The Use of The Pharaonic Past in Modern Egyptian Nationalism

The Use of the Pharaonic Past in Modern Egyptian Nationalism
Author(s): Michael Wood

Source: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 35 (1998), pp. 179-196
Published by: American Research Center in Egypt
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40000469
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The Use of the Pharaonic
Past in Modern Egyptian Nationalism*

All Things Dread Time, but Time Dreads the Pyramids
Arab Proverb1
Michael Wood
Introduction memory of Genghis Khan. Flags may contain an-

cient symbols and resources may be spent on the
Ancient history is often used by modern na-
preservation, promotion and display of the mate-
tions to inspire the processes of nation building.
rial remains of the past. Thus, the Mexican flag
Events, monuments and artifacts of centuries
portrays a scene from an Aztec legend; the Mex-
past are often reflected in how a modern nation ican dictator Diaz, in an attempt to solidify feel-
perceives itself and its future. It may be possi-ings of Mexican nationhood, sponsored extensive
ble to see the present nation and its citizens asexcavations at the site of Teotihuacan.3 Israeli ar-
the current descendants, whether physically or chaeologists have used the results of excavations
merely in spirit, of a once great civilization of theat such sites as Masada to reconstruct a vision of
past. Such an identification can take the form an ancient Biblical past with which the citizens
of an official ideology propagated to a nation'sof the modern state of Israel could identify.4
citizens in the school curriculum and the pro- It would be natural to suppose that ancient
nouncements of the government and political Pharaonic Egypt, with its impressive monuments
parties. In Turkey, for example, children are
and artifacts, its pyramids, its temples, its tombs,
taught that modern Turks are the descendants of its hieroglyphs and its gold, might similarly serve
the ancient Hittites; the modern Greek nation,
to inspire modern Egyptians in the process of na-
from the War of Independence on, has con- tion building. But this may not necessarily have
sciously identified itself with the Greece of Peri-been the case. It is perhaps possible that other
cles and the Parthenon.2 Mongolian politicians, ideas inspired Egyptian nationalists of the nine-
campaigning in recent elections, invoked the teenth and twentieth centuries. Islam and pan-
Arabism may have been more powerful forces
* This paper owes a great deal to discussions with Elin in shaping modern Egyptian identity. This paper
Weinstein, who introduced me to the relevance of archaeo-
will, in its first section, examine how the Phara-
logical theory and to the advice of Bruce Trigger, Depart-
onic past manifested itself in the building of the
ment of Anthropology, McGill University and that of Uner
Turgay, McGill Institute of Islamic Studies.
1 Tom Melham, "Egypt's pyramids: Monuments of the 3 For Mexican use of the past see Donald Fowler, "Uses of
the Past: Archaeology in the Service of the State," in Ameri-
Pharaohs," in Mysteries of the Ancient World (Washington, D.C.:
National Geographic Society, 1979), 56. can Antiquity 52/2 (1987), 230-34 and B. Keen, The Aztec
1 For more information on Turkish use of the past see Image in Western Thought (New Brunswick: Rutgers University
Tekin Alp, "The Restoration of Turkish History," in National-Press, 1971).
ism in Asia and Africa, edited by Elie Kedourie (New York; The most complete discussion of the political dimen-
The World Publishing Company, 1970), 207-24. For Greek sions of Israeli archaeology can be found in Neil Silberman's
biography of the Israeli archaeologist, general and politician
use of the past see Kedourie 's discussion, in the introduction
to the same volume, of the Greek historian Paparrhegopulos Yigal Yadin, A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael
Yadin: Soldier, Scholar and Mythmaker of Modern Israel (New
and his five volume The History of the Greek Nation published
between 1860 and 1877, 47-48. York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993).
179
180 JARCE XXXV (1998)
modern Egyptian nation

al-Shayyal
through
describes this book
literature,
as marking a turn- art,
the educational system
ing point and
not only inpolitical activities
the writing of Egyptian his-
This paper will argue tory
that but also in the development
Pharaonic of Egyptian were
images
of only marginal importance
national awareness.8to
Besides
thewritingnationalist
his history
of ancient Egypt,
project. The second section of Tahtawi
this also protestedwill
paper Mu- try
hammad cAli'shistory
to ascertain why Pharaonic plans to export and
an obelisk to
images
Europe. Instead
failed to become a central parthe urged
of conservation
modern on the Egyp
Viceroy who eventually in 1836 agreed to forbid
tian nationalist ideology.
the exportation of antiquities, appoint antiquity
inspectors
Egypt of the Pharaohs in andArtopen a and
museumLiterature
in Cairo; these
plans, as will be noted below, took much of the
nineteenth a
There has always been and tendency
twentieth centuries to become
ina Egyp-
tian literature to deal exclusively with Egyptian
reality.9
matters. Jack A. Crabbs Historical works on the Pharaonic past
attributes thiscontin- tendency
to Egypt's position in ued tothe ancient
be written by native Egyptiansand
throughoutmedieval
Islamic worlds. For the Syria and
late nineteenth and early Iraq,
twentieth centu-the age of
the Umayyad and cAbbasId
ries. A variety of Arabic
Caliphsworks were produced,
was the mos
spectacular period these
including books
regions
on hieroglyphics,
hadhistories,known.
and For
Egypt, on the other guidebooks
hand, on ancient
the monuments.
medieval The guide- period,
books aimed to often
during which it was more convince Egyptians to familiarize
than not a mer
province, paled in comparison
themselves with their nation'sto the
heritage through glories o
the Hellenistic and visiting
Pharaonic past.5
museums and archaeological sites ratherAn entir
than leaving such
class of medieval writings, the activities to European tour-
faddDil Misr, exto
the greatness of Egypt. Itsarticles
ists.10 Scholarly land, from the its people and
pens of native
its past, including itsEgyptians
Pharaonic became particularly common inwere
past, the glori
fied.6 However, modern wake of thehistorical
1922 discovery of the tomb of King
writing only
really began in the Tutankhamun;
early Ahmad nineteenth
Kamal, one of the firstcentury
During this time period the Viceroy
native Egyptologists, Muhamma
described the history of the
cAli, through his modernizing 18th dynasty, while his son efforts
Hasan wrote a series and hi
defiance of the Ottoman authorities, fostered of articles on the tomb's discovery.11
a sense of distinctive Egyptian identity, even if itSuch an interest in the history of ancient
was not yet possible to speak of Egyptian nation-Egypt was reflected in a trend of Egyptian na-
alism. It was in such an atmosphere that thetionalist thought known as "Pharaonism," which
Egyptian historian, government official and edu-
cational reformer Rifaca al-Tahtawi produced, in 8 Jamal al-Din al-Shayyal, A History of Egyptian Historiog-
1868, a notable work on ancient Egyptian his-
raphy in the Nineteenth Century (Alexandria: Alexandria Uni-
versity Press, 1962), 23; cf. Bernard Lewis, History: Remembered,
tory, which utilized a variety of European, Arabic
Recovered, Invented (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
and even archaeological sources.7 Jamal al-Din
1975), 34.
9 Crabbs, The Writing of History, 70; Reid, "Indigenous
5 Jack A. Crabbs, The Writing of History in Nineteenth-
Egyptology," 235.
Century Egypt: A Study in National Transformation (Detroit:10 Ibid., 236-37.
Wayne State University Press, 1984), 36. The Babylonian and11 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 239. The tomb of the
Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun (reigned 1352-
Assyrian civilizations of Mesopotamia, while frequently men-
1344 B.C.) was discovered by the Englishman Howard Carter
tioned in the Hebrew Bible and Classical sources, were largely
in November of 1922 after many years of search. As it later
forgotten in both Europe and the Middle East until the emer-
gence of modern archaeology in the nineteenth century. turned out, and as will be explained in more detail below, the
6 Ulrich Haarmann, "Regional Sentiment in Medieval
tomb's discovery was to have major political significance,
John Wilson, Signs and Wonders upon Pharaoh: A History of
Islamic Egypt," in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African
Studies 43, 1 (1980), 57-59. American Egyptology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1964) , 159-66; The Eighteenth Dynasty is generally identified
7 Crabbs, The Writing of History, 79; also Donald Reid, "In-
digenous Egyptology: The Decolonization of a Profession?," as the time 1570 to 1303 B.C., John Wilson, The Culture of An-
in Journal of the American Oriental Society 105, (1985), 236. cient Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 321.
THE PHARAONIC PAST IN MODERN EGYPTIAN NATIONALISM 181
emerged in the early twentiethible century and was

