Kōm Auschīm - Kōm Auschīm

Kom Auschim (also Kom Oshim / Oshim / Awshim, Arabic:كوم أوشيم‎, Kōm / Hardly any Auschīm, or Kōm / Hardly shīm, Greek: Karanis) is an archaeological site in northeastern the egyptian Sink el-Faiyūm, about 30 kilometers north of Madīnat el-Faiyūm. Here are the remains of the Greco-Roman city Karaniswhich is one of the best preserved ancient cities in Egypt. This is one of the reasons why Karanis is the most visited archaeological site in el-Faiyūm.

background

The excavation mound Kōm Auschīm is located in the extreme northeast of the depression el-Faiyūm, east of the freeway from Cairo to el-Faiyūm, 8 kilometers northwest of the city of Ṭāmīya (Arabic:طامية), About 25 kilometers north of Madīnat el-Faiyūm and about 60 kilometers from the outskirts Kairos away.

The ancient city Karanis (Greek Καρανίς, the "City of the Lord") was founded in the middle of the 3rd century BC. At the time of the king Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Reign 285–246 BC) in the Arsinoites Gau, newly created by the Greeks, today's el-Faiyūm, founded as a place of residence for Greek mercenaries. Initially it was a village with agriculture as the main economic activity. Settlement began in the southern part of today's site. Over time, the city expanded north. The so-called south temple was laid out as early as the first century BC. In Roman times the economic and administrative importance of the city increased. It experienced its heyday in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. There were now about 3000 inhabitants in the city. The coins and documents found date back to the middle of the 5th century, the ceramics probably as far as the 7th century. Christians have also settled here since the middle of the 3rd century.

Despite the looting of treasure graves and the modern use of the crumbled adobe buildings on the hill of ruins as Sibach, as a fertilizer, the ancient settlement is still one of the best preserved settlements in Egypt. The important finds include numerous coins, ceramics, glass, lamps, textiles as well as approx. 5000 papyri and ostraka. The papyri did not contain literary texts, but mainly economic and administrative texts.^[1] These finds ensured that more is known about this city than about any other city in el-Faiyūm.

Those revered here Gods were Pnepheros (Πνεφερως, "with a beautiful face") and Petesuchos (Πετεσοῦχος, "son of Suchos"). Little is known about these deities. They are probably local variants of the crocodile god Sobek (Suchos).

First scientific Digs were used by the British Bernard Pyne Grenfell (1869–1926), Arthur Surridge Hunt (1871–1934) and David George Hogarth (1862–1927) in 1895, during which numerous papyri and the south temple were found.^[2][3] At the suggestion of Francis Willey Kelsey (1858–1927), scientists at Michigan University in Ann Arbor In the years 1924–1935, initially under the direction of J. L. Starkey, later under Enoch E. Peterson (1891–1978), extensive excavations were carried out on the area. They uncovered the temples and numerous residential buildings and unearthed numerous coin and papyrus finds. Around 45,000 found objects are now stored in the university. Between 1966 and 1975 the archaeological site was re-examined by scientists from Cairo University, and in 1983 A. Gouda Hussain carried out magnetic field research.^[4] The finds, exposed residential buildings, the Greco-Roman bath and the cemetery have only been published to a very limited extent.^[5][6]

getting there

The journey can be made by taxi or car via the motorway from Cairo to el-Faiyūm. The archaeological site is located directly on the northern edge of the cultivated depression on the eastern side of the road.

When visiting sites in Faiyūm, you will be accompanied by police officers.

mobility

The entrance and the museum are in close proximity to the eastern side of the road. The museum area is surrounded by trees. To the east behind it is the archaeological site. The paths to the individual monuments are signposted and can be mastered on foot. The distance to the museum is about 500 meters.

Tourist Attractions

The museum and the excavation site are open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the excavation site is LE 60 or LE 30 for foreign students and LE 40 to the interesting museum, LE20 for foreign students (as of 11/2019).

