Cairo, July 22: 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 the 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-Palestinia border and dates to the 18th and 19th dynasties (1560-1081 BC)," said antiquities supreme Za-hi Hawwas.
Teams have been digging in the area for a decade, but the Egyptian discovery of the massive Fort Tharo and the discovery of two other fortresses confirmed the existence of the Horus fortifications described in ancient texts.
Egypt discovers ancient military fortress of 3500 years ago
10:08, July 23, 2007
One of the biggest ancient Egyptian military fortresses dating back to about 3,500 years ago has been discovered in north Sinai, an Egyptian antiquities official said on Sunday.
The fort was believed to be built at the time of King Thutmos III (1504 BC-1452 BC), Mohamed Adel Maqsoud, head of the Higher Antiquities Council team that made the discovery, was quoted by the Egyptian MENA news agency as saying.
The fort was unearthed on the ancient Horus military road between Egypt and the Palestinian territory, some 3 km off the Suez Canal in the area of Qantara Sharq, he said.
Maqsoud said that the newly discovered fort remains indicated the once gigantic military fort was 500-meter long and 250-meter wide, built with 13-meter-wide brick walls.
It also has a 12-meter-wide southern entrance with two-meter- high walls, he added.
Egyptian armies in the era of the pharaonic modern state took the military fort, which was the eastern front of the ancient Egyptian town of Tharo, as the starting point to protect the country's eastern gateway, according to Maqsoud.
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I've talked about ancient Egyptian fortresses both on the northern and southern borders to control movements into the country here before. Naturally, this should tell us that 'foreigners' didn't come in droves as they pleased without the Egyptian authorization. Listening to the way some people frame history, showing just how much thought they put into their claims, one gets away with the idea that somehow the north was sort of a no-man's land, while the southern border was heavily guarded to restrict movement of people from further south. Some others make it seem like both the southern and northern ends of the country had a "no-man's land" type of situation, allowing unfettered flow of people from the northern and southern neighboring regions, thereby turning Egypt into what they call a 'melting pot'. Undoubtedly, these fortresses were there to primarily protect Dynastic Egypt from potential rivals mainly to its east and its south, and also oversee 'controlled' movement of people in and out of the country. This would have meant gradual and controlled inflow of migrants into the region over time, barring military incursions or attempts at military incursion.
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quote:Originally posted by Mystery Solver: I've talked about ancient Egyptian fortresses both on the northern and southern borders to control movements into the country here before. Naturally, this should tell us that 'foreigners' didn't come in droves as they pleased without the Egyptian authorization. Listening to the way some people frame history, showing just how much thought they put into their claims, one gets away with the idea that somehow the north was sort of a no-man's land, while the southern border was heavily guarded to restrict movement of people from further south. Some others make it seem like both the southern and northern ends of the country had a "no-man's land" type of situation, allowing unfettered flow of people from the northern and southern neighboring regions, thereby turning Egypt into what they call a 'melting pot'. Undoubtedly, these fortresses were there to primarily protect Dynastic Egypt from potential rivals mainly to its east and its south, and also oversee 'controlled' movement of people in and out of the country. This would have meant gradual and controlled inflow of migrants into the region over time, barring military incursions or attempts at military incursion.
Yeah but especially east, since the greatest threats to a unified Egypt always came from there (i.e. Hyksos). Oh and speaking of foreigners and egypt, didnt Nehesi also mean like "Priest" or venerated as well as Nubian in the egyptian language?
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
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Yeah but especially east, since the greatest threats to a unified Egypt always came from there (i.e. Hyksos).
You might think that, but apparently the Egyptians knew the Kushites better than that to entertain such an idea.
quote:Obelisk_18:
Oh and speaking of foreigners and egypt, didnt Nehesi also mean like "Priest" or venerated as well as Nubian in the egyptian language?
I explored the 'religious' association of the term Nehes/Nehesi/Nehesu, amongst others, in a thread I opened with the heading "Nehesu". To date, I just don't have any concrete answers to that. What I know for certain, is that it was generally applied to 'southerners' beyond Egypt's border.
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posted
So the egyptians greatest threat were their ethnic and cultural brothers, the Cushites? i mean not to say the countries never had conflict, egyptian history makes it clear Kush was an enemy, but the greatest threat to egypt? I find that kind of ironic babe...
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
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Yeah but especially east, since the greatest threats to a unified Egypt always came from there (i.e. Hyksos).
You might think that, but apparently the Egyptians knew the Kushites better than that to entertain such an idea.
quote:Obelisk_18:
Oh and speaking of foreigners and egypt, didnt Nehesi also mean like "Priest" or venerated as well as Nubian in the egyptian language?
