Kom el-Hisn ( ') is a

Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...

settlement dating back to the

Old Kingdom of Egypt 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 Dynasty ...

with parts dating to the Middle Kingdom. Its location in the 3rd

nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

, or "House of the Lord of Ships (pr nb jmu)", focus on the goddess

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

, as well as faunal and textual evidence suggests it played a role in transporting cattle between regions. Whether or not it was a self-sufficient town or built solely to support the temple is currently unknown. The site's main findings include the Tomb of Khesuwer, a large

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

, and a temple dedicated to

Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis , from ; ) is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of medicine. Sekhmet is also a solar deity, sometimes given the epithet "the Eye of Ra, eye of Ra". She is often associated with the goddesses Hatho ...

-Hathor. Inscriptions designating Hathor as the "Mistress of Imu", among other similar inscriptions, and the location of Kom el-Hisn have given evidence to the site being the former nome capital Yamu, or Imu. Much of the information on this site from previous excavations is lost or remains unpublished.

Excavation history

Egyptian - Relief with Hathor and King Necho II - Walters 22135

The site was initially uncovered by

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was an English people, English Egyptology, Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. ...

during his excavation at

Naukratis Naucratis or Naukratis (Ancient Greek: , "Naval Command"; Egyptian language, Egyptian: , , , Coptic language, Coptic: ) was a city and trading-post in ancient Egypt, located on the Canopus, Egypt, Canopic (western-most) branch of the Nile river, ...

in 1881. It was then surveyed by

Francis Llewellyn Griffith Francis Llewellyn Griffith (27 May 1862 – 14 March 1934) was an eminent British Egyptologist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life and education F. Ll. Griffith was born in Brighton on 27 May 1862 where his father, Rev. Dr. ...

from 1885 to 1887. This survey captured the remains of a mudbrick temple, enclosure wall, and four statues of

Ramesses 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 ...

. Two of these statues had inscriptions dedicating them to Sekhmet-Hathor, "Mistress of Imu". The temple and enclosure wall have since been destroyed. Currently, two of the statues of Ramesses II are still at the site. One has been moved to the

Cairo Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. It houses over 120, ...

. Another survey in 1902, this time by

Georges Daressy Georges Émile Jules Daressy (19 March 1864 – 28 February 1938) was a French Egyptologist. He worked from 1887 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Amongst his responsibilities was the museum's move from Bulaq to Giza in 1891, and then to the pre ...

, found more artifacts related to Ramesses II such as two broken colossi of

Amenemhat III :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat III (Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet III, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the sixth king of the Twelfth Dyn ...

later usurped by Ramesses II, and four blocks originally inscribed for Ramesses II, but later usurped by

Shoshenq II The designation Shoshenq II is variously associated by scholars with several different Egyptian royal names, most commonly Heqakheperre Shoshenq IIa, discussed below, but also Tutkheperre Shoshenq IIb and Maatkheperre Shoshenq IIc, and is someti ...

and reused for a chapel. In 1910 the Tomb of Khesuwer, a priest of Hathor, was found and excavated by

Campbell Cowan Edgar Campbell Cowan Edgar (26 December 1870–10 May 1938) was a Scottish Egyptologist, classical archaeologist and papyrologist. He is especially noted for his work with A. S. Hunt on translating the Zenon Papyri. Between 1925 and 1927 he served as t ...

. Within, a stone head of a

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is a series of rulers reigning from 1991–1802 BC (190 years), at what is often considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI–XIV). The dynasty periodically expanded its terr ...

Pharaoh was found wearing the

white crown Hedjet () is the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. After the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, it was combined with the Deshret, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, to form the Pschent, the double crown of Egypt. The symbol sometimes used for ...

