Zahi Strikes Out
The Associated Press is reporting that Egypt's Supreme Head of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, was removed from his position of power over the archaeological and historical processes in the country Sunday. This comes in the wake of months of pressure by critics who attacked his credibility and his very close connection to the recently ousted Mubarak regime.
The New York Times recently reported on the social unrest regarding Hawass, and too many questions about his personal and professional ethics and associations have now ended a career that is beginning to seem as though it looked better on camera than in person. This includes ethically questionable honorariums and his uncontested and at times, bullyish control to access to all of Egypt's monuments, as well as financial implications with the Mubarak family; including Mrs Mubarak's pre-revolutionary control over his charitable organizations and fund finances.
Hawass helped, through his Indiana Jones-like appearance and enthusiastic on-camera demeanor, to bring Egyptology into the popular culture arena and the minds and hearts of many who never visited Egypt, but remain nonetheless captivated by the monuments and testaments of its royal and regal ancient heritage. But beneath his wide eyes, brimmed hat and at times almost trademarked overt jubilation, all was not well in the land of the Pharaohs, for some time actually and more because of Dr Hawass than in spite of him.
The 'Mubarak of Antiquities'
Although many around the world enjoyed his presence in their homes, on their televisions and bookshelves, many in the archaeological and Egyptological community are celebrating a victory today. According to archaeologist Nora Shalaby, "He was the Mubarak of Antiquities,' and went on to add, 'He acted as if he owned the antiquities, and not as if they belonged to the people of Egypt.'.
As far back as the early 1990s and supposedly operating for several decades prior, rumors have persisted of an 'antiquities mafia', of which Zahi was implicated, and of which complaints were heard from rungs as high as the (then) Supreme Council of Antiquities Mohammed Bakr. Independent Egyptologist Larry Turner supported Bakr's accusations, and specified 21 possible felony counts at the time of said accusations against Hawass, including stealing artifacts that sold on the worldwide black market for over $30 million US dollars (USD).
Business Made Personal Was Business As Usual
Hawass has long been accused of playing personal politics in relation to ancient Egypt. In 1997, preeminent Geologist, Scholar and Author Robert Schoch claimed Hawass excluded him from official research activities because of his (Schoch's) dating of the Sphinx several years prior. Schoch predicted the age of the monument to be between 5,000-7,000 BCE, two to three times the age given it by conservative Egyptology. Hawass responded by calling the estimation an opinion and refusing to look into Schoch's claims any further.
Schoch was also one of a number of researchers and academics who have openly questioned the fact that Hawass gained his PhD in Egyptology from 1980-1987 with the financial assistance of Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment. Cayce was the famous sleeping prophet who, through his dreamlike visions and meditations predicted many things past, present and future; including the mythical Chamber of Knowledge, a storehouse of wisdom and truth buried somewhere in Egypt that supposedly contains records of humanity's and history's origins...of which Cayce assumed we know nothing at the moment.
Hawass has responded to Schoch and several other scholars and researchers who bring any knowledge of him or his country to light that he does not like the same way he has Schoch, by ignoring them and their requests for work. Who knows what discoveries might have happened already had Zahi been able to separate his own agenda from the one a historian should follow: that of a search for the truth; not the suppression of any that one in a position of power doesnt like, personal and professional alike.
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Hawass has long defended his right to choose who works in Egypt, where, how and when. He claims 'The Committee (of the SCA) doesn't play favorites. it looks for scholars with worthy projects' and further, 'it (the SCA) does not believe the monuments of Egypt should be used to make money.'
This is mildly morally unsettling when taking into account his recently released a book entitled A Secret Voyage, a limited edition handbound work which includes a $4400 USD price tag and encompasses his knowledge of what has been, for quite some time now, Zahi's little world of which he is Judge and Jury; instead of what he should have been, a mediator and presenter of the wonders of an ancient society and world that we are only really beginning to understand (see Deconstructing History for Its Own Sake for more information).
When considering the astronomical pricetag for his literary work with his larger clothing, televison and multimedia enterprises, it becomes clear that Dr Hawass's control of ancient Egypt has been almost Pharaonic in wealth and influence if not overt power and opulence.
The Wonderful Repetitive Nature of History: The Past is Present Again...
It is said by mainstream historians that during the First Intermediate Period (2160-2055 BCE), Ancient Egypt underwent a revolution in the democratization of a wonderfully spiritual and enlightened religion that until then was available only to the upper eschelons of society. It took the fall of government, and the people's faith in it, to bring this change on, thousands of years ago now.
When looking at the present goings on in modern day Egypt, the similarities become too much for this historian to not at least to smirk at; in principle if not specificity. The recent looting of the Cairo Museum could easily be seen as the people trying to lash out at what has been more an arm of oppression than enlightenment for most of them at the hands of a few at the top.
Zahi Hawass was one of those few. With his removal and the insertion of Abdel-Fattah el-Banna comes the hope that the discipline and study of Egyptology will democratize and equalize; thereby freeing itself from the shackles of a dictatorial past much more modern than ancient. Further is the hope that the wonders of Egypt, both past and present, will open themselves to everyone, citizen and visitor alike, and that all the world will be the better for it in the future.
Sources
Schoch, R, & McNally, R. (2003). Voyages of the pyramid builders: the true origins of the pyramids, from lost egypt to ancient america. New York, NY: J P Tarcher.
Lawton, I & Ogilvie-Herald, C (1999). Giza: The Truth. London, UK: Virgin.
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