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Posted on 07/23/2007 2:51:56 PM PDT by blam
Massive Egyptian fort discovered
Mon, 23 Jul 2007
Egypt announced on Sunday the discovery of the largest-ever military city from the Pharaonic period on the edge of the Sinai desert, part of a series of forts that stretched to the Gaza border.
"The three forts are part of a string of 11 castles that made up the Horus military road that went from Suez all the way to the city of Rafah on the Egyptian-Palestinian border and dates to the 18th and 19th dynasties (1560-1081 BC)," antiquities supreme Zahi Hawwas said in a statement.
Teams have been digging in the area for the past decade, but the Egyptian discovery of the massive Fort Tharo and the discovery of two other fortresses by French and American teams confirmed the existence of the Horus fortifications described in ancient texts.
Fort Tharo, the military headquarters for the eastern defence of Egypt, had 13-metre thick mud brick walls running 500 metres by 250 metres and was punctuated by 24 huge towers, said a statement from the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The fortress was surrounded by a water-filled moat which could only be crossed by using a removable wooden bridge, with the fort's administrative buildings, temples, storehouses and market places found nearby.
The entire complex, which was connected by a bridge over the crocodile-infested waters of a now silted up branch of the Nile, was charged with defending Pharaoh Ramses II's northern capital city of Per-Ramesse.
Ramses II of the 19th Dynasty spent 16 years of his long reign battling the rival Hittites in the Levant and mounted numerous expeditions across the desert into neighbouring lands.
The other fortresses discovered appear to be outer lines of defence for the Tharo complex.
The American expedition found a 100-metre square fort known as the Lion's Lair seven kilometres east of Tharo in Tel al-Burj, also surrounded by a large moat.
Another 15 kilometres to the east the French expedition found a slightly smaller fortress built by Ramses' father Seti I in Tel Heir.
You’d need REAL Egyptians - the only ones lefet are the Copts - about 10% of the population and all oppressed Christians. All the others are just Muslim Arabs who moved in about 1500 years ago - you know - like they are moving in here today.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1464082/replies?c=8
Rhonicolura?
http://www.airport-images.com/city_743920_El-%60Arîsh
“Who were they keeping out?”
The “sea people,” I guess.
AVARIS!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1164080/posts
#35
“The identification of Avaris with el-Arish goes together with the identification of the Hyksos with the Amalekites.”
:’) Ken, they must have shipped ‘em in. ;’) The dating of these (18th / 19th dynasties) must be incorrect, or the identification of this as the site of Tharu / Avaris (they were two names for the same place in ancient times) must be incorrect. I’d suggest that this structure is NOT Tharu (not surprisingly, Tharu / Avaris was previously identified with just as much certainty, at a site west of this one) which was a fortress built by the Hyksos. Should be amusing if / when Persian artifacts show up in inopportune contexts. ;’)
The Peace Canal (whatever the project is now named) which Egypt has been building to move Nile water to Sinai settlements and (perhaps, eventually) Gaza (not to Israel, because Sudan threatened war over that idea) has uncovered a bunch of stuff in the northern Sinai and eastern delta.
they must have had a powerful need to keep other folks out.
Wish I could get my hands on one of those Egyptshine Fords!
Good luck finding after market parts, Dude!
Avaris references:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1716967/posts?page=21#21
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1180724/posts?page=18#18
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/999861/posts?page=6#6
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/891225/posts?page=20#20
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/725672/posts
The History: ThaliaI shall now mention a thing of which few of those who sail to Egypt are aware. Twice a year wine is brought into Egypt from every part of Greece, as well as from Phoenicia, in earthen jars; and yet in the whole country you will nowhere see, as I may say, a single jar. What then, every one will ask, becomes of the jars? This, too, I will clear up. The burgomaster of each town has to collect the wine-jars within his district, and to carry them to Memphis, where they are all filled with water by the Memphians, who then convey them to this desert tract of Syria. And so it comes to pass that all the jars which enter Egypt year by year, and are there put up to sale, find their way into Syria, whither all the old jars have gone before them.
by Herodotus
tr by George Rawlinson
This way of keeping the passage into Egypt fit for use by storing water there, was begun by the Persians so soon as they became masters of that country. As, however, at the time of which we speak the tract had not yet been so supplied, Cambyses... filled a number of camels' skins with water, and loading therewith all the live camels that he possessed, drove them into the desert, and awaited the coming of the army. This is the more likely of the two tales that are told.
