Piramesse

From  the  early  days  of  Egyptology,  continuing  attempts were made to locate the position of the Ramessid capital  called  "The  House  of  Ramesses  Beloved  of  Amun Great  of  Victories."  It  was  believed  to  be  identical  with  the  biblical  city  called  "Ramesses,"  from  which  the  Israelites  departed  Egypt  on  their Exodus. In the Nile Delta, the vast ruins of Tanis, the region  around  Pelusium,  and  the  frontier  forts  of  Sile,  Tell  el-Maskhuta  and  Tell  el-Rotaba,  all  situated  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  Nile  Delta, were in turn identified and then dismissed as Piramesse. The  French  archeologist  Pierre  Montet  insisted  that  Tanis  was  indeed  the  only  Ramessid  city  that  could  be  considered  a  candidate,  because  of  the  enormous  numbers  of  Ramessid  architectural  fragments that he had uncovered there. Excavations in the vicinity  of the modem village of Qantjr, led by the Egyptian Egyptologists Mahmoud Hamza (1928) and Labib Habachi (1940-1943), uncov- ered  parts  of  palaces  as  well  as  dwellings  of  high  Ramessid  officials and brought the region of Qantir into focus. This work was  continued,  with  a  detailed  evaluation  of  archeological  remains  within  the  region's  topography,  by  the  Austrian  Egyptologist  Manfred  Bietak  (since  1966).  With  further  progress  of  the  excavations at Tanis and Qantir, all data led to the final localization  of  the  Ramessid  capital  in  the  region  between  Qanti  and  el- Khata'na, which  has  come  to  be  generally  accepted.  Qantir/Pi-ramesse,  the  central  area  of  which  covers  more  than  10  square  kilometers,  is  about 100 kilometers (65 miles) northeast of Cairo and about 80  kilometers  (50  miles)  west  of  Ismailia,  not  far  from  Faqus,  in  Sharkijeh province.
The feet of a Ramses II statue at Piramesse
The feet of a Ramses II statue at Piramesse

In cooperation with the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and  in collaboration with the Austrian mission, the Pelizaeus Museum  initiated  intensive  work  in  the  endangered  archeological  zone.  Francis  L.  I.  Griffith,  the  British  scholar,  could  still  note  on  an  inspection of the area in 1886 that one finds at Qantir a low tell  (settlement  mound),  which  continues  without  interruption  as  far  south  as  el-Khata'na,  more  than  2  kilometers  (1.5  miles)  to  the  south of Qantir. Today the area is almost completely leveled and  prepared  for  agricultural  exploitation,  except  for  very  limited  remains at Tell ed-Dab'a. Already in antiquity, specifically during  the  twenty-first  dynasty,  most  of  the  stone  masonry,  statues,  obelisks, and the like had been removed from Piramesse to build  new residences in such sites as Tanis and Bubastis.

During  the  course  of  nineteen  field  seasons  since  1980,  five  excavation sites have been opened; two of these were labeled Q I  and  Q  IV,  respectively.  Both  major  sites  contain,  from  top  to  bottom, badly damaged remains of cemeteries, followed by a more  or less preserved habitation level; beneath this is a chariot garrison  with  attached  multifunctional  workshops  and  extensive  horse  stables;

and  below  that  is  a  foundry  with  installations  for  the  industrial  production and casting of bronze (Q I) and glass (Q IV). The latest  excavations  have  revealed  the  remains  of  a  palace-like  structure  below  the  royal  stud  (Q  IV),  comprising  further  stables,  pillared  halls, and a room with a polychrome stucco floor, including gold- plating.  These  latter  elements  can.  be  dated  to  the  reign  of  Ramesses II by inscriptions and are most likely connected to the  systematic building activities of the new residence. They may also  reflect a technological transfer in regard to metal processing.

Evidence  for  this  is  provided  by  vast  installations  that  demonstrate the melting of bronze by heating open crucibles from  above, and the use of specialized furnaces for heating large-scale  casting molds. Those installations cover an area well over 30,000  square  meters  and  are  unique  in  antiquity  for  their  high- temperature technology and size.  Altogether,  the  strata  represent  a  period  of  a  more  than  three  hundred years of settlement history, from about 1300 BCE  to the  beginning  of  the  first  millennium,  from  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth dynasty to the early twentieth. Earlier occupation levels  (Middle Kingdom  and Second Intermediate Period)  are  to  be  found at Tell ed-Dab'a.

