Hibis

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Hibis in hieroglyphics
O4 D58 X1
O49

Pray
practice
Greek Ἱβιτῶν πόλις
Coptic Hēb
Ϩ ⲎⲂ
HibisFromNadura.jpg
View of the Temple of Hibis from the Upper Temple of An-Nadura. Parts of the ancient Hibis are now covered by palm gardens.

Hibis ( ancient Egyptian Ḥbt "plow town", Latin Hibeos , Greek  Ἱβις, Ἱβιτῶν πόλις, Ἥβις , Coptic Ϩ ⲎⲂ, Hēb , Arabic هيبس, DMG Hībis ) was a metropolis in ancient Egypt in the north of the al- Kharga depression . Buildings and finds prove that the city existed at least since the late period and was inhabited until the Roman - Coptic times. The most important legacies include the Hibis Temple , which was decorated under the Persian Great King Dareios I and which was dedicated to the gods Amun-Re , Mut and Chons , as well as the ancient settlement area Ain al-Charab (Ain at-Turba).

Location and importance

The metropolis and today's archaeological site is located about 1.5 km north of the modern city of al-Kharga in the depression of the same name and south of the Roman-Christian cemetery Gabbānat al-Bagawāt ( Arabic جبانة البجوات) on the southern foothills of the Jabal at-Ṭair ( Arabic جبل الطير, DMG Ǧabal aṭ-Ṭair  'Vogelberg'). The exact dimensions of the former metropolis are still unknown, as there have been no extensive excavations to date. The approximately one square kilometer city reached in the east as far as the hill an-Nāḍūra ( Arabic الناضورة), on which there is a temple dedicated to the god Chons, in the west to the southern foothills of the Jabal Tārif ( Arabic جبل تارف) and in the south to the area of ​​today's city of al-Kharga.

In the center of the city is the Hibis Temple, which was located to the west of a large ancient lake that belonged to the area of ​​ancient Hibis. North of the temple is the archaeological site ʿAin al-Charāb ( Arabic عين الخراب 'Ruins source'), also ʿAin at-Turba ( Arabic عين التربة) with its settlement remains and rock graves.

The city had important geostrategic importance and developed into a trading center. The ancient caravan route Darb al-Arbaʿīn ( Arabic درب الاربعين 'Piste of forty [days]') from Asyut to Kobbe in the Darfur district in Sudan . In the north the slope Darb ʿAin Amūr ( Arabic درب عين أمور) along to ad-Dachla , which has been used since the Old Kingdom .

history

There is hardly any archaeological evidence for the Old and Middle Kingdom for the al-Kharga depression. In administrative terms, at least in the New Kingdom , the valley belonged to the 8th Upper Egyptian Gau .

It is believed that the Hibis Temple was built as early as the 26th Dynasty , the so-called String Age. It is conceivable that the temple was built on the site of a previous building, as fragments of this kind were found during the excavations. The temple was only decorated in Persian times under Darius I and his successor Darius II. Further additions and decorations were made under Hakor , Nectanebos I , Nectanebos II and by Ptolemaic kings.

In Roman times, Hibis was the seat of a Roman strategist (district chief) who had edicts posted at the gates of the Hibis temple . The earliest edict, that of Gnaeus Vergilius Capito, was published in AD 49 by the strategist Posidonios. The most recent and most important edict comes from the Prefect Tiberius Iulius Alexander and was issued in 68 AD by the strategist Iulius Demetrius. It handles economic and fiscal matters.

The temple was used until the advent of Christianity at the end of the 4th century. In the 3rd century Hermeias, son of Hermophilus of Hermupolis , had a new stone paving laid.

The settlement of Ain al-Charab could have existed until the 4th century AD. Frescoes showing Christian motifs were discovered in the settlement area. The graves in the east of Ain al-Charab could reach back to the New Kingdom.

Research history

The beginning of the 19th century is considered to be the great time of discovery in the Western Desert . The French Frédéric Cailliaud discovered the Hībis Temple in 1818. He is followed by Archibald Edmonstone (1819), the British John Gardner Wilkinson (1825) and George Alexander Hoskins (1832). The German Heinrich Brugsch presented the first scientific description of the Hībis temple.