impact. Salama Musa, a Copt who went on to
particularly popular in the 1920's. have aInnotable career as
brief, a socialist writer, was em-
Phar-
aonism identified Egypt as a distinctive barrassed to show his ignorance of the Pharaonic
territorial
entity with its own history and character past while he separate
was visiting Europe at the turn of
from that of the rest of the Arab and Islamic the century. He had graduated from secondary
world. This separate identity drew on Egyptian school and felt that the Egyptian school system,
symbols derived from the Pharaonic andnow Helle-
thoroughly under British control, avoided
nistic pre-Islamic past; an Islamic and Arab the iden-
teaching of ancient Egyptian history for fear
tity was in contrast downplayed or even that such information would stimulate local na-
rejected.
Pharaonism tended to blend into the identifica- tional pride and a desire for independence.15
tion of Egypt as a Mediterranean nation During
with the nineteenth and early twentieth
historic links with Europe. Ultimately Egypt centuries
could native Egyptians began to take an inter-
be identified as a part of Europe, a westernest na-
in ancient Egypt as Egyptologists. The Egyp-
tion rather than an eastern Islamic nation.12 Be-
tian antiquities service was under French control
fore World War I the Egyptian political thinkers
for almost one hundred years, from Sacid Pasha's
Mustafa Kamal and Ahmad Lufti al-Sayyid both
appointment of Auguste Mariette as Conserva-
introduced pharaonic elements into their torpoliti-
of Egyptian Monuments in 1858 to the over-
cal thought. Kamil spoke of Egypt as the world's
throw of King Faruq in 1952. British, American,
first great civilized state, while Lufti expressed
German, Austrian, and Italian Egyptologists also
an interest in a "Pharaonic core" of Egyptian
played a prominent role in the uncovering of
Egypt's past; indigenous participation in this
society which had survived into modern times.
Pharaonic themes appeared in many Egyptian enterprise was slow to manifest itself, although
novels, such as Tawfiq al-Hakim's novel The Re-
this was not for lack of interest. Egyptians were
turn of the Spirit. The Pharaohs were also systematically
evoked prevented, by Europeans, from
in the visual arts. The statues of the sculptor
studying their own ancient history. Local study,
Mahmud Mukhtar combined modern and phar- on European lines, of the Egyptian past can prob-
aonic motifs. Sacad Zaghlul, the great Egyptian
ably be held to have begun with the opening of a
nationalist leader, was entombed in a neo- "School of the Ancient Egyptian Language" in
pharaonic mausoleum of Aswan granite.13 1869. This school was run by the German orien-
talist Karl Heinrich Brugsh. Students, selected
The Pharaonic past as part of the Egyptian their abilities in French, and including Ah-
for
education system and the rise of mad Kamal, studied hieroglyphics. The progress
indigenous Egyptology of these students pleased both Brugsh and the
Viceroy, but Mariette felt that Egyptians who
As the nineteenth century progressed, efforts
knew hieroglyphics were a threat to French con-
trol of the antiquities service and the school
were made to instill in Egyptian youth a knowl-
edge and appreciation of their Pharaonicwasheri-
consequently closed. Kamal, however, strived
to continue
tage. cAli Mubarak, who was Egyptian Minister of to study Egyptology; his persistence
Education after 1868, sponsored talks on Egyp-
seems to demonstrate that it was European inter-
tology; and from at least 1874 Pharaonic Egypt
ference more than Egyptian indifference which
was part of the secondary school curriculum.14
slowed the development of an indigenous branch
of Egyptology. After Mariette 's death in 1881
But such efforts may not have made a discern-
Kamal was appointed to the museum in Cairo; he
later
12 Yaacov Shimoni, Political Dictionary of the Arab World became assistant curator and taught ar-
(New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987), chaeology
406; and hieroglyphics. Kamal's difficulties
Israel Gershoni, "The Emergence of Pan-Nationalism in
continued after Mariette 's successor Gaston Mas-
Egypt," in Asian and African Studies 16, 1 (1982), 89; L. B.
pero returned to France in 1886. The archaeol-
Namier, "Nationality and Liberty," in Vanished Supremacies
(London: H. Hamilton, 1985), 47. ogy and hieroglyphics class was disbanded and
13 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 239.
14 Crabbs, The Writing of History, 94, 112. 15 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 237, 239.
most Egyptians were excavations and occupying important

dismissed from positions
museum
service. Kamal was able to regain
in the University, his
the Cairo Museum, and position
the
Antiquities Service.
after Maspero's 1899 return toThe process of the He
Egypt. "Egyp-is liste
as one of three museum conservators in 1908, tianization" of the study of Pharaonic history was
the other two being Europeans.16 well under way by 1939. In that year Sami Gabra,
Ahmad Kamal remained very much alone who had studied in Europe in the twenties, be-
throughout his career; few Egyptians were al- came the first Egyptian director of the Egyptian
lowed and encouraged to study Pharaonic Egypt. University's Institute of Archaeology. FuDad Uni-
To try to promote more local interest and par- versity began to award its own doctorates in 1942.
ticipation in Egyptology Kamal organized popu- Additional Egyptian universities later provided
lar lectures. In 1908 he began to teach the training in Egyptology.20
history of ancient Egypt at the recently founded
Egyptian University (later King Faud University The Politics of Pharaonism
and finally Cairo University). In 1910 Kamal
was able to get an Egyptology program set up at Pharaonism, as a trend in Egyptian national-
the Higher Teacher's College, which he himself ism, was not only reflected in art, literature and
taught. The graduating class of 1912 had diffi- education, but was also, albeit on a modest scale,
culty in finding jobs and the class was discon- translated into political action. Pride in the Phar-
tinued in 1913. Kamal retired in 1914; realizing aonic past was notably evident in the wake of the
that there were virtually no local Egyptologists February 1922 declaration by Great Britain of
to succeed him, he tried to persuade the Antiq- Egypt's independence and the November 1922
uities Service, and its French director Pierre discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun; to some
Lacau, to begin training more Egyptian stu- the Egypt of the Pharaohs seemed the real ante-
dents.17 Lacau replied that few Egyptians, cedent
be- of the new Egypt. The spirit of the newly
sides Kamal himself, took much interest in the independent state was to be pre-Islamic and
Pharaonic past. Kamal replied: "Ah M. Lacau, in pre-Christian; a fusion of both Islamic and Chris-
the sixty-five years you French have directed thetian traditions but also independent of both.21
service, what opportunities have you given us?"18What was to become of the tomb and its contents
Kamal died soon after, in August 1923, on thesoon became a flashpoint of political conflict.
very day on which the Egyptian government de-Up to this time the convention of the Egyptian
creed the creation of an Egyptological school at Antiquities Service was that artifacts discovered
the Higher Teacher's College with Kamal as itsin intact tombs had to remain in Egypt, while
director. This event, which occurred in the wake those found in plundered tombs would be di-
of formal Egyptian independence and a vari- vided between the Egyptian government and for-
ety of controversies associated with the discovery eign archaeologists. The Tutankhamun tomb had
of the tomb of Tutankhamun, marked the turn- apparently been broken into soon after the king's
ing point in the long struggle to create an in- death and had been resealed by the mortuary
digenous group of Egyptologists. The teaching priests; it had remained intact ever since. As its
of subjects related to ancient Egypt increased "plundering" had taken place in antiquity and
dramatically at the Egyptian University; the first was rather small scale (a few unguent bottles
class of Egyptologists graduating in 1928. 19 were smashed for their aromatic contents), it
The staff at the University was almost exclu- could be argued that the tomb was in fact intact.
sively European; the most promising students This was in fact the argument put forward by the
were usually sent to Europe for advanced study. Egyptian authorities. The issue was complicated
These students were soon directing their own by the strained relationship between the govern-
16 Ibid., 236-37. 20 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 241.