Traces of connections to foreign cultures and countries of the  eastern Mediterranean are well documented at Piramesse.  Particularly  interesting  in  this  regard  is  the  occupation  level  labeled  the  Chariot  Garrison.  Three  large  contemporary  functional units may be distinguished. The north of site Q I contains  a  peristyle  court  lined  with  octagonal  pillars  which  protected  polychrome  wall  paintings  from  the  frequent,  sometimes  violent  rainstorms. The pillars show on their four principal sides the royal  protocol of Ramesses II in a version that dates its erection to his first  sect-festival in regnal Year 30. The clearest indication of the use of  this  court  for  chariotry,  in  addition  to  the  numerous  objects  recovered, is the prints of horses' hooves in parts of the courtyard  floor.

The  second  functional  unit—multifunctional  workshops  with  intra-craft  and  cross-craft  specialization—is  situated  within  the  south  part  of  Q  I.  These  include  fireplaces  of  various  types,  crucibles  of  various  types,  tyeres,  layers  of  ashes  and  burnt  clay,  slag,  charcoal,  casting  molds,  scrap  metal,  and  recycled  bronze  objects, all of which indicate the presence of foundries in which not  just bronze but also gold, silver, and glass were being produced or  worked.  Regional  concentrations  of  humus  layers,  dunghills,  and  latrines,  in  combination  with  stone  and  bronze  knives,  hatchets,  scrapers,  and  sickle  blades,  point  to  the  processing  of  organic  materials  such  as  wood,  leather,  or  reeds.  Stone  detritus  such  as  flakes  and  nodules  of  flint,  blue  chalcedony,  different  varieties  of  camelian and agate, fragments of alabaster still bearing saw marks,  smashed  pieces  of  desert  boulders,  drill  cores  from  rock  crystal,  pressure stones of bow-drills and their crescents, ball-hammers, and  anvils  suggest  a  wide  spectrum  of  raw  materials,  techniques,  and  occupations.  A  specialized  area  served  for  the  working  of  animal  bones,  receiving  some  of  its  raw  material  from  a  nearby  zoo  in  which elephants, lions, gazelles, and other wild animals were kept.  Taken as a whole, this cross-craft workshop reveals an interrelated  web of dependent processes, linked together like a modern assembly  line to repair and produce chariots and their equipment as well as  bronze and glass.



The third functional unit at site Q IV comprises within an area of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  square  meters  six  rows  of  twelve  rectangular rooms each, a column hall being situated at the western  end of each row. The function of this architectural complex, which  has no known parallel, can be inferred from the whitewashed floors,  tethering stones, and "toilets" built of limestone inside these rooms:  all  of  them—column  halls  as  well  as  the  slender  rectangular  rooms—are to be designated as "stable rooms," the whole being a  royal  stud  housing  a  minimum  of  almost  460  horses  and  their  grooms. Finds of chariot finials include yoke saddle knobs and yoke  knobs, mainly carved of alabaster, limestone, or marble. Similarly  numerous  planoconvex  discs,  made  of  the  same  materials,  once  decorated the terminal ends of the wooden frame of the chariot's floor  frame.  Gold-plated  bronze  buttons,  nailheads  covered  with  gold  leaf,  punched  gold  bands,  and  rivets,  together  with  a  once- gilded  linchpin,  reveal  that  in  addition  to  standard  chariot  types,  lavishly  decorated  parade  chariots  were  also  manufactured  and  used here.

This  conclusion  can  be  further  verified  by  the  recovery  of  a  functioning pair of horse bits along with a nave cap made of bronze.  Numerous  weapons—short  swords,  arrows,  javelins,  and  lance  heads—as well as pieces of scaled body armor belonging to helmets  and  cuirasses,  complete  the  picture  of  the  charioteers'  armory.  Correlating  the  information  gained  by  excavations  to  ancient  Egyptian texts, we can recognize the architecture and its contents as  the  "armory"  and  at  the  same  time  the  "headquarters  of  thy  (the  king's) chariotry," described in the hymns of Piramesse.

