I will send my e-mails to both of your addresses until you
instruct me to the contrary.
You should go to Egypt. The only offensive
people I encountered there were Americans - either pro-war in Iraq, pro-Israel
triumphalists, or Christian Evangelical cults groups - who tried to hold
exhibitionist religious services in the Inner Sanctums of temples while genuine
tourists were trying to photograph on a tight schedule. At Abydos temple I
manged to kicked up a sufficient stink to get these cranks the bum's
rush.
Back to the topic of homos, you will know that homophobes
(especially those on "the Right") contend that homosexuality is a sign of
degeneracy and is one of the key factors which caused the collapse of great
civilisations. In this context, you may be interested by the following incident
during my tour of the interior of the temple at Abu Simbel:
In many
temples about Egypt the faces of Ancient Egyptian gods and of Pharaohs were
chipped away by early Coptic Christians. They also tried to obliterate Pharaohs'
virility displays where these were made manifest. Often the only thing which
protected these wonderful engravings were sandstorms which in the period between
the fall of the ancient civilisation and the arrival of the Copts blew up mounds
of sand to cover them.
There was much Christian defacement in evidence at
Abu Simbel, which was built by Ramses II - acknowledged to be Ancient Egypt's
greatest warrior emperor - as a memorial to mark his victory over the Syrians
and as a demonstration of his fearsome prowess to the Nubians - the Nubian
kingdom's border being near to the temple site.
As a part of advancing
his second reason for building the temple, Ramses had himself engraved in
profile on a wall inside the temple. In one hand he brandishes a three-stranded
whip. Before him are sundry courtiers and captives genuflecting before his
display of an absolutely enormous erection. Thanks to a sand mound, this tableau
was untouched. I photographed it with my digital camera which, I hope, was
capable to capture the image with low light sources, flash being forbidden
inside the temple (except, of course, the Ramses' flash!).
Outside I
mentioned that particular aspect of the engrving to our Egyptian Government
licensed tour guide. He said: "A yes! Ramses was busy, busy busy! He had eight
favourite wives and a harem of 140 - young men as well as young women!" I gather
that this kind of harem was quite common among Pharaohs, indicating a degree of
what one might call "institutionalised bi-sexuality". The priests, of course,
had a reputation for rather more than bi-sexuality (much as today!) as some of
their undoubtedly homoerotic rituals testify - details of which were buried away
in the vaults of the British Museum by horrified Victorian archaeologists (often
Reverend Gentlemen) and have only recently come to light.
I'm sure you
see my point. The Egyptian civilisation lasted 4,000 years, longer than any
other empire the world has ever seen. Even Hitler only promised to create a
"Thousand Year Reich". The Egyptians actually managed to quadruple that time
span. Though there were three "Kingdoms" and multiple dynasties, there was
seamless cultural continuity. The Egyptians had the trick of being able to renew
their civilisation. Their military, engineering and scientific achievements were
breathtaking, even by today's standards. And Ramses was the greatest Pharaoh of
them all.
Just where do the homophobic obsessives and cranks get their
"history" from? Certainly not from study of ancient Egypt - nor yet from
Classical Greece! They get their silly notions on that subject, and their
willingness to falsify history from the Jews.
If my photo of Ramses and
his raging boner comes out, then I will have it printed on a
postcard.