Roman Amheida: Excavating A Town in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis

Roman Amheida: Excavating A Town in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis

Bagnall, R.S.; Davoli, P.; Kaper, O.E.; Whitehouse, H.

Citation

Bagnall, R. S., Davoli, P., Kaper, O. E., & Whitehouse, H. (2006). Roman Amheida:

Excavating A Town in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis. Minerva: The International Review Of

Ancient Art & Archaeology, 17(6), 26-29. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/14993

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Not Applicable (or Unknown)

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Leiden University Non-exclusive license

Downloaded from:

https://hdl.handle.net/1887/14993

FOUN DE R, EDITOR-IN-CH IEFAND PUBLISHER jerorne M. Eisen berg, Ph.D. MANA GI N G EDI TOR Dr Sean Kingsley

CON SULTING EDI TO R Pet erA. Clayt on,FSA EDIT OR DrMark Merron y [erome M. Eisenberg,Ph .D .

VOLUME17 NUMB

ER6

Ancient

Art

of the

Cy

clades - The

Katonah Museum of

Art

E

xhibit ion

The Sphin

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rdian

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f E

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Eugene Warmenbol

Medieval Aquamanil

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Lions

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B

easts

The Princely Gra

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aptol,

Croatia

17

13

9

23

NOVEMB

ER/DECEMBER

2006

26

30

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Roman

A

m h ei da:

E

x cavatin g A

To

wn

in Egypt

's

Dakhl

eh

Oa

sis

Roger

S.

Olaf E. Kaper

&

Temples of C

lass ical Gr

eece

Tony Spawtorth

I

so la Sacra:

Osti

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s

I

slan d

N

ecropolis

Guydela Bedoyere

Headhunters

of the Rom

an A

rm y

Who Stole God

's

Gold?

Sean Kingsley

The Myster

y

o

f

the

L

ouv re's B

lue

Head

The Ci

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H

o ard:

Richard

th

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Henriette[ohan sen

Gold Coins

i

n Roman Britain

Roger Bland EDI TORIAL ASSISTANT S F.Williamson Price RichardNovakovich EDITO RIAL ADVISO RY BOARD DrFrancoisdeCalla tay, Brussels Dona ldDin widdie, London

Prof.RichardHed ges,FSA Norwich Dr PieterMeyers, LosAngeles Or Iva n Mirn ik, Zagreb DrDavi dMitten, Cambridge

Or PratapadityaPal, Los Angeles

DrCorne liusVerme u le

Cambridge

CORRESPONDENrS

OavidBreslin,Dublin

OrMurrayEiland, Frankfurt Christop herFoliett, Copenhagen OrR.B.Halbert srna, Leiden Dalujon es,Italy OrDoroth yKing,London Jean Pierr eMon tesin o, Paris

OrFiiippoSalvi atl,Rome LouiseSchofiel d,Turkey

Rosalind Smith,Cairo

Publishedin England

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Page46

Excavating Amheida, Egypt

ROMAN AMHEIDA:EXCAVATING

A

TOWN IN EGYPT'SDAKHLEHOASIS

Roger S. Bagnall, Paola Davoli, Olaf E. Kaper, and Helen Whitehouse

F

in the weste rn desert liesthe

Oakhl eh Oasis(Figs 1, 3).Th is

oasis hasbeen the sub jectofaregion al su rvey for the last 28 years by the

Dakhl eh Oasis Project (OO P), directed

by Professor Anthon yMills.Thed

omi-nant town of thenorth-western part of the oasis and its larg est su rv iv ing

anc ien t site is Am he ida, where ateam sponso red by Colu m biaUn ive rsity as

part of the OO Phasbeen excavating

since2004.Amhe ida hasman y sim

ilar-it ies wit h Ism an t el-Kha ra b, anc ie nt

Kell is,excavated since 1986 by Colin Hop e ofMonas h Un iversity, Australia,

who has found man y papyri, ost raca,

woode n tabl et s, an d perh ap s mo st

fam ou slyitstrove of Manicha ean lit er-arytext s and family letters, as wellas

important early Rom anwallpaintings.

