Βερενίκη | |
 Satellite image of Berenice Troglodytica, on theRed Sea coast | |
  Berenice Shown within Egypt Show map of Egypt Berenice Berenice (West and Central Asia) Show map of West and Central Asia | |
| Alternative name | Berenice Troglodytica, Baranis, Berenike[1] |
|---|---|
| Location | Red Sea Governorate,Egypt |
| Region | Upper Egypt |
| Coordinates | 23°54′31″N35°28′21″E / 23.90861°N 35.47250°E /23.90861; 35.47250 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Builder | Ptolemy II |
| Founded | First half of the 3rd century BCE |
| Abandoned | After the 6th century CE |
| Periods | Ptolemaic Kingdom toByzantine Empire |
Berenice Troglodytica, also calledBerenike (Greek:Βερενίκη) orBaranis, is an ancient seaport ofEgypt on the western shore of theRed Sea. It is situated about 825 km south ofSuez, 260 km east ofAswan inUpper Egypt and 140 km south ofMarsa Alam.[2]It was founded in 275 BCE byPtolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BCE), who named it after his mother,Berenice I of Egypt.[3]
A high mountain range runs along the African coast and separates theNile Valley from theRed Sea; Berenice was sited upon a narrow rim of shore between the mountains and theRed Sea, at the head of theSinus Immundus,[4] a south-facing bay sheltered on the north by a high peninsula then calledLepte Extrema, and to the south by a chain of small islands scattered across the mouth of the bay. One of them was called the Island ofOphiodes (Ὀφιώδης νήσος[4][5]) and was one of a few sources ofgemstones local to Berenice. The harbour is marginal, but was improved by engineering.
The nameTroglodytica refers to the native people of the region, the "Troglodytai" or "cave dwellers". Although the name is attested by several ancient writers, the more ancient Ptolemaic inscriptions readTrogodytai, whichHuntingford (1980)[6] speculated could be derived from the same root asTuareg. It is possible that later copyists confused this name with the more common termTroglodytai.[6]
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| šꜣs ḥrt[7][8] inhieroglyphs | ||||||
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| Era:Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BC) | ||||||
Berenice was prosperous and quite famous in antiquity. The city is noted by most ancient geographers, includingStrabo,[9]Pliny the Elder,[10] andStephanus of Byzantium.[11] Its prosperity after the third century was mostly due to three reasons:
The other terminus of that road isCoptos (nowQift), an Egyptian city on theNile, which made Berenice andMyos Hormos the two main shipping centers for trade betweenAethiopia and Egypt on the one hand, andSyria,Tamilakkam, andTamraparni (ancientSri Lanka) on the other.[12] The road across the desert from Coptos was 258 Roman miles long, or 11 days' journey. Watering stations (Greekhydreumata,seeHadhramaut) were built along the road; the wells and resting places forcaravans are listed by Pliny,[13] and in theItineraries.[14]
_p2.829_RUINS_AT_BERENICE.jpg)
In the 19th centuryBelzoni[15] found traces of several of the watering stations.
Berenice was able to generate some commerce locally: The mines ofGebel Zabara andWadi Sikait in the adjacent mountains, and the island ofOphiodes (nowZabargad Island) in the mouth of Berenice's harbor, wererich sources of gemstones (peridot?) at that time called “topaz” and “emerald”.[16]
From the 1st century BCE until the 2nd century CE, Berenice was one of the critical way-stations for trade between theIndian subcontinent,Arabia, and Upper Egypt. It was connected toAntinoöpolis on theRiver Nile in Lower Egypt by theVia Hadriana in 137 CE.
The trade from Berenice along theRed Sea coast is described in the 1st century CE traveloguePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea, written by a Greek merchant based inAlexandria. ThePeriplus states that "on the right-hand coast next below Berenice is the country of the Berbers", thereby placing Berenice Troglodytica just north of ancientBarbara.[17]
In the 4th century Berenice had again become an active port. Under theRoman administration, Berenice itself formed an entire district with its own prefect, who was calledPraefectus Berenicidis, orP. montis Berenicidis.[18]
Despite its favorable location, after the 6th century the port was abandoned and the bay has since nearly filled with sediment; it has a sand-bar at its entrance that can only be crossed by shallow-draft boats.[19] The gemsites onZabargad Island are flooded.[20]
In 1818, the ruins of Berenice were identified byGiovanni Battista Belzoni, confirming an earlier opinion ofd'Anville.Belzoni wrote that the city measured 1,600 feet (490 m) from north to south, and 2,000 feet (610 m) from east to west. He estimated the ancient population at 10,000.[21] Since then, several excavations have been undertaken.[19]
_p2.827_RUINS_AT_BERENICE.jpg)
The most important ruin is a temple; the remnants of its sculptures and inscriptions preserve the name ofTiberius and the head magistrate of the Jews inAlexandria underPtolemaic andRoman rule. Excavations have also produced small figures of many deities, some obscure, including a (goddess?)Alabarch orArabarch.