17 Ibid., 237. 1 P. J. Vatikiotis, The History of Modern Egypt from Muham-
18 Wilson, Signs and Wonders, 192. mad Ali to Mubarak, 4th Edition (London: Weidenfeld and
Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 241. Nicolson, 1991), 312.
merit and the tomb's excavator, Howard Carter. Henry Breasted came to nothing when Carter's
Carter felt that the right to control access to lawyer compared the government to "bandits."24
the tomb properly belonged to him and that the The Egyptian press backed the government in
government was interfering with his work. Fur- opposing Howard Carter.25 However, the assas-
ther, he felt that some of the tomb's treasures sination of Sir Lee Stack and the subsequent
should go to the estate of the late Lord Carnar- change of government allowed Carter to quietly
von, who had invested a fortune and years ofresume working in the tomb in the fall of 1924.
effort in the effort to find the tomb's location. The new prime minister, Ahmad Ziwar, had little
Events came to a head in February of 1924 interestwhen in the nationalistic implications of the
Carter and his European associates in effect Pharaonic past, although he was apparently aware
"went on strike," sealing the tomb and of stop-
them. He supposedly remarked to Breasted:
ping work to protest government interference. "Egypt has no civilization except what comes to
In retaliation the French director of the Egyptianus from Europe and America. We must rely on
Antiquities Service had the tomb seized and de-
foreign scientists - but I cannot say that in pub-
clared that contrary to past practice all thelic! con-Therein lies our chief difficulty in carrying
tents of the tomb must remain in Egypt.22 out your project."26
Prime Minister Zaghlul justified the actionZiwar's on comments were made in response to
the grounds that: "it is the duty of the govern- Breasted's request for permission to build a new
ment to defend the rights and dignity of museum
the in Cairo. This project, to be funded
nation. I do not consider that a constitutional by John D. Rockefeller Jr., aroused nationalist
government can disregard the opinion of the similar to the controversies involving
passions
country." To celebrate the tomb's reopening the Tutankhamun
a discovery. The old museum,
gala reception was planned for Marchbuilt 6. This
by Mariette in the last century, and still
turned into a massive rally in support in of
usethe
today, was clearly in need of repair, but
Wafd Party and its leader, although Zaghlul the proposal
him- contained several controversial ele-
ments. It threatened French control of the Egyp-
self was absent. A special train carrying ministers
and members of parliament left the Cairo tiansta-
Antiquities Service and the British were not
tion amid the cheers of a large crowd of particularly
Wafd interested in the proposal. The big-
supporters; hundreds of thousands ofgest
others
objection to the museum, from an Egyp-
tian nationalist
thronged the entire route to Luxor. In Luxor it- point of view, was that it was to
becrowd
self the train was greeted by the largest controlled for thirty years by an interna-
the city had seen in modern times. The High
tional commission. Egyptians would eventually
Commissioner Lord Allenby, who hadbearrived
trained to take over the museum themselves.
Nationalists
separately with his wife, was met with cries for an felt that the project was an infringe-
immediate and total British withdrawal from
ment on the sovereignty of Egypt. Some foreign
Egypt. The opening itself was a dramatic scholars
event sympathetic to Egyptian political aspi-
in which Tutankhamun's gold coffin was rations,
illumi-such as the American George Reisner,
agreed
nated with a specially rigged lighting system. with them and the offer was eventually
The
withdrawn.27
celebrations lasted well into the night and in
Pharaonism was also particularly evident in
the opinion of the Egyptian press demonstrated
the ideology
the government's awareness of the people's at- of the Misr al-Fatah (Young Egypt)
tachment to their Pharaonic heritage.23
Carter felt that he had been wronged and the
24 Ibid., 301-6.
issue of who controlled the tomb eventually
25 With the sole exception of the Liberal Constitutionalist
landed in court; an attempt at a compromise
Party's al-Siyasa (which was always hostile to Zaghlul). Reid,
mediated by the American Egyptologist"Indigenous
JamesEgyptology," 239.
Zb Ibid., 238.
27 Wilson, Signs and Wonders, 183. Also, Jeffrey Abt,
22 Wilson, Signs and Wonders, 165-66. "Toward a Historian's Laboratory: The Breasted-Rockefeller
23 Thomas Hoving, Tutankhamun: The Untold Story (New
Museum Projects in Egypt, Palestine, and America," JARCE 33
York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), 298-99. (1996), 173-94.
movement. This movement, effect this play had upon him and his
founded by contem-
Ahmad
Hussain and other law students in 1933, stressed poraries, it "resurrected the spirit and filled us
a revival of Egypt's glory through militant actionwith enthusiasm and power." Murad, who later
on the part of the nation's youth. The move- joined Young Egypt, also wrote a play about Tut-
ment had become a political party by 1938 with ankhamun, in which Hussain played the part
a platform combining extreme Egyptian nation- of Ramses.30 But Hussain's real recognition of
alism with religious fanaticism and general xeno- the importance of the Pharaonic past to Egypt's
phobia; the movement possessed an impressive present came in a dramatic conversion while on
paramilitary youth wing. The party advocated a scouting trip to Upper Egypt in 1928. After
the radical syndicalization and militarization of seeing the monuments of the Valley of the Kings,
Egyptian politics and society.28 Young Egypt's Karnak and Aswan, he argued that if Egypt had
supporters consisted mainly of urban secondary once been great it could be so again. He felt
school students. The party published its own reborn and fell in love with Egypt calling for a
newspaper, Misr al-Fatat, which in January 1939 life of dignity, patriotism, and self respect. Filled
carried the party's programme and fundamen- with such visions of power and greatness he went
tal principles. This program was intended to ap- on to organize mass rallies involving flags, an-
peal to the masses; youth were to be the military thems glorifying the Pharaonic past and green-
vanguard of Egypt's renewal. An Egyptian em- shirted paramilitary followers. He stressed the
pire consisting of Egypt and the Sudan, allied to need for a "leader of action, who is not of Turk-
the Arab states, was to lead the Islamic world. ish or Circassian, but of Pharaonic blood."31
The will of the people was equated with the The Pharaonic past was most evident in the
will of God. The party called for an increase inideology of Young Egypt in the 1930s; appeals to
agricultural production; in industry it aimed toEgypt's Arab and Islamic character later gained
emulate the achievements of Muhammad Ali in importance. Hussain had begun his movement
and the Pharaohs. Egypt was to lead by the world Egypt's distinctiveness from other
emphasizing
in educational achievements; Egyptian Arab and Islamic nations, a pattern which he
scholars
would spread an "Egyptian mentality" felt had a long history. Thus, Ahmad Hussain
through-
out the Arab world. Young Egypt placed repeats the arguments of Taha Hussain, who
great
importance on religious belief and morality
asserts that -
even under Islam Egypt had long dis-
played and
attacking alcohol consumption, prostitution, a particularist streak, leading a revolt
public corruption. The party felt that against the third Caliph and soon becoming in-
the creed
of the new generation should involve faith, dependentac- under Ibn Tulun in the ninth cen-
tion, material sacrifice and possibly even death
tury.32 Party ideologue, Dr. Muhammad Ghallab,
for the sake of a new Egyptian empire. in a 1938
The article in the party journal, while gen-
party
clearly admired the methods, achievements and
erally dismissing the importance of ancient Egyp-
even the symbols of the German Nazis; they notes two important connections
tian religion,
had connections with the Italian Fascists and between Pharaonic Egypt and the present day.
even attended the mammoth Nuremburg The rally
ancient Egyptians had shown great respect
of 1936.29 towards their religion and their Pharaoh; present
The movement's founder, Ahmad Hussain, day Egyptians could ensure that their nation re-
mained a viable concern through a similar re-
had long been interested in Egypt's Pharaonic
past and he touted it as an inspiration for the re-
newal of the country's greatness. In his teens, in
the early 1920's, he had been heavily involved
30 P. J. Vatikiotis, Nasser and his generation (London: Croon
in theater and had been influenced by Mahmud
Helm, 1978), 70; Vatikiotis draws his information on Hus-
Murad who had composed plays, musicals and
sain's life from the latter's autobiography Imani (My Faith)
operettas on Pharaonic themes. These works (Cairo,
in- n.p., 1936).
61 Vatikiotis, Nasser, 68, 72.
cluded The Glory of Ramses. Hussain noted the
32 Dennis Walker, "The Contribution of Rising Pan-
Arabism to the Break-up of a Multi-Sectarian Egyptian Polit-
28 Vatikiotis, The History of Egypt, 320. ical Community in the 1930's: The Case of Misr al-Fatat," in
29 Ibid., 330-31. Al-Mushir22 (1980), 144.
spect for religion (Islam) and the itself as an Arab,

king rather
(in than a Pharaonic, nation
this
case Faruq).33 was echoed throughout the 1930s and 1940s.36
By 1939, however, Hussain was calling for Similar attacks on Pharaonism emerged from
Egyptian society to be purified on the basis of a pan-Islamic perspective. Hasan al-Banna,
Islam. In 1940 the Young Egypt Party changed its founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, attacked
name to the National Islamic Party. New empha- the concept that Egypt was a distinctive territo-
sis was placed on renewing Islamic law, re-estab- rial nation, with a proud pre-Islamic history.
lishment of zakat and abolition of the charging He saw such notions as being in "abysmally
of interest on loans. The movement claimed that deep contradiction" with the concept of a uni-
versal Islamic umma. Pharaonism, noted al-
it was moving "beyond the narrow limits of Egyp-
tian nationalism" and was now also an Islamic
Banna, seemed to consider the pre-Islamic past
movement battling imperialism in alltoIslamic
be the exclusive model for modern Egypt's
countries. The party later took on a more revival; the unity of Arab-Islamic history is de-
social-
niedagainst
ist air after the war, calling for a struggle and the mistaken claim is made that the
people
"feudalists and capitalists"; Hussain called of Egypt had a history separate from
for
the overthrow of the monarchy and the other Arabs and Muslims.37
estab-
lishment of a pan-Arabic "United ArabInState." 1937, al-Banna describes Pharaonism as
Little was left of the movement's old Pharaonic "the revival of pagan jahili customs which have
ideology.34 been swept away, and the resurrection of ex-
tinct manners"; the aim of this "resurrection of
the dead" was "to annihilate the characteristic
The Failure of Pharaonism
traits of Islam and Arabism." Pharaonism arbi-
trarily placed the beginnings of the Egyptian

