Egyptian Formulas for Perfume

Sure, there are some perfume classics. Think Joy or Chanel No. 5.  But nobody’s perfume formulas have withstood the rest of time like those of the Egyptians. They are carved in stone, on the walls of the tomb in Edfu. There are hundreds of lines of hieroglyphics filling the four walls of a chamber in the tomb, spelling out portions for scents and fragrant oils to offer to the gods. 

Rimming the room below the formulas are drawings of figures holding flowers and vials. I thought they were illustrations of the ingredients and how-to instructions.  

Alas, the Egyptologist told me that they were showing offerings, not demos. 

I like my interpretation better. 

Ancients Accounting for the Awful

In a dark corner, up high on a wall in the tomb of Ramses III, there is a fairly gruesome depiction. I would never have understood it without an Egyptologist to point it out and explain. As he began to lead me and my group to the area where the carvings are located, a guard scooted in front of us, arriving first to tighten the rope on the barrier. 

His message was clear.  Don’t go past the rope to get a closer look. Unless you give the guard a little bribe.  We didn’t. We could see it just fine. 

The carvings show military victory, with captive prisoners strung together in a line.

The awfulness depicted here is that the victorious soldiers chopped off the hands of the prisoners. 

Reading from left to right on the top line of prisoners. The last person on the right is bent at the waist, arm extended around a circular pile of objects. It is a pile of amputated hands. The man behind him, standing erect, is writing on a tablet, accounting, for a tally. The same story is depicted in the parallel line below; and there is a third one, too, out of the frame of the photo. 

At the top of this blog entry is a view which includes the Pharaoh on the right, seated, watching the proceedings. 

It would be hard to deny that brutality took place when history is literally carved in stone.

Pharaohs' Pyramids at Giza: But What About the Ladies?

The Three Great Pyramids (Left) and the Dumpy Pile of Rocks for the Women (Right)

Egypt’s iconic photo of Egypt is a sandy tan desert expanse punctuated by the three great pyramids at Giza.  They remind today’s world of the engineering genius and the wealth of Egypt’s ancient civilization. The pyramids were tombs for the Pharaohs, constructed to hold all their lavish provisions to accompany them on their journeys to the afterlife. 

No surprise that those three Pharaohs: Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure had wives who they expected would join them in the afterworld. 

For those wives who outlived their husbands, they got their own pyramids. But, my, my, what sorry structures for the wives of those great guys. The queens’ tombs are more like piles of rubble than pyramids. Three lumps of jumbled rocks lie off to the side. To visit the ladies, you would have to walk through camels waiting for photo ops and step over the lighting equipment for the Great Pyramids’ sound and light show. 

But, there is little to no reason to visit the wives’ world. No reconstruction.  No information. No tours. 

Apparently Ancient Egypt was a man’s world. And apparently, not much has changed. 

The Tombs of the Nobles for Regular People

After touring the tombs of Egypt’s kings and queens, I loved visiting the Tombs of the Nobles. Relatively few people visit the area.  It is an expanse of desert, containing over 400 tombs. Although "Nobles" might sound posh, the Egyptians’ Nobles were regular working guys. The tombs are modest, stockpiling only the bare necessities for the afterlife. 

My favorite was Sennofer's tomb. It is unclear how to spell his name in English. There were two signs only a few feet apart, spelling his name differently. I gave up trying to figure out how to spell it.

The ceiling of the tomb was lumpy and uneven, unlike the smooth carvings of the tombs of kings and queens. Sennofer's tomb was decorated in grape vines, following the curvy lines of the ceiling. 

Photos were forbidden. I took this one from the internet.

There was some electric lighting, but not all the way into the tomb. One of the guards, trying to be helpful, had balanced a shard of broken mirror on a rock just outside the entrance to the tomb, shooting a glare into the main corridor. He stood at the end of the light rays, holding a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil.  He aimed it up toward the ceiling. His contraption worked pretty well.

Holy Water with a Twist in Egypt

Horus, the Falcon god pours water over the king’s head. But this was not ordinary water. It was a blend of ankh, the symbol of life, and the symbol of prosperity. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have that concoction dumped over your head?

