and large baskets to plant after inundation. Breaking up the fertile soil after it had been inundated was important to actually make sure the seeds could be viable and sprout.⁴ After another four months of plowing the fields and harvesting, the final season of Shemu, or harvesting came along. A primary source shows us multiple storage records of distributions in the food surplus, suggesting ancient Egyptians were harvesting in surplus for many years.⁵ Because of this people were able to make and store other artifacts like textiles, also shown in the record. Ancient Egyptians celebrated this surplus and the season Shemu with a festival associated with the goddess Renenutet. ⁶ *background music* We know there were celebrations, but Amr, what did they celebrate?

SHAHAT: So there is a celebration of two important days. The harvest day in March, and there’s a day in January around, I think, January 21st where after the flood is complete and when winter starts and the water is cold. They consider that time the cleanest and the purest time for the Nile water. They call it the day of Wathas, it means swimming, the Nile is safe to swim in and drink from. And they consider Christianity and Islam the host religions and it’s the other way actually, they continue these ancient beliefs around the Nile even under [the current] time period. *background music ends*

PROSSER: Wow, it’s crazy how the efficiency of their yield from the river has been celebrated for that long! The efficiency of the agricultural system also definitely proved itself through the surplus, and this suggests Egyptians also had materials to trade. According to AlSayyad, there soon became development of reed and wooden rafts which converted the Nile into a highway for trade, communication, and political integration. With further developments in technologies to farm and trade, there was successful handling of the Nile River over the first few Dynasties. Great!

[Subsection: Culture]

*high pace, switch up music*

PROSSER: Think back to when we talked about inundation, and the power behind the flood to either give life or create destruction. Those are cultural beliefs about the Nile! At this point, let’s introduce a little information about the religiosity of ancient Egyptians, or how religious the general population was. Barry Kemp, an archaeologist and Egyptologist, recognizes that many ancient Egyptians followed a “popular religion”, but were also used in New Kingdom periods as a way to possibly boost personal relationships with the deities they prayed to.⁷ It was more of the nobles and elites that would practice spells, rituals, and other prayers. Nonetheless, it’s important to learn about what many people believed about the Nile River in the Pharaonic time. Ancient Egyptians unified most gods with the characteristics of the central god Ra, or the King of Gods. Because of this, the Nile River god, Hapy, is depicted with many similarities to Ra and lesser known Khenum, an early god of waterfalls. Another deity associated with the Nile is Renenutet, a powerful goddess in control of nourishment, fertility, and harvest. You can probably remember that she was celebrated at Shemu, the harvest festival.⁸ *background music* Amr, who was Hapy and how was his religious presence effective for the ruling class?

SHAHAT: In ancient Egypt the embodiment of the Nile flood and the balances and beauty that the Nile comes with is embodied by the god Hapy. You see that kings, when they focus on agriculture, especially in the middle kingdom after they recover from civil war, they started to focus on irrigation systems and development. So we also find emphasis on god Hapy, and Amnemhat the 3rd to celebrate and presents himself as god Hapy on Earth, bringing bounty to the Nile, et cetera, he has a presentation of himself as Hapy bringing food and fish and plants to the Egyptians. This statue is in the Egyptian museum, it’s very impressive. *background music ends*

PROSSER: Very impressive indeed! Many images of Hapy represent inundation itself, which we remember was the flooding of the soil on the banks along the Nile. In Pharaonic times he is normally represented male aligned, but also androgynously being a “stout man with female breasts” giving him a duality of sorts. That duality plays out in his gender presentation and control of both fertility and drought. In Sety I tomb, there are multiple other facets that show the phenomenon of dual conception. For example, we have the North and South river valleys, and familiar double tomb inscriptions of the god having a papyrus plant in one hand and a lotus plant in the other. I know you’re thinking: Ruby, what does that stuff mean? The North, or Lower Egypt is the delta that diverges into several channels until it dumps into the ocean symbolized by papyrus. The South, or Upper Egypt is the portion upriver from the delta symbolized by lotus. The unity of the papyrus and lotus flowers showed the Nile’s connection between both Upper and Lower Egypt, again ultimately showing Hapy’s dual power. Ancient Egyptians showcase the first case of religiosity and personification of the Nile River, which is evidently their biggest claim to survival. We will soon touch on how these beliefs bleed into other periods, using aspects of these ideologies to increase economic endeavors as well as change religious beliefs. Let’s move on!

