Egypt
Preserving the Coptic Language
Titi Maurice is a native speaker of Coptic, which puts her in a group of only hundreds worldwide. “As long as Coptic exists, no matter how small the number of speakers, it connects us to ancient Egypt,” she says. Now a number of initiatives are aimed at reviving that connection to the language of the pharaohs.
On Hunger Strikes and Body Control
Only when I experienced prison myself and grasped the power dynamics did I understand: Prisoners go on hunger strikes not because they cannot resist anymore but because the only act of resistance left to reclaim their body is to destroy it.
In Egypt, Foreigners Dominate Belly Dancing
Foreign belly dancers, who hail from Eastern Europe, Latin America and the United States, were brought in to fill the space left by Egyptian dancers and now uphold what is viewed as a quintessential Egyptian art.
How a Goat Discovered Luxor’s Ancient Egyptian Treasures
About 40 feet inside the temple area, the archaeologists were disappointed to find just a single coffin. One of their Egyptian workers, however, discovered a small crevice in the ground that revealed they were standing on an artificial plateau that ultimately led to yet another undisturbed grave, this time a mass of priests.
The Rumor That Toppled Egypt’s King — with Chloe Bordewich
When Egypt entered the war with Israel in 1948, the government claimed that victory was assured. But when Egypt’s army instead suffered a defeat, the public demanded answers. Historian Chloe Bordewich joins New Lines’ Lydia Wilson to talk about how officials lost control of the narrative, how a rumor helped topple a king and the dynamics of disinformation before the digital age.
Houseboats on the Nile Once Gave Refuge to German Spies
The houseboats got in the way of development, say Egyptian authorities. But demolishing them erases a remnant of Cairo's history. At the least, the government should have picked one houseboat to preserve as a museum to the legend of German spies Johannes Eppler and Heinrich Sandstede.
A Nazi Taught Interrogation Tactics to Syrians and Egyptians
It’s impossible to know whether Brunner saw the legacy of his brutal tactics bear fruit. But there is little doubt that Syrian and Egyptian interrogators today apply the same methods against their compatriots that the Nazis used against the Jews.