and then i had a whole other day of doing stuff

Moving on...



Today I was invited to join my apartment's current guests on their trip to Khan al-Khalili, the main bizarre at the center of historic Islamic Cairo. For the record, Cairo is rather massive (in case one didn't know), and historically has moved around its center quite a bit. The Fatimid takeover in the 10th Center created a new quasi-suburb called "al-Qahira" next to Fustat, the prior settlement. Al-Qahira became the center of the new Caliphal city, while Fustat continued on as its older, commercial center. Coptic Cairo is near the Fustat portion (now an archeological site with little continuity), while Islamic Cairo is al-Qahira.



Getting to Khan al-Khalili from where I live is a bit of a trek. Which is true of getting to many places from where I live, but this one involves two different metro lines (there are 3 in the entire city) and a taxi. That said, the total fare there and back is about two dollars, so I can't really complain. I also really like the metro.

Anyhow, basically, the central part of Cairo is monument-central of the Islamic world. Half of your Islamic art history textbook is here (why do you have an Islamic art history textbook you ask). Immediately, al-Azhar is rather conspicuous, although unfortunately we did not go inside due to prayer times. 

I think it is conspicuous

so conspicuous

A massive mosque, and claimant to the title of "Oldest University in the World" (the other being al-Qaraouine in Fes), the al-Azhar was built in 975 CE by the Fatimids, who established Egypt as their massive Shi'a empire with al-Azhar as its theological gem. Once Salah al-Din (or Saladin) of the Ayyubids took over in the 11th Century, al-Azhar changed its sectarian affiliation to Sunni, but remained the pre-eminent site of Egyptian theology (and now the pre-eminent site of international Sunni theology). So yeah, it's kind of famous and such.

Khan al-Khalili itself is across the street through rather awesome modernist tunnels (I think you are not supposed to find the tunnels cool, as shown by the guard's rather perturbed look at my photo taking), taking up a sprawling amount of territory. 

modernist tunnels!

outer edge!

The outer edge of Khan al-Khalili is also where a bomb went off under a bench earlier this year, resulting in the removal of all benches from that corner (?) as well as a massive police presence. Once inside, Khan al-Khalili appears similar (to my eyes at least) to many an Arab-world historic market, winding alleys of people trying to get your attention (although, as today was Sunday, it was actually rather emptied out, making it a little easier to walk around). 

market-ness

What does make this area special is the ridiculous amount of really impressive buildings you randomly bump into walking around it. Despite being there for about four hours, I can easily say that I missed most of them, and only glimpsed a handful of those I did see. Must return and go inside I suppose.

random impressive buildings!

random impressive buildings!

Of these, the al-Ghuri mosque was the only we entered, but the building is deserving of visitors to say the least. Beautiful interior, but also with a talk with the caretaker, its rooftop and minaret were accessible. Hard to argue with that type of view.

caretaker and al-Ghuri

more woodwork!

interior of al-Ghuri

how to summit a minaret: a guide

view of Bab Zwela

downtown building

summit of al-Ghuri with view of Bab Zwela

Yet again, for complete photo coverage

oh the places you'll go...

The joys and trials of being a tourist again...

 

Yesterday, I actually did wake up before 3pm thank you very much (10am to be precise) and decided to actually go see the sites of Coptic Cairo, including the Mu'allaqa Church (the Hanging One, as architecturally it is in fact suspended over a gate, although that is difficult to see), 

interior entrance to al-Mu'allaqa

pulpit of al-Mu'allaqa

more views!

stained glass!

icons!

so, this is Saint Jacob المقطع, or the cut-up...

Rather ominously, this is simply called, "The Sinning Woman."

I may have a slight fascination with Middle Eastern decorative arts...

Yeah, I do...

Then the Coptic Museum, which is quite impressive actually...

Coptic museum

 Followed by St. George's Church (technically Orthodox, but same neighborhood)...

St George's

adorable children

... and, my personal favorite, the Christian cemetery located behind all of these things.

