#ancient egypt

Egypt Announces Discovery of Five Ancient Water Wells in North Sinai

An Egyptian archaeological mission working in the Tell El Kedwa region of North Sinai has discovered five water wells believed to be from the 13th century BC.

The Egyptian Antiquities Ministry said that wells were built before the reign of Seti I (1292-1190BC), but it did not give an exact date.

They are believed to have been a part of the expansive Horus Military Road, an ancient route that was used by pharaohs, the ministry said.

The wells were found outside the walls of the Tell El Kedwa fortress, one of several massive strongholds found in the area, which were used as military control points to protect Egypt’s eastern frontier and guard access to its northern regions.

The mission’s leader, Ramadan Helmy, said that four of the discovered wells were reportedly filled with sand to prevent the Persian army, which invaded Egypt in 525BC, from obtaining water.

The fifth well, which was unfilled, was a little more than three metres deep, the ministry’s said.

Inside it, the mission found 13 pottery rings and several clay pots dating back to the 26th dynasty of ancient Egypt (664–525BC), also known as the Saite period.

The fifth well was built in a haphazard manner, which was incongruent with the style of that period, Mr Helmy said.

The ministry said the mission’s excavations were part of a larger national project to develop the province of North Sinai, which contains prominent pharaonic sites that will soon be open to tourists.

Another archaeological team operating at the nearby Tell El Kedwa fortress discovered a large storage centre dating to the Saite period.

Inside the large chamber, the mission found a pile of clay pots. And within the walls of the fortress, the mission found the remains of kilns, also from the Saite period.

The kilns are were part of a large copper-smelting workshop, the ministry’s said. Copper shards were also found near the kilns.

The Horus Military Route was used during the old, middle and new kingdoms of ancient Egypt and was depicted in inscriptions at some of Egypt’s other prominent archaeological sites, including Luxor’s Karnak Temple.

At its peak, the route measured 220 kilometres and connected Egypt to Palestine.

By Kamal Tabikha.

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Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando) (Japanese, 1797-1858). Cotton-Goods Lane, Odenma-cho, No. 7 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 4th month of 1858. Woodblock print. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.7

Gold & Silver Ankh Ring by Azza Fahmy

ancientegyptdaily:

_{“The Temple of Ramesses IIIatMedinet Habu is an important New Kingdom period temple structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt. Aside from its size and architectural and artistic importance, the mortuary temple is probably best known as the source of inscribed reliefs depicting the advent and defeat of the Sea Peoples during the reign of Ramesses III.}

_{The first European to describe the temple in modern literature was Vivant Denon, who visited it in 1799–1801. Jean-François Champollion described it in detail in 1829. Initial excavation of the temple took place sporadically between 1859 and 1899, under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities. During these decades the main temple was cleared, and a large number of the Greco-Roman period buildings, including a substantial Byzantine Church in the second court, were destroyed without notes or records being taken. The further excavation, recording and conservation of the temple has been facilitated in chief part by the Architectural and Epigraphic Surveys of the University of Chicago Oriental Institute, almost continuously since 1924.“ [X]}

Ancient Architecture: The Egyptian Pyramids

Cat

Its eyes being variable, the cat symbolizes the varying power of the sun and the waxing and waning of the moon and the splendour of the night; it also denotes stealth; desire; liberty.

As black it is lunar, evil and death; it is only in modern times that a black cat has been taken to signify good luck.

Amerindian: The wild cat portrays stealth.

Celtic: Chthonic powers; funerary.

Chinese: A yin animal as nocturnal; powers of evil; powers of transformation. A strange cat is unfavourable change; a black cat, misfortune, illness.

Christian: Satan; darkness; lust; laziness.

Egyptian: Lunar, sacred to Set as darkness; as lunar the cat can also be an attribute of Isis and of Bast, the moon; it represents pregnant women as the moon makes the seed grow in the womb.

Graeco-Roman: Attribute of the lunar Diana. The goddess of liberty has a cat at her feet.

Japanese: Powers of transformation; peaceful repose.

Scandanavian: Attribute of Freyja, whose chariot is drawn by cats.

Witchcraft: A familiar and disguise of witches; the black cat as the witches’ familiar is evil and ill luck. Cats and dogs as witches’ familiars are rain-makers.

[Source: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols by J.C. Cooper]