X-Nico

26 unusual facts about Egypt


2008 Egyptian bus accident

The 14 December 2008 Egyptian bus accident happened when a bus plunged into an irrigation ditch while traveling from Cairo to Minya killing at least fifty-five and injuring ten.

Abydosaurus

The genus name is a reference to Egyptian mythology: Abydos is the Greek name for a city on the Nile where the head and neck of Osiris were buried, while the holotype of Abydosaurus consists of a head and neck found in rocks overlooking the Green River.

Amarar tribe

Amarar is an African bedouin tribe of the Beja people inhabiting the mountainous country on the west side of the Red Sea from Suakin northwards towards Al-Qusayr.

Amun-her-khepeshef

Statues and depictions of Amun-her-khepeshef appear in his father's famous temples in Abu Simbel, Luxor, in the Ramesseum, and in Seti's Abydos temple.

Ausar

Osiris, an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead.

Bishoy Kamel

He founded the St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Sporting, Alexandria, Egypt.

Carl Benjamin Klunzinger

Beginning in February 1864 he worked as a physician at Kosseir, a seaport on the Red Sea.

Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, American University in Cairo

Today, attendance at the annual history seminar at AUC regularly includes graduate students from universities in Alexandria, Benha, Zagazig, Mansura, and Suhag.

Diospolis

Hiw in Egypt, ancient Hut-Sekhem, in Greco-Roman times called Diospolis Parva (Little Zeus-City)

Eagle Point, Pennsylvania

It is located directly between the communities of Egypt and Cementon.

Fort Deshler

Fort Deshler, located near Egypt, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, was a French and Indian War era frontier fort established in 1760 to protect settlers from Indian attacks.

Gourna

Kurna, three village areas located near the Theban Hills in Egypt.

Gregory II the Martyrophile

After a few months, Gregory II then made pilgrimage to Jerusalem and then went to Memphis, Egypt where he lived for a year.

Henry Danby Seymour

In 1856 Henry donated fragments of the Tomb of Sobekhotep, Thebes, to the British Museum, and was co-author of A History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs.

Henry William Beechey

Some time before 1816 he had become secretary to Henry Salt, the British consul-general in Egypt, and at the latter's request accompanied Belzoni in that and the following year beyond the second cataract, for the purpose of studying and making designs of the fine monuments existing at Thebes.

Kamilia Shehata

Kamilia Shehata Zakher (born 1985) is a schoolteacher in Deir Mawas, Egypt, and the wife of Tadros Samaan, the Coptic Priest of Saint Mark's Church in Mowas Cathedral in Minya.

Kiln God

Kiln gods (or goddesses) originated in ancient times when pottery first came about in places like China and Egypt its not exactly clear.

Lillian Trasher

Lillian Hunt Trasher (27 September 1887–17 December 1961) was a Christian missionary to Asyut, Egypt, as well as the founder of the first orphanage in Egypt.

Mary the Jewess

George Syncellus, a Byzantine chronicler of the 8th century, presented Mary as a teacher of Democritus, whom she had met in Memphis, Egypt, during the time of Pericles.

Mohamed El-Asabgi

Mohamed Ali Ebrahim El Asabgi or Mohamed El-Asabgi (15 April 1892 - 1966) was an Egyptian composer that was known for his renewal of Arabic music and being inspired by the European Classic music in his works.

Moses Israel

The authority of the Chief Rabbinate of Cairo extended to the Jewish communities of Port Said, Mansoura, Banha and Mit Ghamr, whereas Tanta, Damanhur and Kafr El-Zayat were under the jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate of Alexandria.

Oswald Chambers

He was assigned to Zeitoun, Cairo, Egypt, where he ministered to Australian and New Zealand troops, who later participated in the Battle of Gallipoli.

Prince Ismail Imaduddeen

He got married to Princess Sameera Ali Abu El'la from Egypt in 1944 and had a boy (Al Nabeel Ahmed Ismail Imaduddeen) and a girl (Al Nabeelah Azeeza Ismail Imaduddeen) with her.

The Festival

The story is set at Christmas time: "It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and mankind."

Universitetskaya Embankment

A quay in front of the Academy of Arts building, adorned with two authentic sphinxes of Pharaoh Amenhotep III brought in 1832 from Thebes, Egypt, was designed by Konstantin Thon and built in 1832-1834.

World Wild

The tone and lyrical style of the songs continue Jakobsen's ethnic satire theme but, this time, each song is dedicated to a different nation and the typical subjects of their respective cultures, such as Skiing in Switzerland or Pharaohs in Egypt.


11th Indian Infantry Brigade

It was relocated from India to Egypt in the middle of August 1939 and trained at Fayed in Ismailia Governorate on the Great Bitter Lake.

Adam El-Abd

On 15 May 2012, and for the first time, Egypt national team coach Bob Bradley included El-Abd in the squad for friendly games against Cameroon, Togo, and Senegal, and also against Mozambique in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier.