Within  the  workshop  we  note  limestone  molds  for  embossing  metal  sheets,  which  are  unparalleled  in  the  cultural  record  of  the  ancient Near East. The identification of the designs engraved into  these  slabs  is  possible  through  Egyptian  reliefs  depicting  Hittite soldiers  carrying  a  shield  whose  outline  exactly  resembles  the  design and proportion of tine motif found on the limestone slabs; it  is comparable also to the orthostats found at Zencirii, on which the  Hittite  weather  god  wears  the  homed  crown  and  is  armed  with  a  lance, a short sword, and the same Hittite figure-eight shield. The  Amama  Letters  contain  lists  of  gifts  sent  by  Tusratta,  king  of  Mitanni,  to  Amenhotpe III,  naming  alongside  other  costly  items,  "nine  leather  shields,  the  urukmanmi  of  which  are  of  bronze."  Therefore I identify the Human word urukmannu with those metal  parts  that  were  produced  by  embossing  bronze  sheets  using  the  above  described  molds,  hammers,  and  punches,  also  found  at  Piramesse. Their  presence  within  this  metropolis  can  only  be  understood as proof that Egyptians and Hittites worked peacefully,  side by side. This holds true also for the motif on the back side of  the molds, depicting a highly stylized head of a bull, symbol of the  Hittite weather god.

The most likely explanation for the peaceful presence of Hittites  in  Egypt's  Ramessid  capital  is  the  occasion  of  the  diplomatic  marriage between Ramesses II and the eldest daughter of the Hittite  king  Hattusili  III,  Maat-hor-nofru-re,  which  took  place  in  regnal  Year  34  of  Ramesses II.  In  several  texts,  particular  emphasis  is  placed on the friendly encounter of the formerly hostile troops, enabling the ancient historians to state that "both lands had become  one (and the same) land." The shield molds with the Hittite motifs  must  have  been  used  to  maintain  the  shields  of  the  Hittites  who  served  as  a  palace  or  body  guard  for  the  queen  in  the  Ramessid  residence, an outward expression of the friendly union between the  two superpowers of the day.

Finds  from  the  Mycenaean  world  are  also  present  in  abundance,  most  of  them  in  the  form  of  potter) 7 ;  there  is  also  a  scale of a Mycenaean boar's-tusk helmet. We also have evidence  for the cults of several foreign deities, such as a relief depicting a  statue of Astarte, the ancient Near Eastern goddess of war and love  and protectress of the royal horse team, mounted on horseback; in  addition,  the  name  of  the  ancient  Near  Eastern  god  of  war,  Resheph, was found on a limestone door post. The former object is  the archeological manifestation of a passage in one of the hymns of  Piramesse,  telling  us  that  "Astarte  [is  situated]  in  her  (the  city's)  east." Since the hieroglyphic name of Astarte is also preserved on  one of the palmiform columns of the stable, it may be assumed that  the  stable  at  least  was  protected  by  this  goddess.  Altogether,  we  have more than circumstantial proof that the hymns on Piramesse  are accurate in describing its splendor, contents, layout, and size,  comparing  Piramesse  to  other  Egyptian  cities  such  as  Thebes,  Memphis, and Heliopolis.

Since 1996, the size and layout of the Ramessid metropolis has  been  further  investigated  in  cooperation  with  the  Bayerisches  Landesamt  fur  Denkmalpflege,  Munich,  using  a  caesium  magnetometer (SMART SM4G). With this device, sun-dried mud- brick walls, foundation pits filled with sand, and similar features of  lower  magnetism  are  clearly  to  be  differentiated  from  cultural  layers with higher magnetism. This enables us not only to measure  but also to draw the outlines of individual buildings as well as the  ground  plans  of  city  districts.  Covering  an  area  of  almost  100  hectares, the investigated fields contain a palace area, vast living  quarters consisting of villas and houses of the Amama type, with  courtyards, gardens, streets, avenues, channels, and perhaps parts  of  a  harbor.  Several  official  buildings  of  still  unknown  function,  one of them resembling in part the North Palace of Tell el-Amarna,  and  another  one  comparable  to  the  so-called  Foreign  Office  depicted in the tomb of Tjai at Thebes, are situated to the south of  Q  I  and  Q  IV.  It  is  hoped  that  the  continuation  of  the  magnetic  investigation  will  lead  to  a  map  covering  at  least  the  city  center  with its area of more than 10 square kilometers.

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