Al-'Ain al-Sokhna ( , "the Hot Spring") is a town in the Suez Governorate, lying on the western shore of the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

Gulf of Suez The Gulf of Suez (; formerly , ', "Sea of Calm") is a gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea, to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. Situated to the east of the Sinai Peninsula is the smaller Gulf of Aqaba. The gulf was formed within a relative ...

. It is situated south of

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

and approximately east of

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

History

Recent archaeological excavations have shown that there was an ancient Egyptian port and settlement in this area. The site was first brought to attention in 1999 by Professor Mahmud Abd El Raziq. French and Egyptian archaeologists have been investigating this area since that time. It can be compared with the port of Mersa Gawasis further south. It connected the mining areas of the Sinai with Memphis some 120 km across the Eastern Desert, important for turquoise and copper.

Early Bronze

As early as the Old Kingdom, seafaring expeditions on the Red Sea were organized from this port. Similar material was also found at the Wadi Maghareh, where many Old Kingdom inscriptions are found.

Middle Bronze

In the Middle Kingdom, activity continued along the

and across to the mining areas in the Sinai.Mahmoud Abd el-Raziq, Georges Castel, Pierre Tallet, Grégory Marouard (2012) The Pharaonic Site of Ayn Soukhna in the Gulf of Suez 2001-2009 Progress Report

Eleventh Dynasty

In Year 1 of

Mentuhotep IV Nebtawyre Mentuhotep IV was the last king of the 11th Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom. He seems to fit into a 7-year period in the Turin Canon for which there is no recorded king. Family King's Mother Imi In Wadi Hammamat, a rock inscription (Ha ...

, an expedition of 3,000 men was sent to bring back "products the desert".

Twelfth Dynasty

Some 4,000 men were sent in an expedition during the reign of

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat (disambiguation), Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I (Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-ḥꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient ...

. In Year 9 of

Senusret I Senusret I (Egyptian language, Middle Egyptian: wikt:z-n-wsrt, z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt, Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 ...

and Year 2 of Amenemhat II more expeditions were sent. Ity, son of Isis, was an official serving Amenemhat II and he also has two inscriptions at Wadi Maghara dated to the same year. Ten storage galleries cut into the rock has yielded items, including wooden boat planks, ceramics from the 12th Dynasty, and a gold pendant with parallels to some found at

Dahshur DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur''; ' ) is an ancient Egyptian pyramid complex and necropolis and shares the name of the nearby village of Manshiyyat Dahshur () in markaz Badrashin, Giza Governorate, Giza ...

dating to the reign of

Senusret III Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth ...

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh), as the rest of Egypt.

Economy

The town also has a port called Ain Sokhna port.Port Said Port Authority
ts.gov.eg

References

{{Authority control Hot springs of Egypt Resorts in Egypt Archaeological sites in Egypt 1999 archaeological discoveries Tourist attractions in Egypt