Canopus (Egypt)
| Canopus in hieroglyphics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pekuat Kah-nub K3h-nwb Golden ground |
||||||
Canopus , lat. Canopus ( ancient Greek Κάνωβος Kanobos or Κάνωπος Kanopos , from ancient Egyptian Kah-nub "Golden Floor") was an ancient Egyptian coastal city in the western Nile Delta . The city was the most important Egyptian trading port next to Herakleion before the foundation of Alexandria . The ancient Egyptian nickname Kah-nub is an allusion to the immense wealth that the traders acquired here in the port.
Geographical location
The site is located about 25 kilometers east of today's center of Alexandria at the site of the Egyptian settlement Per-Geuti , on the west bank at the mouth of the westernmost arm of the Nile , the Canopian or Heraklotian estuary named after the site (he was the ancient Egyptian god Chons - corresponding to the Greek Heracles - consecrated). Compare with the visibility of the bright star Canopus .
Founding myth and name origin
Another derivation of the name and the myth of the city's foundation by Canopus can be found in Homer's Iliad . Homer names the commander Kánopos of King Menelaus ' ship as the origin of the name. While Menelaus anchored off the Egyptian coast with his ships (see also the origin of the name of Pharos ), his captain died of a snakebite while going ashore. Menelaus himself buried him there and erected a grave monument around which the city of the same name was later built. Herodotus (5th century BC) called Canopus an "ancient port" in his Egyptian logos (approx. 100 years before the founding of Alexandria) - a reference to the old age of the city. When Kanopus was founded is unknown.
history
Hellenistic period
Pharaoh Ptolemy III. Euergetes I. built an Osiris temple with an oracle here . There one could be healed through dreams. The so-called Canopus Decree originally stood in this temple, which was drawn up by a large meeting of priests in the ninth year of the Pharaoh's reign (239 BC) and in which, among other things, the Pharaoh and his wife Berenike II were awarded various new titles.
On the branch of the Nile was the Kanopos Canal , which served the river police and the collection of customs in the Hellenistic period .
Roman time
In Roman times, the city was notorious for its extravagance and luxury and has therefore been referred to as " St. Tropez of Antiquity" in modern times . In his 6th satire , Juvenal points out the debauchery that is prevalent here. In the 15th satire , too , Canopus is cited as a negative example of the luxuria (indulgence, licentiousness) of the Egyptians. Hadrian had the temple replicated in his villa in Tibur . In Virgil's description of the Nile and because of her ancient relationship with Pella in Macedonia:
- Where the happy people of Canopus, of Pellean origin,
- It grows along the Nilus, which is swamped by the waves
- And around his fields in painted arches ...
Late antiquity
After the introduction of Christianity , the city fell into disrepair. The ruins can still be found west of Abukir today. The titular diocese of Canopus of the Roman Catholic Church goes back to a late antique bishopric .
exploration
Earlier excavations about two to three kilometers southwest of the fishing village of Abukir have uncovered extensive traces of the city. Among other things, quays and granite monuments with the name of Pharaoh Ramses II were found , which were probably brought here at a later time.
The god Osiris was worshiped in canopus in the shape of a vase with a human head. When the first Egyptologists found jars with human and animal heads in graves, they erroneously named them canopic jars after this Canopian Osiris .
On April 15, 1866, the Canopus Decree was rediscovered during excavations in the nearby Kom el-Hisn by Richard Lepsius . Two copies of this decree are known, which were written in the two Egyptian writing systems ( hieroglyphic and demotic ) and Greek . After the Rosetta Stone, they were the second most important source of understanding the Egyptian language at the time of the Ptolemies .
The French underwater archaeologist, Franck Goddio , has been studying the area off the coast of Abukir since 1996 . It is believed that other parts of the city of Canopus are about two kilometers east of the present port of the city, submerged in the sea
See also
literature
- Franck Goddio, David Fabre: Osiris. The sunken secret of Egypt. (= Catalog of the exhibition. ) Prestel, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-7913-5596-2 .
- Jürgen Bischoff, Christoph Gerigk: Dive to the Pharaohs. Franck Goddio's discoveries in Egypt. 1st edition, Steidl Publishing, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-95829-193-5 .
- Anne-Sophie von Bomhard: The Naos of the Decades: from the observation of the sky to mythology and astrology (= Monograph / Oxford Center for Maritime Archeology. Volume 3; Underwater archeology in the Canopic region in Egypt. Monograph; Volume 3). Oxford Center for Maritime Archeology, University of Oxford, Institute of Archeology, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-1-9059-0504-1 .
- Franck Goddio: The topography and excavation of Heracleion-Thonis and East Canopus: (1996-2006): underwater archeology in the Canopic Region in Egypt (= Oxford Center for Maritime Archeology. Monograph, Volume 1). Oxford Center for Maritime Archeology, University of Oxford, Institute of Archeology, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-9549-6273-9 .
- Hans Bonnet: Canopus. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 368 f.
- Canopus (Egypt) . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 9, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 462.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gerhard Löwe, Heinrich A. Stoll: The ancient world in key words. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1966, 1976 / VMA, Wiesbaden 1979.
- ^ Virgil: Georgica. 285.
- ↑ Florian Stark: Tidal wave sucked the city of the beautiful and rich into the sea . On: welt.de on August 21, 2019; accessed on August 20, 2020.
- ↑ Franck Goddio: Redicovered sites: the Submerged Canopic region, Eastern Canopus. In: Franck Goddio, David Fabre, Manfred Clauss, Christoph Gerigk: Egypt Sunken Treasures, catalog of the exhibition. 2nd revised and updated edition, Prestel, Munich / New York 2008, ISBN 978-3-7913-3970-2 , pp. 40-44 ( online ).
- ^ Franck Goddio: Sunken Civilizations . On: franckgoddio.org ; accessed on August 20, 2020.
Coordinates: 31 ° 18 ′ 12 ″ N , 30 ° 5 ′ 0 ″ E