The temple isEgyptian style, made of sandstone and a soft calcareous stone. It is 102 feet (31 m) long, and 43 feet (13 m) wide. A portion of its walls are sculptured with well-executed basso relieves, of Greek workmanship; occasionally the walls are decorated withhieroglyphics.
Excavations were launched at Berenike in 1994 by a team of archaeologists from theUniversity of Delaware led by Prof. Steven E. Sidebotham, with partners from several other institutions and continued until 2001. Work was resumed by teams from the University of Delaware and thePolish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland, in the winter of 2007–2008 and is still continuing. Apart from the excavations, non-invasive magnetic prospecting was carried out. Tomasz Herbich from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of thePolish Academy of Sciences made a magnetic map of the western part of the site.[2]
A large number of significant finds have been made providing evidence of the cargo from theMalabar Coast and the presence ofTamil people from South India being at this last outpost of the Roman Empire (see ancientIndo-Roman trade relations).
Among the unexpected discoveries at Berenike were a range of ancient Indian goods, including the largest single concentration (7.55 kg) of black peppercorns ever recovered in the classical Mediterranean world ("imported from Southern India" and found inside a large vessel made of Nile silt in a temple courtyard); substantial quantities of Indian-made fine ware and kitchen cooking ware and Indian style pottery; Indian-made sail cloth, basketry, matting, etc. from trash dumps; a large quantity ofteak wood, black pepper, coconuts, beads made of precious and semi-precious stones, cameo blanks; "aTamil Brahmi graffito mentioning Korra, a South Indian chieftain"; evidence that "inhabitants from Tamil South India (which then included most ofKerala) were living in Berenike, at least in the early Roman period"; evidence that the Tamil population implied the probable presence of Buddhist worshippers; evidence of Indians at another Roman port 300 km north of Berenike; Indian-made ceramics on the Nile road; a rock inscription mentioning an Indian passing through en route; "abundant evidence for the use of ships built and rigged in India"; and proof "that teak wood (endemic to South India), found in buildings in Berenike, had clearly been reused" (from dismantled ships).[22]
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In 2009 the first find offrankincense was reported and "two blocks of resin from the Syrian fir tree (Abies cilicica), one weighting about 190 g and the other about 339 g, recovered from 1st century CE contexts in one of the harbor trenches. Produced in areas of greater Syria and Asia Minor, this resin and its oil derivative were used in mummification, as an antiseptic, a diuretic, to treat wrinkles, extract worms and promote hair growth."[2]
Extensive and intensive research initiated by Iwona Zych in the area of the southern harbor bay has uncovered workshop buildings, remains of ship boards, ropes, mooring lines, as well as a so-called harbor temenos with two structures probably of sacral character – the Lotus Temple and the Square Feature. Berenike in the early Roman period was a vibrant town in the desert where the greatest fortunes of the time were made. The archaeological excavations have uncovered remains of luxury goods, precious glass, bronze figurines,ostraca, papyri.[2]
The expedition also discovereda cemetery of small animals datedc. 1st–2nd century CE, which has been excavated by Marta and Piotr Osypiński from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of thePolish Academy of Sciences since 2011.[23][24]
In 2019, a 2,300 year-old fortress was discovered by a team of archaeologists from theUniversity of Warsaw and the Polish Academy of Sciences. The structure, built near the southern frontier, had thicker walls to the west, and served as a hub to transportwar elephants from Eritrea.[25] In the same year was excavated anIsis temple and there, there were found fragments of a statue of theMeroitic godSebiumeker.[26]
In 2020–2021, 2,000 year-old remains of monkeys, cats, and dogs were discovered at Berenike to be considered the oldest pet cemetery in the world.[27][24]
In Berenike in March 2022 an American-Polish archaeological mission excavating the main early Roman period temple dedicated to the Goddess Isis uncovered in the forecourt of the temple a marble statue of aBuddha, theBerenike Buddha.[28][29]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[full citation needed]With an index of English words, king list and geological list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, coptic and semitic alphabets, etc.
Archaeozoologist Marta Osypinska and her colleagues at the Polish Academy of Sciences discovered the graveyard just outside the city walls [of Berenice], beneath a Roman trash dump, in 2011. The cemetery appears to have been used between the first and second centuries CE, when Berenice was a bustling Roman port that traded ivory, fabrics, and other luxury goods from India, Arabia, and Europe.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| National | |
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