It’s been awhile; it’s time to get back to my traveling tales from Egypt! We departed from Cairo after breakfast, driving north to the coastal city of Alexandria. Situated at the western end of the Nile delta, it was founded by and named after Alexander the Great. (It would also become his burial place) It became the new Egyptian capital during the Hellenistic period that followed. While looking at its ancient ruins, I could have forgotten that we were talking about Egypt. While maintaining Egyptian ideas, it had a heavy blend of Greek and Roman influence to see and explore. […]
Tag Archives: Alexander the Great
Full of Hot Air
We woke up before 5:00 am for something special: a balloon ride over Cappadocia. We had tried the morning before, but the wind was too strong. I’ve never ridden in a hot air balloon, making this an extra unique experience. Any sleepiness from the early start was quickly quenched as we lifted off and drifted over the landscape we had explored the day before. How incredible! We drifted for an hour, covering about six miles over the alien landscape. We stopped back at our hotel for breakfast and checking out before beginning our long journey south. Much of the area […]
Hanukkah
Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. John 10:22-23 Happy Hanukkah! I mentioned last time how Alexander the Great took over Egypt and the Greeks ruled Egypt for three centuries under the Ptolemaic dynasty until Rome took control. At the same time, Israel fell under Ptolemaic control. To the north of Israel in Syria, the Seleucid dynasty ruled. There was war between the Ptolemies and Seleucids for decades. Eventually Israel fell under control of the Seleucids, who didn’t end up as lenient as their previous […]
All Greek to Me
While traveling around the Aswan area, we went to the island of Philae containing a Greek Egyptian temple. Everything there had actually been moved from another island a few decades ago because when the dam was put in, it submerged the original island. Therefore, everything was moved to a higher island so we can still enjoy it. Speaking of the dam, the Aswan High Dam was our next stop. This massive dam on the Nile River provides a large amount of electricity to modern Egypt. It’s an impressive modern engineering feat. The next day (Tuesday), we hopped on a bus […]