Frontier Forts

Pharaonic Egypt’s frontiers and fortifications have fluctuated over time. At the advent of the First Dynasty, Egypt’s southern border at Aswan was protected by a 50 by 50 m mud-brick fort. It functioned briefly as a citadel for its surrounding town,

Figure 18.6 Late Old Kingdom fort at Ras Budran in Markha Plain on the West Sinai coast. Courtesy Greg Mumford.

Originally lying on the eastern of two large rock islands at the First Cataract (Kaiser 1998); the western island contained a state structure and a cemetery (von Pilgrim 1997: 17). In the Old Kingdom titles mention overseers of fortresses, but few forts are known from this period. The Pyramid Texts allude to strongholds in Middle Egypt and along the eastern edge of the Delta at Kemwer near the Bitter Lakes and a Gate to repel the Fenkhu (probably in the north-east Delta). In the late Old Kingdom, a 150 by 200 m fortified settlement is founded at Ain Asil in Dakhla Oasis, securing this region and its resources (Giddy 1987), while a circular stone fort (44 m in diameter) appears on the West Sinai coast, guarding an anchorage for expeditions to the turquoise and copper mines at Wadis Maghara and Kharig (Mumford 2006). The forts at Aswan and Dakhla are characterized by rounded buttresses. The First Intermediate Period’s political fragmentation witnessed a reduction of frontiers and fortified towns to a regional and provincial level.

The Middle Kingdom displays advances in fortress construction and design. Tombs at Thebes and Beni Hasan portrayed forts with crenellated battlements, projecting turrets, and exterior walls with a sloping glacis - a feature designed to deter battering rams. An intricate system of Egyptian forts and fortified settlements extended throughout Lower Nubia, often in pairs on either side of the Nile (e. g., Quban and

Ikkur), and frequently near the mouth of wadi systems leading to stone quarries and gold mines (Williams 1999: 574-8). The Second Cataract contained an elaborate and interrelated system of forts securing Egypt’s expanded southern frontier (e. g., Semna West, Semna South, Kumma). Some forts acted as supply depots situated on and designed to fit the contours of several islands (e. g., Askut, Uronarti) (Smith 1995). The fortified town and trading post at Mirgissa lay at the southern end of an 8 km long mud slipway designed to transfer shipping around treacherous portions in the Second Cataract region. Most forts contained a commandant’s dwelling, a granary (containing a block of square rooms), a small temple, workshops, quarters for troops, and extramural cemeteries (see Vogel 2004).

A few key forts, such as Mirgissa and the administrative center at Buhen, had extensive mud-brick fortifications and larger administrative and residential sections (Kemp 2006: 231-41). Buhen had an inner and outer sturdy wall with projecting towers, a lower defensive wall, a dry moat, a glacis, and elaborate loopholes for archers. The inner citadel had an elaborately buttressed gateway with a retractable bridge. The riverside defences contained a spur wall at either end, plus two stone quays projecting into the Nile with a covered walkway for protection against arrows. The citadel’s interior was subdivided into a grid of blocks, including a commandant’s residence, stairs to the battlements, barracks, a temple, rectilinear magazines, and workshops. The space between the citadel and outer wall yielded a large (administra-tive(?)) structure and part of a cross-wall, but was otherwise devoid of architecture. It may have facilitated tents, livestock, or other requirements for the garrison. Many ofthese forts continued to be occupied and modified during the Second Intermediate Period, switching allegiance to the Kushite rulers at Kerma.

The New Kingdom rulers reoccupied many of the Second Cataract forts but did not maintain most of their fortifications since Egypt defeated Kerma and rapidly expanded its frontier to the Fourth and Fifth Cataracts. Although many former strongholds became temple towns, a few new forts were added, especially towards the end of the New Kingdom (Kemp 1972a: 651-6). In the Ramesside period an elaborate fortification system was built along the western and eastern edges of the Delta and across North Sinai, including Zawiyet um el-Rakham, Tell Heboua, Tell Borg, Bir Abd, Haruba, Deir el-Balah, Tell er-Retaba, and Kom el-Qolzoum (Suez) (Abd el-Maksoud 1998; Morris 2005). These forts contained many of the elements present in the earlier Nubian examples but display some regional variation. The sand and high water table at Tell Borg in Northwest Sinai required the application of baked bricks or stone along the base of several moats (Hoffmeier and Abd el-Maksoud 2003: 193). Other forts had mud - and stone-lined wells and reservoirs. Deir el-Balah, in northeast Sinai, had an Eighteenth Dynasty mud-lined pool, storage magazines, workshops, a small Ramesside tower fort, and a cemetery with simple burials, 40-50 terracotta anthropoid coffins, and a limestone sarcophagus (Dothan 1993: 343-7).

The Third Intermediate Period has produced fewer frontier forts (Lacovara, Quirke, and Podzorski 1989: 60), while the Late Period contains several examples at Tell Defenna, Tell el-Maskhuta, Tell Qedwa, Qasr Allam, and elsewhere (Colin 2004: 30). During the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Tell Defenna formed a military headquarters (Daphnae) at the desert fringe of the north-east Delta (Mumford 1998: 803-88; Petrie and Griffith 1888). It yielded cavetto cornice blocks and other fittings

Figure 18.7 Late Period settlement at Tell Defenna (adapted from Petrie and Griffith 1888: pls. 43-4).

Associated with an inner citadel. This complex had a 9 m high platform and an adjacent secondary podium with an access ramp. A broad dais, storerooms, and kitchens lay around its base. This installation yielded many royal seals and imported pottery, and probably represents a royal residence. A 7 m wide enclosure wall separated it from the outer fortified town, which had a 12 m wide wall extending 375 by 630 m. This wall had several gates and a stela possibly of Ps. II. Large patches of stone chips mark the probable placement of a temple in the north sector, while mud-brick structures (houses?) lay to the west. Petrie noted that the town’s southern half yielded mud-brick ruins, wells, an iron and bronze working area (foundry), and numerous weapons. Leclere’s (2007: 14-17) recent satellite image analysis reveals a probable temple complex, magazines, courtyards, and many other structures in this sector. The outermost settlement covered an 800 by 1500 m area. It produced potsherds, walling systems, traces ofhousing (ovens, bathrooms, courtyards), and a stone temple(?). A harbor probably lay to the northwest, beside the Pelusiac branch of the Nile.

In contrast, the Saite forts at Tell Qedwa and Tell el-Maskhuta measured roughly 200 by 200 m and adopted pronounced buttresses (Holladay 1982; Redford 1998: 45-59). Qedwa lay on a scarped mound and introduced small casemate chambers in its foundation walls, possibly assisting water drainage. These structures functioned as outlying frontier forts and yield evidence for Egyptian troops and Greek mercenaries, including extramural cremation burials at Site T.23, 500 m east of Qedwa.