Neheb (El Qab)

Main article: History of Ancient Egypt

7000 BC: The first traces of man

According to the research of the Belgian archaeologist Pierre Vermerch, archaeological materials indicate that the place where Neheb was founded was inhabited from about 7000 BC. In 1967, Vermerch discovered a number of well-preserved layers of Epipaleolithic ^[1] Dating from the radiocarbonate method of ca. 6400-5980 BC, they refer to settlements of local microlytic production and fill the gap in the chronological sequence of prehistoric cultures of Egypt between the late Paleolithic (ca. 10,000 BC). AD) and early Neolithic (c. 5500 BC).

In the surrounding mountains, cave paintings of the pre-dynastic era with images of boats have been preserved.

The formation of the city during the first dynasties

The name of the Neheb settlement was found on the wreckage of a stone vessel and the stele of King Hasehem (II dynasty), who fought here with the northern conquerors.

Almost nothing has survived from the most ancient structures of Neheb, with the exception of a fragment of the city wall made of mud brick included in later fortifications.

The era of the Old Kingdom, in addition to the urban territory, also includes the mastabs of Kaimen and Nefershemem during the IV dynasty.

During the excavations of the Nehbet temple, blocks were found with the name of Mentuhotep II (XI dynasty).

XII dynasty: Neheb becomes the capital of the III nome

At the beginning of the XII dynasty, Neheb became the capital of the III nome: Gomaa notes that in the list of nomes from the White Chapel of Senusert I, Nehbet, the mistress of Neheb, is named as the main deity of the III nome of Upper Egypt.

The colossal statue of Senusert (I) was described by Champollion, but by the time the systematic study of El Caba began, it had already collapsed.

The stele of the time of Amenemkhet III tells about the restoration of the city walls on the orders of this pharaoh. He is also credited with the sphinx found during excavations of the temple in 1891.

By the time of the XII dynasty, there are necropolises located within the city walls and beyond the eastern wall, as well as the rock tomb of Senusert.

Sebekhotep III built a sanctuary in Neheb for the ceremonial rook Nehbet, from which 14 limestone blocks with reliefs have been preserved.

Under the XIII dynasty, the tomb of Renseneb (No. 9) was built.

Nomarch Neheba Sebeknecht, the owner of the large rock tomb No. 10, as established by Yu. Von Beckerat, was the son of a contemporary of King Nebriau I of the 17th Dynasty.

XVIII dynasty: The heyday of the city

The heyday of the city fell on the era of the New Kingdom. From this time until the ХХХ dynasty, active construction was carried out here, traces of which have survived to this day.

Rock tombs

Entrance to the tomb in Elkaba, photo archive of the Egyptian Museum (Turin)

Early monuments of the New Kingdom in this area include rock tombs located near the ancient city and worthy of close attention. Among them, the tomb of Ahmose, the son of Abana, the head of the rowers of the time of Ahmose I, the founder of the XVIII dynasty, is especially interesting. It found the famous description of the expulsion of the Hyksos and the capture of their capital Avaris.

For his exploits, Ahmose was awarded a gold necklace. The hero lived to a very old age and was buried in Neheb.

Next to the tomb of Ahmose is the tomb of his grandson Paheri, the mayor in the era of the XVIII dynasty. Paheri was the tutor and tutor of Pharaoh's son. Leaving for the afterlife, Paheri surrounded himself with images of works that were carried out on his lands: plowing, sowing, harvesting wheat and linen, harvesting grapes, hunting, fishing, raising livestock. On one of the walls, he is depicted with his wife at a feast. Harpists and flutists delight their hearing with beautiful music.

We see the rite of weighing gold - this metal was sacred, since it was intended to decorate temples and statues. In the tomb of Paheri there are images associated with funeral rites: the opening of the lips and the transportation of the body of the deceased.

Another 18th dynasty burial - the tomb of Rennie - resembles the tomb of Paheri, although poorly preserved. There you can see images of chariots and horses, as well as funeral rites, dances, the transportation of the sarcophagus and the procession of mourners.

The tomb of Setau, the high priest of the goddess Nehbet, built under Ramesses III, contains scenes of plowing, harvest and feast, as well as images of the priest performing the rituals necessary for traveling on a sacred barque in the afterlife.

