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DOMIZIA D'ERASMO
GROMA | documenting archaeology
ISSN: 1825-411X | Vol. 4-2019
DOI: 10.12977/groma22 | pp. 1-18
Published on: 01/03/2020 | Section: Article
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Georeferencing Napoleonic Cartography
to reconstruct Ancient Egypt landscapes:
methods in comparison and the case of the
island of iw-rd in the 16th nomos of Upper
Egypt
The Egyptian landscape over the millennia has been aected by geomorphological and urban changes
that have also involved the hydrological scenery, with the consequent transformation of areas around
watercourses. This paper aims to highlight the possibilities derived from the consultation of Napoleonic
cartography for the study of the Egyptian landscape through GIS platforms, providing an innovative
methodology for its georeferencing. The strengths of this resource, joined to the traditional research
methods, will be illustrated through the case of the ancient island of iw-rd located in the 16th nomos of
Upper Egypt.
Introduction
This paper was conceived in the context of the PAThs project, an ERC Advanced
Grant (2015) directed by Paola Buzi and hosted at Sapienza University of Rome,
whose main purpose is to explore the processes of production, copying, usage,
dissemination, and storage of Coptic literary texts in relation to the geographical
contexts of origin of both the texts and their related writing supports (https://
atlas.paths-erc.eu). One of the strong points of this project is its multidisciplinary
approach that also involves digital humanities. In this perspective PAThs also ta-
kes advantage of the Laboratorio di Cartograa Storica of Sapienza University of
Rome, coordinated by Julian Bogdani, which focuses on the elaboration of carto-
graphic documentation on Egypt using GIS-based methodologies (Buzi et al 2017;
Bogdani 2017, 59-69; Bogdani 2018, 200-210; Bogdani 2019).
It should be emphasized how in recent years several studies have utilised the com-
parison between historical and contemporary cartography to improve the under-
standing of landscapes of the past. Combining this methodology with the study
of the literary sources and the analysis of the archaeological evidence, it is possible
to attempt to reconstruct landscapes even of very ancient periods (Graves 2017;
Toonen et al 2017; Hillier et al 2007; Relats Montserrat 2017). As a matter of fact,
historical maps provide – in some cases more than written sources – geographic
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 2
and topographical information that is of fundamental importance for understan-
ding the geography of the past (Rumsey and Williams 2002, 1; Cajthaml 2011;
Boutoura and Livieratos 2006; Grosso 2010; Timár, Mészáros and Molnár 2014).
This is the general context of this paper, the purpose of which is to oer a new
perspective for the analysis of the Egyptian landscape by georeferencing, via a GIS
platform, the Carte topographique de l’Égypte, drawn by Pierre Jacotin during the
Napoleonic campaign in Egypt, with the purpose of highlighting its value as a
historical and archaeological source.
The Napoleonic cartography
The Carte topographique de l’Égypte is part of the most famous Description de l’Égyp-
te, an important editorial eort that concludes the French exploration of Egypt
during the rst phase of the colonial conquest. The series provides a thorough
scientic description of Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century and is the result
of the research conducted by more than 160 savants that followed the military ex-
pedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte. The 22 volumes where published between
1809 and 1818 where followed by a cartographic atlas of Egypt and Syria.
The Carte topographique de l’Égypte – the cartographic atlas – includes a three-sheet
plate that shows the whole of Egypt on a scale of 1:1,000,000 meters, and 47 plates
covering Egypt and Syria in a scale of 1:100,000 meters. Pierre Jacotin was ap-
pointed director of the topographical data collection, and elaboration processes, as
well as publisher of the cartography. He was supported in this task by the famous
astronomer Nicolas-Antoine Nouet, whose contribution was fundamental for the
publication of the atlas (Godlewska 1988, 15-18). The editing of the 47 plates took
place in Paris, several years after the repatriation of the French troops. Jacotin and
his superiors decided to compile the cartography using the same projection that was
adopted for the Carte de l’Académie (a cartography of France), published in its enti-
rety in 1815 the family of astronomers and cartographers of Italian origin Cassini,
in particular by Jean-Dominique and his father César-François (Gallois 1909, 307).