The Great Oasis is theprodu ct of underground fo ssil wate r brou ght to the surface in prehi stori ctimesby a

rte-fh~ensua~ce(Till~pr~rirst8~iettYJ1e~i

o

yarF

e:

sian springs and in histo ric times by wells. Its great dista nce from the ile valley po sed unusu al cha lle nges for tra ns po rt at io n. It wasexp lo red an d then occu p ied by the Old Kingd om

phara oh s (26 86-2 18 1 BC), but it was

prob abl y theSaite pharaohs (664-525 BC)and thePersian kings (525-359 BC) who beganseriou sdevelop- ment. This in cr ea sed cons ide ra b ly und er the Roma ns . Late An tiq uitysaw amoderat e decline, followed by a dram atic fall-off in sett leme n t for severa l cen t u ries,

alt ho ugh never abando nme n t.

Am he ida is key to underst andin g

thishist or y, becau se surface su rvey

shows pott ery ofall peri od sfrom the Old Kingdom to Lat e Rom an times , whe n it was called Trimithisan d trans-form ed from a Villageintoacity. T rim-ithisbecam etheprincipal centr e of the weste rn part of the oasis, surround ed by smallersettleme nts producin g oli ve

oil,wine, dates, and figs. Including its ceme teries, the site tod ayis abo ut 2km Fig1.AI/en hanced sa telliteimage of Amhe ida,Roma n Trim lt his,in the DakhlehOasis, revealingthe distinctout lines of Roman and

EarlyByzanti ne settleme nt .Green

triangles: surface finds;redtriangles: struct uralremains.

Fig2.The4t h-cen tury ADhouse atAm heida under ex cava tion. Fig 3(below). Generalview of Amhei daagainst

thebackgrou ndof the scarp bounding theDakh lehOasis. Professor Rog erBagna llis directorof

tileColumbiaUniversityExcavationsat

Am heidaand lecturesin theDepartm ent of Class ics&Hist ory, Colum bia

Un iversity;Prof essorPa ol a Davoli

(Un iversita degliStudidi Lecce)isproject archaeo-logical fielddirector;Prof essor

Olaf Kaper(Leiden Universi ty)is associate director;DrHe/en Wh ite house (Ash mo leanMuseum,

Oxford)serves as project art his torian.

Excavating Amheida, Egypt

M

inerva,

Nove

mbe r/Decem ber

2006

Fig4. Asa tyr and nymph wallpaint ing

scenereconstr ucted fromfragments excavatedinthe

receptionroom

of a LateRoma n house atAmhei da

abando ned ill the360sAD. FigS.Thesceneof theOlymp iangods on theeastwallof the 4thcenturyAD house opens with theunrelated[igu re ofPol ls, 'City'

(left),a favouri te person ificatio nin

LateRom an art,

bu t hereperhap s alludingtolocal

interestin the enha ncedstatus

ofAtnheida. Fig6.TI,ewestwall oftheLateRoman hou sedepicts banq ueters recliningona drapedcouch,

beakersill IIC/nd . Wh ilethisIllay

belongtothe myth ical sp he re,

the character -isationofthe group -acoup le wit htwo you nger men-has a faIIIi1yasp ectto it.TI,emilieu

recalls sim ila r

scenesof feasting or picnics onsilver -wareand mosaics: the goodlifeof the prosperousinthe Rom anprovin ces. but hereperhap s lon g an d lkm wide, alt ho ug h the en tiresite was probabl y not all inhab-ited in anyo ne period. In Late Antiq -uity itwas perh ap s hom e to 5000 to 10,000 peopl e.The site hasnever been reoccupi ed,andonly inafew spo ts has treasure-hunting orsto ne-robbing don e anysign ifican t dam ageto the site(one ofthese, alas, itsprincipaltem ple).We have therefor ethe rar e po ssibilit y of studyin g a Graeco -Roma n town site at itsfullexten t.

