Semna
Semna (also sometimes referred to as Semna-West to distinguish it from Semna-South ), together with Kumma, formed a fortification of Ancient Egypt in Nubia and is located in what is now Sudan . The ancient Egyptian name of the fortress was Sechem -Chakaure-maa-cheru , Mighty is the justified Chakaure , which corresponds to the throne name of Sesostris III. corresponds. The fortress was upriver about 35 kilometers southwest of the second Nile cataract and 70 kilometers southwest of Wadi Halfa on the western bank of the Nile. On the other side of the Nile was Kumma . Both places are flooded by Lake Nubia today because of the Aswan Dam .
history
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Sesostris III. had Semna built on the then border with Nubia . To support Semna, the Kumma fortifications were also built. Whether Sesostris III. was also responsible for laying the foundation stone for Semna-Süd , as there are indications that Sesostris I was already involved in construction companies there. The facilities in Semna-Süd and Kumma were smaller and acted as additional protective bastions to support Semna, the actual border control station.
Since practically all traffic came into Egypt via the Nile, this was the ideal place for a customs post. The ships coming from Nubia were checked and, in particular, only traders, not guest workers, were allowed into the country. A decree of Sesostris III is known about this. on a stele set up at Semna: No black person is allowed to cross this point, unless he is carrying cattle, goats or sheep .
In the reign of Thutmose III. a temple was built in honor of the Nubian god Dedwen and Sesostris III, who was worshiped as divine. It was dismantled in a rescue operation before the 1965 flood and rebuilt in the garden of the Khartoum National Museum . Semna and Kumma served as military ports . The place with its temples was still inhabited in the New Kingdom .
Nile level measurements
On the overturned boulders below the fortress there were eleven Nilstand marks, which in the late Middle Kingdom from the first year of Amenemhet III's reign . up to the first year of Amenemhet VII's reign ( 13th dynasty ) were affixed there, including a Nilstands stamp from Amenemhet V from his third year of reign. On one of these rock faces was an additional inscription that dates to the early 18th dynasty . The collapse of the rock face on which the Nile marks were attached must therefore have taken place between the 13th Dynasty and the beginning of the New Kingdom .
The marked heights of the Nile flood led to controversial discussions regarding the water levels in Egyptology , since when converting the Nile levels for a period of 70 years of government with regard to the Nilometers in Elephantine , Karnak , Per Hapi and Memphis, unrealizable water levels of well over 33 cubits from Elephantine surrender.
literature
- Dows Dunham , Jozef MA Janssen (Ed.): Semna, Kumma (= Second Cataract Continuation. Vol. 1). Excavated by George Andrew Reisner. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA 1960.
- Fritz Hintze, Walter F. Reineke : Rock inscriptions from the Sudanese Nubia (= publication of the Nubia expedition 1961–1963. Vol. 1). 2 volumes (texts and tables). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-0500-0369-3 , pp. 149–152.
- Alexander J. Peden: The graffiti of Pharaonic Egypt. Scope and roles of informal writings (c. 3100–332 BC) (= Problems of Egyptology. PdÄ. Vol. 17). Brill, Leiden et al. 2001, ISBN 90-04-12112-9 .
- Stephan Johannes Seidlmayer : Historical and modern Nile stands. Investigations on the level readings of the Nile from the early days to the present (= Achet - Schriften zur Ägyptologie. A, Bd. 1). Achet-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-9803730-8-8 , pp. 73-80.
Web links
- Essay on the Egyptian border fortresses in Nubia
- Pharaoh sets the limits - The border and victory stele of Sesostris III. from the fortress of Semna (exhibition booklet)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alexander J. Peden: The graffiti of Pharaonic Egypt. 2001, p. 40.
Coordinates: 21 ° 30 ' N , 30 ° 58' E