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

. A damaged statue group of Amenemhat III was also found, possibly related to the broken colossi found earlier. This tomb cements the presence of a cult of Hathor at the site as well its possible religious function. In the early 1940s, mudbrick tombs were uncovered after a heavy rainfall. From 1943 to 1949, El-Amir, Farad, and Hamada excavated what turned out to be a large necropolis. Over one thousand graves were found, ranging from lower to upper-class burials. The most common were simple sand-pit burials. Among these, blades were discovered in some of the tombs labeled the “warrior group,” but most burials contained few or no grave goods. The 1946 and 1948 excavations revealed a large number of "pot-burials" containing the remains of children. Among these, family tombs or mass graves, mostly containing children, were also found. These were identified by the length of necklaces found with the remains. The exact number of graves is unknown. The majority date to the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. It comprises the seventh Dynasty, Seventh (altho ...

and Middle Kingdom. This excavation was not fully published and excluded a number of possible

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

graves. No maps or field notes from this excavation survive and much of what survives has remained unpublished. A study of fauna and flora remains from residential deposits was completed in 1988. Considering the Nile Delta's historical association with cattle production, the small amount of cattle bones found suggests the site still had some affiliation with cattle production and the overall Estate, but not including butchering or raising cattle. A majority of their food appears to come from pigs, with remains indicating consumption of pigs outnumbering that of sheep and goats. This number suggests the site was not heavily involved in grain production. Cow bones found on the north end of the site suggests an animal necropolis, giving further evidence to the relation between the presence of the Hathor cult and involvement in the cattle production of the Nile Delta. This has not been excavated. A series of excavations in 1984, 1986, and 1988 found remains of domestic architecture and materials, including an enclosure wall that had bordered much of the site. From these excavations came artifacts like bread molds and bowls that could be used for food storage, but the lack of basic items and the means to produce them suggests Kom el-Hisn was a religious settlement or ran under a governmental authority. During Robert J. Wenke's excavation in 1988, he uncovered broken sealings and ceramics dating to the

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth Avenue * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a cont ...

and 6th dynasties. The site appears to have been a settlement occupied at least to the Middle Kingdom. Though the lack of basic domestic goods gives evidence to Kom el-Hisn being occupied by the Hathor cult and a small support staff for those priests. This is again supported by Wenke's excavation in 1988, where stone tools were found but leftovers from their manufacture were rare. So far, no manufacturing workshops or evidence of such has been found, but Wenke stresses that it is still possible they existed but were removed from the main site.

Tomb of Khesuwer

One of the first major findings at the site was the

limestone tomb of Khesuwer ("Khesu the Elder"). The remains were discovered on the south-west corner of Kom el-Hisn. It is the only tomb at the site containing inscriptions, which date to the Middle Kingdom. With these inscriptions and the basalt head found during the excavation, Edgar dates the tomb to the reign of Amenemhat III. Four

foundation deposit Foundation deposits are the archaeological remains of the ritual burial of materials under the foundations of buildings. Ancient Egypt In the case of Ancient Egypt, foundation deposits took the form of ritual mudbrick lined pits or holes dug at s ...

s were found beneath the remains of two mudbrick walls found surrounding the tomb. Each contained a limestone plaque with an inscription containing his name that matched the one found inside the tomb. By the time of the tomb's discovery, the coffin and offering left behind had turned to dust. These deposits were placed as part of a ritual during the temple's construction so finding them beneath his tomb suggests of re-use of parts of the temple to build Khesuwer's tomb. One scene depicts Khesuwer and four rows of priestesses, who are clapping and playing instruments, giving evidence to his title as "Overseer" of the priestess' of Hathor. It is assumed his office was that of the temple found at Kom el-Hisn.

Yamu

Yamu or Imu was a capital of the 3rd Nome of Lower Egypt. It is found in texts as early as the 5th Dynasty but the current location of the town is unknown. Due to the discovery of the inscription on the statues found at Kom el-Hisn, this site is thought to have been the location of Yamu. Unpublished notes from Petrie's visit to the site in 1884 describe an offering table to the goddess

, with an inscription that reads "the king gives an offering othe mistress of Yamu, Sekhmet". He also reported other inscriptions detailing the "mistress of Yamu", but is not specific about where he found them or if they refer to Kom el-Hisn. Though it is a strong theory that Yamu and Kom el-Hisn are the same, there is no concrete evidence to prove this.

References

Bibliography

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External links