Webegan ourexcavations with the 4th-centuryRom an hou sein the cen tre of the site(Fig2),whe re paintin gs had been discovered during thefirst survey 25 years earlier. This hou se, prob ably abando ned inorsho rt lyafte r the 360s, had a ISm-squareresidential core, plus alarge workareaon thenorth side.A cou rtya rd flank ed by a kitc he n and stairs to theroofwas its cen t ral hub. From this one en tere da large dom ed recepti on room decorated with myth o-logicalpainting s (Figs 4-6). On thewest was a series of four rooms, yet to be excava te d, three ofthem wit h wa ll paintin gs.

This su bs ta n tia l hous e has so fa r yielde d morethan 200 as/mea,which sho w that the owne rswere rich owne rs of land wit h a portfoli o of wells,and that thelast patron wasprobablya city cou ncillo r nam ed Seren os.Their cu l-turewas Greek,an d they have left us both artand writing to tell us aboutit.

The cen t ralpain ted room , measur -ing 5.3 x4.7m ,had been known since 1979to con tain livelyfigur ativ escen es from classical myth ology, the cha rac-tersin part identifi ed by Greek in scrip-tions: Perseusrescuing And rome da; the hom ecomin g of Odysse us; and the merriment ofthe Olym pian gods bid -den by Heph aistosto see how he has trapp ed the ad u lte ro us Ares and Aph rodite (also a talefrom Hom er 's

Odyssey).This 'labelled literatur e' genre was already kno wn from funer ar y paint ingsin the ceme te ry atTun ael -Gebelbut had not previ ou sl y been found in adom estic con tex t in Egypt. Com plete clearance of the room has nowrevealedthedecorin itsfullglory, from the low er zone of the walls, painted with panelsof colourf u lgeo -metri cdecor ation , to thefragm ent s of the co lla pse d dom ed ceil ing, which oncecarried avariety of pattern sp roba-bly evoking coffe ring and was s up-port ed by sm ilin g wing ed fema le figuresholding garlands.

The figur ati ve scenes were placed between thesetwozones in atleast two registers wit hcompa rtme n ts form edby black frames on wh ich the Greekc ap-tionswerewritten in white.Other su b-ject shave no w been ad de d to those revealed in 19 79: Orp he us playin g his lyretotheanima ls;a banquetin g group en joying themusic ofaflautist , wh ilea servantlad les out wine (Fig6); acha riot

E

xcavating

Amheida, Egypt

scene;and perh ap s alsoa murder;the

presence of Harp ocratesin the gu iseof theinfant Herakl es: an d perhap s lsis, to o , offe rs a hin t that the sub jec ts

extended beyond Greek literat ureinto

popul arreligion. Their full range,h ow-ever, may never beknown :non e of themud-brick walls hassurvived intact

to thei r full hei ght. The pa in t was app lied on a very thin layer of wh ite

plaster,and thepieces of decor ated wall

which fellwith the ceilingon tothe fill covering the flo or of the ro om have

sufferedgreat ly.

Desp ite conserva t io n probl em s,

wha t isclear isthat the ownerof the

house asp i re d to give visit ors an impression ofwealth and cultu re- an

aim sha red by the occupa n ts of the gran d hou ses of Rom e at this period,

where reception or dining roomswere

decorated with cost lycoloured marbl e

revetm ent s, paintin gs, st ucco work,

and lavish coffered ceilings. In its ge

n-eral layout the Am he ida room reflects

this kind of program me; theinfluen ce of0P IISseetilestoneworkand mosaics

can be seen especially in thepatt ern ed

pan els of thelower zone .

