Friday, April 18, 2008

Daily Photo - Balad El Rum (Town of the Romans), Siwa

To the north of Shali and overlooking the salt lake there is a cliff with dozens of small tombs dug into the rock. There are two distinct tiers of rock cut chamber - the smaller and simpler ones higher up in the cliff, and the larger more complex ones at the foot of the hill. Only one of the more elaborate tombs has any paintwork remaining, but it is a tiny patch. An isolated piece of mudbrick wall at the base of a tomb-filled scarp has never been excavated but this has not prevented speculation that it was a basilica.

I've had a hunt around for more information about the site. I have all the usual Western Desert and Oases publications but nothing is very forthcoming about this site. The one that I don't have is Ahmed Fakhry's Siwa, which may be more informative. A visit to the library may be necessary but I'm going to be stuck at home for the next few weeks - in the meantime does anyone have any useful information about this site?







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1 comment:

wysingm said...

I come everyday to read your blog. Nice work you are doing.

I found this information about the tombs. Is this the same place as your photos?

Gebel (Jebel) al-Mawta in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt is known, for fairly obvious reasons, as the Mountain of the Dead, because it is here in this conical mountain a little over a kilometer to the north of Shali along the main road from the escarpment that a number of tombs are situated. Local residents also call it Gebel (Qaret) al-Musabbarin (Missabbarin), meaning Mountain of the Embalmed. The tombs, which cover every inch of its base and are situated on its terraces and on all sides of the conical part, date from the 26th Dynasty, the Greek (Ptolemaic) and the Roman periods, though there appear to be no Christian burials.

Links:

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mawta.htm

http://i-cias.com/egypt/siwa05.htm

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4:58 am

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