Monday, November 8, 2010

Ramses Of Arabia

I guess this is the most interesting archeological discovery related to ancient Egypt we have got since a long time : Saudi Arabia announces the discovery of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription mentioning an Egyptian pharaoh in an ancient Oasis.
The hieroglyphics inscriptions were found by the Saudi commission for tourism and antiquities on a rock at ancient Oasis Tayma near Tabuk province. The inscription included the name of Ramses III , Egypt’s finest warrior in ancient Egypt. I think they found his name in a cartouche as Cartouches indicate the royal character of the person mentioned. This is the first documented Egyptian hieroglyphics found in the Kingdom. The rock or the inscriptions to be accurate according to the name of Ramses III goes back to the 12 centuries B.C. It is about 400 KM northeast of Mada’in Saleh.
Tayma is very rich in history as it was in the trade routes and despite there are recent discoveries that go back to the bronze age yet this discovery is unique because it proves there was kind a relation between ancient Egypt and whatever civilization was there. According to Saudi archeologists Tayma was an important land route between the western coast of Arabia and the Nile Valley specifically the old Port Qulzum at the city of Suez. I assume that our relations go back more than the time of Ramses III.
One must wonder with the history of Ramses III was Tayma under the Egyptian control during his rule !!??
Anyhow this discovery should have been announced during late Sadat’s time because then he would use that discovery to prove the ancestral relation between the Arabs and Egyptians
Speaking about Tabuk and the Mada’in Saleh with its Nabataean settlements makes me remember the latest novel by Youssef Zidan which has just hit the libraries and bookstores last week : The Nabataean. According to early synopsis Zidan tackles the Egyptian-Arab relations before the entry of Islam through Egyptian Copt Maria who marries a Nabataen marchent and moves to Petra. It is interesting topic indeed concerning the views of Zidan about the entry of Islam to Egypt and the Orthodox Church. I wonder if it will create a controversy like Azazil. You can read its first chapter here in Al Shorouk “Arabic”

6 comments:

  1. @Zeinobia
    Just correct the broken link above to be
    http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article182756.ece

    ReplyDelete
  2. Always preferred Sednaoui, customer service is much better. Groppi still sells good ice crease and cheeses

    ReplyDelete
  3. Saudi Arabia has prohibited and resisted archeological exploration of it's lands for many years in fear of proving that there were several thriving civilizations before Islam. To this day they call all pre-Islamic civilizations that existed on the Arabic peninsula as 'the era of ignorance'
    The Arab peninsula had a vibrant civilization and commerce with India, Rome, Nabateans, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Africa both before and after Islam.
    The Canadian.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Akrum, thanks for correction

    @anonymous , I heard that Groppi still sells good ice-creams , want to try it once

    @The Canadian, my dear the era of ignorance is something we Muslims not only Saudis describe the social and religious states of the people in Arabia during then
    There were urban civilizations on the borders of Arabia like near Tabuk or near Yemen or Mecca which has been a Holy Site according to our beliefs since Adam and Eve , then the coming of Prophet Ismail and his mother lady Hager
    No one denies the trade routes cultural effect, already Muslims during Prophet Mohamed PBUH escaped to Ethiopia and that shows how open they were.
    The people then knew the Romans , knew the Persians ..etc but this was more modern than that rock
    The Saudi authority has prohibited for a long time the archeological exploration in a specific area according to what I know in empty quarter desert
    "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub'_al_Khali"
    There are beliefs about Iram "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillar"s and myths "demons and djinns" about it , in fact even citizens think twice when they go about it.
    For sure the Wahbi influence stands against archeology but the Kingdom wants to use non religious history to attract tourism lately.

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  5. u know i always looove to read about the origins of the arabs since Ibraham PBUB , its really amazing ,

    i heared in saudi there are a family called Fara3na , some say they are descendents of the family who ruled egypt some some time , who gave them that name ,

    also the Amalik mentioned in the old testemant , who fought the jews back then came from Amlik (3emleeq) grand son of Noah i think ,
    they became the Heksok in egypt.

    or thats what i think :D


    BTW , how come the saudis forbid archeological exploration while quran tell us to learn from what happend to the past civilizations.

    maybe it had something with disrespecting the dead and tombs.

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  6. @ Z
    Thank you for the clarification, however I should point out that Saudi Arabia school history books do not emphasize pre-Islamic history as much.This could be due to the Wahbi influence as you have mentioned.
    The Canadian.

    ReplyDelete

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