Roads in the deserts of Roman Egypt: analysis, atlas, commentary

353 Pages·2019·31.816 MB·English

by  Paprocki, Maciej

Roads in the Deserts of
Roman Egypt
Analysis, atlas, commentary
Maciej Paprocki
Oxford & Philadelphia
Published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by
OXBOW BOOKS
The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE
and in the United States by
OXBOW BOOKS
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© Oxbow Books and the author 2019
Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-156-2
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-157-9
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 2019938765
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Front cover: Photo of the hoof tracks in the sand, copyright Maciej Paprocki.
Back cover: (top) Photo of the criss-crossing hoof tracks in the sand field, copyright Maciej Paprocki.
(bottom, left) Photo of the saline coastal bog in the desert, copyright Maciej Paprocki.
(bottom, right) Photo of the author looking at the tracks at the sea shore, copyright Maciej
Paprocki.
To Jadwiga Sokołowska
And Barbara Wartenberg,
Who dared me to the desert
And showed me the way

Contents
Preface and acknowledgements vii
List of figures ix
1. Introduction: research aims, book structure, and sources 1
1.1. Main research aims and scope 1
1.2. Structure of this book 4
1.3. This book as an atlas: maps of desert trails of Roman Egypt 5
1.4. Sources on ancient traffic along desert trails of Egypt 26
2. Road networks of Roman Egypt 41
2.1. Factors influencing road network structure in Roman Egypt 41
2.2. Dense and sparse zones in the Egyptian deserts under the
Roman influence 53
3. Pack animals in ancient Egyptian desert transport: shifting patterns of use 61
3.1. Donkeys 61
3.2. Camels 65
3.3. Oxen 79
3.4. Horses 82
4. Roads of the Sinai Peninsula 93
4.1. Roman Sinai as the Nabataean trade corridor between Africa and Asia 93
4.2. Roads linking northern Egypt to Palestine 98
4.3. Nabataean road nexus in the Negev 110
4.4. Trails linking the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez 127
4.5. Trails across the central and southern Sinai 130
5. Roads of the Eastern Desert 147
5.1. Roads of the Eastern Desert – northern section 147
5.2. Roads of the Eastern Desert – central section 156
5.3. Roads of the Eastern Desert – southern section 180
vi Contents
6. Roads of the Western Desert 191
6.1. Roads from Alexandria 192
6.2. Roads between Memphis and selected Western Desert sites 201
6.3. Roads from Siwa to the Mediterranean coast and the Nile Valley 205
6.4. Roads from Bahariya Oasis to the Nile Valley 213
6.5. Asyut Oasis Junction (roads from Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga to Asyut) 218
6.6. Other roads from Kharga to the Nile Valley 225
6.7. Roads crossing the Qena Nile Bend 234
6.8. Roads linking Dunqul and Kurkur Oases with Syene, al Shabb, Selima
and Kharga Oases 240
6.9. Roads between major oases 250
6.10. Roads from major oases to sites beyond Egypt 261
7. Road density area studies 277
7.1. Introduction 277
7.2. Area studies 281
8. Conclusions and future research 299
Bibliography 303
General index 329
Geographical index 333
Preface and acknowledgements
Roads in the Deserts of Roman Egypt is a revision of my eponymous doctoral thesis, which
I wrote under Prof. Colin Adams’ (University of Liverpool) supervision and defended
in 2015 in the Department of History at the University of Wrocław, Poland. Its focus
is on Egypt under the Romans (30 BCE–early 3rd century CE), a period when local
deserts experienced an unprecedented flurry of activity. A rapidly developing field,
desert road archaeology has used satellite imaging, landscape studies and network
analysis to plot desert trail networks with greater accuracy; however, the coverage
of the material has by necessity been patchy, with extant studies on Egyptian desert
roads either limiting their focus to one area or indiscriminately including all areas
and epochs of ancient Egypt. In contrast, this chronologically-focused study focuses
primarily on the road network development in the Roman period. Its primary aims
are to compile and reconsider the knowledge amassed so far on desert roads in
Roman Egypt and to assess Roman influence on the road density in two select desert
areas, one of central importance to the Roman empire (the central and southern
section of the Eastern Desert) and one, peripheral (central Marmarican Plateau). This
monograph discusses geographical and social factors influencing the road use in the
period, demonstrating that Roman overseers of Egypt adapted remarkably well to
local desert conditions, improving roads just as their predecessors would have done
it. Not all desert areas of Egypt are equally suited for anthropogenic development,
but almost all have been optimised under the Romans in one way or another, with
road installations built for added comfort and safety of travellers. Accordingly, this
study of how Romans successfully adapted to desert travel will be of interest to all
those who study deserts and their ongoing expansion due to the global warming – not
only to scholars of desert transport and road archaeology, but also to non-specialist
