1.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
2.
Nile
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The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, in particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan. The Nile has two tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself, the Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa and it flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast, the two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, then ends in a large delta, Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, in the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥpī or Iteru, meaning river. In Coptic, the words piaro or phiaro meaning the river come from the ancient name. The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος, beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. One possible etymology derives it from a Semitic Nahal, meaning river, the standard English names White Nile and Blue Nile, to refer to the rivers source, derive from Arabic names formerly applied only to the Sudanese stretches which meet at Khartoum. Above Khartoum, the Nile is also known as the White Nile, at Khartoum the river is joined by the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia, both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift. The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers, the source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake has feeder rivers of considerable size. It is either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi, or the Nyabarongo, the two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the Rwanda-Tanzania border. Gish Abay is reportedly the place where the water of the first drops of the Blue Nile develop. The Nile leaves Lake Nyanza at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda and it flows north for some 130 kilometers, to Lake Kyoga. For the remaining part it flows westerly through the Murchison Falls until it reaches the very northern shores of Lake Albert where it forms a significant river delta
3.
Copts
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The Copts are an ethno-religious group that primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination. Copts are also the largest Christian adherent group in Sudan and Libya, historically, they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken during the Roman era. The Coptic language is a focus of Coptology and remains in liturgical use, Copts in Sudan constitute the largest Christian community in Sudan, accounting for an estimated 1% of the Sudanese population. Copts in Libya constitute the largest Christian community in Libya, accounting for an estimated 1% of the Libyan population, most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Coptic Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Catholic Church. The Coptic word is in turn an adaptation of the Greek term for the people of Egypt. The Greek term for Egypt, Aigýptos, is derived from the Egyptian language. This Mycenaean form is likely from Middle Egyptian ḥwt-k3-ptḥ, literally Estate of the Spirit of Ptah, the term is thus ultimately derived from the Greek designation of the native Egyptian population in Roman Egypt. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt, it restricted to those Egyptians adhering to the Christian religion. In Coptic Egyptian, the Copts referred to themselves as ni rem en kīmi en khristianos, which literally means Christian people of Egypt or Christian Egyptians. The Coptic name for Egyptians, rem en kīmi, is realized in the Fayyumic dialect as lem en kēmi, or rem en khēmi in the Bohairic dialect, cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ. The Arabic word qibṭ has also connected to the Greek name of the town of Coptos. It is possible that this association has contributed to making Copt the settled form of the name, in the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term qubṭ in the historical sense. The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation state, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming around 10–20% of the population, though estimates vary. They pride themselves on the apostolicity of the Egyptian Church whose founder was the first in a chain of patriarchs. The main body for 16 centuries has been out of communion with both the Roman Catholic Church and the various Eastern orthodox churches, the legacy that Saint Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest Christian church in Africa, the Copts in Egypt contributed immensely to Christian tradition. The Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest catechetical school in the world, however, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects, science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there
4.
Mary, mother of Jesus
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Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary
5.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
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Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt, serving from 1956 until his death. Nasser led the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year, Nassers popularity in Egypt and the Arab world skyrocketed after his nationalization of the Suez Canal and his political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis. Calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating with the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria, in 1962, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernization reforms in Egypt. Despite setbacks to his pan-Arabist cause, by 1963 Nassers supporters gained power in several Arab countries and he began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents were banned from running. Following Egypts defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Nasser resigned, after the conclusion of the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died. His funeral in Cairo drew five million mourners and an outpouring of grief across the Arab world, Nasser remains an iconic figure in the Arab world, particularly for his strides towards social justice and Arab unity, modernization policies, and anti-imperialist efforts. His presidency also encouraged and coincided with an Egyptian cultural boom, Gamal Abdel Nasser was born on 15 January 1918 in Bakos, Alexandria, the first son of Fahima and Abdel Nasser Hussein. Nassers father was a postal worker born in Beni Mur in Upper Egypt and raised in Alexandria and his parents married in 1917, and later had two more boys, Izz al-Arab and al-Leithi. Nassers family traveled frequently due to his fathers work, in 1921, they moved to Asyut and, in 1923, to Khatatba, where Nassers father ran a post office. Nasser attended a school for the children of railway employees until 1924, when he was sent to live with his paternal uncle in Cairo. Nasser exchanged letters with his mother and visited her on holidays and he stopped receiving messages at the end of April 1926. Upon returning to Khatatba, he learned that his mother had died giving birth to his third brother, Shawki. Nasser later stated that losing her this way was a shock so deep that time failed to remedy and he adored his mother and the injury of her death deepened when his father remarried before the years end. In 1928, Nasser went to Alexandria to live with his maternal grandfather and it was in Alexandria that Nasser became involved in political activism. After witnessing clashes between protesters and police in Manshia Square, he joined the demonstration without being aware of its purpose. The protest, organized by the ultranationalist Young Egypt Society, called for the end of colonialism in Egypt in the wake of the 1923 Egyptian constitutions annulment by Prime Minister Ismail Sidqi, Nasser was arrested and detained for a night before his father bailed him out. When his father was transferred to Cairo in 1933, Nasser joined him and he took up acting in school plays for a brief period and wrote articles for the schools paper, including a piece on French philosopher Voltaire titled Voltaire, the Man of Freedom. Two protesters were killed and Nasser received a graze to the head from a policemans bullet, the incident garnered his first mention in the press, the nationalist newspaper Al Gihad reported that Nasser led the protest and was among the wounded
6.