  I am about to quote someone far more intelligent than I who I unfortunately cannot precisely recall the name of.  If anyone knows, please correct my plagiarism, because such an insightful statement should be properly credited.  Getting to the point, whoever this is said that only in Egypt was the Christian idea of the Resurrection fully explored and fully appreciated, for only in a culture of mummification could the idea of a physical Resurrection really be understood.  Wandering around the Christian cemetery, it was hard not to keep focusing on these words, as, should I have not bothered to read a sign, I would have assumed the entirety was a neighborhood of sorts.  A creepy neighborhood that was a little run down, but nevertheless a neighborhood.  The tombs appeared more as homes than mausoleums (to me at least) with a feeling that, should the mood strike, the inhabitants could just open their porch doors and continue about whatever it is they had been doing before they "went inside."  It should be said that Egyptians in general seem to take to the idea of life near the dead a little more positively than say, Americans, with an entire phenomenon of the "Cities of the Dead" inside the Islamic cemetery, now one of the more populous neighborhoods of Cairo.  That said, these are not modern dwellers alongside tombs, but rather, old and new tombs that, well, look like homes.  I have always been struck by the graphic and fantastic early Christian descriptions of the Resurrection, which feature martyrs' arms flying out from lions' mouths to rejoin torsos burned in furnaces, remaking the Christian on the Day of Judgment.  When such a day comes, the Christian dead of Cairo need only to open their doors.

 

For all the complete set of photos (i.e. all the extras of random wood paneling and tombs that I kept taking pictures of), click here

more blogging

Because I have clearly shown in time that I can handle one blog, go figure that I went and made a new one.  Actually, my fellowship insisted that I make a new one, but they generously gave me money and blah blah blah, so I went and made it.  It will probably be a lot more professional and informative (read: possibly a lot more boring) than this one.  Anyhow, it is here:

http://www.watsonblogs.org/wamboldt/

Please bookmark as you see fit.

best laid plans

I really did anticipate being awake before 3pm today; really I did.  Unfortunately, jetlag + sleep deprivation all last week = wake up at 3pm.  So I did very little today.  I attempted to go to Coptic Cairo, but any of the stuff I would have wanted to see was closed, so my metro ride was a bit of a bust (although the Cairo metro is surprisingly nice and efficient).

Then I came back to my neighborhood and took the five minute walk to get to the Corniche (the road next to the Nile), which I proceeded to walk down.  Here are the rather paltry photos from what I did.  I have promised myself to be awake by 10 tomorrow.

Directly outside the Mari Girgis metro station.

The Coptic Museum.

A really important river.

Orange boats traverse this river.

More river.  I think there are triangle-y things in the background of this photo.

My neighborhood is pretty, and people fish in it.

I believe these triangle-y things are the really famous triangle-y things at Giza.

pyramid views

To those who don't know, I am 

1) now in Cairo.

2) renting an apartment that promised me authentic pyramid views.

As I did nothing (absolutely nothing) with my day other than catch up on sleep, I decided to spend the last five minutes finding pyramids from my bedroom. 

This is what I found.

Looking toward downtown Cairo.

View of the Nile.  See the pyramid...?

Close-up on the Pyramid of Zoser.

I will have to repeat on a slightly less-polluted/sunset-y day.  Because I hear I'm still missing Giza.

Coptsravaganza!

To those unaware, the reason I'll be in Cairo this summer is because I was oddly hired by the Arab West Foundation (www.arabwestfoundation.com) to look into the media portrayal of the Egyptian Coptic community, then, even more oddly, funded $1000 over budget by the McKinney Fellowship of the Watson Center for International Studies.  Needless to say, I'll be studying Copts over the summer (an endeavor that, I kid you not, is called "Coptology," which is a word although Microsoft word's Clippy will try to convince you otherwise).

My own self-guided crash course in Coptology has been in full force this past week (titled: "What is Coptic Christianity: An Introduction").  So before I leave for Cairo on Tuesday – dear Lord, I'm going to Cairo on Tuesday – I leave you with some highlights:

- Coptic Christianity is one of the first sects of Christianity to emerge.  Following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, there were two separate groups of Christian belief.  The Chalcedonian Churches (i.e. what are now the Catholic, Greek/Russian Orthodox, Protestant Churches) accepted something called the Tome of Leo (I), which argued for the Diaphysite nature of Christ, basically meaning that they thought that the Logos incarnate (i.e. Jesus) contained both human and divine natures that were distinct.  In contrast, the non-Chalcedonian Churches (i.e. the modern Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian Churches) argued for Miaphysite Christology (yes, there is a word for the study of Christ as well).  Miaphysite Christology (pejoratively called Monophysite, which is apparently offensive, but even after reading why it is offensive I am somewhat unconvinced) states that Christ was made of a fusion between both human and divine natures, inseparable, within himself.  In summary (using an egg metaphor), Diaphysite = sunny-side up, Miaphysite = scrambled.  I should probably stop discussing Jesus as an egg.  If this seems like a bit of arguing over nothing, it kind of is.  Some people suspect that the two platforms are actually arguing the same thing in different words.  That said, this is still a big deal today.

