Time and Timelessness in Egypt

No country can boast a chronology quite as complete as Egypt, but what is truly memorable is it's timelessness, it's denial of history. In the countryside, shepherds lead their flocks on pastures and roads alike. In the cities, throngs of humanity move and honk and press and sleep when they need to. Everywhere, a blanket of sand from the Sahara is eternally being swept from someone's steps. Egypt's everyday scenes are like the sun passing over a temple. Its light occasionally pours through the columns, but the sun is always present, shining upon the stone. The temples-and the civilization they symbolize-only create the possibility of a shadow. Their obstruction throws into relief the blaze of humanity that was always there.