The fall is a nice time to be working in Egypt because there are lots of long weekends. For one of the long weekends I spent a few days on the Red Sea, doing a lot of snorkeling and reading and relaxing. This last long weekend that just came up, however, I decided that I wanted to do something a bit more exciting that I haven’t done before. So I went to Siwa.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Siwa, it has been famous throughout the history of this region mostly because of the oracle there. Apparently people who wanted to be Pharaohs would come seeking this oracle to see if they were divine and if they were destined to rule Egypt. The Siwan Oracle sort of had the final say on the divinity of the Pharaohs. This wasn’t across the board of course, and to be honest I don’t know what time period it was exactly. What I do know is that Alexander the Great had heard about this Oracle and had heard that the way to become Pharaoh of Egypt, and considered divine, was to be proclaimed so by the Oracle. So Alexander used his considerable army and wits and motivation to march through the desert to Siwa.