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria
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This article uses dates and years written in the Coptic calendar, using the A. M. calendar era, in addition to the Gregorian calendar, using the A. D. calendar era. Pope Shenouda III was the 117th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark and his episcopate lasted 40 years, four months, and 4 days from 14 November 1971 until his death on 17 March 2012. His official title was Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and he was also the head of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. He was a figure within the Church, and was also respected within the Muslim community. Born Nazeer Gayed Roufail on 3 August 1923, he became a monk in 1954 under the name Father Antonios the Syrian after joining the Syrian Monastery of the Ever-Virgin Mary the Theotokos, in 1958, he was elevated to the priesthood. In 1962, Pope Cyril VI summoned Fr, Saint Shenoute the Archimandrite was instrumental in flourishing the Monastic Movement, active in Ecumenical issues, a noted Church teacher and writer, and an Egyptian Leader. Pope Shenouda III maintained the legacy of the name he carried, following the death of Pope Cyril VI on 9 March 1971, the selection process resulted in Bishop Shenoudas becoming the new Pope. He was consecrated on 14 November 1971, during his papacy, the Coptic church grew significantly. He appointed the first ever bishops for North American dioceses, which now contain two hundred parishes, up from four in 1971. He also appointed the first Coptic bishops in Europe, Australia, within Egypt, he struggled for the welfare of his people and the Church. Pope Shenouda III was known for his commitment to ecumenism and had and he devoted his writings, teachings and actions to spreading and propagating guidelines for understanding, peace, dialogue and forgiveness. D. and the 17th and 18th centuries A. M. He was the youngest of a family of eight children, five girls, nazeers mother died shortly after his birth. He was raised by his brother, Raphael, in Damanhur in lower Egypt. Soon after, he studied at the American Middle School in Banha and he then moved to Shubra, a suburb of Cairo, where he enrolled at the Faith Senior Secondary. From the age of 14, Nazeer began reading poetry and he wrote many poems himself, by the age of 16, he was active in the Coptic Sunday School movement. He served as a Sunday School teacher, first at Saint Anthonys Church in Shoubra, in 1943, Nazeer enrolled in Cairo University studying towards a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in English and History. Meanwhile, he spent his vacations at the Western Desert Monastery of St. Mary. While a university student, he was a trainee in the Egyptian Military Reserve Corps, the Personality of Habib Girgis was instrumental in shaping that of the future Pope, and Pope Shenouda always spoke highly of Habib Girgis
7.
