Wadi El Natrun (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: "Valley of Natron"; , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern

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 ...

that is located below sea level and below the

Nile River The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt deposits, salt marshes and freshwater marshes. In

Christian literature Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. History The Christian genre spans a variety of media and art forms that highlight Christian beliefs, narratives, and m ...

it is usually known as Scetis ( in

Hellenistic Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic ...

) or Skete (, plural in

ecclesiastical Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic ...

). It is one of the three early Christian monastic centers located in the Nitrian Desert of the northwestern

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 ...

. The other two monastic centers are Nitria and Kellia. Scetis, now called Wadi El Natrun, is best known today because its ancient monasteries remain in use, unlike Nitria and Kellia which have only archaeological remains. The desertified valley around Scetis in particular may be called the Desert of Scetis..

Fossil discoveries

The area is one of the best known sites containing large numbers of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s of large pre-historic animals in

, and was known for this in the first century AD and probably much earlier.

Geography

Wadi al-Natrun is the common name for a desert valley located west of the Nile Delta, along the El Tahrir markaz, which is about 10 km west of the entrance to Sadat City on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, and about 50 km from Khattabah on the Nile (Rashid Branch), and it falls below the level of the plateau surface surrounding it about 50 meters. The length of this depression ranges between 5, 55 and 60 km, while its average width is 10 km, and its deepest point reaches 24 meters below sea level. The depression is the smallest depression in the Egyptian Western Desert, with an area of about 500 km2. Therefore, it is true that it is a depression and not a valley, because the region is a closed depression that has a beginning and an end, and it has no source, estuary or tributaries, so the launch of the word "Wadi" on the depression is not topographically correct. The Wadi contains 12 lakes, the total surface area of which is 10 km square and their average depth is only 2 m. The color of these lakes is reddish blue because its water is saturated with the Natron salt.

History

Ancient history

Natron valley is first attested in the story of the Eloquent Peasant, and it is mentioned among the list of seven oases in the Temple of Edfu. In Ptolemaic times it constituted part of the Nitrite nome (). It was also known in Coptic as ''Mountain of Salt'' () or ''Phanihosem'' (). The importance of the Natrun valley dates back to the Pharaonic era, as the

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ians and the Libyans fought many battles there. And this ended up with the Egyptians overcoming them and annexed the eastern side of the desert, which still belongs to Egypt. Then, Wadi al-Natrun became an administrative part of the country in the Pharaonic era, but there is no information about its history during their reign, and the latest writings on the wars between the Libu and the Egyptians indicate that the last of them was in 1170 BC during the reign of

Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. Some scholars date his reign from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC, and he is considered the last pharaoh of the New K ...

. As for the religious significance of Wadi al-Natrun, there are many discoveries that indicate that this area was considered sacred as early as year 2000 BCE at the very least. Among these discoveries is a bust of black granite dating back to the era of the Seventeenth Dynasty of the Pharaohs, and there is also a granite gate and stones from the lintel of a door bearing cartridges for King

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 a place called the backbone.

Economic history

The alkali lakes of the Natron Valley provided the

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ians with the

sodium bicarbonate Sodium bicarbonate ( IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cat ...

used in mummification and in

Egyptian faience Egyptian faience is a sintered-quartz ceramic material from Ancient Egypt. The sintering process "covered he materialwith a true vitreous coating" as the quartz underwent vitrification, creating a bright lustre of various colours "usually in ...

, and later by the Romans as a flux for glass making. The Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway was built at the end of the 19th century as a 33 miles (54 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm, which attracted the first tourists to the wadi.

Monastic history

The desolate region became one of Christianity's most sacred areas. The

Desert Fathers The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Wadi El Natrun, then known as ''Skete'', in Roman Egypt, beginning around the Christianity in the ante-Nicene period, third century. The ''Sayings of the Dese ...

and cenobitic monastic communities used the desert's solitude and privations to develop self-discipline (

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

). Hermit monks believed that desert life would teach them to eschew the things of this world and follow

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

's call. Between the 4th and 7th century AD, hundreds of thousands of people from the world over joined the hundreds of Christian

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

in the Nitrian Desert, centered on Nitria, Kellia and Scetis (Wadi El Natrun). Saint

Macarius of Egypt Macarius of Egypt (c. 300 – 391) was a Christian monk and Grazers (Christianity), grazer hermit. He is also known as Macarius the Elder or Macarius the Great. Life Macarius was born in Lower Egypt. A late tradition places his birthplace in th ...

first came to Scetis (Wadi El Natrun) around 330 AD where he established a solitary monastic site. His reputation attracted a loose band of

anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress); () is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, Asceticism , ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorit ...