A more extensive study of the Hibis Temple and Ain at-Turba was only carried out by the American Egyptologists Herbert E. Winlock , Norman de Garis Davies and Albert M. Lythgoe in the years 1909-1913 and 1926-1939, who carried out their excavations as part of the Conducted and documented Egyptian Expedition for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York . In the 1980s, the inscriptions of the Hibis Temple were again analyzed and published by the Canadian Egyptologist Eugene Cruz-Uribe .

As part of the investigations of the el-Bagawāt cemetery by the Egyptian Expedition , ʿAin al-Charab / ʿAin at-Turba was briefly examined in 1907/1908 and 1930/1931. The settlement area and the rock grave cemetery were examined several times between 1986 and 1999 by the Egyptian Antiquities Service, the Supreme Council of Antiquities . Since 2007, the settlement area has been systematically explored under the direction of Manṣūr 'Osmān. The results of all these excavations have so far hardly been published.

Monuments

Hibis temple

Hibis Temple as seen from the southeast

The Amun Temple of Hibis was built on the west bank of an ancient lake for the Theban gods Amun, Lord of Hibis, Mut and Chons and was surrounded by a stone wall since Nectanebo I or Nectanebo II. The temple was connected to the quay via an avenue of sphinxes, which was only laid out in Ptolemaic times. There are three gateways along the avenue. The two eastern ones were only laid out in Ptolemaic times and given edicts in Roman times. The third passage has representations of Darius, who on the one hand offers a portrait of Maat to Amun-Re and Mut , and on the other hand Lattich to Amun-Re.

The 19 × 44 meter sandstone temple consists of a portico , two pillared rooms , several storage rooms, the offering table room and the sanctuary . On the roof of the temple there is a roof temple dedicated to the god Osiris.

The portico has depictions of Nectanebo II performing various rituals before gods. The following first column room has decorations only on its back wall: Darius is at various sacrifices before gods, u. a. to see Amun-Re, Courage and Chons. On the right back wall is the famous depiction of the falcon-headed, winged Seth who kills the serpent Apophis , the arch enemy of the god Re , with a lance.

The second columned hall again shows the king Darius making sacrifices. This hall is significant in terms of religious history. He has three hymns to the creator god Amun.

The sanctuary contains a list of around 700 images of gods and the creator god Re in various forms.

Ayn al-Kharab settlement

ʿAyn al-Charab settlement, looking west

Numerous houses and streets from the settlement in the west have already been exposed. The houses were built from adobe bricks and once had barrel vaulted ceilings . The arrangement of the rooms was irregular. The walls were plastered and whitewashed. Individual houses still had remains of frescoes on the interior walls.

The finds of the Egyptian Expedition from 1908 included undecorated and decorated ceramics, glazed and glass beads, ornaments, a plaster statuette, coins from the time between Emperor Diocletian (reign 284–305), Emperor Maximian (reign 286–305) and Constantine the Elder . Size (Reigns 306–337) as well as glass objects. Some of the glassware belonged to the multi-colored so-called millefiori glasses (thread glasses). Another 2.7 centimeter glass beaker fragment shows a tiger ripping an antelope.

The most recent excavations after 2007 also uncovered a mural showing Jesus healing the sick.

In the east of the settlement there are several rock tombs which, according to the ceramic finds, go back to the new empire. The graves themselves are undecorated and some have pillars inside.

literature

Hibis temple

Hymns to the creator god Amun-Re

  • Jan Assmann : Egyptian hymns and prayers (=  Orbis biblicus et orientalis ). 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. Universitätsverlag, Freiburg (Switzerland) 1999, ISBN 3-525-53649-6 , hymns 128–130 .
  • David Klotz : Adoration of the Ram. Five hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple (=  Yale Egyptological Studies . Volume 6 ). Yale Egyptological Seminar, New Haven (Conn.) 2006, ISBN 0-9740025-2-6 .

