Gebel el-Ahmar

Gebel el-Ahmar ( Arabic ﺟﺑﻞ الأحمر, "The Red Mountain") is the name of a mountain in Egypt , near Heliopolis northeast of Cairo .

In ancient Egypt , the mountain served as a quarry for hard quartzite , which has been used for the manufacture of statues and sarcophagi since the Old Kingdom . There are inscriptions from the New Kingdom and the late period , of which those of the vizier Hori at the end of the mountain are among the most important. Hori led a quarry expedition to the region on behalf of the king. The French Egyptologist Georges Daressy published other inscriptions, depictions of animals and graffiti , including a text by the labor chief Penimeni.

Inscriptions on the statue of Amenhotep, son of Hapu and on a back pillar of the Colossi of Memnon suggest that the stone for these statues in Gebel el-Ahmar was broken. However, recent comparative analyzes of the rock speak in favor of Gebel Tingar near Aswan as the place of origin.

Ramses II reports on a stele with a speech to the quarry workers about his visit to the quartzite quarries and that he has chosen two large blocks for his statues.

literature

Farouk Gomaà : Gebel el-Ahmar . In: Wolfgang Helck (Ed.): Lexicon of Egyptology . tape II . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-447-01876-3 , p. 433-434 .

Dietrich Klemm , Rosemarie Klemm , L. Steclaci: The pharaonic quarries of silicified sandstone in Egypt and the origin of the Colossi of Memnon . In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department . ( MDAIK ) 40. von Zabern, 1984, ISSN 0342-1279 , p. 207-220 .

Rainer Stadelmann : The Origin of the Colossi of Memnon: Heliopolis or Aswan? In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department . ( MDAIK ) 40. von Zabern, 1984, ISSN 0342-1279 , p. 291-296 .

30.083333 31.05Coordinates: 30 ° 5 ′ 0 ″ N , 31 ° 3 ′ 0 ″ E

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Farouk Gomaa: Gebel el-Ahmar. In: Lexikon der Ägyptologie II , pp. 433–434.
↑ Georges Daressy: Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte (ASAE) 13, 1914, pp. 43–47.
↑ Alexandre Varille: Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte (ASAE) 33, 1933, pp. 86-87.
↑ Alexandre Varille: Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte (ASAE) 34, 1934, p. 9ff.
^ Dietrich and Rosemarie Klemm: Quartzite. In: Lexikon der Ägyptologie V , 1984, pp. 50–51.

[LÄ-1] Farouk Gomaa: Gebel el-Ahmar. In: Lexikon der Ägyptologie II , pp. 433–434.

[2] Georges Daressy: Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte (ASAE) 13, 1914, pp. 43–47.

[3] Alexandre Varille: Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte (ASAE) 33, 1933, pp. 86-87.

[4] Alexandre Varille: Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte (ASAE) 34, 1934, p. 9ff.

[5] Dietrich and Rosemarie Klemm: Quartzite. In: Lexikon der Ägyptologie V , 1984, pp. 50–51.