Jebel al-Silsila
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Jebel al-Silsila (جبل السلسلة Jabal as-Silsila , DMG Ǧabal as-Silsila 'the chain mountain', also Gebel es-Silsila ; ancient Egyptian Chenu or Cheny , German "Ruderort" ) is the most important sandstone - Quarry of Egypt and archaeological site on both banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt in Aswan Governorate , about 145 and 40 kilometers south of Luxor and Edfu north and 20 and 65 kilometers from Kom Ombo and Aswan away. The Nile constricts here to a width of less than 400 meters, dominated by the adjacent sandstone cliffs.
description
Sandstone quality
The sandstone can be extracted easily and in large quantities in this quarry. The stone quality is very good, walls up to 40 meters high indicate that there were hardly any disturbances in these locations.
However, the composition of the sandstone is not uniform. The sandstone on the east side is mainly bound with quartz , feldspar hardly occurs. Carbonate cement is responsible for the binding of the sandstone on the west bank. On both sides there are lighter and darker varieties that come from different proportions of brownish limonite (brown iron ore, iron hydroxide) or iron carbonate .
Monuments
The monuments on the west bank include the shrine of the Haremhab, the Speos (rock temple) of King Haremhab (consecrated for Amun , Mut , Chons , Sobek , Taweret (Thoeris), Thoth and the Pharaoh Haremhab himself), rock steles of Seti I , Ramses II. And Merenptah as well as Ramses V , Scheschonq I and Ramses III. Furthermore, 28 rock chapels from the New Kingdom ( 18th Dynasty ), which served as cenotaphs (deputy graves) of high officials, including the administrator Senenmut , the high priest of Amun Hapuseneb , the vizier User and the chancellors Min and Sennefer, as well as extensive stone quarries the New Kingdom and from Greco-Roman times.
The monuments on the east bank include unfinished sculptures such as sandstone sphinxes, the Amenophis III kiosk . in the north of the quarry, southwest of the kiosk, the harbor basin , which was used in times of the Nile floods, as well as gallery quarries, Nile level marks and several rock drawings from different times, which have only been partially published.
history
 
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Location in Upper Egypt |
Graffiti on the sandstone cliffs on both sides of the Nile and a predynastic cemetery on the east bank prove the settlement since prehistoric times. There is hardly any evidence from the Old Kingdom . The site has been used as a quarry at all times up to the present day, and intensive mining has started since the Middle and New Kingdom .
The reason is the technological change in temple construction that began in the Middle Kingdom , when sandstone buildings were erected instead of mud brick buildings with limestone cladding. From the temple on Philae apart, the building material comes all the temples in Upper Egypt from this quarry. These include both the Theban mortuary temples since Mentuhotep II and the temple buildings of Dendera , Karnak (including the buildings of Akhenaten ), Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Esna .
Workers settlement
The ancient Egyptian settlement of the miners was on the east bank. Little is known about it from an “archaeological point of view”. The most important monuments are on the west bank. However, if you want to explore mining and transportation technologies, you should go to the east side.
Research history
The archaeological site has been known at least since the Napoleonic expedition , but apart from a travel guide (Weigall, 1910) there is still no complete description. A complete exploration of the site was carried out under the direction of Ricardo Augusto Caminos , but its publication remained unfinished due to the death of the excavation director. Andrea-Christina Thiem published a complete description of the Temple of Haremhab in 2000 .
literature
- Ludwig Stern : The Nilstele by Gebel Silsileh . In: Richard Lepsius (Ed.): Journal for Egyptian language and antiquity . Eleventh year. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1873, p. 129–135 ( digitized version [accessed April 11, 2016]).
- Carl Richard Lepsius : Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia . Volumes of text. Volume IV: Upper Egypt. . Leipzig 1901, Gebel Selseleh (Silsilis). , S. 84-100 ( online [accessed April 23, 2012]).
- Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall : A guide to the antiquities of Upper Egypt. From Abydos to the Sudan frontier. Methuen, London 1910, pp. 356-373. (only closed representation of the archaeological site)
- Ricardo Augusto Caminos , Thomas Garnet Henry James : Gebel es-Silsilah (= Memoir of the Archaeological Survey of Egypt. Volume 31). Egypt Exploration Soc., London 1963.
- Rosemarie Klemm , Dietrich Klemm : Stones and quarries in ancient Egypt. Springer, Berlin a. a. 1993, ISBN 3-540-54685-5 .
- Mark Smith: Gebel el-Silsila. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 331-34.
- Andrea-Christina Thiem: Speos from Gebel es-Silsileh. Analysis of the architectural and iconographic conception within the framework of the political and legitimizing program of the post-Marna era. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-447-04369-5 . (separate text and table tape)
Web links
- Manetho : Gebel el-Silsila. www.aegyptologie.com, September 12, 2003, accessed April 22, 2012 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ludwig Stern : The Nilstele of Gebel Silsileh. In: Journal of Egyptian Language and Antiquity. Volume 11, 1873, pp. 129-135.
- ^ Ludwig Borchardt : Supplements to "Nilmesser and Nilstandsmarken". In: Session reports of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Philosophical-Historical Class (SPAW). 1934, pp. 194 - 202, 3 plates.
- ^ Friedrich Preisigke : Egyptian and Greek inscriptions and graffiti from the quarries of Gebel Silsile (Upper Egypt). Trübner, Strasbourg 1915.
- ^ Description de l'Égypte . Volume I: Antiquités-Descriptions. Plate 47.
Coordinates: 24 ° 38 ' N , 32 ° 56' E