Heracleopolis
First Dynasty to the Coptic Period
By: Morgann Brafford
Introduction
The initial surveys of Heracleopolis discovered important archaeological material from the First Dynasty all the way into the end of the Roman occupation of the city in 390 AD. The archaeological remains uncovered demonstrated the continuous occupation of the site. (Petrie) The large Temple of Heryshef and houses of Roman occupation were among the most important finds of the site. Flinders Petrie and Edouard Naville were the most prominent archaeologists in Heracleopolis during the nineteenth century. These men, along with more recent excavators, discovered several temples, pottery from most time periods, and other noteworthy finds.
Eduoard Naville at the Temple of Heryshef started the first surveys done in Heracleopolis in 1891. He uncovered parts of the temple, but stopped short of completion, thinking he had uncovered all there was to be seen. (Naville) No work was done in Heracleopolis until efforts to uncover the whole of the temple began in 1904 with Flinders Petrie, along with his wife and Naville. Barred from doing work in other parts of the country, they decided to settle for work in Ehnasya (Heracleopolis) for Petrie had long suspected that the small bit of the temple that had been excavated in 1871 was not all of the temple as had been widely believed. (Petrie 1) The group discovered not only the rest of the temple, but evidence of Roman occupation as well. Also notable were 11th dynasty pot sherds, iron tools, and Roman icons, and pottery. Recent excavations in the area, including some in the 1980’s and some in 2008, have focused more on just finding any artifacts they can find, rather than any one temple or time period.
Regional and Geographical Setting
Heracleopolis is approximately 200 kilometers north of Amarna and 130 kilometers south of Cairo, within the Bani Sweif Governate in Lower Egypt. It lies on a large canal where the river bends called the Beni Yusuf – just twelve miles outside of the town of Beni Suef. In modern times, it is now known as Ihnasya el-Medina (or Ehnasya). It used to be a unoccupied area with mostly cultivated land, but is now the placement of a large city right on the edges of the borders of the site. North-east of Heracleopolis is the Faiyum Oasis, home of a large population of people out into the Western Desert. The site actually lies on the border of the Faiyum Oasis Governate and the Beni Suef Governate. Just south of the site is the also noteworthy site of Amarna. This region is mostly cultivated land without cliffs or desert areas. The main feature of the site is the large Temple of Heryshef. It also contains the modern towns of Silo, Izbat Fanus, Qahla, and Dayr Barawah. Being the capital of the twentieth nome of ancient Egypt, it contains many towns and other such governmental buildings.
Site Description
Standing on the site, there are many different distinct regions of the site. There is a large area of urbanization, where towns and the main populated area of the nome (the twentieth nome of ancient Egypt) was located. Surrounding the old ruins of the houses are large mounds. These mounds are covered with sherds of broken pottery. This area covered with mounds stretches almost three hundred and sixty acres. Because of this interesting landscape, this region of the Heracleopolis site is also known as Omm el Keman, or the “mother of mounds”. Because of their sheer size and reach, they were named separately from the rest of the site. Most of the mounds actually are not archaeologically significant, being utilized for digging only by the local people – especially around the mound named Kom el Dinar. However, the pottery is of interest to archaeologists, along with several granite monuments that are randomly distributed between the mounds. (Petrie 2)
One of the small towns on the site is named Melaha. This town is important because of the large columns dated from Roman/Byzantine era that were constructed right in front of the entrance to the village. Also in Mehala are two different saltpeter pits dated about the same time period. The site is believed to have been an important city around the Greek times, as well, for the remnants of several Coptic era churches were discovered. Most of the churches were destroyed but some columns and the bases of them remain to show that there were churches placed there. However, the site puzzles researchers because they expected to find some evidence of an Egyptian temple somewhere within the town, yet nothing was found except for the Coptic era churches. (Naville 1)
However, the giant temple that the archaeologists were searching soon appeared in the depression of the mound Kom el Dinar. The Temple of Heryshef is a large temple, though it started out small. It was originally built in the Twelfth Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom, but was greatly enlarged by Ramesses II in the New Kingdom. Ramesses II was responsible for erecting the temple’s large granite columns that led the length of the Hypostyle Hall, used for leaving offerings to Heryshef, a ram-headed god who is supposed to be known as a creator god. His name means “he who is upon the lake”, and he was believed to have come from the waters of the first primeval lake. Heryshef was also associated with Osiris and Ra and was believed to be the “ba” of these gods, or someone who traveled with Ra through the night on his barque and who also took care of the dead by bringing them food and other goods. The “ba” was considered a part of the soul. Throughout the Temple of Heryshef at Heracleopolis, he is either depicted with the Atif Crown (associated with Osiris) or the sun disk (associated with Ra). (Petrie)
Heracleopolis was once one of the most important cities in ancient Egypt. Even in Manetho’s recollections, he describes the Fifth and Sixth dynasties as being Heracleopolitan. Even though we do not have much information from that time period (as Egypt was in a state of unrest and social collapse), it is obvious that this site played a central part in the politics and events of the time period.