Nouet’s contribution in this rst phase was fundamental as he adapted Cassini’s
projection to the Egyptian area by developing a spheroid based on the calculation
of astronomically-measured control points, surveyed whenever possible, during the
campaign in Egypt. The astronomer chose the centre of the pyramid of Gizeh as
the fulcrum of his projection, the intersection point of the rst meridian and rst
parallel (Jacotin 1824, 492; Godlewska 1988, 45). However, despite his good will,
Jacotin informs us that more than once, during the drafting of the plates, he had
to face cases of discrepant information between the topographical surveys and the
control points calculated by Nouet. In these cases, the director at times preferred
to use only the astronomical control points, in others he preferred to use only the
information from the topographic surveys and in others he chose to use other astro-
GROMA 4 - 2019
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nomically-observed control points that were distant from the area he was designing
(Godlewska 1988, 82).
What is evident in this brief introduction is that the Carte topographique de l’Égyp-
te, even though it can be considered a pioneering work for the time in which it
was conceived, is deeply aected by sometimes very severe on-eld diculties
that the surveyors encountered, most of the time determined by the ongoing ar-
med conict. For these reasons, the topographical information it supplies deser-
ves additional investigations before it can be used in any scientic work. Finally,
emphasis should be placed on two contributions that have provided fundamental
information for this study. At rst, Pierre Jacotin himself supplies us with a com-
plete description of the events and processes that led to the actual drafting of the
Carte topographique de l’Égypte and provides us with a precious description of the
topographic survey process and of the several diculties encountered on the eld
(Jacotin 1824). Secondly, Anne Godlewska ha conducted and published in 1988
a thorough and detailed study of this endeavour based on the close exam of seve-
ral manuscripts and completed with a precious cartometric analysis of the maps
(Godlewska 1988). Her generous help and support was fundamental for the launch
of this study.
Georeferencing of Napoleonic Cartography: comparing
methodologies
The following paragraphs deal with the methodologies used for georeferencing
the Napoleonic cartography with the specic aim of making it a useful tool for
archaeological research and a valid source for the historical study of the Egyptian
landscape. Modern cartography, both satellite images and cartography produced
in the 20th century by dierent institutions, mostly for military purposes, have
provided a fundamental tool for this study. A most precious source of information
are the maps published in 1941 by the Great Britain War Oce and U.S. Army
Map Service, a cartography that uses the same metric scale as the Napoleonic one
and covers the whole of Egypt (g. 1). It was conceived before the construction
Fig. 1: To the left the
entire coverage of the
4085-Great Britain
War Ofce-U.S. Army
Map Service-1941
overlayed on a
satellite image (Esri
satellite), on the right
a detail of the Delta
area of the same
cartography.
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 4
of the Aswan dam, and thus represents an Egyptian landscape much more similar
to the one described by the Napoleonic plates than the one represented in the
cartography of the second half of the 20th century. This cartography has already
been georeferenced and published online (Fig. 1) by the Laboratorio di Cartogra-
a Storica at Sapienza and is freely available as a WMS service (Bogdani 2018-19).
The results of the two dierent georeferencing methodologies will be considered,
using as examples two distinct plates, the Minîeẗ-Antinoë (plate XIV) and the Ro-
sette-Lac Burlos (plate XL). As a side note, the toponym variants used to identify
the plates in this paper closely follow the ones reported in the Carte topographique.
The plate XIV shows an area of Middle Egypt bordered on the north by the city of
Minya and on the south by that of el-Ashmunein (the ancient Hermopolis). The
area on the map, densely urbanized and including a stretch of the Nile about 50
kilometres long, clearly exemplies some common issues of georeferencing areas
located near bends of the Nile – areas that have been interested by changes in the
river’s course after the construction of the Aswan dam – and areas highly aected
by urbanization. The plate XL describes an area of the Egyptian Delta located
west of Alexandria, near Rosetta. It depicts a territory that has radically changed
over the last few centuries. At the time the plate was drawn, there were only a
few cities in the area, and the various branches of the Delta of the Nile were very
evident. Nowadays the landscape has been profoundly modied by urbanization
and land-reclamation programmes, which have led to a very dense net of irriga-
tion canals. Both areas in dierent ways were thus subject to signicant urban and
geomorphological changes during the last century.