Adel Abdel Bari

He was sentenced to death in absentia in Egypt in 1995 for his part in the 1995 plot to blow up the Khan el-Khalili market, along with Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar and Ahmad Salama Mabruk.

Ahmad Belal

After 5 years of absence Belal was called up for the Nile Basin Tournament held in Egypt in January 2011, he participated in the first two group matches but failed to score and lost his starting line-up place, however he returned at the semi-finals against Kenya scoring a hat-trick and giving an awe inspiring performance that helped Egypt get a 5-1 victory.

Ahram

Al-Ahram, the most widely circulating daily newspaper in Egypt

Anarchism in Egypt

Many leading figures of the global anarchist movement, including Errico Malatesta, Amilcare Cipriani, Élisée Reclus, Luigi Galleani and Pietro Gori passed through Egypt at various points and for various reasons, owing to its position as a relative safe haven for political dissidents and close proximity to Europe.

Battle of Pelusium

Battle of Pelusium (343 BC), second battle fought between Achaemenid forces under Artaxerxes III (the Ochus) of Persia and pharaoh Nectanebo II, leading to defeat of Egyptian forces and the start of second Persian period in Egypt

Bread and Freedom Party

The Bread and Freedom Party (Eish we Horria) is a socialist party in Egypt created by former members of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party.

Centre for Human Rights

The programme is a joint project of the Centre with Makerere University (Uganda), the University of Ghana, the Catholic University of Central Africa (Cameroon), the University of the Western Cape (South Africa), the American University in Cairo (Egypt), Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia).

Clive King

Set in the eastern Mediterranean world of the 15th century BC, the story follows the adventures of the three sons of a Phoenician master builder through three loosely linked stories in which they travel to Egypt (Sinai), to the court of King Minos (Crete) and north to Ugarit.

Dakhamunzu

The episode in The Deeds of Suppiluliuma that features Dakhamunzu is often referred to as the Zannanza affair, after the name of a Hittite prince who was sent to Egypt to marry her.

Dark retreat

All spiritual traditions have used Darkness Techniques in the pursuit of enlightenment: in Europe, the dark room appeared as a network of tunnels, in Egypt as the Pyramides, in Rome as the catacombs, by the Essenes in Israel and Taoists in China as caves.

David Muir

In 2011, Muir reported from Tahrir Square during the political revolution in Egypt and from Fukushima, Japan following the deadly tsunami and nuclear power plant accident.

Deir el-Muharraq

The Deir el-Muharraq (Arabic: الدير المحرق, ad-Deir al-Muḥarraq, "the burnt monastery") or Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Asyut, Egypt, is a Coptic monastery near El-Qusiya.

Denys Johnson-Davies

Denys Johnson-Davies (Arabic: دنيس جونسون ديڤيز) is an eminent Arabic-to-English literary translator who has translated, inter alia, several works by Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, Sudanese author Tayeb Salih, Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish and Syrian author Zakaria Tamer.

Egyptian cigarette industry

The founder of the industry was Nestor Gianaclis, a Greek who arrived in Egypt in 1864 and in 1871 established a factory in the Khairy Pasha palace in Cairo.

El Matareya

The city played a heroic role during the French campaign on Egypt, where the fishermen joined the resistance forces led by the Egyptian leader of the struggle against colonialism in this region, Sheikh Hassan Tobar.

El Naddaha

It is quite popular in the Nile Delta, the northern agricultural-based area of Egypt, typically north to Cairo, where the Nile constitutes a main part of the environment.

Gudea

Materials for his buildings and statues were brought from all parts of western Asia: cedar wood from the Amanus mountains, quarried stones from Lebanon, copper from northern Arabia, gold and precious stones from the desert between Canaan and Egypt, diorite from Magan (Oman), and timber from Dilmun (Bahrain).

Guillemette Andreu

After studying history, Andreu specialized in Egyptology (hieroglyphs, hieratic, Coptic) and produced a thesis on the law and order in Ancient Egypt at Sorbonne in 1978 under the direction of Professor Jean Leclant.

Heinrich von Kittlitz

It was during his time in Egypt whilst waiting for a boat that he collected specimens of the bird which became known as Kittlitz's Plover.

Hemiunu

In his tomb he is described as a hereditary prince, count, sealer of the king of Lower Egypt (jrj-pat HAtj-a xtmw-bjtj) and on a statue found in his serdab (and now located in Hildesheim), Hemiunu is given the titles: king's son of his body, chief justice and vizier, greatest of the five of the House of Thoth (sA nswt n XT=f tAjtj sAb TAtj wr djw pr-DHwtj).

Hermann Eilts

He served as an American ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, assisted Henry Kissinger's Mideast shuttle diplomacy effort, worked with Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat throughout the Camp David Accords, and dodged a Libyan hit team.

History of Greek

As Greek culture under Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) and his successors spread from Asia Minor to Egypt and the border regions of India the Attic dialect became the basis of the Koiné (Κοινή; "common").

Jennens

Charles Jennens (1700 – 20 November 1773) was an English landowner and patron of the arts, who assembled the text for five of Handel's oratorios: Saul, Israel in Egypt, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Messiah, and Belshazzar.

