Semna (Nubia)
Semna (also sometimes referred to as Semna West, to distinguish it from Semna South) formed together with Kumma a fortress of ancient Egypt in Nubia and is on the territory of present-day Sudan. The ancient Egyptian name of the fortress was Sechem - Chakaure -maa - Cheru, Powerful is the justified Chakaure what the throne name of Sesostris III. corresponds. The fortress was upriver about 35 kilometers southwest of the second Nile cataract and 70 kilometers southwest of Wadi Halfa on the western bank of the Nile. On the other side of the Nile was Kumma. Both towns are now flooded because of the Aswan Dam from Lake Nubia.
History
Sesostris III. let Semna build at the former border with Nubia. To support Semna addition, the fortification of Kumma was still built. Whether Sesostris III. was also responsible for laying the foundation stone of Semna South, is unclear, since there are indications that already Sesostris I -actuated construction company there. Investments in Semna South and Kumma were smaller and functioned as an additional protective bastions in support of Semna, the actual border control station.
Since virtually all traffic came over the Nile into Egypt, this was the ideal place for a customs station. You controlled coming from Nubia ships and particularly wanted to traders only, do not allow guest workers into the country. For this purpose, one knows a decree of Sesostris III. on a policy issued in Semna Stele: No Black exceed this point, except when acting as cattle, goats or sheep with it.
In the reign of Thutmose III. was a temple dedicated to the Nubian god Dedwen and revered as divine Sesostris III. He was decomposed into a bailout from flooding in 1965 and rebuilt in the garden of the National Museum of Khartoum. Semna Kumma and served as a military harbor. The village with its temples was still inhabited in the New Kingdom.
Nilstandsmessungen
On fallen boulders were located below the fortress eleven Nilstandsmarken, in the late Middle Kingdom from the first year of the reign of Amenemhat III. until the first year of the reign of Amenemhet VII ( 13th dynasty ) were placed there, including a Nilstandsmarke of Amenemhet V. from the third year of reign. On one of these cliffs there was an additional inscription, which dates to the early 18th Dynasty. The collapse of the cliff on which the Nilmarken were attached must therefore have taken place between the 13th Dynasty and the beginning of the New Kingdom.
The marked heights of the Nile flood led with respect to the water levels in Egyptology to controversial discussions, as by converting the Nilstände for a period of 70 years in government with regard to the nilometer in Elephantine, Karnak, by Hapi and Memphis unrealizable level heights of well over 33 yards from Elephantine result.