著者

古谷野 晃

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.44, no.1, pp.1-24, 2001-09-30 (Released:2010-03-12)

被引用文献数

1

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This paper focuses on the concept and purpose of borders or frontiers in ancient Egypt from a geographical view.Egypt is surrounded by desert on both sides of the Nile. The natural environment and isolated geographical location formed a natural barrier from foreign invasions, as well as providing very effective internal communications through the Nile.The borders or frontiers of ancient Egypt were not consistent throughout history. They were not easily distinguishable by the lines of demarcation. Particularly away from the Nile, aecumene regions or ‘empty lands’ were geographically stretched out very wide.The Definition of a border or frontier in ancient Egypt is diverse and sometimes contradictory. Historically they represent delineations of geographical, political, administrative, religious and cosmological order: aspects different from the modern borders or frontiers. Two terms which may be recognized as an expression of the borders and frontiers are in hieroglyphics: t3š expresses the actual geographical borders, and drw expresses the end of the cosmos, and frontiers far beyond the range of t3š.When considering either the borders or frontiers of ancient Egypt from a functional point of view, at least five types can be considered: natural, administrative, political, religious, and ethnic borders or frontiers. Each had its own function and geographical range.Natural borders were very stable geographically and geomorphologically only limited to the Nile Valley down to the First Cataract and the desert margins to the both sides of the Nile in the Delta regions. Administrative borders delineated by the margins of the frontier nomes were almost equal to the natural borders during the Dynastic era. The administrative borders extended much further than the natural borders at the Greco-Roman era by the establishment of new nomes outside of the traditional range of Egypt. Political borders, de facto limits of the state, were rather dynamic in its expansion, according to the foreign affairs. Guarding the borders from the foreign invaders and bedouins was recognized as one of the most important tasks for the pharaohs to undertake as lords of not only Upper and Lower Egypt, but also of foreign lands, beyond the borders of Egypt. Ethnic frontiers were not clearly distinguishable expect through their difference in faith, language and customs.The activities of the agricultural production were not typically in the frontier regions. The temples, military parks, custom posts and fortresses were scattered and placed in strategic points in the frontier zones, near trading centers with the neighboring countries. Their location represented the geographical distance of the frontier as well as their position with respect to their neighbors.

著者

古谷野 晃

出版者

学術雑誌目次速報データベース由来

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, no.1, pp.40-70, 2000

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The purpose of this paper aims to clarify the distributional pattern of the ancient settlements in the 'Middle Nomes' (9th-15th) in Upper Egypt from a geographical and toponymical point of view.<br>The origins of urban settlement in ancient Egypt still remain unknown. Most of the ancient settlements were buried by thick alluvial soils of the Nile, or occupied by later settlements. Therefore empirical studies for the ancient settlements remain very difficult.<br>The place-names derive from the characteristics of the past. Therefore, the toponymical study may help to classify the spatial structure of nomes. The results of this study are as follows.<br>1. 148 pre-Islamic settlements were specified in the targeted region, and the location sites of the 88 place-names could be identified. 70% of the identified place-names were of hieroglyphic origin, while 25% were of the Coptic origins, and the remainder 5% were of Greek origin.<br>2. About 29 settlements are located at the desert edges. Most of them originated from the Predynastic or the Greco-Roman eras, however the majority of them had already vanished or become smaller settlements.<br>3. Only 17 place-names may have been of Greek origin. Most of their settlements were concentrated in the Hermopolite nome where the Greeks had actively settled. From the lack of historical data it can be construed that the Greek place-names were not popular among the Egyptians; therefore their settlements did not remain in later times. Another reason for thelimited Greek origin was due to the fact that their settlements were severely damaged bythe low water level of the Nile and the desertification at later times. After the original settlements were ruined, new settlements on the reclaimed lands were never built any more.<br>4. The number of settlements of the Coptic origin reaches 30, however, most of these settlements had already vanished or become smaller.<br>5. The Nile Valley of this region is relatively widespread, so a number of settlements had developed on the flood plains, particularly in the 9th, 10th and 15th nomes.<br>6. Most of the ancient settlements that had developed in the regional centers were located on the Nile bank or on the natural levees and low mounds near the bank. However, many of the ancient settlements are not situated on the present Nile banks any more, because the river had changed its position over the years.<br>7. Few settlements in the Middle region except the 9th, 10th and 12th nomes were located on the east bank of the Nile. The settlements on the east bank were scattered intermittently, while the settlements on the west bank were distributed evenly.<br>8. The distributional pattern of the ancient settlements in the 'Middle Nomes' is lattice-like, which was based on the network of transportation and irrigation canals.<br>9. Many place names of the ancient settlements, even the Greek or the Coptic names, derived from the local deities. Names derived from geographical aspects such as geomorphological characteristics were uncommon.