Carthage Must Be Destroyed

In light of the recent events in Egypt, I wanted to talk about the ethnoreligious group in Egypt known as the Copts. "If you come to a Coptic person and tell him that he’s an Arab, that’s offensive. We are not Arabs, we are Egyptians... When we hear the word "Copt", that doesn’t only mean "Christian", it means "Egyptian"." –Bishop Thomas of Cusae and Meir, a Copt. HISTORY You may or may not know much about Egyptian history after the pharaohs. I will bring us up to speed. For most of their ancient history, the people in Egypt were ethnic Egyptians and they did the Egyptian thing–pyramids, embalming, and senet . In 434 B.C., the Persians took it over for a wee-bit. A hundred years later along came Alexander, who the Egyptians viewed as a liberator, and following his early death, the Hellenistic (Greek civilization outside of Greece) Ptolemaic Kingdom reigned along the Nile. The capital moved from Memphis to newly established Alexandria. Hellenizati...

Every morning I generally sit at my computer for an hour or so and look to read things. I try to find something that is new to me that is interesting instead of perusing some almost-stranger's photos of his or her trip to Folly's Beach. Much to my chagrin, the latter creeps up more than I care to remember. This past weekend I stumbled across some articles about the Pyramids of Giza–Khufu's Pyramid in particular. Fascinating stuff. There is something super mysterious about this structure from antiquity. It's mondo old and big. It's survived over 4500 years of wars, famine, natural disasters, and looting. It's well preserved–the only intact Wonder of the Ancient World, and in my opinion, the most recognizable building on earth. The most intriguing of all, it tells us a great deal about the intelligence and craftsmanship of its makers, the Egyptians. Ok, we all know about the Egyptians to some extent and that they all wear eyeliner and don snakes for hats. Hey, I a...