Mytho logical subjects suc h as Orpheus arefamiliar in therepertoire ofLateRom an mosaics, but the wide

and hetero gen eou s selection ofscenes hereseems parti cularto theplace;and

what these provincialpaintings lackin

finesseofstyleand execution ismad e

up forbythe vividfigures theyportr ay, the i r em p ha t ic gest u res an d facia l expressions sign allin g their sto ries to theviewer.

The house's cu lturalscene was not only visual. In the2006 se as on we

excavated a rect an gular room (6.8x 2.7m) in the north -west corne r that

before excavation looked tobewithout sig nifica n t feat u res. Whe n partl y

cleared ofits sand, however, it turned

out to have inscr ipt ions on one wall,

wit h some fain t traces on the facin g

wall, alongwh ich ran aben ch (Fig7).

In mod ern term s the wall was a

teacher's wh iteboa rd(Fig8).Som epart s oftheinscription,indeed,weredeli

ber-ately erase d in an t iq u ity. What was

written on it in red paint is unmi

stak-ably a teach er's mod el for st u de n ts,

Greekelegiac cou pletsof poetry written in a carefu l hand and eq u ipped wit h

accents,breath ings, macron s, margin al symbol s, and high dot for caesura

pauses. Thepoem s arealladd ressed by

theteach erto his stude n ts, some times

withexplicit headin gs,usin gterm slike

paidesandscholastikoito referto them.

They are urged todrink deep from the

fount ain of themuses,to em ulate H er-akles in their labour s, and to follow

Herrn es, the god of rhetori c, who as Tho t h was also the pat ron divini ty of

Trimithis .The discovery that versified

rhetori c al com po ition was bein g

taught in this rem ot etown in the4th

cen tury isofenormousimport an ce for thehisto ry of anc ien teduca t ion.Thisi not the on ly poet ry in Dakhl eh, h ow-eve r. Ap pa re n tly origin alverses were

alsofound on a fragm ent from ano t he r

hou seatAmhe ida, and the excavations

at Kellis found a Homericparod y on

woode n tabl et s, wh ile the gatew ay to

the templ e atAin Birbiyeh yielde d a verse inscripti on .

Even thou gh thetempl e ofAm he ida

was destr o yed a lon g time ago, an d

winderosion has wreaked havoc on the site's su rface, severa l hundr ed san d -ston e blocks and fragm ent shave been

recovered fro m itsdebri s (Figs 9-10).

The templ e had been dedi cat ed to

Thoth, the god of writ ing and of the

mo on , who was repr es ented as a baboon or an ibis.The ongoinge xcava-tion s areyield ing templ e reliefs from the Roman per iod, mainl y from the

reigns ofTitus (AD 79-81)and D

omit-ian (AD 81-96), but also from the

Fig7(belowleft). Generalview oftile 'scliootroom'inthe LateRom an1I01/s e. Fig8(belowright}. Deta ilofthe 'schoolroom'wall

witllGreek elegiac coupletsexhorting students tolearn

rhetoric(atleft) .

pharaoni c pe riod. Many earlier relief

fragment s,reu sed in themasonr y of the Roman period ,date back to the

Libyan peri od (23rd Dyn asty ,c. 8 30-715 BC)and LatePeriod(26thand pos-sibly 27t h Dyn asties, 664-359 BC).A sing le blockpreservesthenam e of king

Peduba st, arulerwho reign ed over the sou t h of Egyp t aro u n d 818-793 BC. Until nowit had notbeen known that

the kings of the23rd Dyn ast y co n-trolledthe oases of the Wetern Desert.

Ano t herfindwas ahieratic ste la,wh ich must havebeen set up in thetempl e of Pedub ast, asit isdated to thereign of

Takelot h III(c. 764-751 BC),ano t he r Libyan ruler of the 23rd Dyna sty ,This

provesbeyond doubt that thetempl e

was alreadydedicatedtothe god Thoth at thistime.

The re is much more inform ati on availableonalaterphase of thetempl e from the26th dyn asty (664-525 BC).

