Serabit el-Khadim
From ArchaeoWiki
Serabit el-Khadim (Arabic: سرابت الخادم, also transliterated Serabit al-Khadim, Serabit el-Khadem) is an archaeological site located in the south-west Sinai Peninsula, representing the primary ancient Egyptian site in the Sinai for the extraction of copper ores (mainly malachite) and turquoise.
In addition to a large number of pits and mines, the site of Serabit el-Khadim featured a temple of Hathor, "Mistress of Turquoise", reflecting her importance as Egyptian tutelary goddess of desert regions. Founded in the Middle Kingdom period, the Hathor sanctuary was expanded and maintained into the New Kingdom.
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Excavation
Flinders Petrie first undertook excavations at the site of Serabit el-Khadim in the years 1904-1905—his publication of the following year, compiled together with other findings from the region, remains the basis for understanding the site. 1935 witnessed the start of a renewed survey of the site, under the direction of R. Starr of Harvard University. This effort was markedly less successful, the lack of stratification at the site cited as a discouraging circumstance by the larger part of the survey team, with the notable exception of Jaroslav Cerny who—being in charge of the site's epigraphy—felt that the initiative should be have been continued. Ultimately, events intervened, and after the Six Day War of June 1967, an Israeli excavation team directed by Raphael Giveon investigated the site. The findings of the latter research efforts have not yet discovered detailed publication.
Description
On account of the difficulties of the temple setting, built in a rocky and mountainous landscape, the Hathor temple is clearly not symmetrical about its linear axis like most Egyptian temple buildings. Rather, the temple—largely consisting of a succession of multiple small chambers (some pillared)—was given the general plan of a narrow, elongated rectangle, surrounded on three sides by a wall of rough fieldstones. At its eastern end, a long narrow courtyard alters the temple orientation to give access to a number of small chambers and cult grottoes abutting and lying within the hillside—the earliest known examples of Egyptian rock temples. The northern and larger grotto was dedicated to Hathor, the smaller grotto to the south to Sopdu. These cult places were installed side by side at the south-eastern corner of the court by the late Twelfth Dynasty rulers Amenemhat III and Amenemhat IV.
Excavated finds at the site include a large number of private and royal stelae and graffiti, as well as multiple votive offerings.
Bibliography
- Bonnet, Charles, Le Saout, F. and Valbelle, Dominique [1994], "Le temple de la déesse Hathor, maîtresse de la turquoise, à Sérabit el-Khadim. Reprise de l'étude épigraphique", CRIPEL 16 (1994), pp.15-29.
- Gardiner, Alan H. and Peet, T. Eric [1952], The Inscriptions of Sinai, London, 1952, pl.92 (plan).
- Gundlach, R., "Serabit el-Chadim", LdÄ V, 866-868.
- Mumford, Gregory [2006], “Egypt’s New Kingdom Levantine Empire and Serabit El-Khadim, Including a Newly Attested Votive Offering of Horemheb”, JSSEA 33 (2006), pp.159-203.
- Petrie, W.M. Flinders, Researches in Sinai (with chapters by C.T. Currelly), London: J. Murray, 1906, pp.72-108, pls.85-113.
- Starr, R.F.S. and Butin, R.F. [1936], "Excavations and Protosinaitic Inscriptions at Serabit el-Khadim", Studies and Documents VI, London, 1936.
- Valbelle, Dominique [1996], "Chapelle de Geb et temple de millions d'années dans le sanctuaire d'Hathor, maîtresse de la turquoise", Genava, NS 44 (1996), pp.61-70.
- Valbelle, Dominique and Bonnet, Charles [1996], Le sanctuaire d'Hathor, maîtresse de la turquoise: Sérabit el-Khadim au Moyen Empire, Paris: Picard, 1996. ISBN 2708405144
- [1997], "The Middle Kingdom Temple of Hathor at Serabit el-Khadim", in Quirke, Stephen (ed.), The Temple in Ancient Egypt—New Discoveries and Recent Research, London: British Museum Press, 1997, pp.82-89. ISBN 0714109932
External links
- The Mines of the Pharoahs - Serabit El-Khadim, Sinai, Egypt - Remote Sensing Archaeology information site, school of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (Garry McKay)