Young Egypt was not alone in abandoning
nation,
Pharaonism in the face of rising interest and its golden age, in the distant Phara-
in pan-
Islamic and pan-Arabist forces. In August 1930,
onic past; the "pagan reactionary" Pharaohs, Tut-
ankhamun,
the Egyptian Muslim activist Muhammad cAliRamses and Akhenaton, are exalted
in place of Muhammad and his companions.38
cAlluba called for the abandonment of "unhealthy
Al-Bannaof
provincialism" within the "narrow boundaries" probably goes too far in his assaults;
the Nile Valley and for Egypt to fulfillmost Egyptian admirers of the Pharaonic past,
its des-
tiny of promoting Arab unity throughsuch as Ahmad Hussain, were also devoted to
creating
an all-encompassing economic, cultural, the social
country's Islamic heritage. But what clearly
emerged
and political framework for the Arab world. Hein the 1930s and 1940s was a feeling
that whatever
felt that "he who wishes to deflect Egypt from ac- the pedigree of its past Egypt
complishing this greater (Arab) mission could not exist in isolation; it had to take part
in order
to persist in that (Pharaonic) heresy is in,dealing
and possibly even lead, a wider world, whether
that
Egypt a heavy blow."35 cAlluba was virtually world be pan-Arab or pan-Islamic.
alone,
among the literary elite of the late 1920s Since
andthe 1940s then, artists and politicians,
early 1930s, in questioning Egyptian Pharaonic- with a few exceptions, have shown little interest
based territorial nationalism. An attitude which in the Pharaonic past as a possible basis for build-
saw the Pharaonic past as a unique inspiration ing thetomodern Egyptian nation. Before Nasser
the inhabitants of the Nile Valley was beginning moved on to Arab nationalism in the 1950s he
to crystallize. But such attitudes clearly began began to

toutilize Pharaonic symbols; Faruq's
change; cAlluba's strident call for Egyptportrait to see on the piaster coin was replaced by
the Sphinx and the huge statue of Ramses II
from Memphis was raised in front of the Cairo
33 Muhammad Ghallab, "Al-Din wal-WalaD lil-cArsh daru- railroad station.39 In the wake of the Egyptian
riyyani lil-Hayat al-Salihah fi Misr," (Religion and Loyalty to
the Throne: Two Necessities for a Viable Life in Egypt), in
Misr al-Fatat, 24th February (1938) quoted in Walker, "The 36 Ibid., 61.
Contribution," 146. 37 Ibid., 72, 74.
34 Ibid., 144. 38 Ibid., 74.
35 Gershoni, "The Emergence of Pan-Nationalism," 59-60. 39 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 240.
186 TARCE XXXV (1998)
defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war,

revenue to be deliberately targeted an Egy
by Islamist
tian writer, using the pen-name
militants, Bint
a group of Egyptians al-Sha
who apparently
(daughter of the Nile river
have bank),
no interest described
in the country's th
pre-Islamic past.
Qur3an as being inMilitants,
error; the Pharaoh
for example, was
in 1993 planted a series
hero, while his Israelite
of bombs inopponents were
the vicinity of the Egyptian vil
Museum
lains.40 Sadat, at least on an
in Cairo.47 international
Other identifications, whetherscale
they
tried to promote the
be withglories
other Arabs or withof theseem
other Muslims, Pharaon
past; he insisted that the
to have mummy
a greater hold over Egyptiansof todayRamses
than I
being flown to Paris does afor
feeling ofrestoration
kinship with the Egypt of the work,
greeted at Charles de Gaulle
Pharaohs. Airport
The various attempts, with a
whether in art,
twenty-one-gun salute literature
asorbefitted
politics, discussed above, to foster
a visiting he
of state.41 To facilitate such a bond between ancient past
improved and present
relations wit
the United States, he allowed selected items can be seen as largely a failure.
from the king Tutankhamun tomb to be sent to
America in a traveling exhibit.42 Sadat also emu- Reasons behind the failure of Pharaonism
lated Nasser in giving gifts of artifacts to for-
eign dignitaries. Nasser, according to Egyptian A reverence for Egypt's Pharaonic past thus
archaeologist Ibrahim al-Nawawi, sent impor- failed to become a major component in the art,
tant works of art to the Soviet Union, Japanliterature
and or politics of Egyptian nationalism;
the Vatican, while Sadat sent jewelry, statuespan-Arabism
and and pan-Islamism, proved more
other artifacts to the heads of state of France, powerful forces in mobilizing Egyptians for the
the United States, the Philippines and Iran.43 purposes of nation building. This paper identi-
Domestically, however, Sadat toned down ap- fies three reasons for Pharaonism's failure to
peals to the Pharaonic past and had the mummymake more of a lasting impact. First of all, Islam
room of the Cairo Museum closed so as to avoid had a long history of hostility towards the Phar-
aonic past. Second, the West in general, and
offending religious sensibilities.44 It is possible,
however, that such an action was in fact an act Western Egyptologists in particular, have system-
of reverence towards Egypt's past (and pagan)atically expropriated Egypt's past and thwarted
rulers; Sadat supposedly remarked at the timeefforts by native Egyptians to study and interpret
that, "Egyptian kings are not to be made a spec-their own history. Last of all, certain marked
tacle of" (the mummy room was eventually re- features of Egypt of the Pharaohs, made it prob-
opened in 1994) .45 Despite such attempts bylematic; the Pharaonic past, for the Egyptian
Sadat to distance himself from the Pharaonicnationalist, was simply the "wrong past". This
section
past, his assassins were still able to identify him of the paper will explore these three
as a non-Islamic tyrant, crying out at theirthemes
trial:starting with Islam's alleged hostility
"We have killed Pharaoh!". Since Sadat's death towards the Pharaohs.
the political discourse has remained largely hos-

tile to a glorification of the Pharaonic past.46Islam and the Pharaohs
In many ways the Pharaonic past has been re-
duced to an economic entity, a source of The QurDan refers to the Pharaoh in almost
tourist
entirely negative terms. He is noted as an unbe-
40 Lewis, History Remembered, 35.
liever and the oppressor of Moses, Aaron and
41 Neil Asher Silberman, Between Past and Present: Archaeol-
ogy, Ideology and Nationalism in the Modern Middle East (New
the Israelites. Pharaoh forced his people to wor-
York: Henry Holt and Company, 1987), 160. ship him as god and to build a tower which
42 Hoving, Tutankhamun, 12. would enable him to reach heaven.48 Pharaoh
43 Dina Ezzat, "Egypt's Stolen Past," in The Middle East, 240
(1995), 37. 47 Scott Mattoon, "Egypt: Terror makes its mark," in The
44 Silberman, Between Past and Present, 160. MiddleEast, 224 (June 1993), 9-10.
45 Helen Miles, "Mummies at Rest," in The Middle East, 235 48 A. J. Wensinck and G. Vadja, "FirDawn," in Encyclopedia
(1994), 40. of Islam: Second Edition, Volume II (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965),
46 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 246. 917.
eventually accepted God at the moment of his religiously motivated

The actual deliberate,
drowning in the Red Sea, but Goddestruction
decreedofthat the physical legacy of the Pha-
Pharaoh's body be left in Egyptraohs
as a warning
remained relatively rare (the disman-
to future sinners. Later traditionstling
amplified
of temples the
for building supplies was a more
details of Pharaoh's sinfulness. common
Egypt's kings, Throughout the medi-
phenomenon).
before and after Moses, were archetypal
eval and modern ty-periods there was always at
rants, who ruled with an iron fist during
least some degree the
of popular veneration for the
pre-Islamic age of ignorance. A verb eventually
country's ancient monuments; there was even an
emerged in Arabic, derived from attempt
Fircawn to "Islamicize"
(Pha- both these monuments
raoh), tafarcana, meaning "to act and ancient history
arrogantly or in general. The foremen-
tyranically".49 tioned thirteenth century Sufi, who attacked the
Hostility towards the Pharaonic past
sphinx some-
with his shoes, did so in response to
times took the form of attacks on ancient monu-certain rites which were performed at the monu-
ments during the medieval period. Such attacks ment in the spring; incense was burned and cer-
did not always meet with widespread approval, tain formulae were repeated sixty-three times, in
and it seems clear that many Egyptians took a the sphinx was supposed to answer hu-
response
more ambivalent attitude towards their distant man requests.51 Near the pyramids of Egypt is
past. The Umayyad Caliph Yazid II gave an orders
important Fourth Dynasty tomb of the noble
for the destruction of the remnants of pagan- Debehni (the Fourth Dynasty is usually dated
ism in Egypt, both al-Macmun and Saladin between
tried ca. 2650 and 2500 B.C.); this tomb was
later
to break into the great pyramid of Giza; identified with the local Muslim saint Sidi
such
attacks seemed to have been less evident dur-
Hamad Samcan, and up to recent times pious
women and children have come to the site for
ing the reigns of the Tulunids and the Fatimids,
both more locally based dynasties. The itsthir-
religious benefits.52 At the turn of the cen-
teenth and fourteenth centuries were peak tury many Egyptian women apparently visited
peri-
ods for the defacement and destruction of the Cairo Museum for the same reason, although
many middle
Pharaonic artifacts; this wave of iconoclasm may class Egyptian families were be-
have been connected to a feeling of uneaseto see an excursion to the museum as
ginning
caused by famines, floods, plagues and foreign
merely a pleasant diversion.53
invasion. In 1260 a local Sufi struck theDuring
sphinxthe medieval period, Egypt's monu-
with his shoes expressing his contempt for were
ments pop- celebrated as wonders worthy of re-
ular veneration of the statue. In 1311 the statue spect. The cajdDib of the country, such as the
of Isis in Fustat was destroyed and a temple pyramids,
was were seen as symbols of Egypt en-
destroyed in Memphis in 1350, its stonesdowed were with magical and even religious power;
then used to build a Sufi convent in Cairo, an Jamal al-Din al-Idrisi, writing in the thirteenth
indication both of the triumph of Islam over century, states that it is a sign of humility and
paganism and of the continued power, in someintelligence to be impressed by such wonders.
minds, of the remains of the Pharaohs. The de- He admonishes a Maghrabi pilgrim for failing
stroyers of the Memphis temple expressed reliefto visit the pyramids while en route to Mecca; a
that they were not punished by the building's talab al-cajaDib (a seeker or student of wonders)
"evil eye," which had obviously lost its power. The
sphinx was damaged in 1378 by a Sufi. His ac-
51 Ibid., 62.
tions supposedly caused sands to blanket the 52 Wilson, Signs and Wonders, 8.
lands around Giza. Later traditions clearly con- 53 Annie A. Quibell, A Wayfarer in Egypt (London: n.p.,
demned the act of vandalism; a report from the 1925), 45-46, cited by Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 240;
seventeenth century claimed that the Sufi wasReid notes, however, that such superstitions are hardly re-
killed by a mob and buried near the sphinx.50 stricted to Egyptians, it was the Western press, after all, who
invented "King Tut's Curse". Neither Reid nor Quibell seem
to consider the possibility that such acts of veneration
49 Silberman, Between Past and Present, 159. might involve genuine religious sentiment rather than mere
Haarmann, "Regional Sentiment," 63-64. superstition.
188 TARCE XXXV (1998)
is equated with a havior; these