[Subsection: Sociopolitical]

*high pace, switch up music*

PROSSER: There is so much to explore concerning social organization and trade in ancient Egypt through most of the dynastic periods. What did they trade, how were they organized socially and politically? A great example to talk about is Memphis. Memphis was the first capital city of lower Egypt, and was the product of twenty different dynasties. As we discussed with Amr in the first section, the Nile River shaped the organization and content of early settlement and soon to be built villages or cities. With the harnessing of the Nile River, civilizations were able to have a surplus of food, which enabled ancient Egypt to have a state administration, division of labor, and early specialized jobs like merchants to trade. Division of labor did change throughout dynasties, but the city expanded regardless of specialty. For example, centralization and city building only expanded as the pyramid builders grew the city to accommodate their craftsmen and laborers even though they were notoriously not great city builders. On top of those jobs rested the civil servants, priests, nobles, bureaucrats, and eventually the king or pharaoh. This political organization was created for the king to conduct duties and ceremonies showing he was a divine being linked to both the godly and human worlds. This religiousness in the higher levels of society provided more money and resources to be allocated to architecture, including temples, tombs and pyramids. This was the beginning of commercialization in Egypt because soon temples served not only a religious purpose, but also as a center of economic power.

[Discussion]

PROSSER: So what can we take away from all this? We have to learn this information first to be able to analyze how it changed our perception of Egyptian society later. But we can also use this information to learn how ancient Egypt themselves learned to adapt and control efficient agricultural, religious, and political systems in their own right, without much outside influence. That is, until the influences of the Ptolemies and Rome.

*Switch up music*

[Section 2: Ptolemies/Rome 14:25- 26:34]

PROSSER: Alright, let’s talk about the Greco-Roman period, spanning about 900 years in Egypt. Greek influenced and inhabited Egypt first for about 300 years, and Roman control lasted another 600 years or so after that, making Greco-Roman control span from about 330BC to 630CE. Wow! Remember, we are thinking about how new influences such as the Greeks and Romans on the use of symbols to commercialize Ancient Egypt. Ptolemy II is credited with many achievements and interests such as the Library of Alexandria, foreign policy and agricultural expansion. He is a large reason why ancient Egyptian or Pharaonic culture bled into his time period so much, depicting him as a religious elite as well as an administrative leader. As I take you through these 300 years or so, think about how ancient Egyptian values were changed and depicted, and how that changed how you might see Egypt today!

[Subsection: Agriculture]

*flute music*

PROSSER: Before the Greeks arrived around 330 BCE, the Egyptians were largely left to themselves to manage the Nile. Then Greeks came into Egypt and centralized the government and therefore agricultural systems to feed their empire. The biggest difference was, Egypt became part of Greece, and the leaders became more concerned with having stricter control over production so they were able to use both Egypt’s fertile soil and large labor force. The Fayyum, an oasis region of Egypt known for its very lush agricultural land, was actually most prominent in the Middle Kingdom, or 1975 BC to 1640 BC, but was settled in and terraformed by the Greeks. As time moved on, ancient Egyptian irrigation systems inspired Greco-Roman canals and hydraulics.⁹ *background music* The calendar and seasons were also changed to a dual calendar system, including Julian months and more patterns to follow because now they were solely using this system to create revenue for their empires.¹⁰This is important because the agricultural systems were now being used to create coinage along with a stabilized economic production system, ultimately giving leaders more economic and therefore political power. Amr, can you jump in here and give us some crops that emerged in this period? How about from other places or times?

SHAHAT: So this is very important, we started out with mainly the wheat and barley and linen. Here I found that also while the plants were still in use, especially palm. You get two kinds of fruit from them, dates and another fruit called DOUM and this palm tree is only native to the South of Egypt. And it is marked by having two heads, like you know the regular date palm has one head on top. No, this one has a trunk and then the trunk becomes two trunks and then two heads of the palm. I’ve never seen this in the North or anywhere not near the Nile River. It’s also native to Sudan. It’s these wild plants that continued because they had multiple uses like spices to juices to even medicinal applications.

PROSSER: Ok, so moving on to more recent periods such as the Ptolemaic period, what kind of crops do we see being introduced along with these ones that are staying?

