Zahi Hawass and His Hat Are Heard From, and He's Right

I've been known to joke about the man's ego and self-promotion but he's right on target here: "Antiquities crimes should be a felony: Zahi Hawass."

The Man with the Indiana Jones Hat may be preparing his comeback.

Zahi Hawass Turns Up, Pledges Comeback, and Compares Sisi to Pharaoh, but Not in a Bad Way

From The Guardian: "Former minister Zahi Hawass compares Egypt's Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to pharaoh." But not in a bad way, you understand, since he's on the comeback trail, serving as Egypt's "tourism ambassador" and hoping for his old job as Antiquities Minister back once the fallul take over completely permanent government is installed.

Hawass informs us that General Sisi reminds him of Mentuhotep II, the 11th Dynasty Pharaoh who reunified Egypt after the century of division known as the First Intermediate Period. dividing the Old Kingdom from the Middle Kingdom.

Hawass, like other archaeologists, laments the depredations against Egypt's archaeological heritage since 2011, but the always self-effacing Hawass knows just the man to fix it:

There are plenty of archaeologists sounding the alarm and proposing solutions – but for Hawass, there is naturally only one man to lead the fightback. "It's a gift from god," said Hawass of his talent for administration, which his supporters say brought both higher revenues and greater ambition to the antiquities ministry. "I have a vision. But the people in charge now do not have one."

He's referring to the Interim Government, not the one to be elected this year.

He's baaack . . .

Is NatGeo in Trouble Over Hawass Deal?

More than two years after he left office in the wake of the fall of Mubarak, the once inescapable celebrity archaeologist Zahi Hawass (and his hat) seem to be the gift that keeps on giving. Now, at least according to this story, the National Geographic Society is being investigated for possible bribery in its controversial multi-year deal with Hawass as a consultant while he was still an official of the Egyptian state.

Hawass has already dodged several bullets of this sort in Egypt, either being acquitted or having the charges dropped. You may recall that when we last heard from him in this space, the always self-effacing Hawass was comparing himself to the God Osiris and indicating he was planning to rise again.

The article (whose headline inevitably calls him "Egypt's Indiana Jones,") notes what not all my overseas readers may know, that the National Geographic Society is a venerable and highly respected institution once known for exploration and scientific discovery.

After the Fall: Zahi Hawass, Modest as Always, Compares Himself to Osiris

He was always self-effacing

In the days before the Egyptian revolution, whenever you surfed the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, or the History Channel (before they abandoned history entirely for pawnshops, ghosts, and "Swamp People"), you could be sure of one thing: if the program dealt with Ancient Egypt, Zahi Hawass, then the Director of Antiquities, would appear in it, wearing his signature Indiana Jones hat, which you could also buy through his personal website. He may have been the first real celebrity TV archaeologist; when my daughter learned I'd met him many years ago and we had friends in common, she was more impressed than by my meeting actual heads of state. He was controversial, flamboyant, self-promoting, but he also interested a great many people in Ancient Egypt without invoking Ancient Astronauts or Secrets of the Great Pyramid. He brought money to Egypt, though the fact that he made quite a bit for himself raised hackles, as did allegations that he tended to hog the credit for discoveries made by subordinates. This blog used to post about him quite a bit, sometimes seriously, sometimes in fun. Came the Revolution: and then he was gone. He was convicted of corruption, though the verdict was later overturned.

Well, he hasn't gone far. Smithsonian has an interview: "The Rise and Fall and Rise of Zahi Hawass." He doesn't like Morsi of course, or his successors at the Antiquities Ministry, and he talks of a comeback. Modest as always, he compares himself to the dying and resurrecting God Osiris:

Today, Hawass finds parallels between his fall and that of Osiris. “I had lots of enemies—the enemies of success,” he says. “They are the friends of the god Set, the evil desert god in ancient Egypt.”

(As an Egyptologist he surely knows that when Isis put Osiris back together, there was one body part she couldn't find because a fish had eaten it.  You can look it up. I suspect, however, this was not the image he wanted to convey, but rather that of resurrection.)

Like many of the old guard of the Mubarak era, he's survived various charges and seen convictions overturned, and he's still in the wings, promising a comeback. If Osiris can do it ...