talab include Pharaoh's (a
al-cilm son. Indications
seeker of r
gious knowledge). that
Idrisi
even a nation
attempts
of tyrants was not to
wholly"Islam
the country's Pharaonic
irredeemable ruins,
were importantparticularly
to medieval Egyp-
tians, it prefigured
pyramids. He feels that they a hoped
were for conversion
not of ment
in the QurDan only because
the persistently they
stubborn Coptic were
minority. The o
direct relevance to the Arabs, to whom Mu- Pharaoh who ruled while Joseph was sojourn-
hammad's message was initially addressed. These ing in Egypt and the first few rulers after Noah
monuments later acquired holiness through the were all supposedly monotheists. It was even
Companions of the Prophet who did not object alleged, in an attempt to salvage Egypt's pre-
to living and even being buried near pagan mon- Islamic reputation, that the first Pharaoh was not
uments; one of them even left a Kufic inscription a real Egyptian and was in fact an unemployed
on one of the pyramids. The presence of these druggist from the bazaar of Isfahan.57
blessed individuals bestowed baraka on the land If Islam was not always hostile to the ancient
of Egypt; sinners were driven mad when they
Egyptian past it always posed problems for those
visited Giza. Idrisi argued that if the who Compan-saw a Pharaonic identity as a model for
ions of the Prophet had allowed the relics Egypt'sof present and future development. Islam
paganism to remain unmolested then soand should
the Egypt of the Pharaohs could be recon-
his contemporaries; the pyramids had been ciled left
only with great difficulty; in the end they
standing as a warning for future generations.54 could not but compete with each other. Islam, to
Idrisi also assigns magical powers to the thismon-
day, cannot be excluded from any state-
uments, stating, on the basis of a book on building
charms ideology, its hold over most Egyptians
and magic, Kitab Masisun al-Rahib, that dust is toofrom
great. In this sense a rediscovery of the
Giza, from Ansina (the legendary Egyptian ancientcitypast was much more problematic to
of sorcerers) and any third Egyptian locale Egyptians
can than it was to other peoples emerg-
produce a talisman of wisdom. Tracing ingthefromin-colonialism. A Mexican could freely
telligence of the people of Egypt to the pyra-
use pre-Colombian icons as part of the national-
mids seemed a fairly common belief in ist medieval
enterprise, as the period of Spanish colonial
Egypt; Hermes, the Idris of the Arabs, was rule often
could be safely dismissed as a foreign in-
associated with the ancient Egyptian god trusion of sages, on an indigenous pattern of develop-
Thoth, who had supposedly built the pyramids, ment.58 In contrast, an Egyptian could not use
and with Mercury the planet of wisdom.55 Pharaonic
The symbols without being left open to
pyramids were also often mentioned in an the escha-
charge that such symbols were un-Islamic or
tological context. Idrisi felt that the destruction even anti-Islamic. Islam had planted deep roots
of the pyramids and temples of Egypt would in the Egyptian population over the course of
result in carnage of such a scale that horses would the last fourteen hundred years.
be submerged to their knees in blood.56 Popular belief in certain remnants of the pre-
This effort at integrating the temples, pyra- Islamic past could be attacked and discredited
mids and tombs of ancient Egypt into an Islamic as part of the legitimate nation building pro-
framework extended to Pharaonic history as a cess on several levels. First, any form of popular
whole. "Righteous" ancient Egyptians were found, belief, even popular forms of Islam, including
who had not spitefully rejected the message of some forms of Sufism and the local veneration of
God and his Prophets. The QurDanic story of saints, could be attacked as an un-Islamic innova-
Pharaoh's magicians; who convert to Moses' mes- tion. Second, the roots of such Pharaonic obser-
sage and are severely punished by their master vances were often to be found among the peasant
is extended, in various traditions, to include classes and were thus far removed from the edu-
cated elites who developed and promoted a

other Egyptians who have shown exemplary be-
modern Egyptian identity. Attempts to "Islamize"
54 Haarmann, "Regional Sentiment," 59-61.
55 Ibid., 61. 57 Ibid., 56-57.
56 Ibid., 60. 58 Lewis, History Remembered, 58.
Pharaonic monuments by such learned authori- of the Egyptian Past

European Expropriation
ties as Idrisi were usually negative in approach;
the monuments, which represented In 1798 Napoleon
the pre- invaded Egypt accompanied
Islamic past, were acceptable only because of by a large number of scientific experts. Some of
their associations with revered and pious Mus- these experts included students of ancient his-
lims who had tolerated their continued existence. tory and of eastern languages and cultures. An
The monuments should remain standing, to warn attempt was made to examine and record Phara-
future generations and because they may possess onic monuments; this process culminated in the
publication
a degree of magical power, but they were not in- of the twenty-four volume Description
de
spiring in themselves. The Pharaonic past did I'Egypte between 1809 and 1824. This work in-
spired a European revival of Pharaonic art and
not offer a positive model for medieval (and later
architecture.
modern) Egyptian Muslims. Last of all, popular The discovery of the Rosetta Stone,
in
utilization of the Pharaonic past, by Muslims, 1799, led to the eventual decipherment of the
was suspect because of its inaccurate nature.ancient
The Egyptian language. Napoleon's expedi-
Pharaonic past which some Egyptians tried tion
to and its scholarly component marked the
beginning
combine with their Islamic world view, was very of a new epoch in how Europeans
viewed
distorted in nature, drawn as it was mostly from Egypt and its past. Edward Said de-
scribes the invasion as "the very model of a truly
hostile sources such as the QurDan and folk
scientific appropriation of one culture by an-
traditions which had undergone major modifi-
other, apparently stronger one."60 Since Napo-
cations over the centuries. Neil Asher Silberman,
leon's time Europeans (and Americans) have
who has written extensively on the nationalist
systematically
use of archaeology, notes that traditional folk expropriated the Egyptian past,
not
descriptions of a nation's history are currently only on a concrete level but on an ideologi-
cal level.
considered suspect. Archaeologists all over the
world, whether they be Israeli, Syrian, Greek orOn a concrete level, as noted above, Europe-
ans made it difficult for Egyptians to study and
Turkish, are trained in broadly similar methods
recover
(or at least similar in comparison to non-archae- their own country's past. Also, the French
ological methods of observing the past). A newcontrolled the Egyptian Antiquities Service; other
Europeans,
nation, if its claims are to be taken seriously by including Howard Carter, held lesser
the world community, must construct a "modern positions in the service. Vast amounts of antiq-
history" using the common methods of modern uities were exported to Europe and America.
scientific archaeology.59 Mohammad Ali, who apparently only saw Egypt's
Egyptian nationalists who wished to look to antiquities as gifts with which to manipulate po-
tentially
their ancient history for inspiration would have powerful foreign visitors, allowed mer-
to start from scratch and would have to distance chants, diplomats and even casual tourists to
enter tombs and temples and to take souvenirs
themselves from an Islamic identity with which
the Pharaonic past could not really coexist. In with them.61 Early nineteenth century ad-
home
venturers,
doing so, however, they could cut themselves off like the Italian ex-circus performer
Giovanni
from one of the strongest and most important Battista Belzoni, armed with explosives,
sledgehammers and muscle, looted tombs for
elements of the Egyptian national psyche. They
would also have to deal with foreign competi- clients in the European diplomatic com-
various
munity. A diplomatic post in Cairo, at the time,
tion, for as will be explained below, Europeans
was
were already busy monopolizing the reconstruc-widely seen as an opportunity for increas-
tion of the Egypt of the Pharaohs. ing one's wealth through the theft and export
59 Neil Asher Silberman, "Promised lands and chosen 60 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978),
42.
peoples: the politics and poetics of archaeological narrative,"
61 Brian Fagan, The Rape of the Nile: Tomb Robbers, Tourists
in Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology, edited by
Philip L. Kohl and Clare Fawcett (Cambridge: Cambridge
and Archaeologists in Egypt (New York: Charles Scribner's
University Press, 1995), 257. Sons, 1975), 85.
of antiquities.62 Later the European

