E is for Egyptomania

Egyptomania: American Egyptomania is a topic that explores the western fascination with ancient Egyptian culture and history. When Napoleon set up to conquer Egypt in 1797, a sudden burst of popular interest in all things Egyptian spread across Europe, and the term Egyptomania was coined

When we talk about this blog, which is frequently, one of the most commonly asked questions is “How do you come up with your topics for each week?”  When we first came up with the idea, we were certain it would not be too difficult.  Then, we began listing potential topics.  Our brainstorms were ridiculous, each of us spewing out as many words that started with the same letter as we were able.  The task seemed unbearable.  Suddenly, it all clicked.  We were the same person. Agreeing on a topic was going to be easy.

And since then, deciding on the next week’s topic has been nothing but sunshine and rainbows.

Now, you ask, what do you mean you are the same person?  There are two people behind the letters, correct?  Correct.  But not all that many years ago, A & C were practically complete strangers.

Once upon a time, A and C were two girls in the same torturous Organic Chemistry Lab who shared a friend in common.  When they were introduced, A noticed C’s fabulous cartouche necklace.

“I always wanted one of those!” she exclaimed.

C noticed A’s cartouche ring and complimented it as well.  She was envious of the Egyptology class A was taking that semester and discussed her love of Egypt.  A too discussed her love of the country and culture.  Instantly the two were friends.

Why did both love Egypt so much?  Where did this love come from?

My love of Egypt stemmed from a book I read when I was in second grade- The Egypt Game.  This story about children pretending they were ancient Egyptians captured my imagination.  They built their own version of Egypt in the storeyard of an old man who owned an antique shop.  They researched Egyptian practices and beliefs and replicated them as best as they could, even attempt to mummify one girl’s beloved pet parakeet when it died.  After reading this book multiple times, I too began to research Egypt.  But I was a scared child, so the mythology frightened me and I put the books away.

My love of Egypt had reawakened by fifth grade, when I heard rumors that the sixth graders were mummifying carrots.  I renewed my zealous exploration of Egypt; even writing plays with my best friend.  These plays were never performed, as our opening night for our first play (The Night Before the Nutcracker, if you must know) was disastrous, but that is another story for another time.  When we reached sixth grade, we learned that mummifying carrots was indeed truth!  However, I was still a scared child and had recently watched the horrifying movie, The Mummy.  I loved the movie, but was convinced that if I mummified a carrot, I was just unlucky enough that I certainly would make a terrible mistake and unleash horrible undead monsters upon my family.  I was also concerned that it would be a smelly process, and I had just attempted to make cheese to earn extra-credit in math.  Or at least, told my mother that if we made homemade cheese, I would earn extra-credit in math.  So, instead of mummifying a carrot, I wrote, “This is not a mummy” in hieroglyphs, on a pillowcase.

To this day, I love traveling to museums to see various Egyptian artifacts and learning more about this fascinating place and its rich history.  ~A

I cannot tell you when my love for Egypt began.  As long as I can remember I have had a fascination with the ancient and remarkable civilization.  Maybe it was the art, the stories, the seemingly impossible architectural feats, or the many many secrets of Egyptian lore that drew me in.  Whatever the bait was I took it, hook line and sinker.  My love for Egypt really flourished in high school.  I took a World Civilizations class in which we were taught all the basics of Egypt in about a week.  In that week I probably paid more attention and took more notes in that class than I ever had or would again in that particular course.  From then on I did my own independent reading on the subject.  I read books on ancient lore, the pyramids, art, architecture, and culture.

Despite all of the books read and the lessons taught in college and high school courses, a lot of my interest and knowledge was fed via multimedia entertainments.  The first was The Prince of Egypt.  A high profile animated movie of 90’s, which told the biblical story of Moses and Ramses.  I can’t tell you how many times I watched it over and over, I still watch it today.  Once again I cannot pin point what captured me but I was fascinated.  In my later high school years I fell in love with a TV series called Stargate SG-1.  Now while most of the premise is irrelevant to this particular discussion the part that is are the villains.  The Goua’ld are a parasitic alien race that invade human hosts and then portray themselves as gods.  In this case they portray Egyptian gods Ra, Hathor, Set, Isis, Nearti…the list goes on.  This once again only set to feed my love for Egyptian culture and lore.

The closest encounter I have had to real Egyptian culture and lore was ironically at the Ohio State Fair.  I was wandering through one of the barns with merchandise stalls and I gasped as I cam across one chock full of Egyptian wares.  Statues, incense, figurines, jewelry, trinkets, everything!  As I looked around wide eyed and smiling the owner of the stall came over and smiled for a moment before saying “Hello Caitlin”.  A look of amazement immediately came over my face as my heart skipped a beat wondering how a man could know my name.  Instinctively I reached for my necklace as I always do when I am nervous, and therein lay the answer to my wonderment.  My necklace is a cartouche, my name in hieroglyphics given to me by my mother when I was a freshman in college.  This Egyptian gentleman could read hieroglyphics and therefore knew my name by reading my necklace.  I spoke for him for what seemed like forever (actually only a few minutes) before I finally decided on buying an incense burner featuring the god Anubis.      Before I left however he also gave me a stone scarab, a small blue beetle that brings good luck.  He also gave me his card and assured me that if I emailed him he would teach me to read and write hieroglyphics and Heretic…I smiled and giggled for a week.  ~ C

A mutual love for Egypt was just the first sign of our frequently linked thoughts.  We soon discovered that we shared passions for many of the same things: theater, owls, certain professors, bedbugs and many other things.  These shared passions and a desire to do something with our writing skills outside of writing papers, led us to create this blog.  We hoped that we piqued your interest in this fascinating culture and ancient society.  And if not?  Well, at least you know how we became friends.

– A & C