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Photograph by Alex Majoli
Herodotus called Egypt the "gift of the river" because the country would be a sandy wasteland without the Nile's nourishing waters.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
Impassioned crowds have returned to Tahrir Square in waves of unrest in the months after President Hosni Mubarak stepped aside. "Down with military rule" has been a persistent refrain.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
The gently flowing Nile is a place to escape the frenzy of Cairo's chaotic streets, particularly in the evening. Egyptians stroll along the bridges or take a cruise on one of many colorfully lit riverboats.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
At a museum devoted to the 1973 war with Israel, teenagers view a giant panorama of the fighting. Early victories restored a sense of national pride.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
Egyptian revolutionaries have battled for freedom and also for dignity. But the economy is suffering, and the challenges are many: unemployment, inadequate education and health care, insufficient housing, and mind-numbing traffic.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
Mohammed Nasser, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist, holds his child in their Nile Delta home. For conservative Muslims like Nasser, who belongs to the hard-line Salafist movement, the revolution has meant an end to political suppression.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
Driving through a Coptic Christian neighborhood in Cairo, residents champion their candidate in the parliamentary elections. Islamist parties, long banned by the Mubarak regime, wound up winning a majority of the seats—prompting anxiety among Christians. Tensions between the two groups have escalated since Mubarak's fall.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
A man at the Giza Pyramids, eager to sell rides to foreigners on his elaborately adorned camels, shows a photo of better days for his business. The number of visitors to pharaonic tombs and temples has fallen dramatically.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
At the Great Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, a guard in shadow (at left) holds a key shaped like an ankh, a hieroglyph that translates as "life." The two temples here are among Egypt's most popular tourist destinations, yet they've been scantly visited since the revolution.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
After many days without cooking gas—a staple long subsidized by the government—workers in Toshka protest at the main canal of the Mubarak Pumping Station. As gas shortages and a faltering economy plague Egypt, thefts and demonstrations have erupted throughout the country.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
Lawyers in Cairo protest a new law that would allow judges to detain them for causing courtroom disruptions.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
The seaport of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., has become a sprawling, overburdened metropolis. Some Egyptians are lobbying for wide-scale urban renewal to restore its reputation as a gateway to the world.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
In Egypt's densely populated cities and villages, it can be hard to distinguish what is being built from what is falling down. These giant stones have been dumped on a roadside southwest of Cairo.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
A boy with a toy gun peers at passing street scenes from a car window in Alexandria. Egyptians have high expectations now and want elected leaders to provide the young with greater opportunities.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
At a camel market northwest of Cairo, minders beat the groaning animals with sticks to keep them in line. The camels shown here, however, have managed to surround a Mercedes.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
The long-fiber cotton of the Nile Delta, delicately picked by hand, is considered among the finest in the world. Yet the fertile region is threatened by population pressures and rising sea levels.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
A politician from the ultraconservative Salafist Al Nour party teared up on his first day as a member of the freely elected parliament. In past elections Islamist parties were banned.
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Photograph by Alex Majoli
As protesters and security forces struggle over Egypt's fate, life continues in its usual rhythms. Here a man stands in a trail of smoke left by a small rocket fired in celebration at a wedding in Alexandria.
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