Excavations and Results
Eduoard Naville did the first major excavation in Heracleopolis in 1891. He was the one to uncover the entrance to the Temple of Heryshef originally. He excavated and removed several giant granite columns that found their way into museums across the world. These columns, made of red granite and decorated with hieroglyphs, were located in the Hypostyle Hall, added there by Pharaoh Ramesses II. The top of the granite columns were shaped to resemble palm leafs reaching into the ceiling. Most interesting about these columns were that they were already ancient when Ramesses II had them installed. He actually had them imported from some unknown place, where they had obviously been standing for quite some time because they predated every other piece of the temple by a significant amount of time. Researchers believe they may have been removed from an Old Kingdom pyramid complex dating from around the Fifth Dynasty, though the actual temple wasn’t erected until the Twelfth Dynasty. This apparently was typical of Ramesses II because he did this many times throughout his reign – recycle old materials. Later on it it’s life, the temple was also upgraded by two of Ramesses II sons, Khaemwaset and Merenptah. They added reliefs of their father worshipping Heryshef as well as their own names and inscriptions into the building. Though Naville excavated over 40,000 cubic meters of sand and soil, he barely uncovered half of the temple. Believing that to be all there was to the temple, he stopped excavations and published his findings. (Naville 9)
However, William Flinders Petrie, another prominent archaeologist, believed that there was more to the temple. In 1904, Petrie, his wife, and Naville traveled back to Heracleopolis (because of lack of other work) to do more extensive excavations on the temple. They discovered that there was much more to be found at the site.(Petrie 1)
The second major excavation, in 1904, gave more insight into the rest of the temple. With the work of Flinders Petrie and Eduoard Naville, the rest of the temple was quickly uncovered. Within the previously undiscovered portion of the building, the two researchers found many interesting artifacts. Within his book on his findings, Petrie was able to write fourteen pages just describing the small artifacts they found. Scattered among the remains of the ruins were terra cotta figurines. These showed a variety of different deities – among those depicted were Horus, Isis, and Osiris. Also carved into these small clay figurines were palm trees, females with obvious genitalia, armed figures of soldiers, hands, and animal representations. These were relatively easily dated because most were found next to or around coins from different eras. (Petrie 1)
Many sculptures made at a much later time were also found within the temple. These statues were representative of classical Roman figures and gods, showing that the temple was occupied much later into the Coptic period. To further prove that the Romans indeed did occupy Heracleopolis were the “lamps” or a unique form of Roman-Egyptian pottery that was dug up at the site. Most of these were well preserved and still had the makers mark visible. Petrie believed that not all the pots were actually made within Egypt but were actually evidence of continuous trade with foreign entities. To date the pots, Petrie gave each of the twenty-five varieties a letter and a date and used this to further explore the ages of occupation at the site. This process is called seriation dating. (Petrie 4)
Petrie and his team did not just excavate at the Temple of Heryshef though. They spread out through the site, also focusing on the mortuary practices of the people. Cemeteries at this time had strayed away from the large elaborate tombs, and most people were put to rest in small mud-brick tombs. These graves were essentially just mud-brick vaults dug deep into the ground. The walls were constructed of the brick, with the walls carrying up out of the ground to form an enclosure around the tomb. These walls were decorated, some even with false doors. (Stanek) Closing off the tomb would be either a mud brick roof or another form of roofing material. The bricks would occasionally extend out the entrance of the tomb to form a small area, or court, in front of the tomb. While this was getting away from the extravagant mortuary practices common in other areas, it did parallel the tombs of the beginning of the Old Kingdom almost exactly. They believed that these, and the surprisingly good condition of the tombs, were due to the heavy Coptic era population and its placement a good distance away from the Nile, which allowed for more retention of their old customs without much influence of new practices. (Petrie 15)
