The Pyramid of Unas, located at Saqqara, south of Giza and Cairo — the famous Saqqara “step pyramid” of Zoser appears in the background here — no longer looks like much on the outside. But the interior is absolutely wonderful, and of enormous scholarly importance. We visited it back in May, but chose to go to the Pyramid of Teti and the tomb of Kagemni this time. (Wikimedia Commons public domain)
Sigh. Once again, I see the confident assertion that the Church has been funding the Interpreter Foundation and FairMormon for years. Denying this claim dozens of times seems to make no dent in the self-assurance with which some continue to advance it.
I don’t like fundraising very much. I certainly wouldn’t do it, just for fun, if the Church were covering our budget!
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While we were at Saqqara, a number of us went into the Pyramid of Teti, where the second-oldest version of the famed Pyramid Texts can be seen.
But I really, really like the tomb reliefs in the mastaba of Teti’s vizier, Kagemni, with their depictions of daily life (e.g., fishing, milking cows, dancing, applauding musicians, and the like) in very ancient Egypt. Unfortunatley, I can’t find any photos of them at the moment, except those that are protected under copyright law. But you can easily look them up for yourself.
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After Saqqara, we had a very good lunch and we also shopped for carpets, papyri, and jewelry cartouches. For the first time in four years, my wife and I bought nothing at the carpet store. (We both love oriental rugs. It’s a weakness of ours.)
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On a very different note: While we were in Alexandria, I meant to say something about C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933), arguably the greatest Greek poet of the twentieth century, who lived there. But I forgot. So here’s one of his more famous poems, “Waiting for the Barbarians,” in the English translation by Edmund Keeley:
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What’s the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate,
in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.
He’s even got a scroll to give him,
loaded with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven’t come.
And some of our men just in from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
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