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Upper Egypt

Map of Upper Egypt showing important sites that were occupied during Naqada III (clickable map)

Upper Egypt (Egyptian Arabic: صعيد مصر‎‎ Saʿīīd Maṣr, shortened to الصعيد El Ṣeʿīd; pronounced [esˤːe.ˈʕiːd], Coptic: ⲙⲁⲣⲏⲥ) is the strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends between Nubia and downriver (northwards) to Lower Egypt.

Contents

GeographyEdit

Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile above modern-day Aswan, downriver (northwards) to the area between Dahshur and El-Ayait,[citation needed] which is south of modern-day Cairo. The northern (downriver) part of Upper Egypt, between Sohag and El-Ayait, is also known as Middle Egypt.

In Arabic, inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis and they generally speak Sai'idi Egyptian Arabic.

In ancient Egypt, Upper Egypt was known as tꜣ šmꜣw,[1] literally "the Land of Reeds" or "the Sedgeland"[2] It was divided into twenty-two districts called nomes.[3] The first nome was roughly where modern-day Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih just to the south of Cairo.

HistoryEdit

 
Hedjet, the White Crown of Upper Egypt

Predynastic EgyptEdit

The main city of prehistoric Upper Egypt was Nekhen,[4] whose patron deity was the vulture goddess Nekhbet.[5]

By about 3600 BC, Neolithic Egyptian societies along the Nile had based their culture on the raising of crops and the domestication of animals.[6] Shortly after 3600 BC, Egyptian society began to grow and increase in complexity.[7] A new and distinctive pottery, which was related to the Levantine ceramics, appeared during this time. Extensive use of copper became common during this time.[7] The Mesopotamian process of sun-drying adobe and architectural principles—including the use of the arch and recessed walls for decorative effect—became popular during this time.[7]

Concurrent with these cultural advances, a process of unification of the societies and towns of the upper Nile River, or Upper Egypt, occurred. At the same time the societies of the Nile Delta, or Lower Egypt also underwent a unification process.[7] Warfare between Upper and Lower Egypt occurred often.[7] During his reign in Upper Egypt, King Narmer defeated his enemies on the Delta and merged both the Kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt under his single rule.[8]

Dynastic EgyptEdit

For most of pharaonic Egypt's history, Thebes was the administrative center of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by the Assyrians, its importance declined. Under the Ptolemies, Ptolemais Hermiou took over the role of Upper Egypt's capital city.[9] Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, and its symbols were the flowering lotus and the sedge.

Medieval EgyptEdit

In the 11th century, large numbers of pastoralists, known as Hilalians, fled Upper Egypt and moved westward into Libya and as far as Tunis.[10] It is believed that degraded grazing conditions in Upper Egypt, associated with the beginning of the Medieval Warm Period, were the root cause of the migration.[11]

20th-century EgyptEdit

In the 20th-century Egypt, the title Prince of the Sa'id (meaning Prince of Upper Egypt) was used by the heir apparent to the Egyptian throne.[Note 1]

Although the Kingdom of Egypt was abolished after the Egyptian revolution of 1952, the title continues to be used by Muhammad Ali, Prince of the Sa'id.

List of rulers of prehistoric Upper EgyptEdit

The following list may not be complete (there are many more of uncertain existence):

Name Image Comments Dates
Elephant End of 4th millennium BC
Bull 4th millennium BC
Scorpion I Oldest tomb at Umm el-Qa'ab had scorpion insignia c. 3200 BC?
Iry-Hor
 
 Possibly the immediate predecessor of Ka. c. 3150 BC?
Ka[13][14]
 
 May be read Sekhen rather than Ka. Possibly the immediate predecessor of Narmer. c. 3100 BC
Scorpion II
 
