Land of Goshen in Egypt, courtesy, commons.wikimedia.org |
Goshen is
named in the Bible as the
place in Egypt given
by Pharaoh to the Hebrews who
had joined their brother Joseph who was vizier over Egypt at the time (Book of Genesis, Genesis
45:9-10), and the land from which they later left at the time of
the Exodus. After
the death of Joseph and those of his generation, the following generations
of Israelites had become populous in
number. The Egyptians feared potential integration or takeover, so they
enslaved the Israelites and took away their human rights. Four hundred and thirty
years later, to the day, Moses led the
Israelites out of Egypt, encamping at Succoth, the first waypoint
of the Exodus.
Goshen is the home to the
ancient sites of Pithom, Raamses,
and On (Heliopolis), major cities in
ancient Egypt. Regarding Pithom,
multiple references in ancient Greek, Roman, and Hebrew Bible sources exist for this city, but its exact location
remains somewhat uncertain. A number of scholars identified it as the later
archaeological site of Tell El
Maskhuta. Others identified it as the earlier archeological site
of Tell El Retabeh. In
the Greco-Roman period, the city was called Heroöpolis. Since it was located
nearly due north of the Bitter Lakes, Heroöpolis was of sufficient importance, as a trading
station. It was the capital of the 8th nome of Lower Egypt.
In the
spring of 1883, archaeologist Edouard Naville believed he had identified Pithom
as the archaeological site Tell El Maskhuta. The site of Pithom, as identified
by Naville, is at the eastern edge of Wadi
Tumilat, south-west of Ismaïlia. Petrie agreed with this
identification. John Holladay, a more recent investigator of the site, also
supports this opinion.
More recent
analyses have demonstrated that the designation for the temple of Atum, pr-itm, can be found in
inscriptions at both sites—both at Tell El Retaba and at Tell El Maskhuta. This
seems to demonstrate that the name 'Pithom' was used originally for the earlier
site, Tell El Retaba, before it was abandoned. And when the newer city of Tel
El Maskhuta was built, the same name was applied to it as well – as the temple
of Atum was moved to El Maskhuta. Thus, in effect, 'Pithom' was moved to a new
location, which phenomenon is attested with some other cities as well, such
as Migdol.
Pi-Ramesses was
the new capital built by the Nineteenth
Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) at Qantir, near the old site of Avaris. The city had served as a summer palace under Seti I (c. 1290–1279 BC), and may have
been founded by Ramesses I (c. 1292–1290 BC) while he served
under Horemheb.
In
1884, Flinders Petrie arrived in Egypt to begin his
excavations there. His first dig was at Tanis, where he arrived with 170 workmen. Later in the 1930s,
the ruins at Tanis were explored by Pierre Montet.
The masses
of broken Ramesside stonework at Tanis led archaeologists to identify it as
Pi-Ramesses. Yet it eventually came to be recognized that none of these
monuments and inscriptions originated at the site.
In the
1960s, Manfred Bietak, recognised that Pi-Ramesses was known
to have been located on the then easternmost branch of the Nile. He painstakingly mapped all the
branches of the ancient Delta and established that the Pelusiac branch was the
easternmost during Ramesses' reign while the Tanitic branch (i.e. the branch on
which Tanis was located) did not exist at all. Excavations were therefore begun
at the site of the highest Ramesside pottery location, Tell el-Dab'a and Qantir.
Although
there were no traces of any previous habitation visible on the surface,
discoveries soon identified Tell el-Dab'a as the Hyksos capital Avaris. Qantir was recognized as the site of
the Ramesside capital Pi-Ramesses.[3]
Heliopolis, orginially the town of On, was a major city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt and a major religious center. It
is now located in Ayn Shams, a northeastern suburb of Cairo.
The major
surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the obelisk of the Temple
of Ra-Atum erected by Senusret I of Dynasty XII. It still stands in its original
position, now within Al-Masalla in Al-Matariyyah, Cairo.
Today, there
are many cities and towns in the area that have kept their indigenous Coptic names,
but are popularly referred to by the names given to them by Arab settlers. Mit Ghamr, for example, has a large Coptic Orthodox
Church, the Marigirgis Church.
It is said that during the great fire in 1920 which destroyed much of the town,
the church was saved when the spirit of Saint George appeared atop this church
on his horse. Other locations include: Onufe (Menouf), Tantato (Tanta), Zewete
(Zefta), Limne Nikedjow (Lake
Burullus), Dishairi (El Mahalla El Kubra), Damiadi
(Damietta), Bisewun (Basyoun), Banaho (Benha), Jokejik (Zagazig), Tanis (Shentana el Haggar).
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