early 1980's Egyptian visitors
officials sentto the
out letters
Nile were not as brazen as Belzoni and later
to thirty foreign museums requesting the return
of artifacts.
Egyptian officials were not as accommodating as Of the thirty museums contacted,
Muhammad Ali, but the plundering only two replied, apologizing for being unable
of Egypt's
heritage has continued to the present day. A con-
to comply with the request.66
cern for science, for the archaeologicallyThis cavalier attitude towards the physical re-
proper
study of Egypt's material culture has covery
modified of Egypt's past, that Europeans have the
the way in which artifacts are removed right
from tothe
excavate, study and export Pharaonic
ground. But it is significant that up until
remains 1922,
however they see fit is rooted in an atti-
and the controversies swirling around tude thethat
dis-feels that, in the end, Egypt's past
posal of the treasures of Tutankhamun, does notit was
really belong to its present day inhabit-
considered quite normal for Europeans, ants. Europeans have not just taken over the
excavat-
control up
ing in Egypt, to demand and usually receive of the recovery and reconstruction of
the Pharaonic
to one half of a tomb's precious contents. These past on a physical level but have
artifacts were needed, so argued many also done so on an ideological level. The an-
Europe-
thropologist
ans, to attract public interest and private fundsand archaeological theorist Bruce
with which to finance archaeological research.63
Trigger has identified three main traditions in
When such a generous division of finds was the material remains of the past: na-
interpreting
withdrawn, archaeological excavationstionalist
in Egyptarchaeology, colonial archaeology, and
imperialist
by Europeans began to taper off; foreign archae-archaeology. Nationalist archaeology
ologists only began to return to Egyptglorifies
in the the
latepast accomplishments of a particu-
1950's as part of the UNESCO project lar
to group,
save thenation, or people. Many of the ar-
chaeological traditions alluded to earlier in this
monuments of Nubia from the rising floodwaters
paper,
of the Nile caused by the construction ofIsraeli,
the Mexican, and indigenous Egyp-
Aswan High Dam.64 It seems difficult totian, fall within this pattern of studying and
attribute
explaining
such actions to purely scientific motives; Europe- the past. Colonial archaeology was
carriedbeen
ans, even "Egyptologists," must still have out in countries where the native popu-
lation
moved by a desire to possess "treasure," ifwasonlyeither totally overwhelmed by Euro-
peans (large parts of the Western Hemisphere)
for the prestige its ownership would entail.
Europeans have certainly never been in the
or where the native population was subject to a
mood to return antiquities to Egypt. longThe Ros-
period of European domination. The dom-
setta Stone was taken from the French Gen-
inant European class, who practiced archaeol-
eral Menon by his British counterpart General
ogy in an exclusive manner, would have no clear
Hutchinson in 1799; it was housed in thehistorical
Britishties to the past they were studying. The
Museum and it was only in 1973 that it was
European power would be motivated to glorify
loaned to the Louvre for exhibition. As Brian their own past, while simultaneously belittling
Fagan, the author of a popular account theon the of their colonial subjects. Modern in-
history
history of Egyptology has remarked:digenous
"no one people were compared to an earlier
primitiveIn
has ever thought of exhibiting it in Egypt."65 level of development in the European
past and were seen as incapable of achieving
62 Ibid., 97, passim. material advancement. Imperialist archaeology
63 Hoving, Tutankhamun, 65; Lacau, the Antiquities Direc-
has been practiced by a small number of mod-
tor at the time of the Tutankhamun discovery, disagreed
vehemently with his predecessor Maspero; Lacau felt that ar-
ern states, who through the military, economic
chaeologists had "no rights" and should be permitted onlyand political resources at their disposal, have
those finds that the Antiquities Service were not interested in.been able to exercise a degree of hegemony over
64 Wilson, Signs and Wonders, 194; for a more complete large areas of the globe. Such an archaeologi-
discussion of the efforts to save such monuments as the Tem-
cal tradition portrays an imperial state, such as
ple of Ramses at Abu Simbel from submersion see F. Glad-
Britain, the Soviet Union, or the United States,
stone Bratton, A History of Egyptian Archaeology (London:
Robert Hale, 1967), 257-80.
65 Fagan, Rape of the Nile, 81. 66 Ezzat, "Egypt's Stolen Past," 35-37.
as the logical culmination of world-wide

groups comingevolu-
from abroad. Such groups would
invigorate a culture in the short term, before
tionary trends in human development.67
succumbingpast
Western examination of the Egyptian to the cycle of degeneracy which
fell
into the latter two categories. made the invasion
Foreign possible in the first place.
archae-
ologists were not interested in the with
Parallels Pharaonic
the European imperialist project,
whereby
past as a component of the Egyptian the "backward"
past and sys-and "desolate" East was
tematically attempted to sever any
rescuedconnections
by a forward looking West seemed obvi-
which could be made between the present
ous to Egyp-
Petrie 's contemporaries.71
tian past and their ancestors. TheRacial
term reconstructions
"Egyp- of the Egyptian past,
have of
tology" itself, applied exclusively tocourse,
thefallen
studyout of fashion. Modern
scholars recognize
of Pharaonic and Hellenistic Egyptian history, that ancient peoples were
complex Egyptian
implied the separation of the ancient entities made up of a diverse set of
past from subsequent Coptic and Islamic
linguistic, de-
cultural and physical characteristics,
velopments.68 Western civilization
whichwasoftenshown
do not appear
as in the archaeological
record.72
the conclusion of trends which had begunThe Western
in theclaim on the "true heri-
ancient Near East; Europeans were
tage" ofeither thehas been forced, over the
ancient Egypt
actual or spiritual descendantscourse
of the
of theworld's
century, to base itself on more sub-
first civilization.69 On its crudest
tle level, the iden-
justifications. Ancient Egyptians, along with
ancient Mesopotamians,
tification of Westerners with ancient Egyptians were given the status
was argued on racial grounds; of
Europeans and
"honourary Westerners" and their achieve-
Egyptians were thought to belong to ataught
ments were com- as part of Western civiliza-
mon "Hamitic" or "Mediterranean" race. Mem-
tion and world history courses.73 The process of
diffusion, whereby cultural innovations such as
bers of this race were thought to be identifiable
by certain physical and cultural traits; cultural
writing, originating in the Near East spread to a
traits included a predisposition towards still
central-
backward but highly creative Stone Age Eu-
ized, efficient autocratic rule. Europeansrope,were
was used, as a less obviously racist version
thought to have the innate right to ruleoflesser
Petrie 's eugenic visions, to justify the imperi-
genetic stock. These racist theories thus alistnot
project and explain why the country which
only allowed the West to bask in ancienthad been ruled by the Pharaohs could so easily
Egyp-
be dominated and conquered by Western power.
tian glory but also justified the whole imperial-
Cultural advancements originated in an area
ist project. In a further refinement, as rulership
of high
traits were considered intrinsically European anyculture (such as ancient Egypt via Myce-
archaeological evidence of a strong bureaucra-
nean Greece) and spread to backward areas (like
tized state, by itself, could be interpreted as in such an area, exposed to successive
Britain);
evidence of a Caucasian presence.70 Alternately, waves of more technologically advanced invad-
Western archaeology of the late nineteenth ers, such
and cultural advancements would reach
early twentieth century reconstructed a Near
their highest level of development. The apogee
Eastern past which consisted of an endless of culture
series (Britain) could, during the imperialist
of ethnic invasions. The Victorian Egyptologist age of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
William Flinders Petrie, father of modern scien- century, "return" its technological and cultural
tific Near Eastern archaeology, and an advocate advantages to their source, the now backward
of eugenics, assigned the distinct archaeological East.74
cultures he found in Egypt to successive con-
quests by homogeneous and genetically superior 71 Neil Asher Silberman, "Desolation and Restoration:
The Impact of a Biblical Concept on Near Eastern Archaeol-
67 Bruce Trigger, "Alternative Archaeologies: Nationalist, ogy," in Biblical Archaeologist Ml 2 (1991), 80-81.
Colonialist, Imperialist," in Man 19 (1984), 355-70. 11 MacGaffey, "Concepts of Race," 14.
68 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 234. Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 234.
9 Trigger, "Alternative Archaeologies," 365. Christopher Chippindale, personal communication
W. MacGaffey, "Concepts of Race in the Historiography quoted in Donald Fowler, "Uses of the Past: Archaeology in
of Northeast Africa," in Journal of African History 7 (1966) , 1-8. the Service of the State," in American Antiquity 52 (1987), 237.
An alleged Western "guardianship"

