Egyptian Women

There are two essential American journeys. One is a discovery, the other an escape. When Mark Twain's Huck Finn decides to "light out for the prairie," he is shedding his skin, and losing himself in the West. But American literature reveals a parallel urge to affirm identity, a search that moves in the opposite direction from Huck's. In "Moby-Dick," Ishmael travels east, from New England, to be submerged in the sea, where he grasps his connectedness to the world.

His golden face, serene in its youthful majesty, has enchanted millions who sought in it a glimpse of Egypt's Pharaonic past. But ever since Egypt's King Tutankhamen treasures went on traveling exhibit at museums around the world, there has been a nagging question about the famous burial mask: Is it real? Or was it switched?

"The Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them." --Exodus, Chapter 1, Verse 19 * In biblical times, physically active Hebrew slave women gave birth more easily than did their Egyptian mistresses. In the third century BC, Aristotle attributed difficulties in childbirth to a sedentary lifestyle. Today, scientific data support this ancient notion that exercise benefits pregnant women and their babies.

Epic novels that dip richly into autobiography and a panoramic sense of place, time and politics are hardly uncommon. But few modern novels follow the form any more and, Nobel Prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz excepted, such massive undertakings have not emanated from the Middle East and especially not from Egypt.

In a shop that looks and feels like the inside of a vaudeville trunk, Ahmed Diaa Eddin sits amid beads and sequins bargaining hard with a woman from Saudi Arabia over satin and chiffon. "200." "The price is 400." "200." He won't budge. Neither will she. There's a stare-down, but Diaa Eddin hasn't spent 40 years designing belly dance costumes to let his wares go cheap. He knows the contours of a woman's body and the intricacies of her mind. He waits.

Ancient Egyptians didn't simply bury their rulers. They sent them off to the underworld with everything a royal personage could desire for a luxurious afterlife. Queen Nefertari, the favorite wife of Rameses II, was particularly well provided for. Laid to rest more than 3,200 years ago in what is probably the most beautifully painted New Kingdom tomb in Egypt, she was surrounded by a sumptuous array of food, clothing, jewelry, statuary, furnishings and ceremonial trappings.

Tomorrow there will be 4,166 more Egyptians than there are today. This is the pace at which Egypt's population is growing--4,166 people every day . . . 125,000 every month . . . 1,520,000 every year. At this rate, Egypt's population of 51 million will top 70 million by the turn of the century and double in less than 30 years.

In a dingy suite of offices above the human shouting, bird warbling and airborne feathers of a crowded poultry market, Essam Eryan, a physician and leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, sits below a poster of an Earth ensnared by a giant octopus named the United States. He has to raise his voice slightly to make himself heard. "What is wrong with big families? My own opinion is: A big family is much better than a small family.

Good-natured, red-headed, tall Steve Timmons, U.S. volleyball standout, was asked Wednesday if he had drawn any stares on the street. "I'm not an artist," Timmons said. "How do you draw them?" Timmons and his teammates, favorites in the men's competition, are busy preparing for their toughest match to date, Thursday against Argentina, after opening play with victories over the Netherlands and Japan. The Argentines play an aggressive style unlike anything the Americans have faced here so far.

More than 50 people were killed Sunday when Egyptian commandos stormed a hijacked EgyptAir jetliner with gunfire and explosives and the Arab terrorists on board detonated hand grenades in the crowded passenger compartment. The assault on the plane was carried out in darkness by Egyptian army personnel with Maltese government approval. Police officials said early today that the death toll was 57. Among the dead were eight young children.