He's Back . . . Zahi Hawass Faces Charges

The once omnipresent Zahi Hawass has disappeared from center stage (but not from TV reruns) since losing his ministerial post after the Revolution, but we may be seeing more of him: he faces charges in connections with some of the deals he made in the Mubarak era, which appear to have violated Egyptian law. (Since some of them were to raise funds for Suzanne Mubarak's private foundation, I'm sure everyone assumed the laws did not apply, at least so long as her husband was President.)

The Mummy Walks?

UPDATE: More background here. The Supreme Council of Antiquities rejected the proposed successor, but don't want Hawass either. In fact, they want to get rid of the Ministerial position and return to it being under a scholarly body (themselves). (And Hawass hasn't posted to his website since July 14.)

A publication called The Art Newspaper is reporting that Zahi Hawass has returned to his office because the nomination of his successor was withdrawn.  He's still presumably on the way out, but has a reprieve if this report, which quotes  Hawass himself, is to be believed. The man appears to have more lives than a cat.

Hawass Ouster Getting More Press Than Rest of Cabinet Combined

 Usually a Cabinet reshuffle that changes 15 portfolios and includes the Foreign Minister and Finance Minister among them tends to produce analysis on the key changes in key ministries, and my earlier posting on the reshuffle contained links to articles on the new Foreign and Defense Ministries. After all, Egypt's role in the world and its precarious economy are big issues, not only domestically but for other countries as well.

But a totally unscientific sampling of news sites and blogs (just what I've had time to look at so far) leaves me with the distinct impression that for most headline writers, the departure of Zahi Hawass is getting most of the attention.

I realize most people outside of Egypt and many at home couldn't have named the departing Finance or Foreign Ministers. Did the old Finance Minister have his own show on  the History Channel? Does anyone know what kind of hat the Foreign Minister favored? Star Power will tell.

One of the better treatments is Max Fisher's at The Atlantic;he also quotes from an excellent piece by Mohamed ElShahed at al-Jadaliyya, "The Case Against the Grand Egyptian Museum."  Though written before the reshuffle, it has strong criticisms of Hawass. If you're not familiar with the Grand Egyptian Museum, it's an ambitious, perhaps overambitious, effort to move the collections of the cramped Egyptian Museum to a new site, constructed on pharaoniic scale (and likely pharaonic expense) out in the desert past the pyramids. As ElShahed notes, it reflects the emphasis of the Mubarak years on building elite gated suburbs for the wealthy, so they could avoid the inconveniences of the urban core. (Not to mention the common people.)

Is this the end of Zahi  Hawass? I suspect his line of clothing will suffer a setback, and his television career may suffer now that he can't automatically grant the TV access to Egyptian sites. But if he can avoid prosecution I doubt that we've seen the last of him. Recall that earlier this year he resigned (almost certainly just before he would have been fired), then made a comeback as a sudden supporter of the revolution. This time he didn't get the timing right.

Egypt's New Cabinet: First Impressions

Egypt's broad Cabinet reshuffle over the weekend, replacing 15 ministers with mostly new faces, though billed as the "Revolution Cabinet," has not universally pleased the protesters in Tahrir Square, though it does remove some of the figures to whom they most objected. Among the most notable changes are Hazem el Beblawi as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Mohamed Kamel Amr as Foreign Minister, Egypt's fourth FM this year and third since the fall of Mubarak.

Oh, and we won't have Zahi Hawass to kick around anymore. Apparently, though, he was jeered by younger archaeologists as he left the Ministry (video via Zeinobia at the link; she also comments on other new ministers here):



I'll no doubt have further comments as events evolve. Already, the expected swearing-in of the new ministers has been bumped from today until tomorrow, to allow further "consultations," whatever that may mean.

Hey, I Was Quoted in the New York Times

In an article on Zahi Hawass.  Sure, it's a one-line quote in a much longer article, from an interview given several weeks ago, and doesn't say anything I haven't said before here. But they spelled my name right and (for now at least) have a lot more readers than I do.

Zahi Hawass Fights Back

Since my posting late last week, Zahi Hawass has found himself in even more controversy, with an old court case resulting in a fine and a one-year sentence. But it now appears that the threat of jail time has been lifted, and Hawass has moved to defend himself on hiws website.