South temple

The exact start of construction of the so-called. 29.51792230.9030631 South temple(29 ° 31 '4 "N.30 ° 54 '11 "E) is unknown. As the dedicatory inscription shows, he became emperor under the rule Nero (Reign 54–68) completed and consecrated to the gods Pnepherus and Petesuchos. Later he became emperor Vespasian (Reign 69–79) supplemented and under the emperor Commodus (Reign 180–192) restored. It was exposed in 1929 by scientists from the University of Michigan.

The 23.6 meter long, 17 meter wide limestone temple stands on a small hill and was built on the remains of an earlier, probably Ptolemaic temple and is the earlier of the two temples of Karanis. In the east in front of the temple there is a 10 × 13.3 meter grandstand. The lintel of the entrance gate on the east side of the temple contains the partially destroyed, five-line inscription of Emperor Nero from his 7th year of reign:^[7]

[1] Ὑπὲρ ⟦[Νέρωνο] ς⟧ Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ

[2] Γερμανικοῦ Αὐτοκράτορος καὶ τοῦ παντὸς αὐτοῦ οἴκου

[3] Πνεφερῶτι καὶ Πετεσούχωι θεοῖς μεγίστοις, ἐπεὶ Ἰουλίου

[4] Οὐηστίνου τοῦ κρατίστου ἡγεμόνος, (ἔτους) ζ ἱεροῦ ⟦Ν [έρωνος]⟧

[5] Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ [Α] ὐτοκράτορος Ἐπεῖφι ιγ.

[1] For (Nero) Claudius, Ceasar, Augustus

[2] Germanicus, the autocrat, and his whole house

[3] Pnepherus and Petesuchos, the great gods, under Julius

[4] Vestinus, the famous prefect [hēgemonos], year 7 of Nero

[5] Claudius, Caesar, Augustus, Germanicus, autocrat, the 13th Epiphi.

The narrow courtyard with side chambers and a staircase to the temple roof can be reached via the entrance. This is followed by a wide room with two side chambers and the sanctuary, the holy of holies, with the altar for the cult picture shrine, side chambers and another staircase to the roof. The long niche in the middle room was intended to accommodate a crocodile mummy.

Another inscription can be found above the entrance to a dining room in the southeast of the temple:^[7]

[1] Ὑπὲρ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Οὐεσπασιανοῦ Σεβαστοῦ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς

[2] αὐτοῦ οἴκου Πνεφερῶτι καὶ Πετεσούχωι καὶ τοῖς συννάοις θεοῖς μεγίστοις

[3] τὸ διπνητήριον (ἔτους?) [Traces of two lines]

[1] For the autocrat Caesar Vespasian Augustus and all of him

[2] House of Pnepherus and Petesuchus and all the great gods,

[3] this dining room is (dedicated to) ...

Apart from the inscriptions mentioned, the temple has no other decoration.

North Temple

The 29.51969530.903062 North Temple(29 ° 31 '11 "N.30 ° 54 '11 "E) is without any inscriptions. Therefore it is difficult to name the deities worshiped here. A (local) crocodile deity, Isis, Serapis (amalgamation of Osiris and Apis) and Zeus-Amun would be possible. The crocodile mummies found near the temple speak for the crocodile deity, for Isis a statuette of the goddess found here. The temple was uncovered in 1925 by scientists from the University of Michigan. The excavators believed that the limestone temple was not built before the 1st century AD and was used until the middle of the 3rd century. The rise of Christianity and economic decline were seen as the reasons for the decline.

A staircase in the south leads to the temple, which is located on a small hill. Then you pass two pylons, the first badly damaged, with their paved courtyards in front of the 18.1 meter long and 10.6 meter wide temple house. The temple, whose room layout is similar to the south temple, consists of three rooms one behind the other, the small courtyard, an anteroom and the sanctuary in the north, as well as four small side chambers and two stairs to the temple roof. In the sanctuary there is an altar for the cult picture shrine and a niche on the back wall. Another niche is located on the rear outer wall.

Ancient settlement

To date, only a small fraction of the ancient settlement has been uncovered. The place was criss-crossed by a few wider streets and many alleys.

The buildings of the 29.51835830.8997533 settlement(29 ° 31 '6 "N.30 ° 53 '59 "E) were built from air-dried mud bricks. The larger houses once had several floors that were connected by stairs. The basement and the flat roof were also accessible via these stairs.

