Egyptian Arabic in the context of "Sham Ennessim"

Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (autonym: شامي, šāmi or اللهجة الشامية, el-lahje š-šāmiyye), is an Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana, Mersin and Hatay provinces). With over 60 million speakers, Levantine is, alongside Egyptian, one of the two prestige varieties of spoken Arabic comprehensible all over the Arab world.

Levantine is not officially recognized in any state or territory. Although it is the majority language in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, it is predominantly used as a spoken vernacular in daily communication, whereas most written and official documents and media in these countries use the official Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a form of literary Arabic only acquired through formal education that does not function as a native language. In Israel and Turkey, Levantine is a minority language.

Egyptians (Arabic: مِصرِيُّون, romanized: Miṣriyyūn, IPA: [mɪsˤrɪjˈjuːn]; Egyptian Arabic: مَصرِيِّين, romanized: Maṣriyyīn, IPA: [mɑsˤɾɪjˈjiːn]; Coptic: ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, romanized: remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean and enclosed by desert both to the east and to the west. This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society since antiquity.

The daily language of the Egyptians is a continuum of the local varieties of Arabic; the most famous dialect is known as Egyptian Arabic or Masri. Additionally, a sizable minority of Egyptians living in Upper Egypt speak Sa'idi Arabic. Egyptians are predominantly adherents of Sunni Islam with a small Shia minority and a significant proportion who follow native Sufi orders. A considerable percentage of Egyptians are Coptic Christians who belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, whose liturgical language, Coptic, is the most recent stage of the ancient Egyptian language and is still used in prayers along with Egyptian Arabic.

Middle Egypt (Arabic: مِصْر ٱلْوِسْطَى, romanized: Miṣr al-Wisṭā) is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, though Middle Egypt was technically a subdivision of Upper Egypt. It was not until the 19th century that archaeologists felt the need to divide Upper Egypt in two. As a result, they coined the term "Middle Egypt" for the stretch of river between Cairo and the Qena Bend. It was also associated with a region termed "Heptanomis" (/hɛpˈtænəmɪs/; Greek: ἡ Επτανομίς, in Ptol. iv. 5. § 55; more properly Ἑπτὰ Νομοί or Ἑπταπολίς, in Dionysius Periegetes 251; and sometimes ἡ μεταζύ[γή]; meaning "Seven Nomes", a "nome" being a subdivision of ancient Egypt), generally as the district which separates the Thebaïd from the Delta.

Middle Egypt today can be identified as the part of the Nile Valley that, while geographically part of Upper Egypt, is culturally closer to Lower Egypt. For instance, in terms of language, the Egyptian Arabic of people in Beni Suef and northwards shares features with Cairene and particularly rural Delta Arabic rather than with the Sa'idi Arabic spoken further south, and are often not considered Sa'idis.

The Egyptian film industry is today based mainly in Cairo, which is sometimes referred to as Hollywood on the Nile, Hollywood of the Middle East or Hollywood of the East, despite having its beginnings in the city of Alexandria in the early 20th century. A strong industry grew in Egypt with a high distribution rate among the Arab world, and Cairo produces around three-quarters of the Arab world's screen output. It has had a large effect on the Arab film industry since the early 20th century.

Egyptian cinema is considered a pioneer in African and Arab film industries. Since 1896, over 4,000 films have been produced in Egypt. Egyptian films are typically spoken in the Egyptian Arabic dialect. In 1936, Egypt held its first ever Egyptian cinema festival in Cairo, followed by another one in 1938. Since 1952, Cairo has held the Egyptian Catholic Center for Cinema Festival; it is the oldest film festival in the Middle East. In 1976, the capital held the annual FIAPF-accredited Cairo International Film Festival, which has since been held annually, and there are many more film festivals held in Egypt.

Thoth (from Koine Greek: Θώθ Thṓth, borrowed from Coptic: Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ Thōout, Ancient Egyptian: Ḏḥwtj, the reflex of ḏḥwtj "[he] is like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart is Seshat, and his wife is Ma'at. He is the god of the Moon, wisdom, knowledge, writing, hieroglyphs, science, magic, art and judgment.

Thoth's chief temple was located in the city of Hermopolis (Ancient Egyptian: ḫmnw /χaˈmaːnaw/, Egyptological pronunciation: Khemenu, Coptic: Ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Shmun). Later known as el-Ashmunein in Egyptian Arabic, the Temple of Thoth was mostly destroyed before the beginning of the Christian era. Its very large pronaos was still standing in 1826, but was demolished and used as fill for the foundation of a sugar factory by the mid-19th century.

Ṣaʽīdi Arabic (autonym: صعيدى [sˤɑˈʕiːdi], Egyptian Arabic: [sˤeˈʕiːdi]), or Upper Egyptian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Upper Egyptians in the area that is South/Upper Egypt, a strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends from Aswan and downriver (northwards) to Lower Egypt. It shares linguistic features with Egyptian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and the Classical Arabic of the Quran. Dialects include Middle and Upper Egyptian Arabic.

Speakers of Egyptian Arabic do not always understand more conservative varieties of Ṣaʽīdi Arabic.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (Arabic: المتحف المصري, romanized: al-Matḥaf al-Miṣrī, Egyptian Arabic: el-Matḥaf el-Maṣri [elˈmætħæf elˈmɑsˤɾi]) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. The collection includes over 120,000 items. The museum occupies a building constructed in 1901 on Tahrir Square and is one of the largest art museums in Africa.

Marj (Arabic: المرج, al-Marj, "The Meadows"), El Merj in Benghazi and Egyptian Arabic, is a city in northeastern Libya and the administrative seat of the Marj District. It lies in an upland valley separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a range of hills, part of the Jebel Akhdar Mountains, and is generally believed to be the site of the ancient city of Barca.

As of 2004, it had an estimated population of 85,315. There are a couple of banks on the main street and the main post office is in the city centre, not far from the Abu Bakr Assiddiq mosque.