DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14391#0040
26
STOEE-CITY OF PITHOM AXD
THE EOUTE OF THE EXODUS.
Heroopolis that the upheaval of the soil, and the
retreat of the sea were first felt. Gradually the
water sank, the communication with the gulf
was partly cut off, and there remained salt
marshes such as are seen at present in several
parts of the Delta, and which were called bv
Strabo and Pliny the Bitter Lakes. Linant Bey1
very justly observes that the Bitter Lakes of the
ancients cannot be identical with those of to-day,
the extent of which is so considerable that it is
quite impossible that they should have become
sweet after the water of the Nile had been
admitted into them, as we learn from Strabo. At
the time of the Pharaohs there were some Bitter
Lakes at the head of the gulf near Heroopolis.
Linant Bey's statement is confirmed by Pliny,2
who says that the length of the canal is thirty-
seven miles as far as the Bitter Lakes. Taking
the beginning of the canal near Bubastis, as we
know from Herodotus, thirty-seven miles would
carry us only a little further than Pithom. It
was through those lakes, or rather through those
marshes, that Philadelphos cut his canal, on the
banks of which he built Arsinoe, the city whieh
according to the hieroglyphic text was situate
at Kemuerma.
I consider the word Kemuerma3 as meaning
the shore or the landing-place of Kemuer.41 And
this name reminds me of one of the oldest papyri
which have come down to us, the papyrus of
Berlin, N°. I., which relates the travels and the
adventurous life of an Egyptian called Saneha.5
1 Id., p. 178.
2 Du Bois Ayme, " Memoire sur les anciennes liniites de
la mer Eouge," ed. Panckouke, p. 380.
3 M. Maspero says that the last syllable ma must not be
read, as ^ or is only a repetition of the determinative
TZZZ. (Memoires de Sinouhit, p. 22). I cannot share the
/www
opinion of my eminent friend, considering that we have also
AA/WV\\> f| S\ 1_ _J
the decidedly phonetical spelling ^^^g^^^^J^^ ^-
4 Cf. Bragsch, Diet. Hier. vol. vi., p. 536.
5 Cf. Maspero, " Melanges d'archeologie," 209 et seq. ; les
premieres lignes des Memoires de Sinouhit," p. 22; Goodwin,
" Records of the Past," vol. vi.
This fugitive relates that in his vagrant journey
he arrived at the lake of Kemuer
[" W ~] AVWVS
which evidently was a salt lake. Thirst,
says he, overtook me in my journey, my throat
was parched; I said this is the taste of death.
Fortunately for him, he saw a Bedawee, a Sati,
who brought him some water; and he escaped
thus from dying of thirst. It is interesting to
know that at that time, long before Rameses II.,
that part of the country was inhabited by Sati,
Asiatic Bedawees, against whom the Pharaohs
had to fight; for before arriving at Kemuer,
Saneha had passed a fortress which the king had
made to keep off the Sati. It was.for the same
purpose that Rameses and his son Menephtah
built the fortresses of the Wadi Tumilat.
I believe the lake of Kemuer to be the present
lake Timsah, but very probably to have had a
different form from what it has now; I think also
that the gulf which Pliny calls Gharandra must
be understood as meaning the lake Timsah.
There Philadelphos built the city of Arsinoe,
which he dedicated to his second wife, his sister,
the princess to whom he granted divine honours.
This city does not seem to have lasted very long.
Ptolemy built it in order to facilitate the trade
with the Red Sea.6 In proportion as the sea
retreated it became necessary to carry the canal
farther; Pithom Heroopolis was too far back.
Agatharchides says that it was from Arsinoe that
the ships sailed to the Red Sea; and Pliny
mentions this city as the place where the three
roads met which led from the Mediterranean to
the Red Sea.
At the beginning of the fourth century, and
perhaps earlier, when Constantine was not yet
emperor, Arsinoe was no more, and had been
superseded by the camp or fort of Glusma,7 not
the Clusma—the beach—which is mentioned on
the milestone,but that which stood near the pre-
Linant, 1.1., p. 166. 7 Linant, 1.1., p. 158.
