Hard Stones
Stoned in the Eastern DesertThe town is at the foot of Gabal Fatira (Mons Claudianus) in a small tributary of the Wadi Fatira Al-Beda (the white; another fork being called Al-Zarqa, the blue). Here the quarrymen -- convicts for the most part -- and their families lived, surrounded by quarries where a fine-grained light granite was cut. The local Bedouin call the place Umm Digal (Mother of Columns) after the columns which still lie around. Apparently the ancient semitic root deqel or deqala means date palm, but also pillar or column...
by Jenny Jobbins
East of EdfuToday, three of the towns where the quarrymen lived survive in ruined form, each a cluster of houses crowded within a fortified wall. The town on the terrace opposite the temple housed the officer (who held the rank of centurion), the garrison of the quarry and probably the administrative staff. One eloquently built house, complete with plunge bath, is indicative of the luxurious lifestyle which expatriated officers enjoyed.
Another case of the arrogance of modernity: "Only WE can have a good quality of life. Nobody was happy before Xanax."
When, in reality, our bodies and minds have been genetically the same for hundreds of thousands of years. Same brains. Same desires. Is it any surprise that Romans lived good lives when they could?