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I feel we are quite lucky that Egypt is a relatively stable country throughout the time that modern tools have become available to find ancient burial sites. T

by gibolt 6y ago

I feel we are quite lucky that Egypt is a relatively stable country throughout the time that modern tools have become available to find ancient burial sites. They are able and incentivized to use proper scientific methods and slow exhuming to preserve as much information about an ancient human culture as possible. Considering how much political and societal turmoil has been and still is in the surrounding regions, all of these finds could have easily been pilfered and lost as they had been through Egypt's earlier history.

fakedang 6y ago
If you look at it, it's largely due to the nature of unrest in Egypt vs elsewhere in the region. Egypt's unrest is largely formed by local Egyptians, who are otherwise extremely proud of their cultural past dating back to the Nile Valley civilization, a past that was also widely celebrated within the Western world. Places like Syria and Lebanon on the other hand have had massive foreign influence and foreign players influencing their rebellions. Of course they wouldn't give a damn about what happens to those relics. Not to mention, local Phoenician/Syrian/Babylonian cultures aren't as popular worldwide as their Egyptian counterparts, hence there isn't as much dedication towards preserving them - sometimes even the local population partakes in the destruction, especially if the relics in question are of another faith. It would be a different world altogether perhaps, had the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Roman infrastructure in the Levant were preserved well. Ironically, one of the major proponents of reviving interest in Babylonian culture in the recent past was Saddam Hussein, who engaged in rebuilding most of the city of Babylon.
- code_duck 6y ago
  In 1989,my 6th grade social studies class (in the US) used a textbook that said Saddam Hussein was a valuable ally of the US, generally a great person, and had raised literacy rates in Iraq.
  - enjeyw 6y ago
    False. We have always been at war with Eastasia.
    - IncRnd 6y ago
      Iraq is not a part of East Asia - Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, and the Koreas.
      - remarkEon 6y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Fou...
        IncRnd 6y ago
        East Asia is pretty much the same as Eastasia (same countries between the the real and the book).
        vijayr02 6y ago
        From the Wikipedia page: > At any moment, however, an alliance could shift and the two states that had previously been at war with each other may suddenly ally against the other. When this happened, the past immediately had to be re-written—newspapers retyped, new photos glued over old—to provide continuity. In many cases that which contradicted the state was simply destroyed. How many Americans remember today that Iraq used to be an ally? Edit: BTW the line about Eastasia is a direct quote from 1984 - it's not implying that Iraq is in East Asia
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - fakedang 6y ago
    Honestly I find it whack that the US education system feels its okay to teach 6th graders geopolitical nuance. As for that little tidbit, it's like how the British education system focuses on how they built railways in India when teaching colonialism, while willfully ignoring the likes of Cecil Rhodes and General Dyer.
    - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
      Brit here, with a few years behind him, and I've never heard of general dryer, so thanks for the pointer :( "He has been called "the Butcher of Amritsar",[1] because of his order to fire on a peaceful crowd. The official report stated that this resulted in the killing of at least 379 people and the injuring of over a thousand more.[2] Some submissions to the official inquiry suggested a higher number of deaths.[3]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Edward_Harry_Dyer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Edward_Harry_Dyer It's long after I left school that I found out how the british government treated the welsh and the irish. Never got mentioned in school. All I want is the truth because you can't learn from dishonesty.
leptons 6y ago
It is great that Egypt is fairly stable and takes this stuff seriously, but how much of it is "just business" for Egypt, with the new $500 million (USD) museum being built: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Egyptian_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Egyptian_Museum Letting that stuff get stolen is a national tragedy and has a real cost in terms of tourist dollars. Egypt is a top-of-the-bucket-list destination for me, and I'd spend plenty of money there at that museum and many of the tourist sites (after COVID obviously), if I actually felt safe going there. It still seems a little bit iffy from my american point of view. I haven't researched it in a few years but last time I did it seemed not advisable for Americans to go there.
- gibolt 6y ago
  Exactly what I meant by 'incentivized'. Their marketing is and has been top notch. Just a little bit less continuous organization over the years and no one would care or everything would be pillaged

by gibolt 6y ago

fakedang 6y ago

If you look at it, it's largely due to the nature of unrest in Egypt vs elsewhere in the region. Egypt's unrest is largely formed by local Egyptians, who are otherwise extremely proud of their cultural past dating back to the Nile Valley civilization, a past that was also widely celebrated within the Western world. Places like Syria and Lebanon on the other hand have had massive foreign influence and foreign players influencing their rebellions. Of course they wouldn't give a damn about what happens to those relics. Not to mention, local Phoenician/Syrian/Babylonian cultures aren't as popular worldwide as their Egyptian counterparts, hence there isn't as much dedication towards preserving them - sometimes even the local population partakes in the destruction, especially if the relics in question are of another faith. It would be a different world altogether perhaps, had the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Roman infrastructure in the Levant were preserved well. Ironically, one of the major proponents of reviving interest in Babylonian culture in the recent past was Saddam Hussein, who engaged in rebuilding most of the city of Babylon.

code_duck 6y ago
In 1989,my 6th grade social studies class (in the US) used a textbook that said Saddam Hussein was a valuable ally of the US, generally a great person, and had raised literacy rates in Iraq.
- enjeyw 6y ago
  False. We have always been at war with Eastasia.
  - IncRnd 6y ago
    Iraq is not a part of East Asia - Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, and the Koreas.
    - remarkEon 6y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Fou...
      - IncRnd 6y ago
        East Asia is pretty much the same as Eastasia (same countries between the the real and the book).
        vijayr02 6y ago
        From the Wikipedia page: > At any moment, however, an alliance could shift and the two states that had previously been at war with each other may suddenly ally against the other. When this happened, the past immediately had to be re-written—newspapers retyped, new photos glued over old—to provide continuity. In many cases that which contradicted the state was simply destroyed. How many Americans remember today that Iraq used to be an ally? Edit: BTW the line about Eastasia is a direct quote from 1984 - it's not implying that Iraq is in East Asia
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
- fakedang 6y ago
  Honestly I find it whack that the US education system feels its okay to teach 6th graders geopolitical nuance. As for that little tidbit, it's like how the British education system focuses on how they built railways in India when teaching colonialism, while willfully ignoring the likes of Cecil Rhodes and General Dyer.
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    Brit here, with a few years behind him, and I've never heard of general dryer, so thanks for the pointer :( "He has been called "the Butcher of Amritsar",[1] because of his order to fire on a peaceful crowd. The official report stated that this resulted in the killing of at least 379 people and the injuring of over a thousand more.[2] Some submissions to the official inquiry suggested a higher number of deaths.[3]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Edward_Harry_Dyer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Edward_Harry_Dyer It's long after I left school that I found out how the british government treated the welsh and the irish. Never got mentioned in school. All I want is the truth because you can't learn from dishonesty.

leptons 6y ago

It is great that Egypt is fairly stable and takes this stuff seriously, but how much of it is "just business" for Egypt, with the new $500 million (USD) museum being built: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Egyptian_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Egyptian_Museum Letting that stuff get stolen is a national tragedy and has a real cost in terms of tourist dollars. Egypt is a top-of-the-bucket-list destination for me, and I'd spend plenty of money there at that museum and many of the tourist sites (after COVID obviously), if I actually felt safe going there. It still seems a little bit iffy from my american point of view. I haven't researched it in a few years but last time I did it seemed not advisable for Americans to go there.

gibolt 6y ago
Exactly what I meant by 'incentivized'. Their marketing is and has been top notch. Just a little bit less continuous organization over the years and no one would care or everything would be pillaged