al-Quseir
| Al-Qusair in hieroglyphics | |||||||
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Tjaou / Tjau Ṯ3ˁw Tjaou / Tjau |
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| Greek | Thaghos | ||||||
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Al-Qusair ( Arabic القصير, DMG al-Quṣair 'little castle', also Al Qusayr , El Quseir , Qseir , Kosseir ; ancient Egyptian Tjaou , Tjau , Tschaou , Chow ) is a 5,000 year old Egyptian city on the Red Sea .
It is 130 km south of Hurghada , 103 km north of Marsa Alam and 73 km north of Marsa Alam International Airport, which opened in 2001 . The city has 24,344 inhabitants, and the district (markaz) 32,929 (as of November 11, 2006 census), including settled Ababda .
history
 
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al-Quseir in Egypt |
In ancient Egyptian times, Qusair was known as Tjaou and was in the 16th Upper Egyptian Gau Mahedj . The place was at the end of the old caravan route that connected Koptos , located in the Nile Valley , to the Red Sea via the Wadi Hammamat . The Ptolemaic name Thaghos was controversial for a long time, mostly Qusair was identified as Leukos or Leukos Limen ("white port / city", Latin Portus Albus ). In 1994, however, during excavations in Zerqa on the road from al-Qusair to Kuft in the Nile valley , French researchers found ostraka (pottery shards) with the name Myos Hormos .
The ancient and medieval port is located in Old Qusair (Qusair al-Qadim) , approx. 6 km north of today's Qusair. Excavations began here in 1999. A papyrus dated March 25, 93 AD names "Myos Hormos on the Erythrean Sea " and thus presumably the site itself. A children's book tells the story of the Roman and medieval Qusair. In ancient times, Tjaou or Myos Hormos was an important port from which the ancient Egyptians traveled to the land of Punt , among other places, to buy ivory , myrrh and frankincense (Punt is located by historians in the Horn of Africa in what is now Eritrea or Somalia ) .
In Islamic times the city got its current name, which means "small palace" or "small fortress / castle". According to another interpretation, the name al-Qusair means “lying in the middle”, which is supposed to refer to the middle between Ash-Shalatin and Suez . After the ancient port of Myos Hormos was abandoned in the 3rd century, Qusair gained importance again under the Aiyubids and Mamluks , especially in the 13th and 14th centuries, and became one of the most important ports for the embarkation of Mecca pilgrims and the booming trade with India. When the Ottomans conquered Egypt, however, Old Qusair was abandoned again, so that the new rulers founded today's Qusair a little further south. The port was used as a starting point for pilgrimages to Mecca and during the French occupation it was a meeting place for Arabs and Muslims from the Hejaz to fight with the Mamluks against the French. In addition, New Qusair was the only port where coffee was imported from Yemen .
In 1978, during excavations in a port in al-Qusair , which was intensively used in the 12th and 13th centuries, 69 cotton fragments were found , all of which were obviously of Indian origin, as they had been dyed with stamps in the reserve process.
An oral history project of the Quseir Heritage Preservation Society was able to record how much of Qusair al-qadim and its surroundings had already been undocumented destroyed by hotel buildings.
economy
Many ababdas from the surrounding area come here to buy and sell. In addition to tourism, which is nourished by visitors from hotel complexes located to the south or north (in al-Qusair itself there are no noteworthy accommodations for tourists), there is an important source of income from the mining, processing and export of phosphate .
In 1916, Italian investors got into the phosphate business on a large scale, which is now apparently paying off again, as mainly their compatriots return as tourists. In the past, al-Quseir was an important port city, but with the completion of the Suez Canal it gradually lost this position.
Attractions
The most important sight is the Ottoman fort of Sultan Selims (16th century) on the main thoroughfare and its water reservoir, which is well worth seeing. 100 years ago it still provided the only drinking water in the area that had to be imported from Aden . The water rations were allocated by an officially appointed overseer. For Egyptian standards you can take an exceptionally well documented tour and get a beautiful view over the bay and the town from the observation tower.
