Page 60 - Introduction to Tourism

pyramids at Giza, and the pyramid complex at

Abusir. These great outdoor wonders began

attracting large numbers as early as the New

Kingdom from 1600 to 1200 B.C.E. “ Each

monument was a hallowed spot, so the visitors

always spent some moments in prayer, yet their
prime motivation was curiosity or disinterested

enjoyment, not religion. ”
They left evidence of their visits in inscriptions

such as the following: “ Hadnakhte, scribe of the
treasury, came to make an excursion and amuse

himself on the west of Memphis together with his

brother, Panakhti, scribe of the Vizier. ” Like

tourists through the ages, they felt the need to

leave evidence of their visits. Some hastily

painted their names; others scratched their

names in the soft stone with a sharp point.

The latter method was so common that the

technical term we give to such scribblings is

graffiti, Italian for “ scratching. ”

A second recognizable tourist trait was the urge

to acquire souvenirs. Harkhuf, an envoy of the

pharaoh to the Sudan, brought home a Pygmy

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