El-Hibe
 
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el-Hibe ( Arabic الحيبة, DMG al-Ḥība ) is the modern name of an ancient city in the 18th Upper Egyptian Gau on the eastern bank of the Nile about 32 kilometers south of Beni Suef .
Naming
The original name of the city was Dehenet Weret , "Big Rock". The name Teudjoi (Teuzoi) "your walls", which has been documented since the 22nd dynasty , probably goes back to a surrounding wall built in the 21st dynasty . In Greco-Roman times the city was called Ἀγκυρῶν Πόλις Ankyronpolis .
The temple
The local god of el-Hibe was the ram-headed Amun , lord of the great rock . Under Scheschonq I and Osorkon I , a temple was built for Amun in el-Hibe, of which ruins are still preserved. The 36 × 18 meter building is the earliest example of a temple with a real pronaos with an open front. In addition, the blocks of a temple for the local god Horus , which had been built by Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II , were discovered south of el-Hibe . However, the exact location of the temple is not known.
history
The founding of the city goes back at least to the New Kingdom . During the third interim period , the city marked the northernmost limit of the Thebais under the rule of the high priests of Amun . As a border town, el-Hibe was therefore fortified during the 21st dynasty . Some mud bricks bear the stamps of the high priests of Amun of Thebes , Pinudjem I and Mencheperre. In Greco-Roman times, el-Hibe regained importance as a fortress.
An extensive necropolis belonged to the city of el-Hibe , which is known for the finds of numerous hieratic , demotic and Greek papyri .
Research history
From 1901 to 1902, Ahmed Bey Kamal undertook a first investigation of el-Hibe, after numerous papyri had been acquired in the art market in previous years. 1902–1903 Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt dug in the necropolis of el-Hibe and found other papyri. In 1907 Tadeusz Smolensky discovered reused blocks of a temple for the local god Horus south of el-Hibe . In 1911 Hermann Junker and Wilhelm Pelizaeus excavated a grave that was filled with numerous coffins, some of which ended up in the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim . 1913–1914 Hermann Ranke excavated the temple and Greco-Roman houses. An Italian mission under Enrico Paribeni 1934-1935 excavated other houses and graves. In 1980 an American mission under Robert Wenke finally undertook excavations in el-Hibe.
The site has been subject to looting since 2011, mainly serving the illegal antiques market . Mummies and body parts were scattered around the area.
literature
- Giuseppe Botti : Le casse di mummie ei sarcophagi da el Hibeh nel Museo Archeologico di Firenze. Florence 1958.
- Georges Daressy: Le temple de Hibeh. In: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte Vol. 2, 1901, pp. 154–156.
- Erika Feucht : Two reliefs of Scheshonq I from el Hibeh. In: Studies on ancient Egyptian culture. Vol. 6, 1978, pp. 69-77.
- Hermann Ranke (ed.): Coptic cemeteries near Karâra and the temple of Amon Scheschonk I. near el Hibe. Report on the Baden excavations in Egypt in the winters of 1913 and 1914. Berlin / Leipzig 1926.
- M. Ahmed Kamal: Description general des ruines de Hibe, de son temple et de sa nécropole. In: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. Vol. 2, 1901, pp. 84-91.
- Enrico Paribeni : Report preliminare su gliscavi di Hibeh. In: Aegyptus. Vol. 15, 1935, pp. 385-404.
- Geoffrey Avery Wainwright: El Hibah and esh Shurafa and Their Connection with Herakleopolis and Cusæ. In: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. Vol. 27, 1927, pp. 76-104.
- Robert J. Wenke: Archaeological Investigations at el-Hibeh 1980. Preliminary Report (= American Research Center in Egypt Reports: Preliminary and Final Reports of Archaeological Excavations in Egypt from Prehistoric to Medieval Times. Vol. 9). Malibu 1984.
Individual evidence
- ↑ short German blog post on archeology
- ↑ engl. Report on Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues
Web links
Coordinates: 28 ° 48 ' N , 30 ° 55' E