 Potentially read Serqet; possibly the same person as Narmer. c. 3150 BC
Narmer
 
 The king who combined Upper and Lower Egypt.[15] c. 3150 BC

List of nomesEdit

 
Map of Upper Egypt with its historical nomes
Number Egyptian Name Capital Modern Capital Translation
1 Ta-Seti Abu / Yebu (Elephantine) Aswan Land of the Bow
2 Wetjes-Hor Djeba (Apollonopolis Magna) Edfu Throne of Horus
3 Nekhen Nekhen (Hierakon polis) al-Kab Shrine
4 Waset Niwt-rst / Waset (Thebes) Karnak Sceptre
5 Harawî Gebtu (Coptos) Qift Two Falcons
6 Aa-ta Iunet / Tantere (Tentyra) Dendera Crocodile
7 Seshesh Seshesh (Diospolis Parva) Hu Sistrum
8 Abdju Abdju (Abydos) al-Birba Great Land
9 Min Apu / Khen-min (Panopolis) Akhmim Min
10 Wadjet Djew-qa / Tjebu (Aphroditopolis) Edfu Cobra
11 Set Shashotep (Hypselis) Shutb Set animal
12 Tu-ph Hut-Sekhem-Senusret (Antaeopolis) Qaw al-Kebir Viper Mountain
13 Atef-Khent z3wj-tj (Lycopolis) Asyut Upper Sycamore and Viper
14 Atef-Pehu Qesy (Cusae) al-Qusiya Lower Sycamore and Viper
15 Wenet Khemenu (Hermopolis) Hermopolis Hare[16]
16 Ma-hedj Herwer? Hur? Oryx[16]
17 Anpu Saka (Cynopolis) al-Kais Anubis
18 Sep Teudjoi / Hutnesut (Alabastronopolis) el-Hiba Set
19 Uab Per-Medjed (Oxyrhynchus) el-Bahnasa Two Sceptres
20 Atef-Khent Henen-nesut (Heracleopolis Magna) Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah Southern Sycamore
21 Atef-Pehu Shenakhen / Semenuhor (Crocodilopolis, Arsinoë) Faiyum Northern Sycamore
22 Maten Tepihu (Aphroditopolis) Atfih Knife

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

  • Edel, Elmar (1961) Zu den Inschriften auf den Jahreszeitenreliefs der "Weltkammer" aus dem Sonnenheiligtum des Niuserre Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, OCLC 309958651, in German.

NotesEdit

  1. ^ The title was first used by Prince Farouk, the son and heir of King Fouad I. Prince Farouk was officially named Prince of the Sa'id on 12 December 1933.[12]

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Ermann & Grapow 1982, Wb 5, 227.4-14.
  2. ^ Ermann & Grapow (1982), Wb 4, 477.9-11
  3. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana Grolier Incorporated, 1988, p.34
  4. ^ Bard & Shubert (1999), p. 371
  5. ^ David (1975), p. 149
  6. ^ Roebuck (1966), p. 51
  7. ^ a b c d e Roebuck (1966), pp. 52–53
  8. ^ Roebuck (1966), p. 53
  9. ^ Chauveau (2000), p. 68
  10. ^ Ballais (2000), p. 133
  11. ^ Ballais (2000), p. 134
  12. ^ Brice (1981), p. 299
  13. ^ Rice 1999, p. 86.
  14. ^ Wilkinson 1999, p. 57f.
  15. ^ Shaw 2000, p. 196.
  16. ^ a b Grajetzki (2006), pp. 109–111

BibliographyEdit

  • Ballais, Jean-Louis (2000). "Conquests and land degradation in the eastern Maghreb". In Graeme Barker & David Gilbertson. Sahara and Sahel. The Archaeology of Drylands: Living at the Margin. Vol. 1, Part III. London: Routledge. pp. 125–136. ISBN 978-0-415-23001-8. 
  • Bard, Katheryn A.; Shubert, Steven Blake (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18589-0. 
  • Brice, William Charles (1981). An Historical Atlas of Islam. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-06116-9. OCLC 9194288. 
  • Chauveau, Michel (2000). Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3597-8. 
  • David, Ann Rosalie (1975). The Egyptian Kingdoms. London: Elsevier Phaidon. OCLC 2122106. 
  • Ermann, Johann Peter Adolf; Grapow, Hermann (1982). Wörterbuch der Ägyptischen Sprache [Dictionary of the Egyptian Language] (in German). Berlin: Akademie. ISBN 3-05-002263-9. 
  • Grajetzki, Wolfram (2006). The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt: History, Archaeology and Society. London: Duckworth Egyptology. ISBN 978-0-7156-3435-6. 
  • Rice, Michael (1999). Who's Who in Ancient Egypt. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-15449-9. 
  • Roebuck, Carl (1966). The World of Ancient Times. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons Publishing. 
  • Shaw, Ian (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280458-7. 
  • Wilkinson, Toby A. H. (1999). Early Dynastic Egypt. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18633-1. 

External linksEdit

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