STOEE-CITY OF PITHOM AXD
THE EOUTE OF THE EXODUS.
Heroopolis that the upheaval of the soil, and the
retreat of the sea were first felt. Gradually the
water sank, the communication with the gulf
was partly cut off, and there remained salt
marshes such as are seen at present in several
parts of the Delta, and which were called bv
Strabo and Pliny the Bitter Lakes. Linant Bey1
very justly observes that the Bitter Lakes of the
ancients cannot be identical with those of to-day,
the extent of which is so considerable that it is
quite impossible that they should have become
sweet after the water of the Nile had been
admitted into them, as we learn from Strabo. At
the time of the Pharaohs there were some Bitter
Lakes at the head of the gulf near Heroopolis.
Linant Bey's statement is confirmed by Pliny,2
who says that the length of the canal is thirty-
seven miles as far as the Bitter Lakes. Taking
the beginning of the canal near Bubastis, as we
know from Herodotus, thirty-seven miles would
carry us only a little further than Pithom. It
was through those lakes, or rather through those
marshes, that Philadelphos cut his canal, on the
banks of which he built Arsinoe, the city whieh
according to the hieroglyphic text was situate
at Kemuerma.
I consider the word Kemuerma3 as meaning
the shore or the landing-place of Kemuer.41 And
this name reminds me of one of the oldest papyri
which have come down to us, the papyrus of
Berlin, N°. I., which relates the travels and the
adventurous life of an Egyptian called Saneha.5
1 Id., p. 178.
2 Du Bois Ayme, " Memoire sur les anciennes liniites de
la mer Eouge," ed. Panckouke, p. 380.
3 M. Maspero says that the last syllable ma must not be
read, as ^ or is only a repetition of the determinative
TZZZ. (Memoires de Sinouhit, p. 22). I cannot share the
/www
opinion of my eminent friend, considering that we have also
AA/WV\\> f| S\ 1_ _J
the decidedly phonetical spelling ^^^g^^^^J^^ ^-
4 Cf. Bragsch, Diet. Hier. vol. vi., p. 536.
5 Cf. Maspero, " Melanges d'archeologie," 209 et seq. ; les
premieres lignes des Memoires de Sinouhit," p. 22; Goodwin,
" Records of the Past," vol. vi.
This fugitive relates that in his vagrant journey
he arrived at the lake of Kemuer
[" W ~] AVWVS
which evidently was a salt lake. Thirst,
says he, overtook me in my journey, my throat
was parched; I said this is the taste of death.
Fortunately for him, he saw a Bedawee, a Sati,
who brought him some water; and he escaped
thus from dying of thirst. It is interesting to
know that at that time, long before Rameses II.,
that part of the country was inhabited by Sati,
Asiatic Bedawees, against whom the Pharaohs
had to fight; for before arriving at Kemuer,
Saneha had passed a fortress which the king had
made to keep off the Sati. It was.for the same
purpose that Rameses and his son Menephtah
built the fortresses of the Wadi Tumilat.
I believe the lake of Kemuer to be the present
lake Timsah, but very probably to have had a
different form from what it has now; I think also
that the gulf which Pliny calls Gharandra must
be understood as meaning the lake Timsah.
There Philadelphos built the city of Arsinoe,
which he dedicated to his second wife, his sister,
the princess to whom he granted divine honours.
This city does not seem to have lasted very long.
Ptolemy built it in order to facilitate the trade
with the Red Sea.6 In proportion as the sea
retreated it became necessary to carry the canal
farther; Pithom Heroopolis was too far back.
Agatharchides says that it was from Arsinoe that
the ships sailed to the Red Sea; and Pliny
mentions this city as the place where the three
roads met which led from the Mediterranean to
the Red Sea.
At the beginning of the fourth century, and
perhaps earlier, when Constantine was not yet
emperor, Arsinoe was no more, and had been
superseded by the camp or fort of Glusma,7 not
the Clusma—the beach—which is mentioned on
the milestone,but that which stood near the pre-
Linant, 1.1., p. 166. 7 Linant, 1.1., p. 158.