Upper Egypt

1
Upper Egypt
Map of Lower and Upper Egypt.
Upper Egypt (Arabic: Sad Mir, shortened to
es-ed/es-ad pronounced[es.se.id, es.s .id]) is the strip of
land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends between Nubia, and
downriver (northwards) to Lower Egypt.
Geography
Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile above modern-day
Aswan, downriver (northwards) to the area between Dahshur and
El-Ayait,Wikipedia:Citation needed which is south of modern-day
Cairo. The northern (downriver) part of Upper Egypt, between Sohag
and El-Ayait, is also known as Middle Egypt.
In Arabic, inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis and they
generally speak Sa'idi Arabic.
In the Pharaonic times, Upper Egypt was known as Ta Shemau
[1]
which means "the land of reeds."
[2]
It was divided into twenty-two
districts called nomes.
[3]
The first nome was roughly where
modern-day Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih
(Aphroditopolis), just to the south of Cairo.
History
Predynastic Egypt
The main city of predynastic Upper Egypt was Nekhen (Hierakonpolis in Greek),
[4]
whose patron deity was the
vulture goddess Nekhbet.
[5]
Upper Egypt
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Dynastic Egypt
For most of pharaonic Egypt's history, Thebes was the administrative center of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by
the Assyrians, its importance declined. Under the Ptolemies, Ptolemais Hermiou took over the role of Upper Egypt's
capital city.
[6]
Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, and its symbols were the flowering
lotus and the sedge.
Artwork From Dynastic Egypt
Bottle with Openwork Shell, ca. 1070-718 B.C.E.
Brooklyn Museum
This vase comes from Upper Egypt during the Third Intermediate
Period of Egypt from the Dynasties XXI-XXII. This vase was first
shown at an exhibition of Egyptian art at Burlington House in London
in 1895, it has been illustrated several times since as the most elaborate
vessel ever made in the long history of ancient Egyptian glassmaking.
It was molded of frit, powdered glass that had been made into a paste
by adding water, and then fired at a low temperature so that the
material became solid without turning into true glass. The ovoid body
of the bottle has a bottom in the form of a lotus flower which is
surmounted by deities and mythological symbols. The neck opens into
a mouth decorated as a lotus blossom: an elegant crowning, yet so
simple in contrast to the fancy work of the vessel's body.
Medieval Egypt
In the 11th century, large numbers of pastoralists, known as Hilalians,
fled Upper Egypt and moved westward into Libya and as far as
Tunis.
[7]
It is believed that degraded grazing conditions in Upper Egypt
associated with the beginning of the Medieval Warm Period, were the root cause of the migration.
[8]
20th-century Egypt
In the 20th-century Egypt, the title Prince of the Sa'id (meaning Prince of Upper Egypt) was used by the heir
apparent to the Egyptian throne.
[9]
Although the Egyptian monarchy was abolished in 1953, the title continues to be used by Muhammad Ali and
Hereditary Chief, Sheikh Beja Khawr al`allaqi, Prince of Sa'id.
References
[1] Ermann & Grapow, op.cit. Wb 5, 227.4-14
[2] Ermann & Grapow, op.cit. Wb 4, 477.9-11
[3] The Encyclopedia Americana Grolier Incorporated, 1988, p.34
[4] Bard, op. cit., p.371
[5] David, op.cit., p.149
[6] Chauveau, op.cit., p.68
[7] Ballais, Jean-Louis (2000) "Chapter 7: Conquests and land degradation in the eastern Maghreb" p. 133 (http:/ / books. google. com/
books?id=zbA2P0BXeI4C& pg=PA133) In Barker, Graeme and Gilbertson, David (2000) The Archaeology of Drylands: Living at the Margin
Routledge, London, Volume 1, Part III - Sahara and Sahel, pp. 125-136, ISBN 978-0-415-23001-8
[8] Ballais, Jean-Louis (2000) "Chapter 7: Conquests and land degradation in the eastern Maghreb" p. 134 (http:/ / books. google. com/
books?id=zbA2P0BXeI4C& pg=PA134) In Barker, Graeme and Gilbertson, David (2000) The Archaeology of Drylands: Living at the Margin
Routledge, London, Volume 1, Part III - Sahara and Sahel, pp. 125-136, ISBN 978-0-415-23001-8
[9] The title was first used by Prince Farouk, the son and heir of King Fouad I. Prince Farouk was officially named Prince of the Sa'id on 12
December 1933.
Upper Egypt
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Bibliography
Bard, Katheryn A. and Shubert, Steven Blake (1999) Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
Routledge, London, ISBN 0-415-18589-0
Chauveau, Michel (2000) Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies Cornell
University Press, Ithaca, New York, ISBN 0-8014-3597-8
David, Ann Rosalie (1975) The Egyptian Kingdoms Elsevier Phaidon, London, OCLC 2122106 (http:/ / www.
worldcat. org/ oclc/ 2122106)
Edel, Elmar (1961) Zu den Inschriften auf den Jahreszeitenreliefs der "Weltkammer" aus dem Sonnenheiligtum
des Niuserre Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Gttingen, OCLC 309958651 (http:/ / www. worldcat. org/ oclc/
309958651), in German
Ermann, Johann Peter Adolf and Grapow, Hermann (1982) Wrterbuch der gyptischen Sprache Akademie,
Berlin, ISBN 3-05-002263-9, in German
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Upper Egypt Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=617018544 Contributors: 83d40m, A. Parrot, APT, Ahmadpontymageed, Alansohn, Alexisegarcia, Andi d, Andycjp, Arteyu,
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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ancient_Egypt_map-en.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: Jeff
Dahl
File:Bottle with Openwork Shell, ca. 1070-718 B.C.E. 44.175.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bottle_with_Openwork_Shell,_ca._1070-718_B.C.E._44.175.jpg
License: unknown Contributors: JMCC1, Kaitlyn153
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