He has also been quiick to defend himself against the outrage provoked by those photos of models for the "Zahi Hawass collection" posing in front of antiquities of King Tut-related antiquities. (See my links on Friday.) Hawass clarifies:

Unfortunately, stories and rumors have recently been going around about this project. In October of last year, the design company had a photo shoot in the King Tut exhibit in New York City to create advertisements. Now, months later, stories about this photo shoot are circulating, claiming that it happened in the Egyptian Museum, and that they had a model sit on actual antiquities. I can say firmly that of course none of this is true. It was, in fact, shot in New York City, at the King Tut exhibit there and nowhere near Cairo, and the photographer and crew showed the utmost respect for the antiquities there. I have never been in contact with this photographer or his crew; they were hired by the design company, but I know they at no time touched any of the artifacts or used flash photography.  They used replicas for some shots and also used Photoshop in some images.  The museum’s security was with them at all times to ensure the safety of the objects. It makes me sad that people are willing to believe such rumors, and I hope that the clothing line’s critics will understand that the intention of this project is for the good of the children.

 So they weren't taken in the Egyptian museum, at least. 

Zahi Hawass: Going Too Far at the Wrong Moment?

This was tweeted today by @Egyptocracy (who also blogs) via twitpic:

"Pharaohs ruled then. He rules now."  I've noted previously the instances of Zahi Hawass' tendency towards self-promotion overreach. But in an era when so many of the key figures of the old regime are in Tora Prison, one of the few to land on his feet in the transitional government (due to a timely resignation, allowing his recent Second Coming), this may not be the best time for Hawass' trademark self-promotion. And by "trademark," I do not mean the term figuratively. Zahi Hawass' name has been trademarked. Trademark data is here.

Having already franchised his signature hat, he now has apparently also franchised his name for a line of men's clothing, Egypt's tweeters have been having fun with this today, but also a bit of outrage at the fact that some of the portfolio pictures were taken with the King Tut artifacts from the Egyptian Museum. The trademark seems to be held by an organizer of the recent Tut tour in the US. And the line will have a shop at Harrod's sometime this year.

Most of the commentary so far has been on Twitter, but Zeinobia has done a blog post on it. As she notes, to take photos in the Egyptian Museum you need special permission of the Minister of Antiquities. Hawass was probably given permission because — oh yes, he's Minister of Antiquities. I know, when President Obama has one of your hats (right), and you have your own show on the History Channel, when you're not being on the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and, if any time is left over, showing up to be Minister of Antiquities, it can be easy to overreach a bit. I've noted in the past that Hawass' high profile has probably helped increase interest in Egyptology. But at  the moment, with Egypt on alert for conflicts of interest, might not be the time to open that branch at Harrod's.

The Twitter commenters are having a field day (Check out #Egypt; #Antiquities; and #Jan25 as well as the obvious #ZahiHawass for some of the commentary. I do hope he realizes the rules have changed, and serving in the Cabinet while franchising yourself (via using the antiquities as part of his branding) may not sit well with the new Egypt.

He's Baaaack . . .

The inescapable archaeologist-on-every-cable channel Zahi Hawass is also now back in office as Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities, a month after resigning over the looting of sites during the revolution. Here's his video message on his first day on the job.

I know a lot of people see him as a grandstanding showman, which he certainly is, and some blame him for neglect that led to some of the theft and vandalism which occurred, but he also has drawn world attention to Ancient Egypt and, since becoming Minister previously, to Coptic and Islamic sites as well. And in the past month his posts to his blog and to Facebook have called attention to the vandalism around the world. And he seems to have weathered the change of governments successfully. This blog has sometimes been irreverent about his omnipresence, but I'll give him credit for drawing global attention to the issue.

If This is All Happening on a Thursday, What Will Friday Be Like?

For a day that started with the replacement of Egypt's Prime Minister (who now says he might run for President), a whole lot more has been going on. I can't comment in too much detail, but here are some of the highlights:

• Tunisia's interim President Mbazaa has called an election for July 24 for an assembly to rewrite the constitution. The new constitution would precede new elections. Mbazaa says he'll remain in office until then, despite a ban on holding an interim office more than 60 dys under the present constitution.
  

• Zahi Hawass has apparently resigned as Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities. This follows his publishing on his personal website a report detailing looting and vandalism of archaeological sites and monuments since the revolution began, Hawass is always able to get press, and if this is timed with the change of Prime Ministers it may indeed increase pressure on protecting Egyptian antiquities.

• The interim government in Egypt previously abolished the Ministry of Information and put the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, which runs state radio and TV, under an Army general. Now the general, who had no experience in broadcasting, has been replaced with Prof. Sami El-Sharif, a specialist in mass communications.

