Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

DONGOLA REACH_

SUDAN

bank. The topographical situation of the
Soniyat temenos leaves no doubt that it is
part of an agglomeration identifiable with
Pliny's Tergedum, mentioned in the itiner-
ary of the Neronian expedition to the
sources of the Nile.l3) The location of
Tergedum in Tergis had already been sug-
gested in 1971 by Karl-Heinz Priese,14'
who calculated the distances comprised in
Pliny's text.
Tergedum was situated most favorably
on the right bank, opposite the highly cul-
tivated stretch of the left bank and the
islands. It probably was also a flourishing
trade center, controlling the huge estuary
of Wadi El Melik, which was a very impor-
tant trade route for African products as it
sits exactly opposite where the Wadi El
Melik issues into the Nile. Since one of the
determining factors in the Kushite settle-
ment pattern was suitability for trade,15)
Tergedum was in a most advantageous
position. Since the Nile cargo boats could
not sail northwards against the northern
wind and the swift river current,
Tergedum was the furthest upstream point
that they could reach, lying as it does at
the southernmost point of the Debba Bend
(the river simply does not allow navigation
further upstream).16^ This brings to mind
an "epigraphical episode" from the
Psammetich II expedition to Nubia. The
Greek graffiti in Doric dialect scratched on
the left leg of the Ramses II statue at Abu
Simbel suggests that Psammetich's armada
reached a place beyond Kerkis, as far as the
river allowed. Is the place-name Kerkis to
be identified with Tergis=Tergedum?

I would welcome such an identification.
However, further surveying in the region
might bring to light other data. Of crucial
importance seems to be the Argi "island",
now part of the right bank but a true
island as late as 19O5.17) A.J. Arkell
reported there a Napatan/New Kingdom
cemetery lying 3 km east of the river.18)
During the first season, the existence of a
Napatan cemetery at Argi (N 18°07.92 E
30°49.28) was fully confirmed. The burial
ground, robbed by the Bedouin, extends
westwards (riverward) from the gubba of
Wad Idris. It is marked on the surface by
large quantities of crushed bones, stones
and crude Napatan ceramics.
In the new topographical reality, one
question should be asked: If Tergis -
Tergedum lies at the southernmost reach-
able point of the Nile at the ultimate point
achieved by Psammmetik's armada, why
then not identify Tergedum with the place-
name Trgb known from the Tanis stela as
the southernmost point reached by
Psammetik's army (FNM I 284)? The like-
ness of the two names is astonishing, as are
the topographical realities. The archaeolog-
ical, topographical and epigraphic data
gathered so far implies that the place-names
Krtn, Kerkis, Tergis and Tergedum denote
one (or two) centers lying nearby. The royal
residence of Kwr attested in the Irike-
Amannote text and the Tanis stela could
have found a perpetuation in the name
Abkur, the locality nearest to Soniyat.
Since no Meroitic occupation is attested
at Soniyat, all objects found on the site
should be labeled indiscriminately as

13) Book VI.XXXV. 184-185 (Pliny, Natural History (ed. and transl. H. Rakham) Vol. II (Libri III-VI) (Cambridge 1947),
pp. 474-477.
14) K-H. Prieze, Zur Ortsliste der romischen Meroe-Expeditionen unter Nero, Meroitica 1 (1973).
15) D.A. Welsby, The Kingdom of Kush (London 1996), p. 139-
16) Count (Lord Albert Edward Wilfrid) Gleichen, The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Vol. I (London 1905), p. 34.
17) Gleichen, op. cit., p. 31.
18) A.J. Arkell, Varia SudanicajJEA 36 (1950), pp. 35-36.

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