Relief in Neheba

Temples

West of the rock tombs, Thutmose III built a small chapel that now lies in ruins. It was surrounded by a gallery, and its plan was later repeated in the structures of Nectaneba I in Neheba.

The most significant structure of Thutmose III was the main temple of the goddess Nehbet built by him on a small elevation in the city center (on the site of an older temple). His son Amenhotep II attached a temple dedicated to Thoth to him from the west. To date, only the remains of the foundations of these two temples have survived.

The temple of Nehbet was built from fragments of blocks containing drawings from the Middle and New Kingdoms and partially overlapped the older building of the end of the 4th millennium BC.

The temple of Thoth was subsequently also repeatedly completed by the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

Amenhotep III in the mountains east of the city erected a small temple with a hall on four columns with chatoric capitals, some reliefs of which retained the original coloring. There is an image of the pharaoh making a sacrifice to the goddess Nehbet. One of the more beautiful scenes is the combination of the pharaoh and Amon, who holds the symbol of life "anh" in the face of the pharaoh.

Ramesses II partially rebuilt the temple of Nehbet Amenhotep II and added pylons to it.

The main sanctuary of Nehbet was completely rebuilt by Akoris (XXIX dynasty) and Nectaneb (XXX dynasty). The temple was expanded and acquired a plan very far from the temples of the classical type.

Probably, the same era dates back to the wall surrounding the two described temples, to which a third (possibly mammisium) was added, erected near the pylon, to the right of the entrance. In front of the pylon are also the remains of a destroyed narrow portico, probably related to late time.

Nectaneb I built to the northeast of the city another small chapel of the same type as the chapel of Thutmose III.

Ptolemy VII restored the temple of Amenhotep III in the mountains and added to it a monumental portico, now destroyed. Under Ptolemy VII, X and XI, a temple was built northwest of the tomb of Setau, partially carved into the rock. A ramp led to it, ending with a platform, behind which were two courtyards with porticoes and the sanctuary itself, carved into a rock.

El Qab (Eleftia), 1851-1852

XXX Dynasty: The Walls of Neheb

Under the ХХХ dynasty (747-332 BC), a powerful wall of mud brick was built around Neheb, 6 m high and 12 m wide. It covered an area of ​ ​ about 2.5 hectares, which had the shape of a square with a side of 530 m.

The urban area and residential buildings of Neheb are surrounded by a quadrangular wall. In the center of this space is a sanctuary surrounded by a fence. Reconstruction of Jean-Claude Golvin

Jean-Claude Golvin - architect, archaeologist and researcher, created more than 800 drawings of cities, ancient and medieval monuments. From 1992 to 2008 he was Director of Research at CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research)

The southern corner of this huge wall, built partly on the site of the Old Kingdom necropolis, was demolished by the Nile Flood as a result of the displacement of the river bank.

In the Greco-Roman period, Neheb flourished and had another name - Eilithiaspol, in honor of the goddess Eilithia, daughter of Zeus and Hera. To the southwest of the temple complex, residential areas grew.

Under the Ptolemies, two small structures were erected outside the wall surrounding the sacred territory on either side of the pylons, the smaller of which appeared to be sacred in nature.

Probably, the same era should date the second wall of the fence of the temple complex, which formed an irregular rectangle with an area of ​ ​ approximately 150 by 200 m. It covered not only the former temple complex, but also the sacred lake, the chapel of Ramesses II and two new structures of the Ptolemy era (?).

During the time of the Copts, the southwestern wall of the city (from the Nile) was dismantled and used to build a fortified monastery.

The city remained an important settlement until the establishment of the Arab caliphate in the VIII century, when it was almost completely destroyed as a result of hostilities.

European researchers

Visits to El Qab by European travellers resumed in the 1740s.

During the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt (1798-1799), parts of many temples with columns and architraves still stood - as evidenced quite expressively by the drawings and schemes of Francois Denon from the 1800 report.

1809

View from inside the main cave and view of the old quarry, 1809

In the middle of the 19th century, El-Cab appeared before the German artist Ernst Weidenbach, who sketched historical monuments during the expeditions of the German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius.

1849-1856 гг. Weidenbach Ernst

See also

• Nehen (Hieraconpol)

Notes