Bathing 13 centuries ago

[Adsos Letter]

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly

A 250-METRE-long embankment, a quay and some Ptolemaic baths are the most recent discoveries at Karnak Temples, Nevine El-Aref reports.



Coincidence always makes for important discoveries. It led to Tutankhamun's tomb, the distinguished funerary collection of King Khufu's mother Hetep Heres, and those of Pharaoh Akhenaten's grandparents Yuya and Thuya, to mention just a few. This time, it makes a better understanding of the construction plans of the temples of Karnak as they were drawn by the ancient Egyptians.

During routine excavation work carried out by an Egyptian archaeological mission in the front courtyard at Karnak, part of the Karnak Temples site management project for the area enclosed between the temples and the Nile, a 250-metre-long embankment used to protect Karnak from the Nile flood was discovered, along with a quay, baths and a settlement.

Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that early studies on the newly-discovered structures revealed that the quay, the first part of which was discovered last year, was constructed as part of the embankment. The quay consists of two opposite steps leading to a five-metre-long ramp made of sandstone blocks brought from the quarries of the Silsila mountains in Aswan.

"This kind of stone can stand against the erosion of Nile water," Hawass explained, adding that because the ramp was very steep towards the Nile, the 25th Dynasty Pharaoh Taharka (690--664 BC) built a small royal quay in the middle of the ramp which on its turn divided the ramp into three sections.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/932/fr1.htm

[MilesColtrane]

1. What is a...

...."Egyptian loofah place", "Toga soaping base", and "Ancient O'Reilly space".