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Mysteries of the Middle East
By Rob Simone
FATE :: December 2004

In all my travels around the world, the regions of Turkey, Israel, and Egypt were by far the most powerful and mysterious.      

Egypt is well known for its pyramids, tombs, temples, and ancient cities. But there is a place which was sacred long before any of these things ever existed. After traveling halfway around the world from Japan to India, I made my way through Petra in Jordan, boarding a ship from Aquaba on the southern coast, to the Sinai Peninsula.

I watched the sunset from the top of Mt. Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments, then continued onward in my quest to explore the sacred places of the past. From the peninsula I traveled overland through southern Egypt and Luxor, where I heard from an old man who guarded the entrance of one of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings about a little town called Abydos to the north, which holds the greatest mystery.

Getting off the microbus on the highway next to the road to Abydos, I started walking toward the town when two heavily armed soldiers told me to stop, and that I was not permitted to continue. I ignored them, thinking that they knew I was a foreigner, and were trying to pressure me for money.

Looking around and seeing everyone else able to go about their business, I continued on, and again they insisted I stop. I finally acknowledged them and told them I was going to walk in to town. They said, “Not possible.” I pulled out my passport and flipped through the many stamps and permits until I got to my Egyptian visa. I showed it to them, saying, “See this? This allows me to go anywhere in Egypt.”

They stood their ground but did not get angry, in fact, they were more polite than I was accustomed to. I realized they were acting in my best interest.

We walked to the guard house at the corner, and there it was explained that the rest of the distance to Abydos could only be traveled if I was escorted by an armed guard. Seeing no other option, I was joined by two AK-47-clad soldiers in an old Peugot station-wagon taxi for the next ten miles of dusty, desert road.

No other place in Egypt requires this level of security. Unlike most of Egypt, which is very safe, the area around Abydos is known to harbor extreme Muslim fundamentalists who won’t hesitate to kill or kidnap foreign travelers, especially Americans—at least this is what I was told. When we arrived in Abydos, the soldiers walked, ate, and slept wherever I did. They were part of a platoon of other soldiers stationed there and had an armored attack vehicle parked right outside my sleeping quarters. How comforting!

On my first day there I met an older European woman in an electric wheelchair next to the temple. She had lived in Abydos for many years and believed the area held an energy that heals the body and cures disease. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given eight months to live. That was ten years ago! The existence of such special energetic proporties might explain why Abydos has been Egypt’s premier pilgrimage site for more than 3,000 years.

In ancient times, Abydos was a holy center where pharaohs and commoners joined in festivals and ceremonies in honor of the gods, especially Osiris, ruler of the Egyptian underworld. The Abydos temple has seven sanctuaries dedicated to different deities: Ra, Amun-Ra, Ptah, Ra-Harakhty, Horus, Isis, and Osiris. Immediately behind the chambers dedicated to the Osiris cult is another structure, a subterranean temple called the Osireion. It contains offering scenes and other items from the Book of the Dead. I was able to spend a day and night in and around the temple, looking at every hieroglyph and feature of this amazing place.

There were no other foreigners there, so the guards let me go anywhere I wanted. I wanted to go where no other foreigners were allowed ...

Read the rest of this article in the December 2004 issue of FATE

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