In order to increase the stability, wooden beams were inserted in the corners, in the windows and doors. Wooden beams were also used for the ceilings. The interior walls were usually plastered. Decorated niches were created in the walls, which could have served as shrines. The undecorated ones served more as shelves or storage space for lamps. The center of all activities in the house was the courtyard, in which the grain was milled and cooked. Tables and seats were also part of the furnishings of the houses.

In addition to the houses, there was also a well-preserved one Bathhouse, Granaries and dovecotes found. The bath was only found and researched during the excavations of the Cairo University in cooperation with the Institut français d’archéologie orientale. This bath included a fountain, a frigidarium (cooling room) with a cold water basin, a caldarium (hot air room), a laconium (steam sweat bath), a tepidarium (warming room) and an apodyterion (dressing and undressing room). An exact date of construction could not be determined. It was probably mainly used in Greek times and in the first century AD.^[6]

The cemetery was once laid out in the north of the hill.

museum

The local one is right in the area of ​​the entrance 29.5185730.8986084 museum(29 ° 31 '7 "N.30 ° 53 '55 "E). The collection of the museum, founded in 1974, is housed on two floors. The presented finds come mainly from Karanis, Hawara and other places of el-Faiyūm.

The lower floor covers the Pharaonic period up to the Greco-Roman period. The pharaonic exhibits often come from Hawāra. These include mummy coffins, shabtis, jars, necklaces and perfume bottles. Glass, ceramics, terracottas, gold and bronze coins, statue fragments such as two feet made of granite and one of the so-called Faiyūm portraits, this is the image of the deceased on a wooden panel, usually in wax painting (encaustic) or was executed in tempera. One of the exhibits is the Coptic mummy of a 15-year-old boy Qaṣr el-Banāt.

Coptic textiles, icons, Islamic wooden panels and parts of a dinner service from Muhammad Ali (Early 19th century) presented.

The museum was closed for renovation for several years at the beginning of the 21st century.

In the vicinity of the museum is the villa of the former British High Commissioner Sir Miles Lampson (also Lord Killearn, 1880–1964), who carried out his office in Egypt and Sudan from 1934 to 1946 and was known for his little diplomatic behavior towards the Egyptian royal house .

accommodation

There are hotels on the southern edge of the Qārūn Lake and in Madīnat el-Faiyūm.

Practical advice

In the museum there is support for trips to other archaeological sites.

trips

The visit of Karanis can be, for example, with the visit of Qar Qarun connect. The visit is also available as a day trip from Cairo from possible.

literature

• Wessely, Carl: Karanis and Soknopaiu Nesos: Studies on the history of ancient civil and personal relationships. Vienna: Gerold, 1902, Memoranda of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Philosophical-Historical Class; Vol. 47, Dep. 4.
• Boak, Arthur E [dward] R [omilly]; Peterson, Enoch E.: Karanis: topographical and architectural report of excavations during the seasons 1924-28. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1931, University of Michigan studies: Humanistic series; 25th (English).
• Boak, Arthur E [dward] R [omilly]: Karanis: the temples, coin hoards, botanical and zoological reports; seasons 1924 - 31. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1933, University of Michigan studies: Humanistic series; 30th (English).
• Geremek, Hanna: Karanis communauté rurale de l’Égypte romaine au II. - III. siècle de notre ère. Wrocław [and others]: Zakł. Nar. Im. Ossolińskich, 1969, Archiwum filologiczne / Polska Akademia Nauk, Komitet Nauk o Kulturze Antycznej; 17th (French).
• Arnold, Dieter: Temples of the Last Pharaohs. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0195126334 , Pp. 253–256, fig. 218 f., P. 270.
• Gazda, Elaine K. (Ed.): Karanis: an Egyptian Town in Roman Times; Discoveries of the University of Michigan Expedition to Egypt (1924-1935). Ann Arbor, Mich.: Kelsey Museum of Archeology, the University of Michigan, 1983, Kelsey Museum Publication; 1, ISBN 978-0974187303 (English).

Individual evidence