Ramesses II - Cairo Museum 1973

As a fourth year medical student in 1972, I was living in Sydney by myself.  My parents, two brothers and sister having left Australia to live in Lebanon in 1966, I decided to follow the family and live in Lebanon.  A major motivation for this decision was to avoid sitting for a Colloquium Examination in Lebanon to have my qualifications recognized if I were to graduate in Australia.  In retrospect this decision is not the best I made in my life but it had its indirect rewards which I now come to really appreciate and feel the urge to share this appreciation with you fellow readers.

As a student at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1973, I had to come to terms and the reality of regular disturbances and disruptions that were affecting academic life at the campus and nearby American University Hospital.  Gradually those disruptions became more serious, and when Lebanese army tanks moved to the campus, academic life came to standstill.  What was happening in Lebanon in 1973 was a prelude to the Lebanese Civil War which officially commenced on 24 April 1975 lasting till October 1990.
Realizing that I wasted one, and possibly two years I decided to make the best of my time in the Middle East.  In late April 1973, I flew from Beirut to Cairo to see the brother of a dear friend of mine in Sydney, Abdel Tawab Salama.  The trip from Beirut to Cairo is under one hour flying time.  In Cairo I stayed in a hotel that overlooked the Nile.  Two days later I called Saleh Salama and arranged to meet him.  Saleh Salama held a highly responsible and influential position in Cairo Museum.  He invited me to a special tour of the Museum, a tour that I later learned few non officials of the Museum or governmental dignitaries had ever taken.
I recall entering the Museum through special door for staff at the back.  The first part of the tour involved looking at newly excavated artifacts being cleansed and restored by experts.  Next we moved to a section where Saleh opened a crate that contained the statute of Tutankhamen that had just been returned back to Egypt after it was loaned to Brittan.  As soon as he opened the crate and saw the statute Saleh knelt and cried: 
'Our silly President Sadat sent this priceless and irreplaceable treasure of Egypt in sea cargo uninsured, unaccompanied, and without official documents. Anyone could have stolen or replaced it with a fake'.
For few minutes Saleh hugged Tutankhamen cried and sobbed.  I looked and watched somewhat bewildered not knowing what to say.  After recovering from what must have been gratifying emotional experience Saleh walked me up the steps to the Museum.  A private tour that on reflection must have been only for the priviliged and valued individuals.  For over one hour Saleh explained material fabrics, curtains, ropes, and variety of clothing that was few thousand years old tood the test of time and still kept its character and identity.
The highlight of the tour was seeing the mummy of Ramsses II.  To my surprise Saleh asked me to pick it in my hands.  Despite some reluctance and after convincing myself that he was serious having lifted the lid I did pick the mummy of Ramsses II in my hands.  Reflecting now, some 38 years later, the mummy must have weighed ten possibly fifteen kilos.  Later that day Saleh and I went to the pyramids and night we went to dinner.

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In April 1973 Cairo was a sad city.  At night all the cars had their lights painted blue, uncertainty and fear was on the face of people.  Less than six months later in October 1973 the Egyptian and Syrian army launched surprise attack on Israel that culminated in the 1973 Arab-Israel War.  Reading President Anwar Sadat's memoir in 1981, I was not surprised to learn that the October 1973 war was planned to take place in April exactly the same day I arrived in Egypt.  But luckily for me the order for the hoses from the Germany that the Egyptian army used in October to flush the Israeli army across the other side of the Suze Canal had been delayed.

I now wonder how many people can claim to have carried the mummy of Ramsses the Great the Third Egyptian Pharaoh in their hand.  Ramsses the II was the most celebrated and powerful Pharaoh that lived between 1303BC till 1213 BC.

Let me know what you think.