October of this year marked the 90th anniversary of the birth of the renowned archaeologist, writer, and film critic Kamal al-Mallakh (1918 – 1987), and also the 21st anniversary of his death. Best known perhaps as the editor of the last page of the topmost Cairo daily al-Ahram for some three decades, Mallakh succeeded in using this page, for which he chose the intriguing name “Untitled”, to educate the Egyptian public on a topic hitherto never tackled in Egypt’s newspapers. Despite its special significance to every Egyptian, the topic of archaeology and archaeological discovery had been conspicuously absent from the news, and Mallakh undertook the task of familiarising Egyptians with it, a task in which he succeeded with flying colours.
Egyptian mark
Kamal William Yunan al-Mallakh was born on 26 October 1918 to an influential Coptic family in Assiut, Upper Egypt. His father who was working at a bank in Assiut had to move to Cairo with his work, where Kamal attended the prestigious Saidiya School. In the school he discovered his artistic talent and his infatuation with ancient Egyptian history. He was not yet 13 when he held the first exhibition of his works at his school which was then holding a festival to celebrate its Silver Jubilee.
Mallakh later attended the School of Fine Arts and graduated in 1934. That year he was advised by the great figure of the Egyptian enlightenment movement of the 20th century, Taha Hussein, who had opened an exhibition of Mallakh’s paintings while yet a student, to study archaeology. When an astounded Mallakh said he knew nothing of the field, Hussein retorted that the field offered the epitome of art and history and would definitely fascinate Mallakh. This is a field that had always been left to foreigners, Hussein explained, and it was time, he said, for Egyptians to make their own mark on it. He advised Mallakh to study archaeology as an evening student, which Mallakh promptly did, later becoming one of Egypt’s luminaries in the field.
In May 1954 he announced the discovery, together with Zaki Iskandar, of the two sun boats which had lain for some 5000 years buried in pits at the foot of the great pyramid of Khufu on the Giza plateau. It was a landmark discovery, and secured Mallakh a name in the field of Egyptology.
Writing and film
In 1949 Mallakh began working with al-Ahram as an illustrator, and moved on to become a journalist.
Mallakh was widely travelled; he frequently gave talks and lectures about Egyptology. He also pursued his other interests with zest; he was member in the International Committee of the Berlin Film Festival, and established the Egyptians Film Writers and Critics Society in 1977. He was also instrumental in instating the Alexandria Film Festival for Mediterranean countries.
He wrote 32 books and was awarded the State Prize in travel literature in 1972. He translated his books into English; the last book he wrote was a guide to Cairo in English.
Kamal al-Mallakh was decorated by President Gamal Abdel-Nasser and awarded the State Encouragement Prize by Sadat.
Kamal al-Mallakh was honoured by Wasida University in 1983, and was awarded an honorary fellowship to the Czech federation of Egyptologists in 1985.
Mallakh, who never married, passed away in 29 October 1987 at his home in Cairo after returning from Alexandria where he had delivered a lecture that morning.
Into the horizon and back
Nash’at Naguib
In two pits on the southern side of the great Pyramid of Giza, each measuring 32.5metres in length and sealed off by about 40 blocks of limestone slabs weighing 17 to 20 ton each, archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh and inspector Zaki Iskandar discovered the sun boats in May 1954. The boats were completely dismantled, but arranged in the semblance of their finished form. The disassembled 1,224 pieces of one boat took over 10 years to reassemble and was only completed in 1968. A nearby museum, donated by Japan, was built to house it.
The boat, which is some 5000 years old, was made of cedar wood brought from Lebanon and of some acacia. It measured 43.3 metres long and 5.9 metres wide. The separate parts of the boat had numerous U-shaped holes so that the boat could be ‘stitched’ together using ropes made of vegetable fibers. Interestingly many of the boats planks were marked with signs for prow, stern, port and starboard for re-assemblage.
The boat’s prow and stern were in the form of papyrus talks, with the stern one bent over, essentially a replica of a type of papyrus reed boat. It had a cabin, or inner shrine, enclosed within a reed-mat structure with poles of the same papyrus. It also had a small forward cabin that probably was for the captain. Propulsion was by means of ten oars, and it was steered using two large oar rudders located in the stern. There was no mast, and therefore no sail, and the general design of the boat would have not allowed it to be used other than for river travel.
The ancient Egyptians believed the sun-god Ra used the boat to make his daily travel into the horizon and back for a new day.