Nolessthanthreekings of that dynasty

are nam ed on the blo ck s, namely echo ll, Psam te k ll, an d espec ially

Amas is(Fig 9),who orde reda substan -tialnew sanctuary to bebuilt.Ar

econ-st ruction of its decorati on sho ws long

rows of deit ies on the wallsof a large

vaultedroom.DuringthePersiandom

-ination , the templ e may have been extended further.Itwasreplac ed byan

en t ire ly new buildin g in the Roman period.

Am he ida is surroun dedon its south

-ern an d easte rn sides by sp raw ling

ceme te ries (Fig 11), wh ic h include numerou s well preser ved mud -br ick

cha pelsof theRom an period. Som e of these have widebarrel-vault ed room s,

plastered and decorated wit h bright

colours. But themostimpressivebuild

-ings in the ceme te ries are two m

ud-brick 'pyram id s' domin ating the

land scape. Oneof these, the east p

yra-mid,isAm he ida'ssign atur emonum ent

(Figs12-13). Th is massivebuilding(6.4

x 6.4m and about6m high) isreadily visiblefrom the road which passesthe site,bein gbuilt on thehighest hillock of the ceme te ry.The monum ent is a

truncat ed pyr amid on a rect angula r

podium su r ro u n de d by num erou s

28

finesseofstyleand execu tion ismade

r , .• •

was destr o yed a lon g time ago , an d

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thou sand new bricks,locallymadeof mud wit ho u t straw to avoid insect infesta tio n,matchin gthe ancien tbrick sizean d follow ing the Eng lish bond, were used (Fig 13). Durin g the 2007 season the con solida t io n wi ll be exte n de d to thewestern side ofthe pyramid,wherepartof thebase willbe reconstructed to sus tain the origin al

mason ry still inplace.

Apar t from com p le t ing the con -solida t io n of the pyra m id an d the excavat io nof theLateRom an hou se,

in2007 we hop e to con t in ue su

rvey-ing the ex te ns ive visible remains of the Rom an to wn.Beyond that lies a con t in u ingeffort both to enlarge the excava te d area at the heart of the Late Rom an to wn and to id entif y rem ain s of earlie r peri od s that can giveafuller sense of thelon ghist or y of the 'bac k of the oasis'.

•

Fig9(above).Areassemblyofblocks[romtheTemp leofThothbuiltby AlIlasis(r.569-526 BC),witll llisca rtouche anda row ofsacredcobras.

Fig10(above right}.The god Thothdep ictedasababoon 011a block[rom tilelst -centu ry ADRom an temple.

FigJJ(belowleft) .Viewoflllecemeteryarea tothesou thof Am heida.

Figs 12-13(m iddleandbottom right}.Tile611l-lIigll llllld-brickpyramid

mortuarymonum ent atAmheidabeforeandafterrestoration.

plunde red burials and cha pels,one of whic h may have been connec ted with thepyrami d . Alt ho ug h the pyramid s are the symbo lofanc ient Egypt, such monum ent s areextreme ly unusual in theRoman period.Afew similar struc-tures, also Roman, have been disco v-ered by Egyptianarchaeologists in one of the ceme teriesof Mut,called Biresh -Shaga la, wit ha pyram ida lsupe rst ruc-ture andone or two vau ltedcha mbe rs forburialsbenea th .

TheAmhe ida pyrami dhasbeen seri

-ou lydam aged by robb ers' holesthat caused the collapseof parts ofthe cor-ner s, creat ing a sit ua tio n dan ger ous both forthe conse rvationof themonu -ment and for itspossible excavation. In Febr ua ry 2006 conso l ida t ion and rebu ilding ofthenorth-east and south-eastcorne r tookplaceunderthe uper-vis io n of ich ol a s Warner. Five

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,)lI dg' JJ<I, WI Ll Iit lJyritJrllUitlsu persrruc- masonryStiliIII place.