Reply #10: One of my favorite Egyptian stories...

[onager]

From Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities--the guy you see on all those non-woo History Channel shows. That even popped up in his Wikipedia entry:

Hawass is also a vocal opponent of ancient astronauts theories about a previous worldwide civilization. He appeared on a History Channel show to dispel the theories, and provided evidence to show that the Egyptians built the pyramids of Egypt.

Over here, Dr. Hawass writes a monthly column for Egypt Today magazine, and also a weekly column, I believe, for the newspapers.

In one of his newspaper articles, he told a hilarious story about an "Egyptologist" who came to study in Egypt from the Edgar Cayce Institute.

This learned expert insisted that the Pyramids were built by the citizens of Atlantis. He also expected to find a huge Atlantean treasure buried under the paw of the Sphinx. The right paw, I think.

He was a crackpot but Hawass couldn't just ignore him. Thanks to the Cayce Institute, he was a very well-funded crackpot.

This woo story actually had a happy ending. With some exposure to real Egyptian history, the Atlantis enthusiast eventually shattered his crackpottery and became a real Egyptologist.

The minds of these folks often aren't so changeable. Egyptians have an old saying about that: "Like trying to make the Sphinx dance."

BTW, if you come to Egypt and want to impress your tour guide, use the Arabic name for the Sphinx--Abu Hol. It means "Father of Terror."

You can also quote another nifty old saying about that tourist attraction located right behind the Sphinx: All men are afraid of Time. But Time is afraid of the Pyramids.