- The word "Copt" is derived from the same word as "Egypt" through some linguistic evidence that I fail to understand/ be convinced by.  That said, this has implications for what a Copt is.  Most common usage is as a member of the Coptic Church, but some argue that all Egyptian Christians are Copts.  One foreign minister of Egypt tried to say all Egyptians are Copts.  I am sticking to the first definition.

- A long, long time ago, Egyptian Christians started referring to the Patriarch of the See of Alexandria as "Baba."  This eventually became "Pope" (b=p to many Egyptians).  So the first usage of pope referred to this figure.  Later on, the Patriarch of Rome started using this term of address as well.  Long story short, the Catholics didn't make the first Pope.

- Coptic Popes have a kind of interesting status religiously.  They are not infallible, but they are representatives of their religion.  That said, there has been an institution called the Maglis al-Milli (roughly, the Popular Congress) since the mid-19th Century that has pressed for a laity-controlled Church.  Obviously, this is different than the Catholic notion of Pope.  In addition, the Coptic Papal selection process is fantastic: in general, they were fairly democratic procedures (most probably involved a degree of electoral process amongst the laity), but the last two (i.e. for Cyril VI and Shenouda III, the current Pope) were picked in the following manner.  Three final candidates were chosen by the clergy/laity amongst the higher-ranked clergy (i.e. celibate bishops or monks) whose names were written on sheets of paper along with "Jesus Christ."  These papers were placed into a box within the Haikal (similar to the iconostasis screen found in Orthodox churches) upon the altar.  A small boy was then invited to go to the box and pick a paper.  The person whose name appeared would become Pope, barring the draw of "Christ," which signifies the divine desire to have a different Pope, at which point three new names must be selected.  Both Cyril VI and Shenouda III were selected immediately.  I really like this method of legitimacy – divine democracy.

- Copts are famously known for their apotropaic tattoos on their right wrists.  Apotropaic is a fancy religious studies word for "keeps away evil."  Aa-po-trO-pA-ic.  Learning is fun!

- Boutros Boutros Ghali was a Copt.

- Coptic Christianity also marks the beginning of the Christian monastic movement with Saint Antony, who renounced the world and moved into the desert.  Since then, this has become a common trope in Coptic religious experience, with monasteries still being a major site for high-placed clergy.  Unlike Catholic clergy, there is a division in Coptic Christianity between monks/bishops and priests, the former being celibate (and capable of becoming prominent political members of the clergy as a result) and the latter getting married.

- Copts still frequently practice exorcisms.  As demons are thought to be corporeal (if subtle), they believe that during the exorcism, the demon will be forced out of the body.  The easiest way for a demon to exit is from the eyes, but this causes blindness.  As a result, during the exorcism, the officiating clergy member often pricks the victim's big toe, allowing the demon to escape through the drop of blood.   This drop is then saved on a white sheet and used as a charm.  This is possibly my favorite fact of Coptology to date.

Just think, I'm going to have a whole summer to gather this stuff!  Even worse, I clearly am unable to hold conversations outside of my intellectual interests for extended periods of time, so all of you will be saturated with Coptic facts!  You too can be Coptologists!

revamped

I am not beginning this with the normal "I haven't posted in so long and feel bad" line that I have used so many times before, because, well, I don't feel bad.  I have been in Providence doing classwork that is probably exceptionally boring for others to hear about, though I am certain I could write about it for hours if I felt the need.  That said, it is time for the blog to return.

On (what I promise will be) a related note, the blog name has changed to "rihla," which is both the Arabic word for trip as well as a style of classical Arabic literature, similar to a travelogue that was popular in the late Islamic Middle Ages (e.g. Rihlat Ibn Battuta, Rihlat Ibn Jubayr, Rihlat Muhammad al-Safar).  This reflects the fact that, in a few short days, this will no longer be exclusively centered around Tangiers and Amman, hence no longer being about just Interzone and Philadelphia.  Notably, it's going to be about Cairo, where I will be moving a week from today.

There will be much more up here about the move to Cairo (i.e. why Cairo?), but that will be forthcoming.  Just know to start re-checking here should this sort of thing interest you.