during the nineteenth century.78of the
But such loot-
ingevoked
Egyptian past was also began well before the arrival of concerned
as justification for
wresting control of European
Pharaonicscientists monuments
or even before the disap-
an
pearance
Pharaonic history from of the Pharaohs.
Egypt's Egyptologist pop
indigenous John
Wilson describes how
ulation. European "knowledge" ofduring
thethe Twentieth Dy-
Egyptian
past was seen as just cause
nasty for
(1200-1090 B.C.)their present
teams of organized tomb
subjugation and forrobbers, with bribed temple
a European priests and court
monopoly on
officials
the study and creation of on their "payroll",history.
Egyptian found nothingThus
wrong
Arthur James Balfour,with
in looting
a 1910 the tombs
replyof Pharaohs,
to the whom Egyp-
Brit-
tian religion
ish Member of Parliament J. still
M. regarded as gods.79 Much
Robertson, wh of
had asked what right what Britain had to
passed for "archaeology" rule
in the (an
nineteenth
century was probably
assume an aura of superiority) over almost as destructive to
Egyptians,
replied: "We know the long undisturbed artifacts
civilization of asEgypt
profit-motivated
bette
looting.80 It is recognized
than we know the civilization of any by other
archaeologists to-
coun
try. We know it further back;
day that current we know
"cutting it meth-
edge" scientific mor
intimately; we know odsmore may appear
about to beit."75
little more Thethan reckless
state
ment recalls the earlier
vandalismquoted remark
to later generations; that
at least some of
Lacau made to Ahmad theKamal;
monuments Egypt'sof Egypt might be better left
ignorance
of its own past allowed
undisturbed or for forced
study by future the West
scholars rathert
than being
expropriate it as its own. subjected
Left to to the tender
their mercies
own de-of
vices, Egyptians wouldscientific examination or the
neglect or enthusiastic
even atten-
destroy
the material remains of
tion of the Pharaonic past.
tourists.
Pharaonic monuments It maywould have

indeed be valid tothe
to identify be pro-
Phara-
tected as part of the onic
"world's cultural
past as belonging heritage"
to the entire world rather
than a single country,
despite Egyptian ignorance and butindifference
it does seem suspi-
Mention has alreadycious that thismade
been "world heritage"
of is deemedRocke
the too
feller museum project important
and to frequent
be left in the handscriticism
of non-Euro- is
leveled against Egyptian pean nations. Certainly many
officials for developing
the nations
pres-
ent condition of the museum in Cairo. It is sel- recognize that they too play a role in protect-
dom explained why Western control of Egyptian ing the world's common heritage. King Hussain
antiquities would produce better results ofthan
Jordan, describing his country's efforts to
Western financial aid to Egyptian controlled conserve
in- cultural resources, notes: "We are care-
stitutions; regional museums in Egypt, such takers
as of a legacy that belongs not only to us,
that at Luxor, have shown few of the problems but to the world."81 Developing nations may lack
of overcrowding and faulty conservation the expertise to adequately preserve or examine
associ-
ated with the venerable Cairo institution.76 their own pasts, but one must question whether
It has often been said that the West would such a state of affairs, and Western advantages
in these areas,
have to excavate the archaeological remains of give the West the right to put
Egypt (and other developing countries)forth a claim over the Pharaohs. As an indige-
in order
to protect them from tomb robbers.77 nous It is Egyptology
true develops and as more conser-
that a virtual industry of tomb robbing, vation funds are placed in Egyptian hands, it
domi-
nated by certain families of professional is thieves,
reasonable to assume that eventually "knowl-
edge"
existed in the villages near the Valley of the will no longer give the West an ideological
Kings
monopoly over the Egyptian past.
75 Said, Orientalism, 32. 78 Hoving, Tutankhamun, 44.

76 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 246. 79 Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt, 282-88.
Jane Hubert, "A proper place for the dead: a critical re- 80 Bratton, A History of Egyptian Archaeology, 77.
view of the 'reburial' issue," in Conflict in the Archaeology of 81 Philip J. King, American Archaeology in the Mideast: A His-
Living Traditions, edited by Robert Layton (London: Unwin tory of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Philadelphia:
Hyman, 1989), 137. The American Schools of Oriental Research, 1983), 279.
The Wrong Past the Pharaonic past can account for its failure to
become an integral part of the Egyptian national
Chairman Mao once observed that "the past project.
should serve the present" and it seems clear that As has been explained above, Islam has been
the past is a useful tool (if not a weapon) for any generally hostile to the Pharaonic past. Europe-
new state or regime as it tries to transform the ans have also quelled Egyptian interest in ancient
present.82 However, it also seems clear that not Egyptian history, while claiming this history for
all pasts are equal; a nation has a choice of what themselves. Such an expropriation can certainly
interpretations of its past it wishes to emphasis
no longer be justified on grounds of superior
and what views of its history it wishes to ignore.
Western expertise and certainly not on any
Beyond such a flexibility in interpretation, a grounds of alleged cultural or racial affinity.
nation can either ignore or glorify whole eras of Even if the Pharaonic past really does belong to
its past. Thus, France may choose to focus on the world, Egyptians also belong to the world
periods of greatness, like the reign of Napoleon, community and the fact that they presently re-
while trying to underplay the "Frenchness" of side in the Nile Valley which produced Phara-
such periods of national shame as the Vichy onic civilization probably gives them an edge over
cooperation with the Nazis. In post-war Italy, others in deciding how this civilization should
Imperial Rome, whose symbols were extensively be examined and utilized today.83 But it must be
used by the Fascists, was looked upon with em- admitted that even in reclaiming their ancient
barrassment, while the achievements of the pre- past Egyptians have not always been very enthu-
Roman Etruscans were a source of national
siastic in making it an inseparable part of their
pride. Long years in which Greeks present. and TurksSuch controversies as those surround-
cooperated, as subjects of the Ottomaning theEmpire
tomb of Tutankhamun and the Rocke-
are ignored in favor of more recent conflicts.
feller Museum appear to make of the Pharaonic
This selection from a "palette of pasts" need anot
past merely weapon to be used against foreign
really be justified in a systematic and scholarly
interference in Egyptian internal affairs. In the
manner. It is not particularly relevant to a na-
Tutankhamun affair what appears, at least at first
tion trying to reconstruct an inspiring past
glance, that
to be the issue is not the fate of the
the author of the Code Napoleon triedburial
to aggres-
place of an Egyptian ruler of the distant
sively dominate neighboring countries,past, nor that
but the arrogant manner in which foreign
there are moral problems, to say the least, dealt
archaeologists in with the officials and citizens
failing to account for French collaboration with
of a newly independent state. The controversy,
the Nazis, especially when collaborators coming still
at a critical time of Egypt's develop-
hold public office. A nation may acknowledge, ment, could just as well have been triggered by
in scholarly discourse, that it has not always
any manner of incident as long as it symbol-
acted in a saintly manner, but for purposes ized continuedof British domination of the coun-
nation building it is always better to try. stress the
Despite the short-lived political capital the
positive. Thus, in a nation's history, its people
Wafd Party gained from their confrontation with
will have always consisted of either heroes or
innocent victims, never villains. Inhabitants of
a nation who have acted in a less than exem-
plary manner can be written off as aberrations,

83 The modern inhabitants of Egypt certainly do have a
as somehow outside the national mission. Thus
marked physical resemblance to the people portrayed on the
wall paintings of Pharaonic tombs, but racial claims seem a
modern Egypt, if it is at all like other nations,
weak basis for a nation's history no matter who makes them;
has a considerable degree of maneuverability in
the rights of modern Egyptians to see themselves as the his-
choosing its past and Pharaonic Egypt seems
torical heirs of the Pharaohs are probably more firmly based
simply to be the "wrong past." More than
on the any
fact that they are the current indigenous inhabitants of
other reason, certain problematic features of
the country, who should not have to tolerate the domination
of their country by foreigners whose historical claims are
even shakier, especially if it is done in the name of preserv-
82 Mao's quote is cited in Fowler, "Uses of the Past," 238.
ing the past.
Howard Carter, there was

