Amara (Nubia)

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The third Nile cat act is labeled "3"

Amara is the modern name of an ancient city in Nubia . A distinction is usually made between Amara East and West: Amara West is on the west side of the Nile , Amara East opposite on the other side of the river. The locations are north of the 3rd Nile Cataract .

Parts of Amara

Amara West

Amara West was founded in the 19th dynasty by Sethos I and probably also served, at least temporarily, as an administrative center. Here was the official seat of the "representative of Kusch" ( Kingdom of Kusch ). The fortified city was about 200 × 200 m. A large temple of Ramses II stood here. The city's name was initially Per Men-Maat-Re ("House of Sethos I"), then became Per Ramses-meri-Amun ("House of Ramses II., Loved by Amun ”) and finally changed to Chenem-Waset .

The actual city had a city wall that was about 100 × 100 m in size. Inside the city was the temple. To the west and east of the city wall were substantial suburbs, which together took up about twice the size of the walled city. There were large cemeteries north of the city. A small district (E.13) has been excavated within the city wall since 2008. Various small houses with three to six rooms stood here.

Amara East

Amara Ost became important in the Meroitic period. The Meroitic name was Pedeme . A temple built by King Natakamani stood here . Of this, the Lepsius expedition saw eight decorated columns and partially documented them. Only a few remains of the city wall are preserved today.

literature

  • Patricia Spencer: Amara West. Volume 1: The Architectural Report (= Excavation Memoir. 63). Egypt Exploration Society, London 1997, ISBN 0-85698-136-2 .
  • HW Fairman: Amara West. Amara East. In: Wolfgang Helck , Wolfhart Westendorf (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume 1: A - Harvest. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-447-01670-1 , Sp. 171.

Web links

Notes and sources

  1. ^ Neil Spencer, Anna Stevens, Michaela Binder: Amara West, Living in Egyptian Nubia. London 2014, ISBN 978-0-7141-9125-6 .
  2. ^ F. Li. Griffith : Pakhoras-Bakharâs-Faras in Geography and History. In: The Journal of Egyptian Archeology. 11, 1925, ISSN  0075-4234 , pp. 259-268.
  3. ↑ LD V, 69
  4. ↑ LD V, 70 .

Coordinates: 20 ° 50 '  N , 30 ° 23'  E