The rst georeferencing method involves the visual identication of common
ground control points (GPC) of known coordinates; the second one considers
the manual correction of the scale of the plates, the rotation to follow the original
north and then their shift to accurately chosen ground control points. Finally, it
should be emphasized that even if this paper deals with only two plates, the entire
georeferenced atlas is being published as a WMS service within the PAThs project.
Georeferencing through visual identication of ground control
points
The rst attempt at georeferencing Napoleonic cartography is based on the visual
observation of places – cities, villages or archaeological sites – available in plates
XIV and XL, and currently identiable on modern cartography and on freely avai-
lable satellite imagery (Bing and Google satellite imagery are used as basemaps).
As already mentioned, the plates of the Description de l’Égypte were drafted on a
scale of 1: 100,000 meters and therefore they do not provide punctual identiable
references to use as GPC. For this reason, we decided to carry out the georefe-
GROMA 4 - 2019
5
rencing by setting a scale of 1: 100,000 meters in the GIS project, the same used
for the above-mentioned cartography. It should be considered that the decision to
maintain a consistency of parameters during the georeferencing process between
the GIS project and Jacotin’s cartography was also inuenced by the desire to pre-
serve as much as possible the quality of information obtained from the Description
de l’Égypte. At the same time, one must consider all factors – both anthropic and
non-anthropic – that can potentially compromise the nal result of the georefe-
rencing operation, mainly related to the geomorphological changes of Egyptian
landscape and its urbanization. In order to provide a practical example, the geore-
ferencing through visual identication of ground control points has highlighted
how, what were several villages in the Napoleonic cartography have now grown
and merged into a single city and there is no reliable way to use these centres as
error-safe control points. The case of the city of Minya may be representative (g.
2). This urban agglomeration over the centuries has swallowed up the villages of
El Askàs and Damris, making it impossible to distinguish them within the present-
day town using only satellite images.
Fig. 2: Examples
of cartographic
reproduction of the
area surrounding
the city of Minya: a)
Carte topographique
d'Égypte georeferen-
ced and overlayed on
a satellite image (Esri
satellite), b) Great
Britain War Ofce,
U.S. Army Map Ser-
vice 1941, c) Series
1404-Great Britain
War Ofce and Air
Ministry-1960, d)
Esri Satellite.
Fig. 3: Location of the
GCPs in both example
plates
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 6
In order to georeference plates XIV and XL, the GCP were positioned in such a
way as to uniformly cover the area represented on both maps (g. 3). The result
obtained from the transformation of plate XIV shows a remarkable correspon-
dence between the historical cartography and the satellite image, with a gap of
only 200-600 meters between places represented on them both. It must be noted,
however, that this situation is not homogeneous, and in fact it radically changes
in the south-west area of the map, between the village of Balansura and the end
of the section dened by the Bahr Yus-
sef. In this area a gap of about 2 kilo-
metres between the places indicated in
the satellite image and those in the ge-
oreferenced image is reported (g. 4a).
In an attempt to correct this transfor-
mation, additional GCP were placed in
the area. The result obtained from this
second pursuit showed important de-
formations in the map, a fact that allows
us to hypothesize that most likely plate
XIV itself had a series of inaccuracies
probably due to calculation errors made
during the drafting of the cartography
(Godlewska 1988, 18-22).
Even though the GCP-based georefe-
rencing process has produced satisfac-
tory results for plate XIV, it was not as
successful with plate XL. In fact, the
landscape of the Egyptian Delta has
undergone profound changes over the
last centuries. One must consider that
the georeferencing strategy adopted in
this rst phase is based exclusively on
the comparison between historical and
modern cartography, and for this rea-
son any attempt at a geomorphological
or toponymic comparison between the
plates produced by Bonaparte’s savants
and modern satellite images is, ultima-
tely, a very complex task.
Quite interesting is the result obtained
from the georeferencing of plate XIV
in relation to the area south of the vil-
Fig. 4: a) The image shows the result of the georeferencing through visual
recognition of control points of the XIV plate of the Carte topographique de
l’Égypte overlayed on a satellite image (Esri satellite). It is evident that in the
southern part of the map the margin of error increases signicantly, especially
near the Bahr Yussef. b) The image shows the result of the georeferencing
through visual recognition of control points of the XL plate of the Carte topo-
graphique de l’Égypte overlayed on a satellite image (Esri satellite). Near the
city of Rosetta, the margin of error between the cities is about 1.5 kilometers.
