Wadi Hammamat
The Wadi Hammamat is one of many wadis or dry canyons in the rocky mountains of the Arabian desert. It constitutes the core of one of the main routes between the Nile and the Red Sea.
Geography
The wadi extends from the Roman way station at Bir Hammamat to natural passage in the mountains near Bir Umm Fawakhir and lies some sixty miles from Koptos and al - Quseir ( Myos Hormos ) away. It is one of the shortest routes between the Nile and the Red Sea and was used accordingly over the millennia. Bear witness to many ancient ruins, storage areas, hundreds of rock inscriptions and graffiti as well as ancient mining sites and quarries. In antiquity, mainly by green breccia verde antica and Bechen - stone was mined.
Inscriptions
Most hieroglyphic inscriptions found are and have been carved on the smooth rocks near the southeast main quarries for Bechen. They are often Min - the God of Koptos and the desert - or the divine triad of Koptos ( Isis, Horus and Harpocrates ) dedicated. Occasionally belong to the texts also offering scenes or images of the gods. The frequency of the deities depicted is different from epoch to epoch. In the New Kingdom Amun -Re was reinforced worshiped in Roman time Isis and Hathor, and Horus / Harpocrates and Amun / Pan.
Other inscriptions bear the names and titles of expedition leaders, often together with the names of pharaohs. Sometimes you will also find details about the expeditions, such as the number of participants or the main goal of the expedition. Such inscriptions have a great importance for the history research because they represent historical records for royal activities for a given year.
History
Prädynastik
The oldest remains found are petroglyphs dating from the late pre-dynastic period, which were discovered immediately northeast of Bechen quarries. They show hunter, animal traps, ostriches, gazelles and other game. They have great similarities with representations on pottery from Gerzeh and are dated to the fourth millennium BC. The variety of illustrated animals and plants suggests that the Eastern Desert in the late prehistory was a wetland and was inhabited by more animals and plants than it is today.
Old Kingdom
The first hieroglyphic inscriptions are quarry expeditions from the Old Kingdom. They call the kings Khafre, Menkaure, Radjedef, Sahura and Unas. Pepi I of the 6th Dynasty is particularly well represented with eight graffiti.
There are also graffiti from the First Intermediate Period, the chronology is not yet clear.
Middle Kingdom
The most meaningful and inscriptions date from the Middle Kingdom. From the 11th Dynasty Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep III. and Mentuhotep IV with a total of thirty texts. Mentuhotep III. despatched an expedition with 3,000 men, to submit a ship to Punt for frankincense and other exotic goods. The team took advantage of the return to simultaneously reduce Bechen - stone for royal statues.
From Mentuhotep IV exist very detailed inscriptions, which are considered the most important records of his short reign. They tell of a 10,000 -strong deployment, which should return a sarcophagus together with the cover. The expedition was made famous by the Gazelle wonder, with the exhausted a fleeing gazelle and her cub gave birth exactly on the block, which was intended for the king. Another wonder of the expedition was the so-called fountain miracle ( or rain miracle ), in which a rare sudden torrential rain surrendered a well with clean water. Leader of the expedition was the vizier Amenemhat, probably later than Amenemhet I. ascended the throne.
Under Sesostris I, there was another expedition, in which 17,000 men were sent to break stones for sixty Sphinge and 150 statues.
From the Second Intermediate Period kings Sobekhotep are IV and witnessed Sobekemsaf I..
New Kingdom
From the beginning of the New Kingdom to the Ramesside period, there are only names and titles of Ahmose I, Amenhotep II, Amenhotep IV, Seti I, Ramses II and Seti II It is believed that the famous Punt expedition of Queen Hatshepsut further north through Wadi Gasus took place. The most obvious reference to the Wadi Hammamat in the New Kingdom, the Turin Papyrus deposits from the time of Ramses IV dar. It is a card that continues the path to the known Bechen quarries, as well as the gold and silver mines east shows.
Third Intermediate Period and Late Period
From the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period originate inscriptions of Shabaka, Amenirdis I., Taharqa, Psammetichus I, Psamtik II Necho II, Amasis, Cambyses II, Darius I, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I. The last hieroglyphic inscriptions name Nectanebo II of the 30th Dynasty. Other recordings were made in Demotic and can be found in the nearby Paneion.
Ptolemies
Under the Ptolemies the interest again rose to the Desert routes to the Red Sea and East Africa to strong and was partly driven by the increased need for war elephants that were needed for disputes with the kings of the Seleucid Empire in Syria. Although the stone degradation was reduced, but the desert routes, including the Wadi Hammamat and Berenice routes were expanded and equipped with new wells or cisterns, and way stations.
Roman time
The Roman rulers built on the Ptolemaic infrastructure and stretched the desert trade further. To the Roman road system, the fortified Hydreuma was at Bir Hammamat, the well-preserved, partly reconstructed, circular fountain and view related signal towers on the mountain peaks along the Hammamat route. With the help of camel caravans, large research vessels and recently acquired knowledge of the monsoons, they sailed to Africa, possibly up to Dar -es- Salaam, Aden and the Spice Coast, to a regular basis.
The extraction of Bechen - stone was not more intense in the Roman period, it was rebuilt more frequently breccia verde antica from, which still bear witness to large, rough -hewn, but discontinued blocks. However, one built in the Bechen quarries a carefully -built temple with some side rooms that could be dated to the time of Tiberius, thanks to a labeled Naos. Furthermore, there were graffiti records of Augustus, Nero, Titus, Domitian, Anthony, Maximus and perhaps Hadrian.
At the end of the second century the records are more sparse, presumably because in the Roman Empire occurred many internal difficulties. The costly and distant trade in the Red Sea and the desert routes were only difficult to sustain. The quarries were abandoned, as well as the associated houses, temples and shrines.
Byzantine and medieval
In the Byzantine period, some cities and fortresses created at Abu Sha'ar, Berenike and Bir Umm Fawakhir. The medieval trade and pilgrimage routes resulted in either north through Wadi Qena or through Wadi Qash in the south. In the thirteenth to fourteenth century built the Mamelukes a harbor at Quseir al - Qadim.