readers interested in desert travel and exploration. To that end, the volume has been
supplemented with several maps of desert road networks in Roman Egypt, every map
accompanied by a commentary and list of secondary sources.
This book would have never been written without the support of many people and
organisations. My doctoral research project, a part of ‘The Eastern Mediterranean from
the 4th century B.C. until late Antiquity’ programme, was funded thanks to generous
support from the Foundation for Polish Science. This scheme, realised within the
International Ph.D. Projects programme, was co-financed from the European Union,
Regional Development Fund within the frameworks of Measure 1.2 ‘Strengthening the
Human Potential within the Science Sector’ of the Operational Programme Innovative
Economy.
viii Roads in the Deserts of Roman Egypt
On a personal level, I would like to acknowledge my academic advisors, Professor
Andrzej Łoś and Dr Colin Adams, who endeavoured to guide me through the labyrinth
of the desert, supervised the writing process and rectified my mistakes; those which
remain are my sole responsibility. I am also indebted to Professor Krzysztof Nawotka
and my cohort of doctoral colleagues, who taught me valuable lessons in assertiveness,
honesty, and personal integrity.
As I corrected my dissertation for publication, I have greatly enjoyed interactions
with my friends and colleagues in the academia and beyond. During my postdoctoral
fellowship in Munich (2015–2018), I frequently drew inspiration and received feedback
from many mentors and colleagues, especially Prof. Susanne Gödde, Virginia Fabrizi,
Joseph Sanzo, Bernardo Ballesteros Petrella, Henry Albery, Constanze Graml, Ralph
Birk, Alma Brodersen, Elisa Roßberger, James Hamrick, Aaltje Hidding, and Ulrike
Berndt. Special thanks also go to those who supported my research activities in
Munich, in particular Prof. Martin Hose and Anna Waldschütz.
My dear friends, co-organisers of Annual Student Conferences in Classical
Civilization (Studencka Konferencja Starożytnicza), periodically provided me with
much needed respite from my project, made me laugh and gave me perspective.
Special thanks go to Maria Gierszewska, Katarzyna Kuszewska and Elżbieta Saks
for their unfailing support, to Filip Taterka, a great friend who helped me in a
very difficult moment, and to Paulina Dziedzic and Małgorzata Marczak, who have
always been kindness itself to me. I also wish to thank my dear friend Szymon,
who shared my daily struggles: his BA thesis and my dissertation were written
side-by-side. I cannot find words to express my gratitude to my dearest friends,
Damian Przybyłowski and Małgorzata Bieszczanin, whose friendship truly knows
no bounds.
This book is dedicated to two of my school teachers, Mrs Jadwiga Sokołowska
(geography) and Mrs Barbara Wantenberg (biology). Their thorough and engaging
lessons sparked my imagination and taught me perseverance and diligence, both
extremely necessary when one intends to study the desert. Significantly, it was them
who first taught me why camels store fat in humps and what the difference is between
erg, serir and hamada – without their influence, in all probability I would have never
embarked upon such a venture.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to express my warmest thanks to my
family: mother, father, brothers, and sister, who were always there for me. Whatever
I have achieved, it was thanks to your help and loving kindness.
List of figures
Fig. 1.1 Map 1 – Desert roads of Roman Egypt x
Fig. 4.1 Map 2 – Geology and road networks of the Sinai Peninsula 96
Fig. 4.2 Map 3 – Desert roads in Pelusium–Cleopatris region 102
Fig. 4.3 Map 4 – Trails and canals of the Eastern Nile Delta region 104
Fig. 4.4 Map 5 – North-eastern region of Sinai and Negev Desert 114
Fig. 4.5 Map 6 – Desert trails of Negev 116
Fig. 4.6 Map 7 – Central and southern Sinai 134
Fig. 5.1 Map 8 – Eastern Desert 148
Fig. 5.2 Map 9 – Mons Porphyrites–Mons Claudianus–Mons Ophiates 158
Fig. 5.3 Map 10 – Wadi Hammamat–Hodos Berenikes–Wadi al-Hudi–Aswan district 170
Fig. 6.1 Map 11 – Alexandria–Maryut–Wadi Natrun 198
Fig. 6.2 Map 12 – Roads striking west from Memphis 204
Fig. 6.3 Map 13 – Marmarica–Siwa Oasis–Qattara Depression 208
Fig. 6.4 Map 14 – Bahariya–Wadi Rayan–Fayum 216
Fig. 6.5 Map 15 – Trails from Farafra, Dakhla, and Kharga Oases to the Nile Valley 220
Fig. 6.6 Map 16 – Trails from Kharga Oasis to the Nile Valley 230
Fig. 6.7 Map 17 – Roads crossing the Qena Nile Bend 238
Fig. 6.8 Map 18 – Oases of Lower Nubia and Dodecaschoenus 242
Fig. 6.9 Map 19 – Dodecaschoenus and Kurkur Oasis 246
Fig. 6.10 Map 20 – Siwa, Bahariya, and Farafra Oases 250
Fig. 6.11 Map 21 – Dakhla and Kharga Oases 258
Fig. 7.1 Single-track trails (point-to-point) 279
Fig. 7.2 Single-track trails with fan-shaped ends (zone-line-zone) 279
Fig. 7.3 Criss-crossing interzonal webs 280
Fig. 7.4 Trails that fan out (point-zone) 281
Fig. 7.5 Qena road subsystem: new nodes in the Roman period 286
Fig. 7.6 Qena road subsystem: spatial distribution and typology of new nodes 286
Fig. 7.7 Quft road subsystem: new nodes in the Roman period 289
Fig. 7.8 Quft road subsystem: spatial distribution and typology of new nodes 290
Fig. 7.9 Edfu road subsystem: new nodes in the Roman period 291