Category Archive: HISTORY
Egypt (Part 2)
21 April to 23 April, 2025 Philae Temple We flew to Aswan, on the upper Nile, and took a boat to the Isle of Philae, where the Egyptian authorities moved the Philae Temple, lock stock and barrel (!) to avoid its immersion in Lake Nasser that formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam. From Philae to Agilkia. Dedicated to Isis, Goddess of healing, magic and birth, it was built during the Ptolemaic period… ..and thus has Egyptian, Greek and later-added Roman characteristics. The main motifs however, have Ptolemy XII bashing enemies’ brains out, under the approving gaze of…
Continue Reading →Egypt (Part 1)
17 April to 21 April 2025 General Observations Egypt is a multi-faceted country, filled with colour, chaos and some squalor, home to a vast array of ancient monuments, a desert nation whose great artery, the Nile, is the longest river in the world, its cataracts serving as a natural boundary with Sudan to the south. One of the cradles of humankind, Egypt’s primordial past is legend (i.e. ruled by gods), its remote past (pharaohs) cryptic; often overthrown – by the Persian Cambyses c. 525 BC, by Alexander the Great c. 332 BC and his successor Ptolemy, then the Romans c….
Continue Reading →Jordan
1 to 7 May 2025 General Observations The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a bustling and increasingly modern country, friendly and peaceable. There remains a genuine reverence for King Hussein, who ruled from 1953 until his death at 63 in 1999. He was a man of intense courage and intelligence, dealing with the fact his small country (pop. 11m, 90k sq.k) is trapped by geography – bordered with the Egyptian Sinai, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and of course, Israel. He experienced more flack from the PLO than the Israelis during his reign, truth be told, and other Arab countries might…
Continue Reading →Auschwitz Liberated
(27 January, 1945: the liberation of the Nazi’s most infamous extermination camp) Blood libels against the Jews are nearly as old as the hills. They were stirred during the First Crusade (1096), but reached the nadir (at least, one hopes) during the Second World War, in the form of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” “At camps maintaining labour installations, like Auschwitz, 10 per cent of the arrivals – those who looked fittest – were selected for work. The remainder were consigned to the gas chambers. They were instructed to undress; the women and girls had their hair cut. They were then marched…
Continue Reading →Jimmy Carter
President Carter with a dangerous friend
(1 October, 1924 – 29 December, 2024) Jimmy Carter seems by popular acclaim to have been a very nice guy, choc-full of honesty and integrity. It just goes to show that such qualities are not necessary or sufficient to be a good President of the United States. Carter was not a good President, but he was liked and respected for the human qualities that bloomed post-office, notably in the fields of diplomacy and philanthropy. His presidential legacy would seem to be the 1978 Camp David Accords, where his tendency to micro-manage and his own personal bona fides got two enemies…
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