Zahi Hawass is about the nearest thing you can get to a rock star in the archaeological world. He's the current Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, in particular spearheading a movement to return Egypt's relics, scattered all over the world, to their rightful place in the Cairo Museum (such as the Rosetta Stone). To most, however, he's recognizable from numerous National Geographic and Discovery Channel specials, the quintessential explorer, a modern-day Indiana Jones, complete with explorer hat. He's the reason my oldest daughter wants to be an Egyptologist - and my other two hold him in equal reverence. When we found out he was going to be lecturing at Clowes Hall (on the Butler University campus in Indianapolis, IN) we wondered whether it would be worth the trip. We'd seen the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs exhibit when it was at the Field Museum in Chicago a couple of years ago; Hawass' visit to Indianapolis coincided with another exhibit, Tutankhamun: The Golden King and The Great Pharaohs, at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. We weren't really sure whether it was worth the round trip (about three and a half hours each way) and then we found out it was on the kids' second day back at school. It didn't seem like it could be done - but on the night before, I made my mind up. I'd pack up work a few hours early, grab the kids, and head on up the road. Nothing ventured, nothing gained - besides, it would be a surprise for them. It honestly pays to keep your kids guessing.
We knew we were cutting things a bit fine, and then, just outside Frankfort on the bridge over the Kentucky River, I-64 W was down to one lane. That held us up for about thirty minutes and I spent the rest of the journey doing mental arithmetic, calculating that I'd have to average over 80 all the way to get there in time. It wasn't going to happen, no chance. We could have just turned around, but I pressed on. Even if we caught just the last couple of minutes, surely it was worth a try. Of course, we were late. I ran into the box office, sob story prepared, about "how I'd traveled such a long way". As I entered the ticketing office I could hear Dr Hawass' voice booming over the PA. He was already in full swing. This is one of those times where having an accent that makes it sound like I'd traveled a lot further really helps; it's also a valuable accent to have when flirting with bureaucratic ladies. Flattery will get you everywhere. The ticket lady grinned at me and said, "Go on in"; I offered to pay for the tickets but she just smiled sweetly and said, "Don't worry about that honey". Honey. Wow.
We went into the auditorium where Dr Hawass was lecturing to a packed house of all sorts - students, bohemians, elderly couples - accompanied by a slide show that was flicking through what seemed like thousands of photographs, about one every two seconds. Through it all Dr Hawass presented, talking with meticulous detail on a whistle-stop tour of what seemed like his entire life's work; his analysis of Tutankhamun's mummy using CT scans, the identification of Hapshepsut's mummy (performed mainly by matching a missing molar with one found in a box bearing her name), the robotic exporation of several sharts in the Great Pyramid, his responses to the theorists who claimed that evidence of an even more ancient civization lay beneath the Sphinx, and now his more recent work near Alexandria where he has potentially found relics relating to Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. Throughout, Hawass was incredibly engaging, witty, and thoroughly impassioned by his topic - the crowd would applaud and cheer at each subject, while his sense of humor makes him a captivating speaker. When speaking of curses, he tells how the tomb of a husband and wife are emblazoned with threats of being "eaten by hippos and crocodiles", while the wife's tomb also adds the extra line "and scorpions and snakes. Proving, of course, that women are by far more vindictive when it comes to revenge. I mean, of course, in the ancient world". Descending into the cursed hole in the back of the Sphinx, he stated that "I'm no fool. I didn't go down there. I sent my younger and more expendable assistant", and he takes great pains to point out his opinion of the curse stories as bunk. When cataloguing the relics found at the possible burial site of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony, he tells how his assistant got excited by a man's mask, complete with a cleft chin. "Do you think," she said to Hawass, "that this may be the mask of Mark Anthony?". Hawass responded in style. "No, my dear. It is more likely the mask of Richard Burton".
Hawass spoke for over 90 minutes, and ended his talk with what he considers his personal album, a series of pictures and amusing anecdotes about the visitors he's received on the Giza Plateau over the years. He gestures to a photo of "this old lady" (Queen Elizabeth II), then, without skipping a beat, the picture switches to Dr Ruth Westheimer, who Hawass admits he didn't realize who she was, but had to stand her on a chair to receive his gift from her, a copy of Sex For Dummies. The location shooting for Transformers 2 sees Hawass firmly in the photograph with "a bunch of young people... This is Megan Fox, and this is... errr... Indiana Jones' son." His personal album soon becomes an assemblage of superstars and international royalty; it's often hard to remember that, not only is he an archaeologist, arguably the world's expert on his subject, and also a television personailty, but he is a politician - no, better put, a statesman, an ambassador to his country. At that, it was all the more remarkable that, after his evidently-exhausting speech, he opened the floor to questions, particularly to the younger visitors from the Children's Museum who were all at floor level. One excited little boy approached the podium and asked precisely why Tutankhamun was so important. Zahi Hawass came to the edge of the stage, squatted down, and explained that Tuthankhamun had became king "at about your age... nine years old" and answered the question, not to the crowd as a whole, but directly to the boy, who was evidently on the verge of fainting. More was to come, as the MC explained that Dr Hawass would be available to sign books and "explorer hats", available for purchase outside in the lobby. There was a stampede.
The queue to see Dr Hawass wound its way through the lobby, out of the front doors, back into the building, as staff wandered up and down saying that, because of his tight schedule and obvious exhaustion, he would sign whatever was placed in front of him, feel free to take photographs, but do not try to take photographs with him. Nevertheless, my oldest one was trembling at the thought; the other two (plus a friend we also took) were also excited at the prospect of passing merely a few feet in front of who they considered a Great Man. It was indeed impressive to get so close; the signed books and hats were an incredible takeaway; however, hearing his words was one of the most valuable experiences for me. One of his answers in particular stuck in my mind.
To like something, is not enough. To love something, is not enough. You must have a passion for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment