ArticlePDF Available

A painted residence at Ismant el-Kharab (Kellis) in the Dakhleh Oasis

Authors:
... Next to Isis, the god Serapis-Helios is depicted with a thick beard and a modius upon his head, suggesting that the god played a role in the domestic sphere. 98 Along with Soknopaios and Isis, Serapis-Helios was worshipped in the North Temple at Karanis, where a large horned altar bearing the head of the god was found in the outer court. 99 Based on their consideration of the archaeology and mural paintings of House B/3/1 at Kellis, Colin Hope and Helen Whitehouse concluded that the occupants had a shared cultural heritage with Greco-Egyptian features. ...
Article
Full-text available
Egyptologists and classicists have considered ancient Egyptian religion from different perspectives. The creator and warrior goddess Neith and her northern cult centre Sais (Sa el-Haggar) were points of scholarly interest. Light has been shed on the assimilation of Neith with the Greek warrior goddess Athena and on lanterns and lamps associated through their figurative details with Athena-Neith. Among the festivals confirmed in Greek papyri for Athena-Neith at Sais is the festival of lamps (Lychnocaia), which has not been well covered so far. This paper deals with the illumination of lamps for Neith-Athena from the Pharaonic to the Roman period. The Lychnocaia was a nocturnal ceremony of a spectacular festival for Neith-Athena in Sais, Esna, and countrywide, and I argue that it also symbolised a ceremony in the Osirian myth. The paper first addresses the nature of this ceremony in Pharaonic Egypt and evidence for its maintenance in Graeco-Roman times. Then, the identification of Athena and Neith and the symbolism of the Lychnocaia are addressed. Finally, the Lychnocaia is considered from an ethnic perspective, highlighting the complexity of associating ritual activities with ethnic or legal groups in Graeco-Roman Egypt.
Article
Full-text available
Although structures within the ancient settlement in Marina el-Alamein were built almost exclusively of local limestone, no remains of ancient quarries have been found. The author calculates the cubature of stone used in the construction of the houses, based on the knowledge of the applied building solutions. The resulting data make it possible to address the question of the city managing the works without its own quarry, sourcing limestone from subterranean structures alone.
Article
During the 2020 excavation campaign of the French Archaeological Mission to the Egyptian Eastern Desert (MAFDO), the team in charge of the excavation of the Roman fort of Deir el-Atrash uncovered a polychrome painting on one of the original entrance tower gates from the late 1st–early 2nd c. CE. The iconographic program includes, in the top register, a horseman genius and a caravan of dromedaries with its driver. In the lower register, a pattern of vine stalks and leaves occupies the space. This discovery is exceptional, as very few Roman paintings have been preserved in a military context. In addition to depicting a scene of everyday desert life, the supply of the fort, the scene also illustrates the power of the Empire and its presence at its borders.
Chapter
Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond - edited by Martin Sterry March 2020
Article
Full-text available
New archaeological and papyrological discoveries in the Egyptian desert are destined to impact the study of religion in late antiquity. This extended review of An Oasis City (2015) will highlight some of most important findings related to the religious diversity of the region. The tremendous wealth of the new discoveries offers insight into the development of religion during the later Roman Empire. Building on this archaeological overview of Amheida (ancient Trimithis in the Dakhleh Oasis), this paper discusses the local situation of Egyptian religion, Christianity, and Manichaeism in late antiquity, with a particular focus on religious diversity and interaction in everyday life.
Chapter
This chapter explores a dialogue between the documentary and archaeological evidence of extended household relationships in order to determine the realities of daily life in Roman Egypt as well as the parameters of what archaeological data can reveal about household composition. It devises a methodology for archaeologically exploring household and intra-site relationships in Roman Egypt. An archaeological methodology will enable us to interpret extant Romano-Egyptian house data alongside emerging archaeological data from ongoing excavations. The combination of data from both regions provides us with refined and broad data sets that inform understanding of extended family relationships in Roman Egypt more generally. The chapter analyzes four complete houses from Soknopaiou Nesos, in the Fayum, which were excavated in the early 1930s. It examines four houses from Kellis, which were excavated in the 1980s and 1990s using modern techniques. The chapter considers two houses from Trimithis in the Dakhleh Oasis, which were excavated in the 2000s.
Article
This article discusses the archaeology of the Fayum region, covering land reclamation projects; discoveries and archaeological excavations; layout of Graeco-Roman settlements; and houses of the Roman period. The Fayum was developed in Hellenistic and Roman times to maximize agricultural output, which also led to the foundation and development of several settlements. Although many sites were known by name following the discovery of papyri in the late nineteenth century, early explorations were not well documented or published by the excavators, and considerable damage was wrought by illicit digging and sebakhin activity. Fortunately, a number of ongoing projects, combining archaeology, papyrology, and archival research, are constantly improving our knowledge of Fayum settlements, and in particular the interrelationship between the temple, its dromos, and the residential areas of the towns and villages.
Article
The Western Oases formed part of the Egyptian cultural realm from the time of the early Old Kingdom. The large oases of Bahariya, Dakhla, and Kharga are known to have had a continuous occupation and intensive contacts with the Nile Valley throughout their history. The Roman period is of special significance in the history of the oases because it was the time of their greatest agricultural expansion and biggest population increase until modern times. Their economic importance was based on the production of olives, olive oil, wine, and dates, and on the exploitation of natural resources such as alum, salt, and ochre. This article discusses the geography, archaeology, and cultural idiosyncrasies of the Western Oases.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.