Kafur

Abu al-Misk Kafur, (905–968), vizier of Egypt, becoming its de facto ruler (from 946)

Love letter

Examples from Ancient Egypt range from the most formal - 'the royal widow...Ankhesenamun wrote a letter to the king of the Hittites, Egypt's old enemy, begging him to send one of his sons to Egypt to marry her' - to the down-to-earth: let me 'bathe in thy presence, that I may let thee see my beauty in my tunic of finest linen, when it is wet'.

Ludwig Hans Fischer

A pupil, at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, of Eduard von Lichtenfels in painting, of Louis Jacoby in engraving, and of William Unger in etching, he completed his studies traveling in Italy, Spain, North Africa, Egypt, and India, and afterwards settled in Vienna.

Marmaris

Lord Nelson and his entire fleet sheltered in the harbour of Marmaris in 1798, en route to Egypt to defeat Napoleon's armada during the Mediterranean campaign.

Mayte Carrasco

From 2009-2012, she worked as a professor on Journalism and a freelance journalist covering conflicts in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

Mohammed Tayea

Mohammed Ali Tayea (1945-2000) was one of the political leaders in Egypt during the Sadat and Mubarak era.

Mohsen al-Sukkari

Mohsen al-Sukkari, is an Egyptian former police officer who, on 28 July 2008 murdered the well-known Lebanese artist Suzanne Tamim in Dubai, UAE on orders of Egyptian business tycoon and member of the Egyptian Parliament Hisham Talaat Moustafa in return for $2 million paid by Moustafa, according to statements made by the murderer to the investigators in Cairo.

Nakhla

Nakhla meteorite, a Mars meteorite that landed in the Nakhla region of Abu Hommos, Alexandria, Egypt

No. 163 Squadron RAF

The squadron reformed in 10 July 1942 at Asmara, Egypt and equipped with Hudson aircraft that operated a mail and communications service to Khartoum, Sudan and other African countries.

No. 214 Squadron RAF

Post war the squadron was moved to Egypt but it was disbanded on 1 February 1920 with its crew and aircraft merged into No. 216 Squadron RAF.

Omar 'The White Sudani' Ramzi

Since then he has been doing shows in all the major cities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt: Jeddah, Riyadh, Khobar, Cairo and Alexandria He has opened for several other world renowned stand-up comedians such as Ahmed Ahmed, Maz Jobrani, Angelo Tsarouchas, Dean Edwards, Jeff Mirza and Erik Griffin.

Pace Egg play

The line up in 2010 included Billy Painter (Who is also chief Editor of The Painter's Chronicle) as The Fool, Dario Coates as St George, Sam Harris as Bold Slasher, Jack Deighton as The Doctor, Rowan Carter as The black prince of Paradine, Jacob Jones as The king Of Egypt, Joe Cotton as Hector, Desmond as Toss Pott.

Peter of Courtenay, Lord of Conches

On 25 August 1248, he sailed with his cousin, King Louis IX of France, from Aigues-Mortes to Egypt to fight the Seventh Crusade, during which he died.

Port Said International School

It is the first International School in Port Said and the first international school to be accredited by the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation and fully licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Education in the region.

Roxana Kafati

She is the partner of Honduran football player Esdras Padilla, who currently plays for Motagua and was part of the U-20 national team in the world cup in Egypt.

Salah Taher

Overall, he painted 15000 paintings and held more than 80 art fairs for his work in Egypt, Venice, New York, San Francisco, Geneva, Beirut, Kuwait and Jeddah.

Sport policies of the Arab League

Egypt became the first Arab country to send an Olympic delegation - fencer Ahmed Hassanein - to the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.

Taghribat Bani Hilal

The Egyptian poet and writer Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi has made an exhaustive collection of the Sira, travelling from Egypt to Libya to Tunisia to document the variants of the epic.

Three-state solution

Daniel Pipes describes the “Jordan-Egypt option” as “a uniquely sober way” to bring peace.

United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs

The Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs is responsible for United States relations with the countries of the Middle East and all of the countries of North Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt to Morocco.

Uthman bin Ali Zayla'i

He eventually settled in Cairo, Egypt, where he joined other Somali students at the Riwaq al Zayla'i of the Al Azhar University.

Wilhelmenia Fernandez

Since then she has sung in operas and recitals in cities all over the world, her most notable roles being Carmen, Carmen Jones (for which she received the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 as Best Actress in a Musical), and Aïda, a role she has performed in Luxor and at the Pyramids in Egypt.

William Willcocks

He was serving as director general of reservoirs for Egypt when he completed his studies and plans in 1896 to construct the Aswan Low Dam, the first true storage reservoir on the river.

Worms Forts: Under Siege

Egyptian: The Egyptian story focuses on a worm called Seth who tries to raise an army of the dead to battle the Pharaoh.

XS4ALL

Because international telephone connections from Egypt to the rest of the world are not blocked people can dial into the modems in Amsterdam and then log into the internet using username and password xs4all.