SHAHAT: Yes we have the introduction of pomegranate coming from the East Mediterranean. I found the introduction of juniper berries, it was my first time to discover it and this species specifically. During quarantine for the coronavirus I made my own hand sanitizer out of it. I just added percentage of alcohol in it, crushed it and made it a sanitizer. *laughs*

PROSSER: That’s so cool! That’s how you do it guys. *background music ends* Okay, so what about the agricultural systems themselves? Colin Adams, a professor of mathematics with an interest in Roman-Egypt transportation, also says there were lots of exploitations and failures during this time. Workers were subjected to years of compulsory labor, there was redistribution of wealth to the wealthy, and then there ended up being future hindrances in agricultural production due to poor management. Because of this “negligence” to handle irrigation, many of these Roman canals that came in the latter part of the rule of Greco-Romans failed in production and disrepair.¹⁰ During this time, there were additional efforts to monopolize industries out of Egypt for additional revenue. The desperation to exploit the people, land and symbols of ancient Egypt was just the start of appropriation in Egypt. Above all, this is evidence that the settlers of Greco-Roman Fayyum believed economy and agricultural processes were more of a major concern of the state, suggesting the purpose and therefore perception of the Nile River had changed into more of a functional tool. We will later talk about this tool and how it concerns socio-political movements as well. Things were quick to change throughout this period, but Egyptologists are quick to study these fluctuations and apply them to this growing notion of commercialization.¹¹^,¹²

[Subsection: Culture]

*flute music*

PROSSER: Cultural appropriation is essentially the adoption of culture, usually a more dominant culture taking from the lesser one to benefit off of it. Recall from about thirty seconds ago when I told you about the people, land, and symbols that were being appropriated for economic use? This is exactly cultural appropriation, *boo noises* and it definitely goes hand-in-hand with commercialization. This is the management and selling of a product for financial gain. As you recall, traditional ancient Egyptian images of Hapy are predominantly drawn as a male character, but as we move further into the Greco-Roman period, we see more of his sexual and therefore cultural duality like we saw in the Tomb at Sety.In Greek-style pictures, Hapy is seen associated with a female, who first appeared on Alexandrian coinage. The introduction of the coin and this image widely normalized female-aligned gods into Greco-Roman period cultural belief. This goddess was called Euthenia, representing abundance and wealth. This fit with Greco-Roman attitudes of making revenue from agriculture as well as just having cultural power over the native Egyptians. Amr, can you tell us a bit about what stayed the same as well as some changes when it came to the Nile’s use and beliefs around it in this period?

SHAHAT: *background music* It expanded and exploited on making more irrigation systems, connected more channels and canals, and focused on water systems in the oasis also. Especially Fayoum, where the Nile branches out naturally and pours into not the Mediterrarnean a lake, called Lake Fayoum. East LA has this project working on this project working on the Greco Roman history of agriculture and agricultural exploitation in Fayoum.

PROSSER: Thanks Amr, great input. And we can actually see this with the Harris Magical Papyrus also shows evidence of Egyptian-inspired stories rewritten with Greek gods’ names in the same context.²Furthermore, Egyptian religious beliefs that rivers had their own demons also inspired Greco-Roman nymphs, or water spirits of the Nile River. It is generally known that those two ideologies, being Ptolemaic and Egyptian were pretty syncretised at the time. So what? Now we know the influences of monotheistic religions show both change in actual belief and a change that encouraged economic exploitation of ancient religious beliefs over time. We must stop perceiving Egyptian culture through a lens of ethnocentrism and economic profit. Well Ruby, what is ethnocentrism? Ethnocentrism is the idea that people see other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards of their own culture. This is seen in Greek and Roman Egypt possibly because there was an increase in aestheticism or a beauty contest, and even a sense of notoriety, like I’m better than you because I use the image of Hapy on my empire’s coins.

[Subsection: Sociopolitical]

*flute music*

PROSSER: The introduction of early Ptolemaic administrative districts called sepat, led to the operation of a government that oversaw nomes, which were basically smaller versions of the government. This caused some internal conflict, eventually leading to decentralization of power in this period of Egypt. Nonetheless, these cities were a huge center for trade and communication between other cities and eventually empires. The river flow soon became the basis of taxation and government income in ancient Egypt and its settlements. This growth continued on through the Greco-Roman period, when more political organization grew the economy and stabilized settlement patterns. Unfortunately there were uprisings under Ptolemaic rule, and according to many scholars, they were caused by many factors including ethnicity, nationalism, poor economy, and Nile floods. (Damn you Hapy!) As you might remember, one of Ptolemy II’s goals was to intensify crop production and work on the water system, transforming Fayoum into a fertile plain. However, with revolts and resentful attitudes, indigenous Egyptians looked at the Greeks as invaders, and it took decades for Egyptians to accept this new power structure. An artificial Macedonia was created, and introduced the system of nomarchies just as it had in Ptolemaic times. Both private and public landholds earned higher incomes, but the land was still residentially divided between Egyptian and Greeks. Trade under Roman rule provided a short but sweet production of luxury goods, but the government continued taxation and privatization of land. Eventually, the Roman Fayuum faded away. So what’s the big idea with this? There is obviously a power struggle here between a dominant and subordinate culture, and as we discussed previously, this struggle ends in appropriation for the benefit of the larger culture. Now that empires see the benefits of commercializing, Egypt starts to be perceived in an Orientalist lens, being described as interesting or mystic, therefore giving false worth to the products. Now that’s business. See it all now?