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

s and

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s who settled nearby in individual cells. Many of them came from nearby Nitria and Kellia where they had previous experience in solitary desert living; thus the earliest cenobitic communities were a loose consolidation of like-minded monks.Roger S. Bagnall, etc. ''Egypt from Alexander to the early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide'', Getty Publications, 2004
pp. 108–112
/ref> By the end of the fourth century, four distinct communities had developed: Baramus, Macarius, Bishoi and John Kolobos. At first these communities were groupings of cells centered on a communal church and facilities, but enclosed walls and watchtowers developed over time and in response to raids from desert nomads. Nitria, Kellia, and Scellis also experienced internal fractures related to doctrinal disputes in

. At its peak the place contained 700 monasteries. The monasteries flourished during the Muslim conquest of Egypt (639–642), but in the eighth and ninth centuries

taxation A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal person, legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to Pigouvian tax, regulate and reduce nega ...

and administration concerns led to conflicts with the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

government.

Invasion of Scetis

Scetis was attacked by the Mazices who "came sweeping off the Libyan desert" in 407-408 AD and was decimated, causing many notable

to leave the region, such as Abba Anoub. One of the survivors, St. Arsenius the Great, remarked in 410 that, "The world has lost Rome and the monks have lost Scetis." As the Jesuit historian and Professor Willian J. Harmless said, "Scetis’s destruction marked a turning point in the history of early Christian monasticism. The site would be resettled a few years later, and in fact would suffer other raids, notably in 434, 444, and 570." Nitria and Kellia were eventually abandoned in the 7th and 9th centuries respectively, but Scetis continued throughout the Medieval period. Although some of the individual monasteries were eventually abandoned or destroyed, four have remained in use to the present day: * Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great * Paromeos Monastery * Monastery of Saint Pishoy * Syrian Monastery Some of the most renowned saints of the region include the various

, including Saint Amun, Saint Arsenius, Saint Isidore of Scété, Saint John the Dwarf, Saint Macarius of Egypt, Saint Macarius of Alexandria, Saint Moses the Black, Saint Pishoy, Sts. Maximos and Domatios, Saint Poimen The Great and Saint Samuel the Confessor. To this day Wadi El Natrun remains the most important center of Coptic

monasticism Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Chr ...

Saint-Exupéry's plane crash

The environs of Wadi Natrun have been identified as the likely site of where the plane of French aviator

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...

crashed on December 30, 1935. After miraculously surviving the crash, he and his plane's mechanic nearly died of thirst before being rescued by a nomad. Saint-Exupéry documented his experience in his book '' Wind, Sand and Stars''.Saint-Exupéry, A. de. 1939. ''Terre des hommes'' (English title: Wind, Sand and Stars). Paris. The event is thought to have inspired his most famous work, '' The Little Prince''.

Gallery

Image:Bischoy Kloster BW 10.jpg, Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Scetes, Egypt Image:Bischoy Kloster BW 1.jpg, Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Scetes, Egypt Image:Bischoy Kloster BW 9.jpg, Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Scetes, Egypt Image:Macarius Kloster BW 1.jpg, Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great, Scetes, Egypt File:Frescos from the Wadi Natrun monastery1.jpg, Frescos at the Syrian Monastery, Scetes, Egypt File:Frescos from the Wadi Natrun monastery2.jpg, Frescos at the Syrian Monastery, Scetes, Egypt File:Naba' El-Hamra Lake-2.JPG, Naba' El-Hamra Lake

References

External links

The monasteries of the Arab Desert and Wadi Natrun
UNESCO World Heritage Centre 1992–2012 {{Authority control Populated places in Beheira Governorate Coptic settlements Deserts of Egypt Coptic Orthodox monasteries in Egypt Natrun Natrun Places associated with hesychasm * Cities in Egypt