A huge painted statue of Ramesses was also retrieved from the site. (Stevenson 453) The pharaoh is seated on a large throne, as is typical, and is wearing on his head not a crown but a striped headpiece painted bright yellow and black. The statue was in relatively good shape when it was discovered, and the paint adorning the headpiece was still visible to the naked eye. The statue itself was made of with quartzite or sandstone. This led to its eventual decay. When it was discovered it had been broken twice – once at the waist and at the neck, leaving it in three pieces. However, when assembled, it stood at around eight feet tall and weighed almost 6700 pounds. It had suffered other damage along its life for the beard was broken off, as well as the arms, and the nose also suffered damage. Still discernable, however, were the hieroglyphs adorning the back and side of the throne itself. These deeply carved glyphs gave the names of the pharaoh as well as his titles – such as “Son of Ra” and “Lord of the Two Lands”, etc. Also carved into the statue were representations of Heryshef as well. Showing that Ramesses kept a close relationship to this deity. Probably the most interesting part to this statue was actually that the carver had made a mistake when detailing it. He had inscribed the wrong hieroglyphs for “Son of Ra” and actually coated his mistake in plaster, re-carved it, then painted it to match the rest of the statue. This is one of the few examples of this happening within ancient Egypt. (Campbell)
Recent explorations have been focused mostly on the Temple of Heryshef. A Japanese Egyptologist named Yoshifumi Yasuoka recently discovered traces of the original paintings and panels for decoration on the red granite columns. They are looking into not only what they may have originally looked like, but also are reexamining their architectural arraignment.(Yasuoka 276)
Conclusion
Heracleopolis is significant historically for several reasons. Firstly, it was a center of power in the First Intermediate Period, run by the Akhtoy family. It competed for power against the Thebens and the Memphites. It was at least semi-successful in this venture because Manetho named the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties as the Heracleopolitan dynasties. An important temple was discovered on the premises, which was a center for worship of the god, Heryshef, and also showed the influence of the pharaohs of the time by their inscriptions and reliefs within the building. Also historically important are the wealth of Roman and Byzantine era construction within the site. This illustrates that it was occupied during the Coptic period and after by foreign entities.(Petrie) Scattered throughout the site are large mounds, covered in pottery offerings as well. However, most of these have been victim to digging by the local people and therefore contained no archaeological data. The data recovered from the rest of the site allows researchers deeper insight into the importance of Heracleopolis as a nomarch in ancient Egypt as well as enlighten them about the occupation that continued after the First Intermediate Period.
Resources
Written:
Petrie, Flinders. (1905). Ehnasya, 1904.London: Gilbert and RIvington Limited. 1905. Retrieved 10/30/14 from GoogleBooks.
Petrie, Flinders (1904). Roman Ehnasya (Heracleopolis Magna), 1904.. London, 1905. Retrieved 11/5/2012 from digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de.
Stanek, Stephen. (2/25/08). False Doors for the Dead Among New Egypt Tomb Finds. National Geographic. Retrieved 10/30/14 from National Geographic.
Campbell (8/18/14). Object Biography #16. Manchester Muesum. Retrieved 11/5/14 from the Manchester Museum.
Yasuoka, Yoshifumi. (2008). Comments on Two Columns Usurped from the Time of Merenptah. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology: Volume 94. Retrieved 11/5/14 from GoogleBooks.
Stevenson, S.Y. (December, 1891). Two Egyptian Monuments from the Site of Heraklepolis The American Journal of Archaeology and the History of Fine Arts. Retrieved 11/5/14 from JStor.org
Naville, Eduoard. (1894). Ahnas el Medineh (Heracleopolis Magna) London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1904. Retrieved 11/3/14 from hathitrust.org
Images:
Image 1. The Spanish Archaeological Society.. Retrieved from www.man.es/man/en/estudio/proyectos-investigacion/egipto/heraclepolis.html.
Image 2. National Archaeological Museum. Flickr. Retrieved from flickr.com.
Image 3. British Museum. Flickr. Retrieved from flickr.com.
Image 4. The Spanish Archaeological Society. . Retrieved from www.man.es/man/en/estudio/proyectos-investigacion/egipto/heraclepolis.html.
Image 5. Travel Journal of Su. Retrieved from www.egyptsitesblog.wordpress.com.