Pithom

Coordinates: 30°33′7″N 32°5′55″E / 30.55194°N 32.09861°E / 30.55194; 32.09861
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

30°33′7″N 32°5′55″E / 30.55194°N 32.09861°E / 30.55194; 32.09861

Pithom is located in Egypt
Pithom
Location of Pithom (as Tell El Maskhuta) in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt
pr
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it
tm
im
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pr-jtm[1]
in hieroglyphs

Pithom (

Arabic: تل الرتابة, romanizedTall al-Ratāba).[5]

The name

This name comes from Hebrew פיתום Pithom which was taken from the Egyptian toponym pr-(j)tm, "House of Atum". Atum's cult center was in Heliopolis.[6]

Biblical Pithom

Pithom is one of the cities which, according to the

King Solomon in I Kings 9:19 (comp. also II Chronicles
16:4).

Graeco-Roman Heroöpolis

Approximate location of Canal of the Pharaohs

Heroöpolis was a large city east of the

Bitter Lakes, Heroöpolis was of sufficient importance, as a trading station, to confer its name upon the arm of the Red Sea[7] which runs up the Egyptian mainland as far as Arsinoë (near modern Suez)—the modern Gulf of Suez.[8] It was the capital of the 8th nome of Lower Egypt
.

Location

Early on, the location of Pithom—just like the locations of other similar sites, such as

Tanis
—had been the subject of much conjecture and debate.

The 10th-century Jewish scholar Saadia Gaon identified Pithom place in his Judeo-Arabic translation of the Hebrew Bible as the Faiyum, 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Cairo.[9]

Édouard Naville and Flinders Petrie were looking for Pithom along the Wadi Tumilat, an arable strip of land serving as the ancient transit route between Egypt and Canaan across the Sinai—the biblical 'Way of Shur'.[10]

Tell El Retaba

Eight miles west of Tell El Maskhuta is the site of Tell El Retabeh. This is approximately the midpoint of Wadi Tumilat. The earliest find known from the site is the jasper weight of king Nebkaure Khety, but such an object might have been brought from elsewhere. Naville identified all these locations as being in the region of Tjeku (Sukkot), the 8th Lower Egypt nome.

Excavations at the Tell El Retabeh have shown that the site was first settled during the

19th Dynasty of Egypt, a newer settlement was established, and Ramesses II built new fortifications, a Temple of Atum and many other structures. The site was inhabited also under the 20th Dynasty, the Third Intermediate Period (11th–7th century BC) and the Late Period (7th–4th century BC).[11][12]

Some scholars, such as

Gary Rendsburg based on recent findings at the site.[16]

The joint Polish-Slovak expedition has carried out a systematic research at Tell El Retaba since 2007.[17] It is conducted with the cooperation of several institutions: Institute of Archaeology University of Warsaw, the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw, the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Aigyptos Foundation.[11]

More recent analyses have demonstrated that the designation for the temple of Atum, pr-itm, can be found in inscriptions at both sites—both at Tell El Retaba and at Tell El Maskhuta. This seems to demonstrate that the name 'Pithom' was used originally for the earlier site, Tell El Retaba, before it was abandoned. When the newer city of Tel El Maskhuta was built, the same name was applied to it as well, as the temple of Atum was moved to El Maskhuta. Thus, in effect, 'Pithom' was moved to a new location, a phenomenon that is attested for some other cities as well, such as Migdol.[18]

Wadi Tumilat Project – Tell El Maskhuta

In the spring of 1883, Naville believed he had identified Pithom as the archaeological site Tell El Maskhuta. The site of Pithom, as identified by Naville, is at the eastern edge of Wadi Tumilat, southwest of Ismailia. Petrie agreed with this identification. John S. Holladay Jr., a more recent investigator of the site, also supports this opinion. Alternatively, the recent Italian excavators have suggested identifying the site as the ancient city of Tjeku (Biblical Sukkot).[19]

Here was found a group of granite statues representing Ramesses II, two inscriptions naming Pr-Itm (Temple of Atum), storehouses and bricks made without straw. Recent excavations have also uncovered a significant New Kingdom tomb at the site.[19] The excavations carried on by Naville for the Egypt Exploration Fund uncovered a city wall, a ruined temple, and the remains of a series of brick buildings with very thick walls and consisting of rectangular chambers of various sizes, opening only at the top and without any entrances to one another.

Modern excavations at Tel El Maskhuta were carried out by the University of Toronto 'Wadi Tumilat Project' under the direction of John S. Holladay Jr. They worked over five seasons between 1978 and 1985. These excavations have shown that the history of Tel El Maskhuta is quite complex. There was a Middle Bronze IIB settlement there (18th–17th centuries BC), associated with the Hyksos, followed by a long break until the late 7th century BC, when there was rebuilding.[20]

This construction at the end of the 7th century may have been carried out by Pharaoh Necho II, possibly as part of his uncompleted canal building project from the Nile to the Gulf of Suez.[15][21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Gauthier, Henri (1925). Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 2. p. 59.
  2. .
  3. ^ Strabo xvi. 759, 768, xvii. 803, 804; Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 5, vii. 20; Joseph. Ant. Jud. ii. 7. § 5; Plin. v. 9. § 11, vi. 32. § 33; Mela, iii. 8; Steph. B. s. v.; Ptol. ii. 1. § 6, iv. 15. § 54
  4. .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ Ἡρωοπολίτης κόλπος, Ptol. v. 17. § 1, Latin: Heroopoliticus Sinus
  8. ^ Theophrast. Hist. Plant. iii. 8.
  9. ^ Saadia Gaon, Tafsir (Judeo-Arabic translation of the Pentateuch), Exodus 1:11; Rabbi Saadia Gaon's Commentaries on the Torah (ed. Yosef Qafih), Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1984, p. 63 (Exodus 1:11) (Hebrew)
  10. ^
  11. ^ a b "Tell el-Retaba". pcma.uw.edu.pl. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  12. ISSN 1015-5104
    .
  13. .
  14. .
  15. ^
  16. .
  17. ^ Aigyptos Foundation Slovak Egyptological team
  18. ^ .
  19. .

Bibliography

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