Nile, Nile, Crocodile

Egypt is all about the Nile. That fat green vertical line on the map screams obviousness that just about everything to see is on or near the Nile. In fact, some of Egypt’s most special temples can only be accessed from the Nile. 

And in the Nile is the crocodile. The Egyptians revered them. In ancient times, they mummified them. Today, they charge admission to a museum showing crocodile worship dating back to 2500 BC. And, you have to pay more for the right to take photographs. Without flash. Which means that the photos are out of focus, with glare, and basically, fairly crummy.

In the Crocodile Museum in Kom Ombo, you can see sacred crocodiles thousands of years old, and learn how the Egyptians painted their crocodiles' nails in gold and decorated their bodies with jewels.

During the Greco Roman period, roughly from 366 BC to 450 AD, the Egyptians mummified their dead crocodiles. The crocs were revered during their lifetimes and then preserved for all eternity.  When a croc died, it was placed on a bier with carrying poles. 

Before that, much longer ago, the ancient Egyptians, way back in the Old Kingdom of 2500 BC believed that the gods sent physical manifestations of themselves in the form of crocodiles. Priests worshipped Sobek, a god who was often represented as a human with a crocodile head.

 

Take a Tour of MIT -- even if you have no hope of matriculating

If you are looking for something fun to do in the Boston area, consider going to MIT as a tourist. Even if you are not a high school senior shopping for colleges, you can take a walking tour around campus and through buildings. 

The company Tradmark Tours offers several tours each day. A current MIT student (a PhD engineering candidate in our case) led my small group of visitors. Joining our group were an Israeli father and his son who is moving to Cambridge for biotech research, a Ukrainian tourist, and a Chinese exchange student and her Cape Cod-based host mother.  

The tour route wound us through research buildings, robotics labs, classrooms and social spaces, while our guide described the university’s history and operations as well as his personal experience.  

MIT showcases the whimsy of its hacker culture -- wickedly clever pranks on steroids. Plaques and exhibits pop up around campus commemorating the more notable ones. One morning in 1994, a police car appeared on top of the dome of the main building, to the amazement of all (except the pranksters). Apparently, the car got up there not by a crane, but by chopping it up and carrying little pieces one by one. The hackers climbed to the dome’s top and while there, put it back together.

We walked along a portion of the Infinite Tunnel, the spine of MIT's underground network. 

The tour wasn’t canned. We strolled by the blacksmith shop (that's technology, right?) and lots of little offices with grad students hunched over robots and other science projects. 

Optional stop to look at T-shirts. Smart ones, natch.

Who Could Imagine a Breakaway Republic and Frank Zappa in Vilnius?

Lithuania is one of the Baltic States, squeezed between Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia. In 1990, it was the first state to assert its independence from Soviet control; and the Soviet Army finally withdrew in 1993. It has been a member of the European Union and NATO only since 2004. The country had a lot of economic catching up to do.

Vilnius is the capital. I was impressed with how European and modern it feels. There is much new construction and industry around technology. A lot of serious work has been accomplished and much remains to be done. 

For fun, Vilnius has within its borders a separate country called the Uzupis Republic. Sort of like Vatican City embedded within the City of Rome. Except that Uzupis is more of a joke, or a hippie commune, or artists' version of a frat party. Although it is merely a district within the city of Vilnius, it has its own constitution. No neckties allowed. There are 41 points in the constitution; each is a sentence long.  Everyone has the right to idle. Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation. Some contradict each other. Do not fight back. Do not surrender. 

You can buy a visa to visit, but you don't have to.  

Sign of Entry into Uzupis Republic

Bridge over the River Vilnele; Lovers' Locks in the Foreground, Drinking Party on the Bank in Background

Place to Buy a Visa

Fabulous Guide Svetlana Shtarkman in front of Uzupis' symbol of hole in hand signifying Poverty

Exiting Uzupis Republic

Frank Zappa, the American rock star of Mothers of Invention fame, has a statue in his honor in Vilnus, Lithuania. Why? He never visited Vilnius. He does not have any ancestors from Vilnius. He was an Italian guy born in Baltimore. There is nothing to suggest that he ever thought about or had any awareness of Vilnius. Yet, the statue was dedicated in his honor in 1995, two years after he died, depicting Zappa as a symbol of democracy and freedom to mark the end of communism. As the Vilnius guidebook "Vilnius in your Pocket" advises, if you are wondering what the link is between Vilnus and Frank Zappa, don't. There isn't one.

