Avaris
Location | Sharqia Governorate, Egypt |
---|---|
Region | Lower Egypt |
Coordinates | 30°47′14.7″N 31°49′16.9″E / 30.787417°N 31.821361°E |
Type | Settlement |
Avaris (
Etymology
The name in the Egyptian language of the 2nd millennium BC was probably pronounced *Ḥaʔət-Waʕrəʔ “House of the Region” and denotes the capital of an administrative division of the land (wʕr.t). Today, the name Hawara survives, referring to the site at the entrance to Faiyum. Alternatively, Clement of Alexandria referred to the name of this city as "Athyria".[8]
Excavations
In 1885, the
The site at Tell el-Dab'a, covering an area of about 2 square kilometers, is in ruins today, but excavations have shown that, at one point, it was a well-developed center of trade with a busy harbour catering to over 300 ships during a trading season.[11] Artifacts excavated at a temple erected in the Hyksos period have produced goods from all over the Aegean world. The temple even has Minoan-like wall paintings that are similar to those found on Crete at the Palace of Knossos. A large mudbrick tomb has also been excavated to the west of the temple, where grave goods, such as copper swords, have been found.
History
The site was originally founded by Amenemhat I on the eastern branch of the Nile in the Delta [12].Its close proximity to Asia made it a popular town for Asiatic immigrants. Many of these immigrants were from Judea and they were culturally Egyptianized, using Egyptian pottery, but also retained many aspects of their own culture, as can be seen from the various Asiatic burials including weapons of Syro-Judean origin. One palatial district appears to have been abandoned as a result of an epidemic during the 13th dynasty.[13]
In the 18th century BC, the Hyksos conquered
The pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty set up a capital in Thebes and the palatial complex at Avaris was briefly abandoned, but areas such as the Temple of Seth and G6 region remained continuously occupied.[15] It appears as well, that the site of Avaris had gone through a hiatus, dated after the time of Amenhotep II and until the late 18th dynasty.[16][17]
After
The name "Avaris" is also referred to in Papyrus Sallier I in the late 13th century BC.[25] In addition, the 'Avaris' toponym is also known to Manetho in the 3rd century BC, quoted by Josephus in his Against Apion 1.14.[26]
Urban chronology
- Stratiagraphic layers M-N
Amenemhet I (12th dynasty) planned a settlement, called Hutwaret located in the 19th Nome, circa 1930 BC. It was a small Egyptian town until about 1830 BC when it began to grow by immigration of Canaanites (Levant Middle Bronze Age IIA) By 1800 BC it was a much larger trade colony under Egyptian control. Over the next 100 years immigration increased the size of the city.[27] Scarabs with the name "Retjenu" have been found in Avaris, also dating to the 12th Dynasty (1991-1802 BCE).[28]
- Stratiagraphic layers G
At about 1780 a temple to
- Stratiagraphic layers F
Around 1700 BC a temple district to the Canaanite Asherah and the Egyptian Hathor was built in the eastern part of the city. From 1700 onward, social stratification begins and an elite arise.[27]
- Stratiagraphic layers E
In 1650 the Hyksos arrive and the city grows to 250 ha. It is believed that Avaris was the largest city in the world from 1670 to 1557 BC. A large citadel was built around 1550.[27]
Minoan connection
Avaris, along with Tel Kabri in Israel and Alalakh in Syria, also has a record of Minoan civilization, which is otherwise quite rare in the Levant. Manfred Bietak, an Austrian archaeologist and the excavator of Tell Dab'a, has speculated that there was close contact with the rulers of Avaris, and that the large building featuring the frescoes allowed the Minoans to have a ritual life in Egypt. French archaeologist Yves Duhoux proposed the existence of a Minoan 'colony' on an island in the Nile Delta.[29]
See also
References
- ^ Candelora, Danielle. "The Hyksos". www.arce.org. American Research Center in Egypt.
- ISBN 978-90-04-19610-0.
- ^ "A head from a statue of an official dating to the 12th or 13th Dynasty (1802–1640 B.C.) sports the mushroom-shaped hairstyle commonly worn by non-Egyptian immigrants from western Asia such as the Hyksos." in "The Rulers of Foreign Lands - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-6077-6.
- ISBN 978-0-924171-46-8.
- ^ Baines and Malek "Atlas of Ancient Egypt" p 15 nome list and map, p 167 enlarged map of the delta.
- ISBN 978-0-7607-7000-9.
- ^ 'And his remarks are to the following effect: Amosis, who lived in the time of the Argive Inachus, overthrew Athyria, as Ptolemy of Mendes [via Manetho] relates in his Chronology.' -- Clement of Alexandria 1.22
- ^ "Tell el-Dab'a - History". Tell el-Dab'a-Homepage. Archived from the original on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
- ^ "Ancient Egyptian city located in Nile Delta by radar". BBC News. 2010-06-21.
- ISBN 9780747806387. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ^ Aaron A. Burke, "Amorites in the Eastern Nile Delta: The Identity of Asiatics at Avaris during the Early Middle Kingdom", 2019, p. 69-71
- ^ Marc van de Mieroop, "A History of Ancient Egypt", 2021, p. 124-5
- ^ Bietak, Manfred. "The Aftermath of the Hyksos in Avaris." Culture Contacts and the Making of Cultures: Papers in Homage to Itamar Even Zohar, by Rakefet Sela-Sheffy and Gideon Toury, Tel Aviv University- Unit of Culture Research, 2011, pp.19-65.
- ^ Manfred Bietak and Irene Forstner-Muller. "The Topography of New Kingdom Avaris and Per-Ramesses", pp 27-28
- ^ Bietak, Manfred. "Manfred Bietak, "A THUTMOSID PALACE PRECINCT AT PERU-NEFER/TELL EL-Dab'a," in: M. Bietak & S. Prell (Eds.), Palaces in Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East vol. I: Egypt, Contributions to the Archaeology of Egypt, Nubia and the Levant V, Vienna 2018, 231-257".
- ^ "The harbour of Tell el-Dabʿa".
- ^ Marc van de Mieroop, "A History of Ancient Egypt", 2021, p. 125.
- ^ Manfred Bietak, The Palatial Precinct at the Nile Branch (Area H)
- ^ Manfred Bietak, Nicola Math, and Vera Müller, “Report on the excavations of a Hyksos Palace of Tell el Dabᶜa/Avaris.” Ägypten und Levante 22/23 (2013): 15-35.
- ^ Manfred Bietak, "Avaris/Tell el-Dab’a", p. 14.
- ^ Manfred Bietak, "From Where Came the Hyksos and Where Did they go". In M. Marée (ed.), The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth - Seventeenth Dynasties): Current Research, Future Prospects, OLA 192, Leuven 2010: Peeters, p. 139.
- ^ Manfred Bietak & Constance Van Ruden. "Contact Points: Avaris and Pi-Ramesse", pg 18
- ^ Timothy Pottis, "Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World", p. 20
- ^ James Pritchard, ANET, p. 231.
- ^ Manfred Bietak. "Hyksos" in The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine, p. 3356.
- ^ a b c d Bietak, M. "Tell-el-Daba - History". Tell el-Dabca. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- JSTOR 23786957.
- ISBN 90-429-1261-8.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-500-05105-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7141-0968-8.
- ISBN 9781405179355.
External links
- Tell el-Dabʿa Homepage - available in German and English