Current Research in Egyptology 2005

Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Symposium

Rachel Mairs, Alice Stevenson, Alice Stevenson

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781782974482
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Egyptian Ancient History
• Index: History

The sixth annual Current Research in Egyptology symposium took place from 6th-8th January 2005 at the University of Cambridge. Although the topics covered by the papers were many and varied, if there is a general theme it would be that of exploring the borders and parameters of the discipline of Egyptology.

Investigating Ancient Egyptian Towns: A Case Study of Itj-tawy

Claire Malleson

Introduction

The Middle Kingdom town of Itj-tawy has long been accepted as having been the principal royal residence and capital of the 12th and 13th Dynasties (Griffith 1898). Little research has been done on this issue, most probably due to the fact that there is (to date) no direct archaeological evidence for the town. The lack of physical evidence for the vast majority of ancient Egyptian towns has inhibited discussion about the nature and character of settlements. However, it is possible to address these issues if a strong holistic, theoretical framework is applied to the evidence. The socio-economic and political status of Itj-tawy, combined with this apparent lack of information make it highly suitable as a case study.

By utilising all available relevant source material and adopting an empirical approach to the data this paper will address this issue in a fully holistic framework. Throughout, it will refer to the character of the town as being the focus of the research question. The character of a town may be determined by the following: who lived there; what the inhabitants’ occupations were; where the inhabitants were buried; the social structure of the town; the physical appearance of the town; and the nature of the surrounding landscape.

In the first publication of part of the Petrie Museum Lahun Papyri archive in 1898, Griffith made the following statement: “The Turin papyrus, as we have seen, calls the XIIth dynasty that of the Residence Ath-taui… That the city of Ath-taui was founded by Amenemhat I is shown by the inscription of Hetep (CG20516)… It is therefore quite clear that Ath-taui was originally the Royal Residence (ẖnw)... In later times the locality reappears on the stela of Piankhy as in between Meidum and Memphis. It was then a garrisoned fortress…It may be placed with all probability at Lisht, which name may even retain a reminiscence of the old one. The position was doubtless chosen as central, and to all appearance Ath-taiu lay actually on the boundary between upper and lower Egypt” (1898, 87).

This statement sums up what was known in the nineteenth century about Itj-tawy, and scholars have added little more since (e.g. Hayes 1953, 1980; Helck 1958; Simpson 1963; Von Beckerath 1965, 78–81; Arnold 1991, 16; Kuhrt 1995, 164; Callender 2000, 159). It has continued to be generally accepted that Itj-tawy was in the vicinity of Lisht, and it is still viewed as the new capital of the country, but what role the town played in the administration of the country has not fully been examined. Since the revolution in archaeological methods in Egypt brought about by the Aswan dam projects of the 1970s and the adoption of more functional-processual (e.g. Butzer 1976; 1982) or empirical comparative (e.g. Eyre 1999) approaches in Egyptology there has been little discussion about Itj-tawy.

It must be borne in mind that the nature of the evidence for this issue means that no indisputable conclusions can be reached. This paper will re-evaluate previous discussions using the primary evidence, and where possible, suggest new theories.

Principal Textual Sources for Itj-tawy

The two principal sources for the study of Itj-tawy are the Turin Royal Canon and the Victory Stela of Piankhy. The Turin Royal Canon is reputed to have been almost intact when it was discovered by Drovetti in the nineteenth century and although its current fragmentary condition has led to a variety of reconstructions, its structure is now generally agreed upon. The list begins with the names of deities and the kings of Dynasties 1 to 2 and breaks off after the end of the Hyksos and Theban rulers of the Second Intermediate Period.

According to Malek’s reconstruction of the Turin Canon (Malek 1982) the start of the 11th Dynasty (marked in red) is at the top of column nine (Gardiner 1959, V, 11); halfway down this column is the start of the 12th Dynasty in which the kings are named as being ‘of the residence of Itj-tawy’.

A list of the 12th Dynasty rulers follows, and is concluded with an affirmation of the location of this Dynasty:-

The 12th Dynasty is the only dynasty in the papyrus to be specifically linked to a named residence. However, in all other instances where the location of the dynasty might have been noted (Herakleopolis or Thebes of the 9–11th Dynasties), the papyrus is broken. It is impossible to know if the 12th Dynasty was marked out as being unique in having a named residence or if it was usual. What must be noted about this source is that it was compiled approximately seven hundred years after the 12th Dynasty and the agenda of the author is unknown. The apparent prominence of the 12th Dynasty residence should not be taken as evidence of any actual importance of this establishment in the Egyptians’ understanding of their own history.