In the Delta area, as the example of Kom el-Khanziri shows, the shift amounts
to 3 kilometers.
GROMA 4 - 2019
7
lage of Balansura. The increase in topographical errors in this area, as suggested
by the studies of Godlewska, seems to have originated in the drafting phase of the
Carte topographique de l’Égypte. Considering that in recent years various studies
on the Egyptian territory have been based on the comparison between historical
cartography and satellite images, it is imperative to take into consideration these
inaccuracies and discrepancies in order to avoid interpretative errors that could
arise from the visual comparison of the images (g. 4a). The case of plate XL is
emblematic for reecting on how this type of georeferencing, even though it may
produce excellent results for some areas of Egypt – such as the area of Minîeẗ-
Antinoë – it may nonetheless be ineective for areas that have undergone chan-
ges of various nature over the last century or areas that were poorly surveyed by
the French team. The georeferencing based on visual recognition of the control
points of plate XL produced a deviation which reaches a maximum of 3 kilome-
tres between the position of the cities in the georeferenced image and those in
the satellite image area (g. 4b). It should be noted that this gap might be reduced
by increasing the amount of GCP, but the almost total discrepancy between the
landscape of the Egyptian Delta of the 19th century and the present one makes the
identication of equivalent points quite arduous, and leaves ground for a high de-
gree of inaccuracy.
In conclusion, this rst attempt must be considered not that eective for our pur-
poses. A georeferencing operation of the Carte topographique de l’Égypte based on
a visual comparison of control points can be misleading since it risks producing a
high margin of error.
Manual georeferencing based on correcting the metric scale
The second approach is based on Anne Godlewska’s studies, which pointed out
a constant error in the linear unit of measurement, i.e. the meter used in the 19th
century, and therefore also for the preparation of the Carte topographique de l’Égypte.
In fact, the coordinates assigned to each location in the published tables are corre-
lated to their distance in kilometres from the pyramid of Gizeh, and since, as the
scholar points out, the unit of measurement of the meter used at that time was still
provisional, the positioning of these locations in the plates is altered. As a matter
of fact, the studies of Anne Godlewska have calculated a decit of 0.3 m every 100
meters, i.e. a loss of 0.3(3)% in linear measurements (Godlewska 1988, 44). On the
basis of this information, considering that each plate covers an area of 80x50km,
we should add 0.33% to each side and obtain a rectangle of 80264 x 50165 meters
covering the represented area of each plate. The raster image was manually scaled
to t this rectangle by using the “Freehand raster georeferencer” plugin for QGIS
(available at https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/FreehandRasterGeoreferencer/), cor-
recting thus the linear error caused by the non-standard metric unit. Furthermore,
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 8
this plugin allows us to easily improve the manual georeferencing through the
insertion of two ground control points. It was chosen to use for each plate (and
when available) the astronomically measured points calculated by Nouet, a list of
which was edited by Jacotin (Jacotin 1824, 492). In theory, these point should be
more reliable than other kinds of on-eld measurements and less prone to error
due to haste or dicult eld conditions.
The astronomically measured control
points of plate XIV were Antinoopo-
lis and Minya. It is the same P. Jacotin
who informs us that the calculations of
Antinoopolis were wrong, so it was de-
cided to use the location of el-Ashmu-
nein, ancient Hermopolis, as a second
control point (Jacotin 1824, 492, 520).
For Plate XL the astronomically mea-
sured points used by P. Jacotin are the
great Pyramid at Gizeh and the city of
Rosette. Since the Great Pyramid lays
outside the extent of the map, a second
ground control point at el-Borg was
used (Jacotin 1824, 492, 587-589).
The results obtained for plate XIV do
not dier much from the data obtained
in the rst approach, but the obtained
map is not distorted. As a matter of fact,
in the upper half of the map the pla-
ces visible in the satellite image and in
the georeferenced image seem to line
up well (g. 5a). In any case, the be-
fore mentioned error located south of
the village of Balansura is still persistent.
