Gurob, also known as Ghurab, Medinet Gurob or Kom Medinet Gurob is an archaeological site in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, close to the

Fayum Faiyum ( ; , ) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location. Name and etymology Originally ...

. In the

New Kingdom New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

it was the place of a palace and was called Merwer. The remains were several times the target of excavations, the most important on by

Guy Brunton Guy Brunton (1878 – 17 October 1948) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the Badarian predynastic culture. Biography At the age of 18, he moved to South Africa. On 28 April 1906, he married Winifred Newberry, a me ...

and

Reginald Engelbach Reginald "Rex" Engelbach (9 July 1888 – 26 February 1946) was an English Egyptologist and engineer. He is mainly known for his works in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, above all the compilation of a register of artifacts belonging of the m ...

from 11 January - 6 April 1920. The excavations found several cemeteries, some dating back to the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

, but most of them belonging to the New Kingdom. Gurob is the provenance of many important finds, including a head of queen

Tiye Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. In 2010 ...

, now in the

Egyptian Museum of Berlin The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of Berlin () is home to one of the world's most important collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts, including the Nefertiti Bust. Since 1855, the collection is a part of the Neues Museum on Berlin's ...

. From a papyrus fragment found at the site, it is known that queen

Maathorneferure Maathorneferure (Hieroglyphic: ''Mȝʿt-Ḥr-nfrw-Rʿ'', Maʿat-ḥōr-nefrurēʿ) was an ancient Egyptian queen, the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC, according to the standard "Low Chronology" for Egypt). Family Maathornefer ...

lived here. She was the daughter of a Hittite king and wife of

Ramses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

.maathorneferu.html Gurob, papyrus 32795
/ref> Other notable finds are burials with artistic high quality statuettes, such as the Statuette of the lady Tiye. The area had a Temple to

Neith Neith (, a borrowing of the Demotic (Egyptian), Demotic form , also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an ancient Egyptian deity, possibly of Ancient Libya, Libyan origin. She was connected with warfare, as indicated by her emblem of two crossed b ...

and mummified

Nile perch The Nile perch (''Lates niloticus''), also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi, Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is wides ...

have been found in its vicinity.

References

External links

The Gurob Harem Palace Project

{{coord, 29, 12, 00, N, 30, 57, 00, E, region:EG_type:city, display=title Archaeological sites in Egypt Former populated places in Egypt