More later; this has been a very busy Thursday; and tomorrow several countries have big demonstrations planned.

Zahi Hawass Nears All Hawass, All the Time Coverage

It was probably inevitable, since already it was virtually impossible to watch any TV show about Egypt without Zahi Hawass, complete with Indiana Jones hat (excuse me, who's that?: it's the "Dr Zahi Hawass hat" and you can order one here) appearing in the first 40 seconds and dominating the rest of the program. Well, it was probably inevitable: he has his own show now, Chasing Mummies, debuting on The History Channel on Bastille Day. This could lead to an inflated ego if it had not already exceeded all standards of measurement. When even the President of the US poses in your hat (picure), who can avoid a swelled head?

Now I've discussed Hawass before; he's certainly helped increase interest in Egyptology with a true showman's flair, an overwhelming TV presence, a website about his achievements, and an ability to overshadow every archaeologist working in the country: whoever found the site, rest assured Hawass will be the one who appears on camera.

But his own TV show? Isn't this man a government employee? As I noted a while back, when my daughter learned I'd crossed paths with Hawass decades ago, she was more impressed than by any of the senior officials I might have met. So he does bring in the tourist dollars, I'm sure.

The ego gets in the way sometimes, but he does carry self-promotion to new heights. On the other hand, does no one else see the irony in this graphic?:
That almost intrudes on Husni Mubarak's turf.

Oh, yes, I can't find an embeddable version, but in an ad on the History Channel he is shown promoting the show by saying, "Show me the Mummy."

Mohamed Who?

Since the return of Mohamed ElBaradei to Egypt, the official government press has either ignored him completely (see this daily roundup at Al-Masry al-Youm of a day in which the government press ignored him and the independent and opposition papers led with him), or else they have been making fun of him, even in one case basically saying he won't give interviews with the government press because his wife won't let him (that's an English language blogger's summary; the link was to Al-Gumhuriyya's home page a day or two ago, and today the link goes to today's homepage; I poked around briefly without finding the story but it may be archived somewhere on the site). Do they think branding him as henpecked (his wife's a professional in her own right) will dilute his support?

I'm not surprised, but in the age of the Internet, satellite television, and independent newspapers in Egypt, it seems that the pettiness shown by the state media ought to seem fairly glaring even to Mubarak's staunch supporters. The fellahin may not know about ElBaradei's return, but they aren't his constituency. Does the state press think their ignoring him will make him go away? Does it think making fun of him will make people see him as a clown, a man of whom the state media was itself enormously proud when he was head of the IAEA and one of the most recognizable Egyptians in the Western world (after Mubarak, and of course Zahi Hawass, who is on one of your cable TV channels in his Indiana Jones hat right now)?

It just seems like something out of the pre-Internet era, the pre-satellite TV era, that distant time nearly 30 years ago when the local state media was the only media and Husni Mubarak was President of Egypt.

Oh.

Zahi Hawass on "The Great Treasure Delusion"

In case his constant television appearances don't satisfy your all-Zahi-Hawass-all-the-time needs, here he is writing an interesting piece in Al-Sharq al-Awsat's English website on "The Great Treasure Delusion."

Oh, and from drhawass.com, an article with major name-dropping in the lead sentence:

I travelled recently with Omar Sharif to the Dominican Republic by personal invitation of the president, Leonel Fernandez. I was invited to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the Catholic University in Santo Domingo, as well as to give a public lecture.

Like him or hate him, he's one of a kind.

Antiquities Trade Changes in Egypt? Hawass Threatening to Quit?

Ahmad ‘Izz, a senior official of Egypt's ruling party (and a key ally of Gamal Mubarak), has reportedly proposed a law permitting greater trade in antiquities within Egypt. This Al-Masry al-Youm article (in Arabic) claims that in response, both Farouq Husni, Minister of Culture, and Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Indiana Jones Hat, are threatening resignation because it would encourage tomb robbing and other activities that could lead to Egyptian antiquities leaving the country.

This may well be Al-Masry al-Youm in its tabloid mode. Certainly Egypt isn't going to provoke Zahi Hawass to resign since all those History Channel/Discovery Channel/National Geographic programs bring lots of tourists. And I'm not seeing this elsewhere yet. Thought I'd bring it to your attention anyway.

