ancient Egyptian history
@mona@cybre.space ok well prefaced with all this is IIRC, but:
part of the reason they vilified her was because she was the first in the line of Ptolemaic governors who bothered to actually *learn* anything about Egypt. she learned the language, revived the use of heiroglyphics, and began doing the traditional rituals that had been the jobs of the pharohs, and as a result the Egyptian people *adored* her.
ancient Egyptian history
@mona@cybre.space the Kemetic religion is all about adherence to tradition and rituals; it's how they managed to keep a continuitous society going for *two thousand years*. so when the Greeks said "enh we're not going to bother with your stupid religion, just worship our gods instead," it was incredibly traumatic to the Egyptians.
and it wasn't the first time it had happened; the reason for the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms was because of the "interregnums" of non-Egyptian rule.
ancient Egyptian history
@mona@cybre.space aaanyway, the thing about the pyramids is that they were built way WAY long ago, back in the early half of the Old Kingdom. and they built a *lot* of them, all over the place. but (again IIRC) by the end of the Old Kingdom period, they were starting to have difficulty transmitting the information; and by the Middle Kingdom, they didn't know how to make them any more. (which is also how Khufu the architect became a god!)
ancient Egyptian history
@mona@cybre.space so anyway, Cleopatra talking about the pyramids of Giza as being "ancient" was *honoring* their ancestors for their amazing feats, and the Egyptians loved it, and I'm done with my pickles. XD
ancient Egyptian history
@mona@cybre.space by the time of the Greek governers, the Egyptians themselves considered the Pyramids to be a mystic ancient miracle, something that nobody nowdays could possibly reproduce. they were a huge tourist draw even then, and Egyptian guides would make up whatever plausible-sounding bullshit would get the best tips from the tourists. ;)
have you heard about the Nubian pyramids? they were a neighbor civ, and they tried to build pyramids but couldn't figure out the trick.