Web links

Wikivoyage: Hībis  - travel guide
Wikivoyage: ʿAin el-Charāb  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the nemens evidence see: Guy Wagner: Les oasis d'Égypte: à l'époque grecque, romaine et byzantine d'après les documents grecs (=  Bibliothèque d'étude; 100 ). Inst. Français d'archéologie orientale, Caire 1987, ISBN 2-7247-0050-3 , p. 155-157 . - Werner Vycichl: Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue copte . Peeters, Leuven 1983, p. 288 .
  2. ↑ Winlock: The Temple of Hibis. Volume 1, Plate XXIX.
  3. ↑ Salima Ikram  ; Corinna Rossi: An Early Dynastic serekh from the Kharga Oasis . In: The journal of Egyptian archeology . tape 90 , 2004, p. 211-215 .
  4. ↑ See the aforementioned Serech, archaeological site of Umm Mawagir .
  5. ↑ Elke Blumenthal and a. (Ed.): Section 4: Documents of the 18th Dynasty; Translation for volumes 5–16 . Akademie-Verl., Berlin 1984, p. 356 (Certificate 280 A, 963), p. 365 (Certificate 283.h) .
  6. ↑ The conjecture is based u. a. on fragments of an offering bowl with the name of King Apries , see Winlock: The Temple of Hibis. Volume 1, pp. 39, 41, panel XXVI.A, B.
  7. ^ Darius I also had the sanctuary in the temple of Qasr al-Ghuwaita decorated.
  8. ^ André Bernand: La prose sur pierre: dans l'Égypte hellénistique et romaine . Ed. du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-222-04695-5 (No. 53-57, number 57 contains the edict of Tiberius Iulius Alexander).
  9. ↑ Winlock: The Temple of Hibis. Volume 1, p. 37, plate XXX.
  10. ^ A b Archaeological mural on Christ's miracles discovered in New Valley , message from September 2, 2012 on Egypt Online.
  11. ↑ Frédéric Cailliaud: Voyage à l'oasis de Thèbes et dans les déserts situés à l'orient et à l'occident de la Thébaïde: fait pendant les années 1815, 1816, 1817 et 1818 . tape 1 . Impr. Royale, Paris 1821, p. 88-95 , pl . X-xxiii .
  12. ^ Archibald Edmonstone: A journey to two of the oases of Upper Egypt . Murray, London 1822, p. 60-74 .
  13. ^ John Gardner Wilkinson: Modern Egypt and Thebes: being a description of Egypt, including the information required for travelers in that country . tape 2 . Murray, London 1843, p. 366-371 .
  14. ↑ George Alexander Hoskins: Visit to the great Oasis of the Libyan desert . Longman, London 1837.
  15. ^ Heinrich Brugsch: Journey to the great oasis El Khargeh in the Libyan desert . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1878 ( digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de ).
  16. ^ Albert M. Lythgoe: The Oasis of Kharga . In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin . tape 3 , no. November 11 , 1908, ISSN  0026-1521 , p. 203-208, especially p. 208 , JSTOR : 3253214 .
  17. ^ Albert M. Lythgoe: The Egyptian Expedition . In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin . tape 4 , no. July 7 , 1909, ISSN  0026-1521 , p. 119-123 , in particular 121-123, Figs. 4, 7 , JSTOR : 3252459 .
  18. ^ Walter Hauser : The Christian Necropolis in Khargeh Oasis . In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin . tape 27 , 3, Part 2: The Egyptian Expedition 1930–1931. , March 1932, ISSN  0026-1521 , p. 38–50 , especially p. 38 ( metmuseum.org [PDF]).
  19. ↑ Personal communication with the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service in al-Charga, Bahgat Ahmed Ibrahim.
  20. ↑ Acc. no. 15.1.1. See: Christine Alexander: Accessions of Greek and Roman Antiquities . In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin . tape 32 , no. July 7 , 1937, ISSN  0026-1521 , p. 175–177 , especially pp. 176 f., Fig. 3 ( metmuseum.org [PDF]). - The rest of the article (PDF; 877 kB).

Coordinates: 25 ° 28 ′ 36 ″  N , 30 ° 33 ′ 21 ″  E