Read Around the World October 2023 – Egypt

by imabookwormy on October 31, 2023

While the rain is coming down in the UK I vicariously travelled to Egypt where the weather is warm and rain is rare…

Fun facts from this website:

The Great Pyramid of Giza is around 4,500 years old making it the oldest of the ancient world’s seven wonders.
Egypt only has two seasons. Winter, which is from November to April, is mild but still fairly warm with cool evenings. Summer, which is from May to October, is very hot.
Without the Nile River, ancient Egyptians wouldn’t have gotten much don. It aided in agriculture, transportation and construction.
In ancient Egypt, death was seen as just a stepping stone in a person’s life. To prepare someone for this next step, they employed a very complex process to preserve and prepare the body so that the soul would move smoothly into the next life. Mummification and stone coffins were reserved for the very rich or for royalty.
While the use of makeup is thought to have started in ancient Egypt, cosmetics were not just reserved for the ladies! Both men and women wore makeup.
Worshipped like sacred deities, most homes had a cat and it was treated like royalty. They were thought to bring good luck.
Toothpaste, pens, paper, keys and locks were invented in Egypt.
Egyptians believed in more than 2,000 gods.
Egyptian cotton is said to be the best in the world.
If you were to unravel some of the bandages of some Egyptian mummies, the linen bandages would stretch for a mile.
The sun was worshipped by ancient Egyptians the same way the gods were worshipped.
Egyptian hieroglyphs – There are more than 700 symbols in this ancient language that was once used to document history and communicate. It’s also a very old language and one of the first to ever be used.
The ancient Egyptians invented the calendar that we use today which has 365 days.
It took at least 20 years and 100,000 people to build the great pyramids.
The custom of exchanging wedding rings started in ancient Egypt.

I chose to visit Egypt via Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz. This is the first book in a trilogy featuring a Muslim family living in Cairo during Egypt’s occupation by British forces in the early 1900s. The story covers many aspects of life for the family from the fathers strict controlling nature at home to his carousing and womanising when out with his friends. The women of the family are kept locked away from the world to protect their honour and are not allowed to leave the house while the men have the freedom to come and go as they please as long as they obey the father’s strict commands. As events progress the family find themselves swept up in the protests and demonstrations to free Egypt from English rule. Events that will have far reaching consequences.

This was a 4 star read for me I really enjoyed immersing myself into the Egypt culture and following the family as they live their daily lives. I fully intend to finish the trilogy to see how things turn out for everyone.