complex really
code little
of Egyptian thought sustained
and religious
effort to transformbelief
thishad already been lost. into
conflict Monuments
a and
long
lasting set of nationalistic
icons were meaningless
symbols. to the As
observer.86
hasWhilebeen
shown above, attempts language
by does
such
not always
groups
determine one's
as Young
iden-
Egypt to draw on thetity, legacy ofand
many separate the Pharaohs
even hostile me
nations share
with little success in athe
common language;
face of it must certainly
rising be noted
Pan-Arab
and Pan-Islamic sentiments. But the Pharaonic that the ancient Egyptian language is a dead
past fell short in several other areas, making it virtually no impact on Egypt's modern
one with
a less than ideal choice for a past which Egyp- A hieroglyphic revival does not seem
population.
to be anywhere in sight. Ancient Pharaonic
tian nationalists could call on their countrymen
to emulate. civilization was, like all the other civilizations of
the ancient Near East, highly stratified in na-
Ahmad Hassan al-Zayyat, an al-Azhar educated
ture. Modern research has certainly questioned
Egyptian and formerly a lecturer in Arabic liter-
ature in Baghdad, writing in his cultural jour-
whether it was the "slave state" popularly imag-
ined in both the West and the Islamic world.87
nal al-Risala in 1934, raised several objections
to Pharaonism from a pan-Arab and pan-Islamic
But in using history for nationalistic purposes it
point of view. He notes that there is no clear
is perception that counts. If the Pharaohs are
continuity in culture and attitude between an-
perceived as tyrants, then they cannot serve as
cient and modern Egypt; no Pharaonic litera-
national role models, even if such a perception
ture, which could form the core of a modern is over-simplified and anachronistic. And the
Egyptian culture has survived. Egypt of the Pha-remains of the Pharaonic past, visible to the lay
raohs was an unjust, class oriented and oppres-public, seem to confirm such prejudices. They
sive monarchy dominated by the whip. Language consist of tombs, palaces and temples, the relics
determines a community's identity; Egyptians areof a death-obsessed, aristocratic, pagan society.
Arabs because they speak Arabic. Remote Phara- More sophisticated models of Egyptian history,
onic descent is not relevant; Egypt can in the end
developed by mainly foreign scholars, remain for
only be a chapter in the book of Arab glory.84 the most part ignored.
Several of these objections are worth comment- The Pharaonic past is for the most part a con-
ing on. Ancient Pharaonic Egypt was certainly structed entity. Standing monuments had to be
remote in time and character from modern Arab supplemented by the discovery of tombs and
Egypt, especially in comparison with otherthe decipherment of a long lost hieroglyphic
possi-
method
ble points of national reference, such as Islam or of writing. Only then could it be pre-
Arabism. The pyramids at Giza, the most sented
recog-to the Egyptian public as a possible pe-
nizable symbol of the Pharaonic past, were riod
built
of history in which they could take pride.
almost five thousand years ago; in comparison
For much of the century, as has been shown
Islam and the Arab language came to Egypt above,
lessthis process of discovery remained an ex-
than fourteen hundred years ago. Pharaonic clusively
cul- European enterprise. Charles Wendell,
speaking on the Egyptian national identity, feels
ture itself had for the most part already vanished
when Muslim Arab armies conquered Egypt in Pharaonic ideal could not have origi-
that the
nated in Egypt without the direct inspiration
the 640's; Egypt's incorporation into the Helle-
nistic world and the rise of a hostile Christianity
had already basically killed Pharaonic civilization.
The closure by the emperor Justinian (527-565)86 Barry Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization
of the Temple of Isis at Philae, which involved
(London: Routledge, 1993), 2.
the destruction of the statue of the goddess
8 Wilson describes the ancient Egyptians as having a
pragmatic,
and the imprisonment of her priests marked the basically optimistic culture; there was probably
some coercion in the building of the pyramids, but genuine
formal end of ancient Egyptian religion.85 The
religious devotion to the Pharaohs must also be taken into
account, the Pharaoh, after all was considered a living god,
84 Walker, "The Contribution," 142-43. responsible for ensuring the unchanging cycles of life. John
85 Wilson, Signs and Wonders, 7. Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt, 83-84, 110.
of Europe.88 It may be understandable then

ited Egypt before the Arab conquest, consider
themselves past
that interest in the distant Egyptian the real has
descendants
re- of the Pharaohs,
mained largely confined to locala kindWesternized
of pure Egyptian aristocracy somehow
elites.89 Wendell notes that the Pharaonic
superior past
to their Muslim fellow citizens. Such a
could only be used to "stoke theconcept
fireswould probably threaten the develop-
of national-
ment
ism" if it was coupled with a call of cross
for theconfessional
defensebonds of citizenship
and would certainly
of the watan or homeland. Pharaonic cause problems for those
heritage
in itself has not become a serious
Egyptians part ofEgypt
who saw theas a basically Islamic
nation.92
popular Egyptian consciousness, remaining, in
Wendell's words, "an object of sentiment and
nostalgia for a few intellectuals."90
Conclusion: The Pharaonic Past - Wrong for
Attempts to put forward a Pharaonic identity
Egyptians, but maybe not for Foreigners
for Egypt, especially in the early part of the cen-
The Pharaonic
tury, have an artificial quality. They appear past then is a problematic one
awk-
for Egyptian
wardly grafted to a project of making Egyptnationalists
more to employ. Popular
"Mediterranean" or more "European".
stereotypes of itSuch ap-
are unattractive. Most Egyp-
peals would seem to have little tians are indifferent,
chance of reach-if not hostile to it. It is a
ing a larger, mostly Muslim, population.
distant, dead pastAlso,
with fewa connections to the
call to emulate the West would be the
present; expected to majority of Egypt's
religion of the
stand or fall on its own merits, rather than as population portrays it as an age of paganistic
part of a clumsy promotion of a Pharaonic pastignorance. It is associated with a marginalized
with which most Egyptians have refused to iden-minority and with attempts at foreign domina-
tify themselves. tion. In addition, possessing this past may, in the
Possible associations between the Pharaonic long run, cost the nation money. In his analysis
past and Egypt's Coptic minority also make of the this
world wide use of archaeological research,
era a problematic one for Egyptian nationalists,
Neil Silberman proposes an addition to Trigger's
especially ones trying to promote a united na-
list of archaeological traditions: "touristic archae-
tion. The Copts, as Christians adamantly ology";
oppos-archaeological research conducted not
ing paganism, had traditionally been asfor ideological or scholarly reasons but simply
opposed
to the Pharaonic past as their Muslimas neigh-
an end to attract foreign visitors and their
money.
bors, defacing many temples and turning someHe gives as an example the Israeli site
of them into churches. In the nineteenth cen- of Beth Shean (Hellenistic Nesa-Scythopolis),
tury, in a more nationalistic atmosphere, located
they near the town of the same name and in
had begun to identify the Pharaohs as their an- of high unemployment; almost the en-
a region
cestors. The liturgical Coptic language tire
was ancient
re- city center has been uncovered with
the aid of untrained workers from the local la-
lated to the final stages of the ancient Egyptian
language and Copts dominated the early bordays
exchange. Silberman feels that in the rush
of local Egyptology.91 The Copts could, for the tourist dollar a nation will become a
through
their language and the fact that they had"parody
inhab- of itself"; archaeological sites will sta
to reflect what the tourist wants to see rather
than historical reality. Negative elements of the

88 Charles Wendell, The Evolution of the Egyptian National
past, inequality, brutality, injustice and evil, will
Image: From its Origins to Ahmad Lufti al-Sayyid (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1972) 166.
be largely ignored in the presentation of monu-
89 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 246. ments and in the design of museums, as these
90 Wendell, "The Evolution," 163-64. elements do not attract revenue.93 Government
91 In the 1950's, however, Coptic participationofficials
in the might be tempted to identify the na-
study of the Egyptian past declined dramatically; by 1975
tion's struggle to exert control over its own past
only one of the twenty teachers in the Faculty of Archaeol-
ogy of the University of Cairo was a Copt. Reid, "Indigenous
92 Charles
Egyptology," 242; "Kibt," in The Encyclopedia of Islam: First Edi- Wendell, The Evolution, 163.
tion, Volume II (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1927), 990. 93 Silberman, "The Politics and Poetics," 258-61.
as one of the elements to which

opera foreigners
Aida at Luxor, would
might react negatively. such
In Egypt,a trend. there If this
mightis be
ind
a temptation to play up mark the a "Victorian
final abandonment archae-
ology" of aristocraticvincepith-helmeted
Egyptians Egyptolo- that their n
imitate
gists and to downplay the exclusivenessthe Pharaohs and
of Egypt's
past. Egypt's government,
that and other shapers
the Pharaonic past of
is in
national identity, might to find
most that of the the Pharaonic
nation's po
Egyptian
past, having little positive effect identity must, in
on the mobili-
zation of the Egyptian elsewhere.
people, would at the least
fulfill a monetary function if handed over to the
McGill Instituteto
foreign visitors who appear of Islamic
have Studies more inter-
Montreal
est in it. Mubarak's recent lavish staging of the

The Use of The Pharaonic Past in Modern Egyptian Nationalism

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The Use of the Pharaonic Past in Modern Egyptian Nationalism

Author(s): Michael Wood

Past in Modern Egyptian Nationalism*

Introduction memory of Genghis Khan. Flags may contain an-

modern Egyptian nation

emerged in the early twentiethible century and was

most Egyptians were excavations and occupying important

16 Ibid., 236-37. 20 Reid, "Indigenous Egyptology," 241.

spect for religion (Islam) and the itself as an Arab,

trarily placed the beginnings of the Egyptian

to crystallize. But such attitudes clearly began began to

defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war,

the political discourse has remained largely hos-

eventually accepted God at the moment of his religiously motivated

is equated with a havior; these

cated elites who developed and promoted a

Pharaonic monuments by such learned authori- of the Egyptian Past

of antiquities.62 Later the European

as the logical culmination of world-wide

An alleged Western "guardianship"

Pharaonic monuments It maywould have

75 Said, Orientalism, 32. 78 Hoving, Tutankhamun, 44.

plary manner can be written off as aberrations,

Howard Carter, there was

of Europe.88 It may be understandable then

than historical reality. Negative elements of the

as one of the elements to which

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