[Discussion]

PROSSER: Okay, so there was a LOT of change through the entire Greco-Roman period, and I have noticed many ideologies that completely change my personal idea of how I see Egypt already. But we conquered some big points, and I want to chill for a second before we dive into modern Egyptian systems that evolved through the mechanisms of technology, ethnocentrism, and foreign affairs.

[Section 3: Modern 26:35- 36:32]

[Subsection: Agriculture] *techno music*

PROSSER: So you wanna know how Egypt ends up? Ok calm down. Starting as early as 1869, tours of Egypt and the “Holy Land” were given on steamboats up and down the river. John Cook, the man who gave these tours had previously scouted the transatlantic market before. This travel through the river created revenue and encouraged travel, trade, and business to places they’d never been. Oh sorry. Cook called it the “Holy Land”? *mysterious oRiEnTaL music* Ah yes. Orientalism. This is important to acknowledge. You recall the definition of Orientalism, and the harmful Eastern stereotypes it perpetuates. This is a prime example of recognizing culture that is different and commercializing it for revenue; we can see in Cook’s case, it was his boat. Edward Said was really onto something in 1978. Finally, as we move into more recent times, there are a few dams. The High Aswan Dam is located in Aswan, Egypt and was built across the Nile River between 1960 and 1970, just before Said wrote “Orientalism”. It was mainly built to control flooding and early on in the plans and pre-builds for the dam, engineers found a way the dam could produce power as well.¹³ This water control and hydroelectric power is used to help increase the productivity and agricultural production of modern Egypt. Of course, there is political worry about the ecological effects of the dam. Amr, please tell us about your own research on this subject! *background music*

SHAHAT: Modern crops dating to after the High Dam time period, I found a huge drop in the fertility of the soil and this a striking, first hand finding to the anthropogenic impact of the dams on changing the ecology, the water system, and the fertility of the soil along the nile river countries. Now there are political committees saying they want to evaluate the damage of the dam. They argue they need a scientific committee to debate on environmental impacts. But there is no evidence the dam has ecological damage.

PROSSER: This is very interesting and also very important because the Aswan Dam is the most advanced technology for the use of agriculture along the Egyptian Nile River today. Comparing now to way back then in Pharaonic, this is quite obviously a huge change from the wooden machines or outdated agricultural calendars because irrigation is now completely regulated and controlled. *background music ends* The Nile has always been known as a place of life, but now we are able to see an increase in the means of productivity and therefore revenue, like what we see with surplus crops and the steamboat rides. All that leads up to what we know now which is a highly efficient renewable power source AND the agricultural benefit of a dam, being a very well calculated irrigation and controlled crop harvest. Dam(n)!

[Subsection: Culture]

PROSSER: Well let’s move back a little. Egypt moved into a postcolonial era in the mid-twentieth century with help of Nasser, the Suez Canal was freed from Western rule and the British were finally pushed out of Egypt. This was the start of the Egyptian revolution, and cultural and nationalistic ideologies started to flood Egypt. A new Egypt was on the rise, liberated from Western Egypt to look for a more self determining and nationalistic view to define what it meant to be a powerful pan-Arab state. Nasser, the leader of Egypt during the building of the Aswan Dam, wanted to move fast and engage in modernization the same way empires did, not so much thinking about the ramifications of quick cultural change towards Western ideals. This was soon taken over by a supremacist-like ideology that had blatant disregard for people’s separation from the Nile River and the water that flooded Nubian and Egyptian “temples, churches, mosques, art,” and homes.¹⁴Affecting many Nubian communities, there was noticeably less traditional family structure and the language was dying. There was a growing poverty rate which prompted the loss of so much ancient art and literature with no regard due to the Aswan Dam’s creation. Because of this destruction, the Egyptian government had sadly self-imposed damage to their own culture as well as destroyed many parts of Nubian culture just to control water and create power. Either way someone will argue the dam helped or didn’t, but there is an inexplicable truth when we cross the line into foreign relations.

[Subsection: Sociopolitical]

*techno music*

PROSSER: Before we get very modern, let’s talk about Mohamed Ali and cotton with Amr.