The city's key tourist attractions offer digital links to recorded explanations playable on your smart phone when you scan the code affixed to the statue. Frank Zappa cues up his Mothers of Invention album "Freak Out" and links to a youtube of him singing, "Who could imagine that they would freak out in Kansas? Kansas. Kansas. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo." 

Frank is the perfect antidote to a trip spent visiting the path of destruction of the Czar's army, followed by the Nazi murderers and then the Soviet regime. 

Frank Zappa Monument by sculptor Knostantinas Bogdanas who made busts of Lenin and Moscow bureaucrats

Reviving Jewish Life in Poland: JCC and Klezmer WannaBe Bands

The Nazis nearly succeeded in wiping out the entire Jewish population of Poland. Of the 11 million Jewish Poles before World War II, only about 1 million survived the war and most of them left. Although nearly all of the Jewish people were gone, some of their culture such as music, food and Yiddish expressions remained embedded in Polish life. Like a charred forest after a blaze, there are small signs of reemergence.

In the former Jewish district of Cracow known as Kasimierz, visitors are encouraged to attend a performance of Klezmer Music - the traditional lively Jewish fiddle music that you would hear in Fiddler on the Roof.  And, restaurants serving Jewish food have placed signs on the sidewalk, inviting customers. Those seem like encouraging indications that Jews have returned to the neighborhood from which they were wrenched. Except not. The Klezmer bands and the restaurants serving Jewish food are run by non-Jews.  This is how Poland is healing from the horrible times.

Curiosity about Jews and Jewish culture has also fueled the creation of the world's largest Jewish festival, Jewish Culture Festival. Initiated as communism waned in 1988 by two non-Jews, Janusz Makuch and Krzysztof Gierat sought to regain Poland's Jewish identity. For 10 days, nearly 30,000 people from all over the world attend or watch it on public television with the aim of personally experiencing contemporary Jewish culture.


Cracow opened a Jewish Community Center in September 2017. One of the leading donors to its funding was Prince Charles who had been deeply moved by the plight of the elderly Jews in Cracow whose community had been decimated.  The JCC's preschool began with an enrollment of four students. It is now up to fourteen.

For a visitor like me coming from the United States, the lack of security is puzzling. Whereas we are accustomed to locked doors requiring cameras and identification credentials for admission, Cracow's JCC doors are wide open. Moreover, a banner outside the building's entrance says, "Stop By and Say Hi".  We did.

Terrific guide, Thomasz Klimek and Receptionist at Cracow Jewish Community Center (See the pamphlet on the right, "Building a Jewish Future"?)

Holocaust survivor who was talking with German students during our visit. After years of keeping silent, she decided that it is important to tell her story.

Never Again Look at Packing the Same Way (Auschwitz)

Seeing it helps you believe it. The memorial at Auschwitz offers visual representations to try to help visitors comprehend the crimes committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The Nazis were able to control Jewish resistance by lying. The Nazis deceived their prisoners by telling them that they were being transported to a different location. The Jews were permitted to take a suitcase, spurring them to focus on preparing for the trip - what to pack and how much to take. The victims carefully labeled their luggage, believing they would be reunited with it upon arrival.  They vacated their residences and boarded the trains.

My brain gets numb listening to the numbers of people murdered. But, the sight of 80,000 shoes piled up is heartbreaking.

One panel in a hallway displaying 80,000 shoes

Shoes on Display

Prostheses, Crutches, Braces

Eyeglasses

I thought this part of Auschwitz looked almost like a college campus

Book of 16,000 pages of people killed at Auschwitz

People looking at the 4 million names on the 16,000 pages

Gas Chamber

Visitors Exiting the Gas Chamber

Oven