In Retrospection 1, I explained why I am writing this series, and I brought up my old topic, Japanology. This time we will look at another large topic in my production here, Egyptology - and on my series about coffee.
Egyptology
The first article in my series about Egypt was "The Sacred Crocodiles of Egypt". After that I built further on the theme of crocodiles and Egypt, which brought us via the crocodile god, Sobek, to the old city Crocodilopolis and Lake Moeris, with its enormous treasure.
The Sacred Crocodiles of Egypt
(Image above: Nile Crocodile. Public Domain.)
It also led to the second peak of crocodile cult in Egypt, during the Ptolemaic dynasty - and finally to Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemaic rulers. "Cleopatra - The Serpent of the Nile?" might very well be my major hit on this platform. It attracted a lot of attention.
Cleopatra - The Serpent of the Nile?
The Crocodile, a Symbol of Egypt?
The Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt
Another article which attracted much attention was Egyptian Mummies & Mummification, in which I described the mummification process, as far as it is known.
I published further articles about old Egypt, such as:
The Dog Star & The Dog Days, which explains the design of he Egypitan calendar.
Anubis, the most well recognised god of old Egypt.
Other Dog-like Deities of Egypt
This was during my first period here. When I returned in December 2020, I continued writing about Egypt, but this time my focus was on its Islamic history, rather than Ancient Egypt. The reason was that that period of Egypt's history is generally less known, since people tend to be interested mainly in its ancient history. Yet even the Islamic period brings a rich history, from the arrival of Islam, through Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottomans and till Muhammad Ali's dynasty. Examples:
The Fatimids of Egypt, The Only Shi'ite Caliphate in History
Saladin & The Ayyubid Dynasty - Saladin's Eagle, and Saladin's Citadel
The Egyptian Mamluks, Shajar al-Durr & Baibars
Ottoman Egypt, Muhammad Ali & his Dynasty
The response here to that material was limited (to say the least), far from the enthusiasm meeting me with the first period's articles. At that point I did as with my articles about Japan, I put the topic on ice for a while. If at some time I'll revive it, I'll probably return the focus to old Egypt.
However, it didn't mean that Egypt disappeared completely from my articles. It has a way to be involved indirectly. The truth is that Egypt has been involved in so much history, that it often turns up even when it doesn't have the main role. Thus you can find many of my more recent articles also having a connection to Egypt. Examples are:
From the Sacred Cobras of Egypt to Quezalcoatl: Serpents & Snakes in Mythology, which deals with snakes from mythology in general – but where Egyptian mythology, with is cobras, plays one of the major roles.
Aleisteir Crowley & Egypt: The Stele of Revealing & The Book of the Law, about one of Aleisteir Crowley's major books, “The Book of the Law”, which was created in Egypt.
Egyptomania & Horror Literature. This is about “Egyptomania”, once a trend in literature and other forms of art.
The Eye As A Metaphysical Symbol. Does it all go back to the Eye of Horus/Eye of Ra?
About Zodiacs & Astrology (Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, Chinese)
The links above are not an exhaustive list of my articles about Egypt. For a complete list, see Egyptology in my index.
Coffee
Now and then, actually quite often, I see articles here about coffee, obviously an interesting subject for many members. So, I want to bring up my own series on coffee, published 19-22 May 2020. It consists of four articles and deals mainly with the history of coffee and its medical effects.
1. What Coffee does to You, about coffee and health.
2. Coffee - Plants & the Function of Caffeine
4. Do You Drink Much Coffee - I Bet You Can't Beat These Enthusiasts
The last of the four articles relates some historical anecdotes, involving great coffee drinkers from history, such as German Philosopher Immanuel Kant, French Emperor Napoleon I, German composer J. S. Bach, and French author Honoré de Balzac. It must be seen as another one of my greatest hits from the first period here.
For a time I had a read.cash community dedicated to coffee, but I removed it when the rules for communities changed. They later changed back again; the community could have remained, but I never bothered to re-create it. My series remains available though. You can find the full series here - or the separate articles via the links above.
Now the question arises: is there any connection between today's two themes, Egypt and coffee?
Yes, there is. Egypt has a central position in the history of coffee; it is likely that it was the second country where one was drinking coffee (after Yemen), and maybe coffee drinking spread from there. Yet, it is quite amazing how little coffee means in today's Egypt, where black tea is the most common beverage and contemporary coffee culture is Turkish.
Finally, people have asked me if I like coffee myself.
Yes, indeed I do. But I like coffee that is pure coffee; no sugar, no milk, no additives whatsoever. I like it dark roasted and black.
"No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness."
(Sheik Abd-al-Kadir)
Here you find my series “Retrospection”.
Copyright © 2021 Meleonymica/Mictorrani. All Rights Reserved.
You find all my writings on Read.Cash, sorted by topic, here.
I could tell how you love history and coffee it's very good to become productive to things you love most. Thank you for the wonderful articles. I enjoyed it.