SHAHAT: Mohamed Ali is native to Albania, and then came right after the political vacuum when the French colonialism left Egypt and he became the ruler of Egypt under the Turkish empire and then he announced his independence from Turkish empire and made Egypt his own center of an empire. He made a lot of changes in the agricultural system in Egypt. And what never got published or studied is that Mohamed Ali introduced cotton and some colonial crops even from the Americas like tobacco like the British got from Americas to Europe. He introduced them to Egypt before British colonialism even came to Egypt. He would help British colonialism during the invasion of the New World with troops from Egypt. *background music* The cotton as a cash crop dropped under a modern capitalism system but at the same time we still have this tobacco industry in Egypt. The original name was the Eastern Company, that’s what the British called it but under nationalism, we call it Cleopatra. *laughs* It’s still continued. This is how we internalized colonialism under modern times and we don’t remember this is from colonial history. *background music ends*

PROSSER: Exactly, moving forward into the modern period, the Council on Foreign Relations wrote the “Nile Waters Agreement”, looking to promote understanding of international relations and foreign policy concerning the Nile’s water usage and allocation to countries. The proposition and conversations of splitting water took place between the broad years of 1896 with the reconquering of Sudan by Egypt and Great Britain (jointly) and 1929 with the negotiation that Egypt remains the main user and “owner” of the Nile.¹⁵ Egypts recognition as a sovereign state and their push towards freedom as we discussed earlier, which pushed ideals of Egyptian nationalism. The negotiation of Aswan Dam began when the Low Dam, built in 1902, was overthrown. Egyptians at first weren’t interested, but eventually wanted the water to be stored in Egypt for political reasons. The United States and the USSR both wanted to help develop the dam, but it started to get complicated during the Cold War and growing “intra-Arab tensions”.¹⁶At this point, it was Egypt’s turn to engage in an alliance that was powerful and could help them become the sovereign state they fought for. As you recall Nasser claimed to lead Arab in its newfound nationalism, but realized he couldn’t unless he grew his military. Eventually with the help of the US, Britain, and USSR, $70 million dollars and arms were exchanged for Egyptian grain and cotton. However, as both deals were taken, the US and Britain withdrew their funds, and the Soviets gave them even more money to build the Aswan Dam. Both the Soviets and Egyptians provided engineers to work on the plans for the dam, threatening to submerge several historical sites, but the Soviets helped with a rescue mission as well. Even today, there is an Arab-Soviet Friendship memorial commemorating the Aswan Dam build completion in remembrance. These foreign relations were exactly what Egypt needed to be freed, and we see that change stands out in bold when you reverse back into history. In order to establish a strength in the world, it doesn’t necessarily have to be dominant, a country just felt the need to prove themselves after their liberation. While many people might not have even known this, it is crucial to know this information to talk about why and how we see Egypt or any other Eastern country a certain way.

*Switch up music*

[Conclusion 36:33- 38:16- End]

PROSSER: So what did we learn today? Let’s look back.

We knocked out ancient Egypt *punch noise*, we talked about their irrigation systems *punch noise*, Hapy *punch noise*, and civilization building *punch noise*. Okay how about Greco Roman times? We have more irrigation advancements and economic growth. Do you remember there were highly organized miniature government districts? *punch noise x3* Hold on, unfortunately these times heavily influenced how Westerners see in an Orientalist perspective. Ouch. In the modern times, there are even more commercialized and globalized forms of revenue along the Nile with transportation, business, and trade. *punch noise* Destructions of cultural material belonging to both Egypt and Nubia as well as the introduction to new nationalist ideologies prove Egyptian liberation. *punch noise x2* Last but not even close to least, we recognized foreign relations with the Soviet Union tremendously helped Egypt in becoming a globally recognized sovereign nation as well as helping with the building of the modern irrigation and power system, the Aswan Dam. *punch noise x5* woohoo!

Why did we learn this? We (Westerners) are blinded by the glorification and mysticism of ancient Egypt. We are fed stories like “Arabian Nights” and Aladdin forgetting that we are only being exposed to stereotypes and that we will rarely forget them even if we are conscious enough. To see both sides of a historically rich place, you must study many aspects over many time periods to see what has changed and how it can be improved upon or kept up. *background music* Well, that is all for today folks. Wow. Make sure to watch all the other episodes by Daniel, Gaby, Isabel, Sam and Sophia. Very special thanks to Robyn Price, our wonderful and insanely smart graduate instructor for this seminar. Also thank you to Deidre Whitmore for tips on recording podcasts, Martin Brennan for teaching about copyright, and Simon Lee, Jet Jacobs, and Katherine Kapsidelis for giving us research resources. This was Ruby, and thank you for listening to “The Journey of the Nile”. *background music ends*

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3rZPuyydKg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HDDjHEKfn0

Ancient festivals/religion

11:36- 12:48

Hapy

12:52- 13:53

Transcript

Works Cited

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