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from the the-cult-of-the-mouse-may-be-older-than-we-realized dept.
A tomb unveiled Friday near the Egyptian town of Sohag by the Antiquities Ministry of Egypt, held more than 50 mummified cats, falcons, and mice.
The well preserved and finely painted tomb...is thought to be from the early Ptolemaic period, dating back nearly 2,000 years ago.
The tomb was built for a man named Tutu and his wife, and is one of the seven discovered in the area last October, when authorities found smugglers digging illegally for artefacts, officials said.
Its painted walls depict funeral processions and images of the owner working in the fields, as well as his family genealogy written in hieroglyphics.
The tomb also contained a boy aged 12-14 years and a woman aged 35-50 years. Ptolemaic rule lasted about 300 years, and ended around 30BC after the Roman conquest.
Egypt's tourism industry has been struggling due to internal strife in recent years:
and the antiquities ministry said Friday's presentation was intended to "draw the world's attention to the civilisation and antiquities of Egypt".
The country's plethora of heritage sites is a major draw for tourists and the ministry described Sohag as "one of the most historically rich cities in Egypt", where a museum opened last year.
Tourism revenues employs 12% of the workforce in Egypt and accounts for 11% of its GDP.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 07 2019, @08:29PM
I was just in Cairo area at beginning of February, and another visit to Cairo and Luxor at the end of February. My previous visit to Egypt was in the late 90's.
Compared to 30 years ago, the touristy areas were crowded (and both Cairo and Luxor had grown like crazy!). But, everyone said there were not many tourists.
Egypt has scammers etc. esp. in larger cities, but most of the people are generous, beautiful and kind.
There were some signs of a more conservative Islam than what I had seen prior, but also far more secularism. 30 years ago, no woman I saw anywhere in the middle east or north Africa wore a full face covering, unless they were Saudi (I hitch hiked across most of the region). On this trip, I saw quite a few women dressed this way, both in Egypt and in Kenya (E. Africa). I'm guessing this is a result of the Saudi funded Wahhabi schools that have been opening across the region. But, far more people, in general, were wearing western dress than during my previous visit.
I encourage you to visit any middle eastern / north African country, if you want to effect change. But, I predict that the biggest change it will bring about is to your opinions about the region.