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
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The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the largest Christian Church in Egypt, Northeast Africa and the Middle East. According to tradition, the Church was established by Saint Mark, the head of the Church and the See of Alexandria is the Patriarch of Alexandria on the Holy See of Saint Mark, who also carries the title of Coptic Pope. The See of Alexandria is titular, and today the Coptic Pope presides from Saint Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo. The precise Christological differences that caused the split with the Coptic Christians are still disputed, highly technical, the foundational roots of the Coptic Church are based in Egypt, but it has a worldwide following. Isaiah the prophet, in Chapter 19, Verse 19 says In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, the first Christians in Egypt were common people who spoke Egyptian Coptic. There were also Alexandrian Jews such as Theophilus, whom Saint Luke the Evangelist addresses in the chapter of his gospel. When the church was founded by Saint Mark during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, in the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, and scriptures were translated into the local languages, namely Coptic. The Catechetical School of Alexandria is the oldest catechetical school in the world, St. Jerome records that the Christian School of Alexandria was founded by Saint Mark himself. Origen wrote over 6,000 commentaries of the Bible in addition to his famous Hexapla, many scholars such as Jerome visited the school of Alexandria to exchange ideas and to communicate directly with its scholars. The scope of this school was not limited to subjects, science, mathematics. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read, the Theological college of the catechetical school was re-established in 1893. Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, by the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. A great number of these monasteries are still flourishing and have new vocations to this day, countless pilgrims have visited the Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. In the 4th century, an Alexandrian presbyter named Arius began a dispute about the nature of Christ that spread throughout the Christian world and is now known as Arianism. We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins and we look for the resurrection of the dead, as a consequence of this, he denied the title Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, declaring her instead to be Mother of Christ Christotokos. When reports of this reached the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark, Pope Saint Cyril I of Alexandria acted quickly to correct this breach with orthodoxy, when he would not, the Synod of Alexandria met in an emergency session and a unanimous agreement was reached. Pope Cyril I of Alexandria, supported by the entire See and this epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained the most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy, The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril. In these anathemas, Cyril excommunicated anyone who followed the teachings of Nestorius, for example, Anyone who dares to deny the Holy Virgin the title Theotokos is Anathema
8.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
9.
Asyut
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The modern city is located at 27°11′00″N 31°10′00″E, while the ancient city is located at 27°10′00″N 31°08′00″E. The name of the city is derived from early Egyptian Zawty adopted into the Coptic as Syowt ⲥⲓⲟⲟⲩⲧ, in Graeco-Roman Egypt, it was called Lycopolis or Lykopolis, Lycon, or Lyco. Ancient Asyut was the capital of the Thirteenth Nome of Upper Egypt around 3100 BC and it was located on the western bank of the Nile. The two most prominent gods of Ancient Egyptian Asyut were Anubis and Wepwawet, both funerary deities, during the First Intermediate Period, the rulers of Zawty were supporters of the Herakleopolitan kings, of whose domain the Nome formed the southern limits. The conflict between this Nome and the southern Nomes under the rule of the Eleventh dynasty ended with the victory of Thebes, osiris was worshipped under the symbol of a wolf at Lycopolis. According to a myth, he had come from the shades as a wolf to aid Isis, other Ancient Egyptian monuments discovered in Asyut include, the Asyut necropolis, tombs which date to dynasties Nine, Ten and Twelve, and the Ramessid tombs of Siese and Amenhotep. In Graeco-Roman times, there was a dialect of Coptic spoken in Asyut, known as Lycopolitan. Lesser-used names for this dialect are Sub-Akhmimic and Assiutic, a large Byzantine Treasure was discovered near the city in the early twentieth century and is now dispersed amongst a number of museums in the West. The hoard is composed of some of the most elaborate jewellery to survive from late antiquity, Asyut was the end of 40 Day Road that connected the city to Darfur through the Selima and Kharga Oases. The history of the road, known by local herders as Darb al-Arbain and it was used as a pathway for great caravans of up to 12,000 camels at its peak in the 14th century. Today, the city of Asyut has almost 400,000 inhabitants and it is the Egyptian city with one of the highest Coptic Christian concentration of approximately 50%. It is also home to the University of Assiut, one of the largest universities in Egypt, to the Assiut Barrage, the city is one of the only cities in the world that still makes silver appliqué-work shawls and is home to a large textile industry. The city also produces pottery, inlaid woodwork, and rugs. The Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared in Asyut on 17 August 2000 and this apparition is recognized as an official Marian apparition by the Coptic Orthodox Church and remembered in the Deir el-Muharraq, Monastery of the Virgin Mary. Aysut is next to the Aysut Dam across the Nile river in the port of Al-Hamra. The dam was built in 1902 and a plant was added in the 1980s. Its episcopal see is the cathedral of the Mother of Divine Love, suffragan Eparchs of Assiut Alexandros Scandar Youhanna Nueir, Friars Minor, previously Auxiliary Eparch of Luqsor of the Copts & Titular Bishop of Phatanus Kyrillos Kamal William Samaan, O. F. M. Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert and it is the driest city of Egypt
10.
