The Eastern Desert of Egypt during the Greco-Roman Period: Archaeological Reports

Jean-Pierre Brun, Thomas Faucher, Bérangère Redon, Steven Sidebotham

• Publisher: Collège de France
• Year: 2018
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9782722604889
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

The Eastern Desert of Egypt extends over a vast area of mountains and sandy plains between the Nile and the Red Sea. Its natural riches –gold, gems and high quality stones (such as granite from Mons Claudianus, Tiberianè or Ophiatès, porphyry from Porphyritès, basanites [greywacke] from the Wâdi al-Hammâmât, etc.)– have, despite the difficulties due to harsh climatic conditions, been exploited since the Predynastic period. The Pharaohs, the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors often sent expeditions to extract these minerals and stones. The desert was also a passageway for all sorts of traffic coming from countries bordering the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Expeditions and commercial activities, which started from time of the Old Kingdom, greatly expanded during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Trade focused on spices initially, fragrant resins and gems, then in the Roman period, on a wide range of exotic products including pearls, precious stones, fabrics, etc. The archaeological sites of this region were practically inaccessible for logistical reasons until recently and they were, until now, exceptionally well preserved. Between the late 1970's and 2012, American, English, Italian and French teams were able to explore or search hundreds of sites, significantly improving our understanding of gold mining under the Ptolemies and the Byzantine emperors, granite and porphyry quarries opened by the Roman emperors, and trade with Arabia and India through the ports of Myos Hormos and Berenike...

Table of contents

• Introductory pages
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Coptos, Gate to the Eastern Desert
• The Control of the Eastern Desert by the Ptolemies: New Archaeological Data
• Ptolemaic Gold: the Exploitation of Gold in the Eastern Desert
• A Survey of Place-Names in the Egyptian Eastern Desert during the Principate according to the Ostraca and the Inscriptions
• Chronology of the Forts of the Routes to Myos Hormos and Berenike during the Graeco-Roman Period
• The Fortlets of the Eastern Desert of Egypt
• Quarries with Subtitles
• Some Topographical Problems around Myos Hormos: Philotera-Philoteris
• The Italian Archaeological Mission in the Eastern Desert: First Results from the Area of Wâdi Gasus
• The Exploitation of Animals in the Roman Praesidia on the Routes to Myos Hormos and to Berenike: on Food, Transport and Craftsmanship
• Roman Life in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: Food, Imperial Power and Geopolitics
• Fuelwood and Wood Supplies in the Eastern Desert of Egypt during Roman Times
• Textiles from Mons Claudianus, ‘Abu Sha’ar and other Roman Sites in the Eastern Desert.
• Textile Contrasts at Berenike
• Pottery from the Wâdi al-Hammâmât. Contexts and Chronology (Excavations of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale 1987-1989)
• Quarries, Ports and Praesidia: Supply and Exchange in the Eastern Desert
• Port of Myos Hormos and its Relations to Indo-Roman Trade
• Overview of Fieldwork at Berenike 1994-2015
• The Great Temple of Berenike
• Berenike in Light of Inscriptions, Ostraca, and Papyri
• Bi’r Umm Fawâkhir: Gold Mining in Byzantine Times in the Eastern Desert
• Documentary and Literary News on Clysma
• The Eastern Desert in Late Antiquity