#Siwaandthepeopleitattracts

Temple of Amun, Siwa.

Siwa has always been a magnet to people and slowly, slowly I’m putting the pieces together through the stories people here tell me, myths, a local library set up by an Italian (with a newly graduated Siwan Egyptologist) and of course, the Internet. So, this is the gist I’ve gathered.

By 700BC, Siwa was famous throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. People came from far and wide to consult with the divine Oracle of the deity that the Libyans called Ammon and the ancient Egyptians called Amun - excuse me if they are quite different and likely perceived differently over time! For the Egyptians, Amun (also Amon, Ammon, Amen, Amun-Ra) was one of the most powerful and popular gods of ancient Egypt. It seems Amun started off as a local god in Thebes gradually gaining power until combining with the sun god, Ra and becoming Amun-Ra, creator of the universe, and King of the Gods. I mean das real power!

Think about it, getting to Siwa was a trek; it was isolated - from everywhere. It still is. Although an asphalt road was built in the early 1980s Siwa is still 10 – 12 hours by road from Cairo and 8ish hours from Alexandria. Many visiting Egyptians I’ve met here like Ahmed Abdellatif and Kirollos George who’ve loved Siwa (maybe they like it more now they’ve left) are adamant they’re not returning any time soon! It’s just too far, in 2022!

Siwa was such a great distance from pharaonic Egypt centred along the Nile that it wasn’t really integrated into the rest of Egypt. Being so close to Libya there were strong ties. Even today, many Siwans travel (via the legal route not the one hour by car through the military red zone that smugglers use) to visit relatives in Libya.

So, think about it some more. There’s this place in the middle of nowhere, immersed in myths, exoticised by its inaccessibility, the stories told by merchants (of, amongst other things, slaves and gold) travelling the trade routes, the striking landscape, the blend of cultures from Libya to slaves (not sure if that’s a later ‘exoticism’- the legacy of slavery can certainly be seen in the faces around town). Siwa, an oasis - in the true sense of providing life-sustaining water and other resources to weary, perhaps near death, travellers. And in this magical place is this religious figure, the Oracle, who channels the supreme god, Amun who is to top it off, associated with Zeus! I’ve even read that the Oracle was a black priestess who after being banished from the temple of Amun at Thebes (known as Luxor today) went to Siwa, via Libya.

So, who wouldn’t want to visit Siwa? I mean, even Alexander the Great, got in on the act. Protecting the Kingdom of Macedonia involved conquering the Persian Empire that dominated the Egyptians who then viewed him as a saviour and rewarded him by declaring him a divine pharaoh, ‘beloved by Amun’. An honorific that Alexander, of course considered his rightful title. He embarked upon a pilgrimage to Siwa to the Oracle who is purported to have revealed that Amun was in fact his father and contributed to the title, 'Great'. Unsurprisingly, Alexander built the Temple of Amun in Siwa to which, to this day, tourists flock. One story I particularly relate to is:

‘Plutarch says that according to his sources Alexander was met by the Siwan high priest who greeted him with the words, "O, paidion", ("Oh, my son"), but mispronounced the Greek as, "Oh, pai dios", meaning, "Oh, son of god", much to Alexander's delight and amazement.’

https://www.alanfildes.com/oracleinthedesert.php

All this to say, Siwa attracts all sorts while no doubt having it’s own hidden convolutions which, perhaps, bit by bit, I may uncover. But, maybe I’m here to figure out 'me' and how I contribute to the world I live in.

References:

https://www.livius.org/articles/place/ammon-siwa/

https://thezay.org/siwa-oasis_2/

https://www.worldhistory.org/amun/

https://www.memphistours.com/.../the.../wiki/Temple-of-Amon

https://www.magellantv.com/.../how-alexander-became-great...

https://www.alanfildes.com/oracleinthedesert.php

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/templeoforacle.htm

https://www.thecollector.com/alexander-the-great-oracle.../