It would seem reasonable, therefore,
to denitively assume that this error is
due to an inaccuracy in the calculations
used to compile the plate during the
editing phase (Godlewska 1988, 82; Ja-
cotin 1824, 33). Furthermore, the result
obtained for plate XL is interesting, sin-
ce manual georeferencing allowed us to
rotate and position the plate, adapting it
Fig. 5: a) The image shows how there is greater correspondence between the
satellite image (Esri satellite) and the georeferenced maps in plate XIV using
manual georeferencing based on metric scale correction. The shift between
the satellite image and the historical cartography south of the village of
Balansura along the course of the Bahr Yussef remains evident. b) The image
shows how there is greater correspondence between the satellite image (Esri
satellite) and the georeferenced maps in plate XL using manual georeferencing
based on metric scale correction. The shift between the satellite image and the
historical cartography decreases with this method also for the Delta area as
demonstrated by the case of Kom el-Khanziri.
GROMA 4 - 2019
9
to the few places on it still visible in modern cartography with a very low margin
of error (g. 5b).
In conclusion, the freedom of action guaranteed by manual georeferencing com-
bined with the correct scale setting of the image has allowed us to avoid defor-
mations in the plates, and consequently allows us to observe Napoleonic carto-
graphy for what it is: a historical document that carries the errors of its time. The
placement of only two control points is also relevant to the result, unlike the GCP
georeferencing method, where many control points must be involved to ensure
an ecient result. Well-measured points can be selected, and many attempts can
be performed to nd un-problematic areas of the map to use; on the contrary the
rst method incurs in the constant risk of placing at the same level of certainty ac-
curately measured points with poorly measured ones or with clearly wrong points
without having the possibility to tell one apart from the other. The second method
is therefore a much more transparent and reliable one.
Pros Cons
GCP - It is a simple procedure.
- It does not require a profound
knowledge of the original map or coor-
dinate transformations.
- It is not able to highlight inaccuracies of
the original maps.
- It may give rise to misinterpretation due
to the fact that these are not highlighted.
- The map could be distorted.
Metric
Scale Cor-
rection
- Provides metric scale accuracy.
- It keeps the original proportions of
the map.
- The “freehand georeferencer” plug-
in allows for the improvement of the
georeference of the image by assigning
two control points.
- Promptly highlights cartographic
errors attributable to the drafting phase
of the map allowing a more objective
view of the landscape to be obtained.
- It is a manual process that might introduce
uncontrollable errors in the nal result.
- It does not correct the cartographic errors
attributable to the editorial phase of the
cartography showing sometimes not much
correspondence between the satellite image
and the georeferred one.
Tab. 1: A comparative summary of the two georeferencing approaches.
The use of the Carte topographique de l’Égypte as a source for
archaeological research: the case study of the island of iw-rd
As already stressed, the Egyptian landscape has changed deeply over the millennia.
The recent event that absolutely caused the greatest geomorphological changes
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 10
was the construction of the great Aswan dam in the second half of the 20th century
and the consequent land-reclamation programmes.
Considering how this engineering work radically changed the course of the Nile
river and its many branches, the Carte topographique de l’Égypte is a particularly
valuable document for the reconstruction of the ancient Egyptian landscape, espe-
cially when it is combined with literary sources and archaeological evidence. The
case of the island of iw-rd (Montet 1961, 161; Gautier 1925, 30, 47), accor-
ding to the sources located in the 16th nomos of Upper Egypt, will be advanced
as a highly representative one (Montet 1961, 158). This practical case allows us
to concretely observe geomorphological phenomena that over the centuries have
aected all islands positioned along the course of the Nile as a result of changes in
the territory (Graves 2017, 310-311; Graham 2010; Burn 2014), and how carefully
georeferenced historical cartography can be of assistance to this type of research.
According to the sources, the island of iw-rd in ancient times was in the 16th nomos
of Upper Egypt, known during the Pharaonic period as mȝ-ḥḏ (Montet 1961,
161). It was located on the western shore of the Nile, north of the 15th nomos,
wnw, and south of the 17th, inpw (Baines and Málek 1980, 14). The analysis of
Fig. 6: Islands
represented in the
area of pertinence
of the 16th nomos
of Upper Egypt by
the Carte topo-
graphique d'Égypte
overlaid on the
satellite image (Esri
satellite).