The History: ThaliaPsammenitus, son of Amasis, lay encamped at the mouth of the Nile, called the Pelusiac, awaiting Cambyses... The Persians crossed the desert, and, pitching their camp close to the Egyptians, made ready for battle. Hereupon the mercenaries in the pay of Psammenitus, who were Greeks and Carians... Stubborn was the fight which followed, and it was not till vast numbers had been slain upon both sides, that the Egyptians turned and fled... On the field where this battle was fought I saw a very wonderful thing which the natives pointed out to me. The bones of the slain lie scattered upon the field in two lots, those of the Persians in one place by themselves, as the bodies lay at the first -- those of the Egyptians in another place apart from them. If, then, you strike the Persian skulls, even with a pebble, they are so weak, that you break a hole in them; but the Egyptian skulls are so strong, that you may smite them with a stone and you will scarcely break them in. They gave me the following reason for this difference, which seemed to me likely enough: The Egyptians (they said) from early childhood have the head shaved, and so by the action of the sun the skull becomes thick and hard. The same cause prevents baldness in Egypt, where you see fewer bald men than in any other land. Such, then, is the reason why the skulls of the Egyptians are so strong. The Persians, on the other hand, have feeble skulls, because they keep themselves shaded from the first, wearing turbans upon their heads. What I have here mentioned I saw with my own eyes, and I observed also the like at Papremis, in the case of the Persians who were killed with Achaeamenes, the son of Darius, by Inarus the Libyan.
by Herodotus
tr by George Rawlinson
The History of HerodotusThe Ionians and Carians occupied for many years the places assigned them by Psammetichus, which lay near the sea, a little below the city of Bubastis, on the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile... The docks where their vessels were laid up and the ruins of their habitations were still to be seen in my day at the place where they dwelt originally, before they were removed by Amasis... Psammetichus left a son called Necos, who succeeded him upon the throne. This prince was the first to attempt the construction of the canal to the Red Sea -- a work completed afterwards by Darius the Persian -- the length of which is four days' journey, and the width such as to admit of two triremes being rowed along it abreast. The water is derived from the Nile, which the canal leaves a little above the city of Bubastis, near Patumus, the Arabian town, being continued thence until it joins the Red Sea. At first it is carried along the Arabian side of the Egyptian plain, as far as the chain of hills opposite Memphis, whereby the plain is bounded, and in which lie the great stone quarries; here it skirts the base of the hills running in a direction from west to east, after which it turns and enters a narrow pass, trending southwards from this point until it enters the Arabian Gulf... A hundred and twenty thousand of the Egyptians, employed upon the work in the reign of Necos, lost their lives in making the excavation... Necos, when he gave up the construction of the canal, turned all his thoughts to war, and set to work to build a fleet of triremes, some intended for service in the northern sea, and some for the navigation of the Erythraean. These last were built in the Arabian Gulf where the dry docks in which they lay are still visible.
translated by George Rawlinson
Book II: Euterpe
King of the Wild Frontier (Hyksos art and architecture in the Sinai)
Al-Ahram Weekly | 2005 | Nevine El-Aref
Posted on 08/15/2005 10:33:49 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1464082/posts
[and, a graphics-heavy topic]
USO Canteen FReeper Style
Ancient Egyptian Military:
Fortresses, Siege Warfare July 22, 2003
MilitaryHistory.com at the Internet | July 22, 2003 | LaDivaLoca
Posted on 07/22/2003 5:52:06 AM EDT by LaDivaLoca
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/950387/posts
thanks three times...
Key archaeological finds in SinaiAn archaeological mission belonging to the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced the discovery of 36 tombs dating back to the pre-history era.
Egypt State Information Service
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Dr. Zahi Hawwas, Secretary-General of SCA said that the mission unearthed the tombs during an archaeological survey in Ain Hadra and Abul Rdeis, central Sinai.
Apparently this publisher still refuses to admit Israel exists.
http://www.wataninet.com/article_en.asp?ArticleID=12949
South Sinai has a long history of human habitation. In ancient times Abu-Zneima, which lies on the Gulf of Suez close to the Gharandel valley, the temple of Hathor and Hammam Pharaon—Pharaoh’s Bath—was used as a port for carrying turquoise and copper from Sinai to Tiba, present-day Luxor. It is now an industrial zone with most of the residents employed in nearby factories and mines. Further along the Gulf of Suez is Abu-Rdeis, surrounded by a chain of mountains interrupted by valleys of date palms. Oil and natural gas is found in this area, so many local people work in these industries...
http://www.egyptsites.co.uk/deserts/western/farafra.html
Ain Hadra...inhabited during the Roman period, ancient caravan route, artifacts, pottery sherds found etc...
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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