What this document does tell us is that in the 19th Dynasty, the kings of the 12th Dynasty were thought to have ruled from a residence named Itj-tawy. The Turin Canon is the only piece of evidence linking the name Itj-tawy to the residence of the Middle Kingdom. This is very important, as much of the discussion of Itj-tawy has to be based on occurrences of the ẖnw. Written examples of the name Itj-tawy are very sparse (see later discussion). The Wörterbuch (Erman and Grapow 1926, 150) lists

as a variant for

and vice versa (Erman and Grapow 1929, 369); the ‘residence’ is generally taken to mean Itj-tawy in the Middle Kingdom (e.g. Stadelmann 1996, 226).

The Piankhy Victory Stela (Cairo Museum JE48862 and 47086–47089) was discovered in 1862 by Mariette in the Amun temple at Napata in Nubia (Lichtheim 1980, 66). It records the conquest of Egypt by the Nubian king Piankhy who founded the 25th Dynasty. Although Gardiner (1935) did express some doubts, it is very detailed and is generally thought to be an accurate historical account (Lichtheim 1980, 67).

According to the text of the stela, it was reported to Piankhy that the northern ruler Tefnakht had conquered all of the western Delta and southwards as far as Itj-tawy (Lichtheim 1980, 68; Grimal 1981, line 4). After resolving to prevent the domination of Tefnakht, Piankhy set off into Egypt, and the towns he passed through surrendered to him and his troops as they travelled northwards. He arrived at Meidum, which he found to be barricaded (Lichtheim 1980, 74; Grimal 1981, line 81). He then travelled north and discovered Itj-tawy with its rampart closed and filled with Lower Egyptian troops (Lichtheim 1980, 74; Grimal 1981, line 83) who surrendered immediately. He moved northwards again and arrived in Memphis (Lichtheim 1980, 74; Grimal 1981, line 85).

The inscription clearly places Itj-tawy somewhere between Meidum and Memphis during the 25th Dynasty. Whether or not this is the same place as the original town of Itj-tawy, however, should be questioned. Quirke (2004, 10) states that Itj-tawy ‘survived as a fortress’. It is possible that if Itj-tawy had originally been surrounded by a large fortified mud-brick enclosure wall, the site could have survived over one thousand years and been re-used/still in use during the Late Period. It is also possible that the locality of the Middle Kingdom town Itj-tawy retained this name throughout history and thus the newer Late Period fortress/town became known as Itj-tawy.

Writing of the Name Itj-tawy

As an aside, it is important to know that the writing of the name of Itj-tawy changed throughout its history. The earliest examples name the town as Amenemhat Itj-tawy (e.g. Stela of Intef, CG 20516).

There is one example in which the town is named Sehetepibre Itj-tawy, suggesting that the inscription dates to the reign of Amenemhat II or later (false door of Ihy, Firth and Gunn 1926 pl. 83).

After that, in inscriptions the town is named simply Itj-tawy, (i.e. Stela of Djedu-sobek, BM EA 830) and in hieratic writings as Itj-tawy without the crenelated wall surround).

The Location of Itj-tawy

In order to fully address the contentious issue of the exact location of Itj-tawy it is helpful to examine the motives that led Amenemhat I to re-locate his principal royal residence and admistrative capital away from Thebes (where the victorius southern rulers of the First Intermediate Period had established their capital).

As seen above, Griffith (1898, 87) suggests that the location of Itj-tawy was Lisht, based principally on the similarity in pronunciation of these two names. Simpson (1963) argues that the relationship between Memphis and Saqqara in the Old Kingdom is an indicator that there would be a similar relationship between the Middle Kingdom necropolis at Lisht and the Middle Kingdom residence Itj-tawy, placing Itj-tawy to the east of Lisht. Von Beckerath (1965, 78–81) proposes that Dahshur was the most likely location for Itj-tawy, based on a theory that Amenemhat I seems to have been keen to associate himself with the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu, and may have achieved this by locating his new town close to the 4th Dynasty pyramids. Michałowski (1968) suggests Hawara as a potential location based on its proximity to the symbolically and politically important boundary between upper and lower Egypt, the old Herakleopolitan centr...