The Egyptian Campaign for Recovering Antiquities

UPDATE: Two days after I posted this, The National ran this piece on Zahi Hawass. The photo alone, flanked by the pyramids, says it all.

France has given back to Egypt a (relatively obscure) antiquity from the Louvre. It's getting a lot of coverage for a reason. The inimitable (and increasingly inevitable) Zahi Hawass has started a major campaign for the return of "stolen" Egyptian antiquities in foreign museums, most notably the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and the incomparable bust of Nefertiti at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The old issues of which antiquities taken to European museums by 18th and 19th century Orientalists ought to be returned is an old one and a thorny one. It is true that some of these antiquities might have been lost in the Ottoman provinicial era; preservation then was better in Europe, etc. etc. But does that permit the removal of a superb example of cultural heritage? The biggest issue between Greece and its NATO ally Great Britain, at least that I'm aware of, remains the Elgin Marbles. Now Egypt is pushing hard for the Rosetta Stone and Nefertiti. I'm sure that's why the publicity was given to this relatively low-profile return from the Louvre.

As I've noted before, Zahi Hawass — a contemporary of mine whom I met once or twice, impressing my Discovery Channel viewing daughter more than the two or three Kings I've met — has become the face of Egyptian archaeology to the world. Whatever else you may say about him, Hawass is a showman. The Indiana Jones hat he regularly wears (now marketed, I understand, as a "Dr. Zahi Hawass hat": possibly still available in time for Christmas) is part of the show, but it is going to take a showman to get any of this stuff back. And, though I don't think he uses a whip, Dr. Zahi is otherwise the closest thing to Indiana Jones out there right now, at least in an official position. The Greeks, if they really want the Elgin Marbles, need to find a Greek Zahi Hawass. (And from what I know of Greeks, they probably have one somewhere.)(Later addition: Maybe a Zorba Hawass?)

Dr. Zahi is not just a showman: he practically owns Egyptian-themed shows on the National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, and History Channel. The other day my daughter was watching the beginning of a documentary on one of those channels about animal mummies. I said to my wife we should have a betting pool on how long it took for Hawass to show up.

Too late. He showed up before we could bet. (Just a non-speaking clip, but I hadn't conditioned the bet.)

Egypt is certainly perfectly capable today of preserving and displaying the Rosetta Stone or Nefertiti, as Greece is the Elgin Marbles.

Will they ever get them back? Probably. When? I don't know. But I do know they'll need a fast-talking salesman who can run rings around the old guard of the British Museum, the Neues Museum, etc.

European museums: do not dismiss Zahi Hawass. My daughter thinks he's better than Indiana Jones, and is aware of the similar hats. I think he's a scholar who could have prospered selling souvenirs in the suq, but has now come to deal with the suq of international archaeology.

Moral suasion isn't going to persuade the British Museum, Louvre, Neues Muesum etc. to give up their most famous tourist attractions. PR genius might. In archaeology today, the PR genius is Doctor Zahi. Good luck.

Zahi Hawass in the NYT

Over this past weekend, the New York Times ran a profile of Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass. If you've watched any program about ancient Egypt lately on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, or probably anywhere else, you'll be familiar with Dr. Zahi, the ubiquitous spokesman for Egyptian antiquities.

For good or ill, and the Egyptology community seems divided on this, Hawass has transformed the image of Egyptian antiquities. An outgoing self-promoter who has adopted an Indiana Jones-style hat as his identifying marker, his exuberant extroversion has shaken the dust off archaeological exploration. Whether that is good for scholarship is for archaeologists to decide, but it has certainly been good for publicity, and that has doubtless spurred tourism and interest.

Never a man to bask silently in the glow of what was generally a positive profile in the New York Times, Hawass promptly (dated the day before the publication date of the profile) posted a response on his website.

He is certainly a showman. As it happens, some good friends of mine were acquainted with Hawass in his younger days, and I met him a time or two, never suspecting his future fame. When my nine year old daughter, an archaeology buff, was watching a Discovery Channel (I think) show about Hatshepsut a few months back, I casually mentioned that I'd known him slightly long ago. "You know Zahi Hawass! Why haven't you ever told me?" I explained that I never knew him well and he'd probably not remember me, but the fact that we'd crossed paths impressed her more than any of my professional accomplishments do. Because he is a celebrity, and I'm not sure there has been a real celebrity archaeologist since at least the days of Howard Carter of King Tut fame.