GROMA 4 - 2019
11
archaeological and philological sources has allowed us to establish that this area
now corresponds to a vast portion of territory around today’s Minya governorate,
whose northern border is generally located south of Tihna el-Gebel (ancient Ako-
ris), Fraser Tombs and El Hibeh, while the southern one is around el-Ashmunein
(ancient Hermopolis), Tuna el-Gebel, Sheikh ‘Ibada (ancient Antinoopolis), Deir
Abu Hinnis and Deir el-Bersha (Graves 2017, 53-56). The borders of the nomos
changed over time in relation to Egypt’s political-administrative events, but a de-
tailed review is far beyond the scope of this paper.
The toponym iw-rd is attested in the Pharaonic era, from the Old Kingdom to the
Late Period, occasionally in association with the nomos of mȝ-ḥḏ (Montet 1961,
161; Gautier 1925, 30, 47). Our sources also inform us that the island in the Middle
Kingdom was linked to the cult of Khnum, called “Lord of iw-rd”, whereas in the
New Kingdom the toponym is associated in various attestations to Amon “Lord of
iw-rd” (Montet 1961, 158.). Georges Daressy in a publication of the early years of
1900 (cit. in Graves 2017, 203, n. 31) identied the possible location of iw-rd with
the village of Beni Hasan el-Shuruq (g. 7), whereas in 1961 Pierre Montet sugge-
sted that the island could correspond to one of the islands located south of Minya
along the course of the Nile (Montet 1961, 161). Considering the area within the
Fig. 7: In the image it
is possible to observe
the area of the island
of Geziret el-Sheick
Timay represented
in the Napoleonic
cartography overlaid
on the satellite image
(Esri satellite).
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 12
borders of this nomos and consulting the available cartography, the only islands of
considerable size that can be taken into consideration are today’s Geziret el-Sheick
Timay (indicated in plate XIV as Geziret Zaafrânéh) and the one that is indicated
in the Carte topographique de l’Égypte as Geziret Mathâhâréh. Furthermore, also the
smaller and unnamed islands that are represented in the Carte can be taken into
account (g. 6). In this case, georeferenced historical cartography – particularly
plate XIV – is very useful for concretely observing geomorphological changes in
this territory. It should be noted, however, that during the georeferencing process
described in paragraph § 4 it was noticed that this area in the plate contains serious
inaccuracies that can be traced back to the editing phase of the cartography. The-
refore, it is necessary to pay even more attention when comparing satellite images
and the above-mentioned cartography.
Over the past two centuries, the island of Geziret el-Sheick Timay, positioned
near the southern boundary of the 16th nomos, shifted westward, almost completely
annexed to the mainland. The Napoleonic map features an inhabited centre, the
village of Zaafrânéh, now located south of Monshat Dabes and no longer distin-
guishable in the satellite images from this village (see g. 7 and g. 9a).
Fig.8: The image
shows the islands
present in the Esri
satellite image
(left), but which do
not appear in the
Carte topographique
d'Égypte (right).
GROMA 4 - 2019
13
The island of Geziret el-Mathâhâréh, which appears in the Napoleonic map as a
set of smaller islands, may have separated before the Napoleonic cartography was
drafted. This island, as shown by the Great Britain War Oce-U.S. Army Map
Service 1941 and the satellite images, has partly shifted towards the eastern bank of
the Nile by the change in river ow, while the other part has sunk into the river.
However, in the Napoleonic and in the 20th century cartography, there is no trace
of villages within this area (g. 9d).
Regarding the unnamed islands represented in the Carte topographique de l’Égypte,
the rst one is south of Geziret el-Sheick Timay, the second one is north of this
village and south of the village of Nuwayr, the third is west of the island of Geziret
el-Mathâhâréh, and the fourth is north of Minya and east of the village of Damris.
It should be noted that satellite images show three other unnamed islands of which,
however, there is no sign in the Napoleonic cartography, proving that most li-
kely they are of recent formation (g. 8). The rst of these “anonymous” islands
in satellite images is almost indistinguishable from the nearby Geziret el-Sheick
Timay. Both islands have shifted towards the western bank of the Nile (g. 9a).
