Deir el-Medina

View of Deir el-Medina from the southwest

Deir el-Medina ( Arabic دير المدينة, DMG Dair al-Madīna 'monastery of the city') is the name given to the ruins of a workers' settlement in ancient Thebes in Egypt . The old name of the settlement was "Set Maat" (the "place of truth" or the "place of world order"). The workers living here were called "servants in the place of truth".

history

The workers' settlement in the south of Thebes-West was founded under the reign of King Amenophis I and his mother Ahmose-Nefertari . Here lived the workers and artists, which the tombs in the Valley of the Kings in ancient times created, with their families.

The workers' settlement was from around 1520 to 1069 BC. Inhabited, with a break under Akhenaten 1350 to 1334 BC. It provides archaeologists and Egyptologists with information about the everyday life of simple people. The criminal Paneb , the scribe Ramose, his successor and adopted son Kenherchepechef and his wife Naunachte lived and worked here .

Construction details

Hathor Temple at Deir el-Medina

To the north of the workers' settlement is a small temple of the Ptolemaic goddess Hathor , which was used by Coptic monks for a long time . Hence the modern Arabic name Deir el-Medina (German "monastery of the city").

Many of the foundations of smaller temples of the goddess Hathor are located below or next to the Great Hathor Temple , including those of Seti I and Amenophis I. East of the temple of Hathor was once a much smaller sanctuary of Amun , originating around the time of Ramses II.

About 200 m northeast of the temple is a shaft from which over 5,000 ostraka were recovered, including private letters, accounts, sketches and court records. This find made a great contribution to the exploration of the conditions of the inhabitants at that time and to the overall understanding of the life of the people in ancient Egypt.

Right next to the settlement are the workers' cemeteries (to the west and east). The graves date from the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties . The walls are adorned with paintings, which in the quality of their execution come close to the royal tombs of that time and thus exceed the standard of the noble tombs of West Hebrew.

exploration

68 foundation walls have been exposed. The grave of Sennedjem , which was discovered by Gaston Maspero on February 2, 1886 , became particularly famous . Today it is called TT1 .

Found objects

literature

Benedict G. Davies: Who's who at Deir El-Medina. A prosopographic study of the royal workmen's community. (= Egyptological uitgaven. Vol. 13). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden 1999, ISBN 978-90-6258-213-6 .
Wolfgang Helck & Adelheid Schlott (arrangement): The dated and datable ostracas, papyri and graffiti by Deir el-Medineh (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen. Vol. 63). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-03586-2 .
Leonard H. Lesko: Pharaoh's workers. The villagers of Deir el Medina. Cornell University Press, London 1994, ISBN 978-0-8014-2915-6 .
Kimberly Ann Newman: Social archeology, social relations and archaeological materials. Social power as depicted in the wall art in the tombs of the Pharaoh's tomb-builders, Deir el-Medina, Egypt, XVIII - XX dynasties. National Library of Canada, Ottawa 1998, pdf online resource .
John Romer: They created the royal tombs. The story of an ancient Egyptian workers' settlement. Hueber, Ismaning 1986, ISBN 3-19-005500-9 .
Frank J. Yurco: Deir el-Medina. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 247-50.