 Old village of el-ʿAgūz | ||
| el-ʿAgūz · العجوز | ||
| Governorate | Gīza | |
|---|---|---|
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
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The village el-Aguz (Arabic:العجوز, al-ʿAǧūz, „old man“) Is located about 5 kilometers east of the city el-Bāwīṭī in the valley el-Baḥrīya in Egypt.
background
Naming and location
The name of the place is said to be derived from an old, very strong man (the old man) who is said to be 200 years old.
If you drive along the asphalt roads today, you can only see the new buildings of el-ʿAgūz. The old settlement is located northeast of the new settlement. About 210 people live in 20 farmsteads, they cultivate about 30 feddān (= 12.5 hectares) of land with about 3000 palm trees. The water for this comes from two deep wells.[1]
history
Ahmed Fakhry (1905–1973) believed that the area of the old hamlet had been inhabited since at least Roman times.
The old village was built on the site of an earlier village. An important source was located here. There are numerous ancient rock tombs near the ridge. A few excavations by Ahmed Fakhry (1905–1973) brought to light the remains of a house with pillars and broken fragments that can probably be dated to the 6th or 7th century.
About one and a half kilometers to the northeast is the Qaṣr el-Maʿsara (also Qasr / Kasr el-Meʿysera). In 1938 and 1945, Fakhry found a settlement with adobe buildings with a stone building in the middle. During the excavations in 1945, 46 Greek and Coptic ostracas (shards of stone) and bronze objects such as a lamp and a column for a statue of a god were found. A ceramic vessel contained gold and silver jewelry belonging to a woman, which is now in the Coptic Museum to Cairo (Inv.-No. 5813-5857) and are partially exhibited in the department for metal objects. The jewelry found includes gold earrings, bronze and silver bracelets, a silver finger ring with Isis and Harpocrates depicted on its decorative plate, and a gold coin with the portrait of the emperor Valens (Year 364/367), which allows an approximate dating.
origin
A special feature is the origin of the villagers: they come from Siwa. In Siwa it is reported that in the 17th to 19th centuries families and individuals were exiled here because they were accused of immoral behavior or theft. Of course, today's villagers see it very differently.
The original language of the inhabitants, the Sīwī, has been extinct since the 1970s. The villagers only speak Arabic today.
getting there
One leaves el-Bāwīṭī in an easterly direction and after about 5 kilometers follow the signposted road in a northerly direction. In the village this road branches off to the east. If you do not follow this junction, but continue north, you will reach the local camp.
mobility
The village can be reached by car or on foot.
Tourist Attractions
Only that is worth seeing 1 old settlement(28 ° 21 ′ 1 ″ N.28 ° 54 ′ 37 ″ E) in the northeast of the village. The settlement is about 130 meters long (north-south) and 100 meters wide. It is still partly inhabited.
The houses were built from air-dried mud bricks and plastered with clay. They do not have any jewelry on the facade. The houses were covered with palm trunks.
The alleys are narrow, about a good meter wide. The fences were built from house stones. The houses are surrounded by palm gardens.
kitchen
There is a restaurant at the Palms Village Hotel. More restaurants can be found in the nearby town el-Bāwīṭī.
nightlife
With the closure of the Bedouin Village Camp In 2008 the so-called Bedouin disco no longer existed either.
accommodation
Easy
- 1 Opera Oasis Hotel, Desert Route, El Agouz Village, Baharia Oasis 11341 (on the trunk road to Cairo). Mobile: 20 (0)100 151 1571, Email: [email protected]. The hotel, which has existed since 2014, was not in operation in 2018. A swimming pool is planned.(28 ° 20 ′ 36 ″ N.28 ° 54 ′ 39 ″ E)
medium
- 2 Palm Valley Hotel (فندق وادي النخيل, Funduq Wādī an-Nachīl, Palms Village Hotel), El Agouz Village, Baharia Oasis, قرية العجوز ، الواحات البحرية. Tel.: 20 (0)2 3849 6272, (0)2 3849 6999, Mobile: 20 (0)106 554 5555, (0)122 468 1024, Fax: 20 (0)2 3849 6271.
.The 3-star hotel is located about 2 kilometers outside the village on the road to Mandisha and was built in 2002. A path leads to the main building, behind which the rooms are located in a semicircle on two floors. In 2009 there were 40 rooms, another 40 are under construction. The room furnishings are very different, only the newer twenty rooms can be classified as good. Of the 40 rooms, only 31 had air conditioning, 20 a television, 25 a refrigerator. The old rooms only have showers and simple, shabby furniture. There is also a fancy room: the Zahi Hawass Suite, named after the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority. The hotel has a restaurant for all meals, a garden, a terrace and a roof terrace. A swimming pool is being planned. There is no internet. Due to the seclusion and lack of advertising, it is not used by individual tourists, but only by tour groups. The prices for the single or double room are US $ 120 or $ 150 including half board (as of 3/2009). The cash payment must be made, credit cards are not accepted. Safaris are organized but not run by themselves. Horses are rented for the ride.(28 ° 21 '6 "N.28 ° 54 ′ 51 ″ E)
trips
Safaris in the east of the valley are particularly suitable el-Baḥrīya e.g. the Gebel ed-Dist and the Gebel el-Maghrafa and the city el-Bāwīṭī. Further excursion possibilities are in the article el-Baḥrīya described.
About 2.5 kilometers south of el-ʿAgūz and south of the road, northeast of Gebel el-Ḥafḥūf and 4 kilometers northwest of the source 2 ʿAin el-Guffāra(28 ° 18 '17 "N.28 ° 56 '23 "E), Arabic:عين الجفارة, ʿAyn al-Ǧuffāra, there is a 3 hermitage(28 ° 19 ′ 44 ″ N.28 ° 54 ′ 59 ″ E). It was only discovered in 1998 and originally thought to be a grave and called "Victor’s Tomb". Excavations in 2009 by the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale under the direction of Victor Ghica led to the result that this tomb is a hermitage, including rooms for worship, which were used in the 5th to 6th centuries.[2]
literature
- : Baḥria Oasis, vol. II. Cairo: Government Press, 1950, P. 91 f.
- : On the jewelry of a fourth-century woman from the Bahria oasis in the Coptic Museum. In:Announcements from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department (MDAIK), Vol.49 (1993), Pp. 93–96, plate 19.
Web links
- Tell Ǧanūb Qaṣr al-ʿAǧūz, Institut français d’archéologie orientale