I explored the 'religious' association of the term Nehes/Nehesi/Nehesu, amongst others, in a thread I opened with the heading "Nehesu". To date, I just don't have any concrete answers to that. What I know for certain, is that it was generally applied to 'southerners' beyond Egypt's border.
And where's the Nehesu thread? point me to it....
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
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So the egyptians greatest threat were their ethnic and cultural brothers, the Cushites? i mean not to say the countries never had conflict, egyptian history makes it clear Kush was an enemy, but the greatest threat to egypt? I find that kind of ironic babe...
In geo-politics strange things can happen, where allies can also be rivals suspicious of one another. I mean, is there any reason for you to assume that Kushites weren't considered as potent a threat to the Egyptian state as any other outside the state's immediate borders? Kushites were not only a rival during the Middle Kingdom in particular, but even during the Roman occupation. Heck, they even ruled the Nation in the 25th dynasty, and nearly came close to doing so even earlier. That said, Kushites were also most counted on in helping restore native consolidation of power in Dynastic Egypt. If memory serves me correctly, Kushite mercenaries were even used in the Levant to help "Israelites" fight Assyrians.
quote:Originally posted by Mystery Solver: I've talked about ancient Egyptian fortresses both on the northern and southern borders to control movements into the country here before. Naturally, this should tell us that 'foreigners' didn't come in droves as they pleased without the Egyptian authorization. Listening to the way some people frame history, showing just how much thought they put into their claims, one gets away with the idea that somehow the north was sort of a no-man's land, while the southern border was heavily guarded to restrict movement of people from further south. Some others make it seem like both the southern and northern ends of the country had a "no-man's land" type of situation, allowing unfettered flow of people from the northern and southern neighboring regions, thereby turning Egypt into what they call a 'melting pot'. Undoubtedly, these fortresses were there to primarily protect Dynastic Egypt from potential rivals mainly to its east and its south, and also oversee 'controlled' movement of people in and out of the country. This would have meant gradual and controlled inflow of migrants into the region over time, barring military incursions or attempts at military incursion.
Yeah but especially east, since the greatest threats to a unified Egypt always came from there (i.e. Hyksos). Oh and speaking of foreigners and egypt, didnt Nehesi also mean like "Priest" or venerated as well as Nubian in the egyptian language?
Nahesi meant southerner and had no special ethnic connotation other than a geographic one. Therefore, Southerners could also be kings, princesses, priests, soldiers and what have you. There was a pharoah named Nahesi from the 14 th dynasty of Egypt who seemed to have been the first "native" Egyptian pharoah after a line of FOREIGN kings. The point being that Nahesi did not mean "nubian" or specifically "black person" or Negro as most modern Egyptologists try and portray them. Egyptians recognized an ancestral relationship to southerners and this was a constant theme throughout the history of dynastic Egypt. Therefore, the question is whether Nahesi as a name should be seen in the proper context as opposed to the context that modern Egyptologists try to put it in.
quote: Nehesi is the only pharaoh of the 14th Dynasty who is attested to in any contemporary writings. There are a collection of artifacts that date from Nehesi's reign, including an obelisk at the temple of Seth in the northeast delta city of Raahu, two stelae at Tel Habwe, a column in Tanis with his mother's name on it, and a number of scarab seals wth his name.
Surprisingly, his name means Nubian in Egyptian and may indicate that he was Nubian himself, which is not surprising. Nubian troops made up a large part of the Egyptian military forces (despite the fact that the pharaohs of preveious dynasties seemed to be perpectually at war with the Nubian people.
The Turin canon lists him as the firs tking in the 14th Dynasty, but there were probably a number of kings who ruled before him that are not accounted for in the papryus. Since the 14th dynasty cooexisted with the 13th and possibly the 15th after it in the turmoil of the Second Intermediate Period, it's likely that the turin canon and other king lists have a distince local bias -- listing only those kings with local or provincial power. The other kings may have had long reigns, compared to the brief stretch of time that is allotted to Nehesi.
Nehesi writes himeslf that he is "the son of a pharaoh", but quite suspiciously does not say who exactly it is -- leading most to believe that he was fabricating his history in an attmept to legimitize his rule. Proabably, his father was a commander or other government official who took power in the delta (along with a number of other local leaders.
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Getting back to the main point of this thread-- the finding shows that Egyptians set up military forts guarding against enemies in Asia not just to their south, as it is so emphasized by Eurocentrics.
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