The old mosques al-Farran, al-Qinawi and as-Sanusi are also worth seeing . A walk along the harbor promenade with some restaurants and their old houses is also worthwhile. Even the police station here is a historic building. Especially in the alleyways of the old town near the sea, there is still a largely unadulterated picture of Egyptian life with local bakeries, food stalls, fruit stands and many old houses, some with wooden porches that are somewhat reminiscent of Yemeni architecture.
North of the city, under the grounds of the Mövenpick Hotel, was the Roman port. Hundreds of amphorae and other ceramics have been recovered, now the area has been sealed off for posterity by building a hotel.
The road connection to the Nile Valley was called Rohano , which means "Road of the Gods". In ancient Egyptian times, gold was dug along the route, stones for temples and sarcophagi were broken. Accordingly, there are many hieroglyphs (some like graffiti) in the rocks. The road will be opened to tourists in the near future as a connection to Luxor .
Again and again you come across slim conical pigeon houses on the way, less intended for domestic pigeons, but to attract the wild animals. On the one hand these are considered a delicacy, on the other hand the manure is used as fertilizer.
gallery
On the streets of al-Quseir
The fortress of al-Quseir (2009)
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literature
- Stephanie Moser et al .: Transforming archeology through practice: Strategies for collaborative archeology and the community archeology project at Quseir, Egypt. (= World Archeology No. 34/2, 2002). Community Archeology, pp. 220-248.
- DP S Peacock, L. Blue, N. Bradford, S. Moser (1999): Myos Hormos, Quseir al-Qadim: A Roman and Islamic Port / Trade Site on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt. Interim report for Supreme Council of Antiquities. Cairo 1999. Egypt. Department of Archeology. University of Southampton.
- DPS Peacock, L. Blue, N. Bradford, S. Moser (2000): Myos Hormos, Quseir al-Qadim: A Roman and Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt. Interim report for Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo 2000, Egypt. Department of Archeology, University of Southampton.
- DPS Peacock, L. Blue, N. Bradford, S. Moser (2001): Myos Hormos, Quseir al Qadim: A Roman and Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt. Interim report for Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo 2001, Egypt. Department of Archeology, University of Southampton.
- Marijke van der Veen: Consumption, Trade and Innovation. Exploring the Botanical Remains from the Roman and Islamic Ports at Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt . (= Journal of African Archeology Monograph Series Vol. 6). Africa Magna Verlag, Frankfurt M., 2011. ISBN 978-3-937248-23-3 . [1]
- Donald S. Whitcomb, Janet H. Johnson (Eds.): Quseir al-Qadim 1978: Preliminary Report American Research Center in Egypt, Cairo 1979.
- Donald S. Whitcomb, Janet H. Johnson (eds.): Quseir al-Qadim 1980: Preliminary report (= American Research Center in Egypt. Reports. Vol. 7). Undena Publications, Malibu (CA) 1982, ISBN 0-89003-112-6 .
- Donald S. Whitcomb, Janet H. Johnson: Season of excavations at Quseir al-Qadim. (= American Research Center in Egypt. Reports. Newsletter, No. 120) Undena Publications, Malibu (CA) 1982, pp. 24-30.
- Donald S. Whitcomb: Quseir el-Qadim. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 658-60.
- Ronald E. Zitterkopf, Steven E. Sidebotham: Stations and Towers on the Quseir-Nile Road. In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology No. 75, 1989. pp. 155-189.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rainer Hannig: Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German: (2800–950 BC). von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 1205.
- ↑ al-Baḥr al-Aḥma: Census on November 11, 2006 ( Memento from August 15, 2012 on WebCite ) (accessed June 4, 2014)
- ^ A. Conner, L. el Nemr, M. Seymour (2002a): Salma and Samir in Roman Quseir. Quseir Heritage and Department of Archeology, University of Southampton 2002
- ↑ A. Conner, L. el Nemr, M. Seymour (2002b): Salma and Samir in Islamic Quseir. Quseir Heritage and Department of Archeology, University of Southampton, 2002
- ^ Stephanie Moser et al .: Transforming archeology through practice: Strategies for collaborative archeology and the Community Archeology Project at Quseir, Egypt. In: World Archeology Vol 34., Iss. 2, 2002 . (Community Archeology), p. 243
Coordinates: 26 ° 6 ′ N , 34 ° 17 ′ E