My Teenage Life in Egypt

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Service Sector The remainder of the work force is in the service sector. Banking and insurance and transportation, which includes the nation’s railways, road network, airplanes, and administering the Suez Canal, are the largest. An average of about 50 ships pass through the canal’s 120-mile (193-km) length every day. Each vessel pays an average of $250,000 in transit fees .

Communications are a third component of the service sector. Egypt has long been considered the information center of the Arab world, with the hub in Cairo. The countryalsohas a thrivingfilmindustry. Many people call Cairo the “Hollywood of the ArabWorld”becausedozensof filmsareproduced there everyyear. The annual Cairo International Film Festival attracts movies from throughout the world. Youssef Chahine is the country’s most famous director; he has made more than 40 films. He won a lifetime achievement award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1997. He also launched the career of Omar Sharif, the best-knownEgyptianmovie actor. Sharif starred in such classicfilms as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Visiting Egypt More than2,500years ago, a famousGreekauthor named Herodotus traveled to Egypt. “Nowhere are there so many marvelous things,” he wrote.

Abu Simbel Many historians believe that Rameses II, who reigned from about 1280 to 1215 bce , was the greatest Egyptian pharaoh. Rameses would totally agree. To display his greatness to his people, he constructed two massive temples cut into a solid rock cliff near the border with Sudan. The entrance to the larger temple has four massive statues of Rameses seated on his throne. Each statue towers nearly 70 feet. The construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1970 would have totally submerged the temples. An international effort saved them. The temples and statues were sawed into cubes weighing several tons apiece and reassembled at a higher point. The task required 3,000 workers, cost $42 million, and took four years to complete.

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