Port Said Governorate
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Port Said Governorate is one of the Canal Zone governorates of Egypt. It is located in the part of the country, on the Mediterranean Sea at the northern gate of the Suez Canal. Its capital is the city of Port Said, it is the home of the Suez Canal Authority headquarters and it is urban with 98. 2% of the area populated. Port Said Governorate also includes Port Fuad, in 2015 a huge natural gas reserve was discovered and was described as the largest ever found in the Mediterranean Sea. It was found off the coast of Port Said, Egypt now has one of the largest areas of natural gas and Italian company, ENI has been contracted to work on the natural gas liquefaction for Egypt. It was welcome news as Egypt has long suffered an energy crisis, the New Suez Canal project launched in 2015 included dredging of the East Port Said Canal. Port Said Port Fuad At the 2006 Census, there were 570,768 people,2015 estimates put that figure at 666,599. With an urbanization rate of 100%, the Port Said Governorate is one of the most urbanized in the country, along with Cairo, in February,2012, more than 70 people died in the Port Said Stadium Riot after a soccer match. Social unrest in early 2013 continued for at least two weeks, while protesting, on March 5,2013, protesters set fire to the governorates headquarters and several people were injured. In October,2016 Egyptians protested the increase in their rent on apartments, one official and several residents were arrested. Port Said Governorate is a transit point for trade, importing and exporting millions of tons of goods each year. Tourism is also promoted for the region, there are several museums in this area. For cultural tourism one may want to visit the Port Said National Museum of Antiquities which opened in 1987 and is located at the confluence of the Suez Canal waters and the Mediterranean Sea. It houses about 9,000 artifacts from all eras, ranging from the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, the Military Museum of Port Said, established in 1964, commemorates the 1956 the tripartite aggression on the city. It features armory and military artifacts, equipment used in the wars fought between 1956 -1967 and in 1973, al-Nasr Museum of Modern Art in Port Said opened on December 25,1995 and includes artwork by Egyptian artists in various branches of Fine Art. This makes it a favorite with tourists, nearby, is the Suez Canal Authority building built on the banks of Port Said at the start of the project. The lighthouse and jetties at Port Said, located at the terminus of the Suez canal. The lighthouse is a monolith 180 feet high, in the construction 120,000 tons of Teil hydraulic lime were used
11.
Alexandria Governorate
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Alexandria Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the part of the country, directly on the Mediterranean Sea. Along with Cairo and Giza, Alexandria is one of three governorates in the country that are also municipalities, the governorate capital is the city of Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt. Alexandria governorate lies along the Mediterranean coast and stretch for about 70 km northwest of the Nile Delta, the governorate is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, El Behera governorate in the south and the east and Matrouh governorate in the west. The total area size of Alexandria governorate is almost 2818 km2, Alexandria has a unique geographical location and a mild climate. It is also considered an industrial governorate where 40% of Egyptian industries are concentrated, especially chemicals, food, spinning and weaving as well as petrol industries, the bond between Egypt and the Hellenic Empire dates from centuries before Alexander the Great. The crushing victory of Alexander the Great over the Persians in Asia gave him control over the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. As Alexander took control of all ports and harbour of the Eastern Mediterranean, on entering Alexandria, the Persian ruler of the city surrendered without resistance and Alexander entered the city in triumph. Travelling further south, he reached the City of Menf where he was given a welcome by the poor farmers who were euphoric at the ousting of the Persians. Alexander was ceremoniously crowned in a Pharaonic ceremony as the Son of Amun and ordered the construction of the city of Alexandria. As Alexander the Great rides along the Mediterranean Coast, a plot of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout catches his attention, with its unique features and intrinsic peculiarity, the spot was ideal for founding a great city of the most modern style back then. To the south was Lake Mariout, another natural border, which fortified the city defences. Alexander was firmly persuaded of the importance of building a city bearing his name to immortalise his memory for good, at the outskirts of the area to the west was the Rhacotis Village, which was populated with fishermen. Faithfully conceived by Alexander the Great, the idea was conveyed to Denocrates, the Greek architect, the name of Denocrates remains closely associated with the history of Alexandria since he started planning the citys layout in 331 B. C. The genius of this became evident as he blueprinted plans for roads, squares. Denocrates was born in the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea, such a cityscape was widespread across Greek cities in the fifth Century B. C. Denocrates also thought of building a bridge linking the mainland with the island, later on called Pharos, Alexandria was divided into five quarters, bearing the first five letters of the Greek Alphabet. Alexandria lays north-west of the Nile delta and stretches along a land strip between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Maryut
Egypt