The second island, even though it appears in the Napoleonic cartography, is no
longer visible in the modern one (g. 9c). The third island, positioned close to the
village of Nazlet el-Awam, according to the comparison between maps, appears
to have shifted towards the eastern bank of the Nile, and in satellite images it is
indistinguishable from the mainland (g. 9e). Finally, the fourth island in the Carte
topographique de l’Égypte is not represented in the 4085-Great Britain War Oce-
U.S. Army Map Service – 1941. In the same spot, the satellite images now show a
much larger island than the one in the Napoleonic cartography. Once again, this
appears to be a later formation than the island drawn in the aforementioned car-
tography (g.9f).
As a result of these comparisons, it is now possible to narrow down the search for
the island of iw-rd to the following areas: the entire area of today’s Geziret el-Sheick
Timay; the area south of Nuwayr; the area north of the village of Matahrah el-
Sharquiyya; the area south of the village of Nazlet el-Awam; the area near Damris.
In particular, the island of Geziret el-Sheick Timay appears from the Napoleonic
cartography to be of considerable size (an area of about 5 square kilometres) and
also it is located in a strategic position between two narrows of the bends of the
Nile. This is, in my opinion, an element in favour of the fact that it could have
been chosen as a place to settle. In addition, the fact that on the island there was an
inhabited centre, although modern, is not to be ignored. In the Napoleonic car-
tography, the island is identied as Geziret Zaafrânéh, which in Arabic means the
“Island of Saron Flower” (Graves 2017, 145 n. 36). It is interesting to emphasise
that the Egyptian toponym iw-rd can be translated as “Island of Plant(s)”, which
suggests a possible semantic connection between the two toponyms. In this area
there are several tells, one of which is located in the village of Zaafrânéh (Graves
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 14
Fig. 9: Diachronic evolution of the geomorphology
of the islands located in the 16th nomos of Upper
Egypt. The maps shown are from the left: Carte
topographique georeferenced and overlayed on a
satellite image (Esri Satellite), 4085-Great Britain
War Ofce-U.S. Army Map Service-1941 and
Esri Satellite. a) Island located south of Gerizet el-
Sheick Timai; b) Island of Gerizet el-Sheick Timay;
c) Island located south of the village of Nuwayr; d)
Island of Geziret el-Mathâhâréh; e) Island located
north of Geziret el-Mathâhâréh; f) Island located
north of Minya to the east of the village of Damris.
GROMA 4 - 2019
15
2017, 208), now part of the mainland, south of the village of Monshat Debes.
Therefore, one can suppose that, among the various islands present in the territory
of mȝ-ḥḏ, the island of Geziret el-Sheick Timay could correspond to what in the
Pharaonic era was the ancient iw-rd (g. 7).
In conclusion, the attentive use of historical cartography can partially ll the lack
of information that typies the historical sources. Furthermore, the area under exa-
mination has been neglected for a long time by the archaeological investigation,
except for a few notable cases such as the capital of the nomos, Zawiet Sultan, and
the well-known necropolis of Beni Hasan. Although the island of iw-rd is not wi-
dely mentioned in the written documentation, its identication in the same way
as that of other smaller villages in the Egyptian territory could reveal some intere-
sting aspects of Egyptian culture. In the absence of visible archaeological evidence
suggesting the location of these centres, there is a need to be able to compare
recent topographical sources with the most ancient ones. In the perspective of the
most modern research conducted through the use of powerful GIS platforms, the
possibility of using a georeferenced version of Napoleonic cartography turns out
to be very helpful. The dierent approaches discussed in this paper for the geore-
ferencing of the Carte topographique also make it very clear how dierent technical
solutions can lead to sometimes rather divergent results. Unproblematic solutions
do not exist, but a deep awareness of the related issues can certainly help the scholar
in interpreting the data.
The complex case of the island of iw-rd has revealed that modern satellite images
alone are scarcely helpful, while the comparison of dierent sources — the Carte
topographique de l’Égypte being one of the most important — in a GIS-based envi-
ronment might signicantly increase the value of the underlying data.
Ultimately, it should be emphasised that the observation and study of georeferen-
ced historical cartography represents a good starting point for identifying places
of the past that are no longer accurately identiable. However, as in the case here
presented, eld investigation is necessary in verifying the accuracy of the hypothe-
sis formulated when applying this methodology.
DOMIZIA D'ERASMO 16
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