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Explores the history and archaeology of two oases, remote but closely tied to the Nile valley for thousands of years.
List of contents
1. Introduction Roger S. Bagnall and Gaëlle Tallet; Part I. Living in the Oasis: Humans and the Environment: 2. Water resources and irrigation in two oases of the Western Desert of Egypt, Kharga and Dakhla Jean-Paul Bravard; 3. The ancient population of the Kharga Oasis Françoise Dunand and Roger Lichtenberg; 4. Trimithis: a case study of Proto-Byzantine urbanism Paola Davoli; Part II. Managing the Oasis: 5. The Great Oasis: an administrative entity from Pharaonic times to Roman times Roger S. Bagnall and Gaëlle Tallet; 6. Land and resource administration: farmers, managers, and soldiers in the Great Oasis Rodney Ast; 7. What remains in the hands of the Gods: taxation in Kharga Oasis through the Demotic Ostraca (fifth century BC-first century AD) Damien Agut-Labordère; Part III. Trade and Mobility in a Connected Environment: 8. The North Kharga Oasis Darb Ain Amur Survey (NKODAAS): surveying the tracks between the two Oases Salima Ikram; 9. And the potsherds? Some avenues of reflection and synthesis on the pottery of the Great Oasis Pascale Ballet; 10. Egyptian and imported amphorae at Amheida Clementina Caputo; 11. Kegs from Amheida Irene Soto Marin; 12. El-Deir as a switching point Yaël Chevalier; Part IV. An Oasis Culture?: 13. Temple building on the Egyptian margins: the geopolitical issues behind Seti II and Ramesses IX's activity at Amheida Olaf E. Kaper; 14. Funerary practices in the Great Oasis during Antiquity Françoise Dunand and Fleur Letellier-Willemin; 15. Was there an interest in literary culture in the Great Oasis? Some answers Raffaella Cribiore; 16. The House of Serenos and wall painting in the Western Oases Susanna McFadden.
About the author
Roger S. Bagnall is Professor of Ancient History and Leon Levy Director, emeritus, at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, as well as Jay Professor of Greek and Latin and Professor of History, emeritus, at Columbia University. He is the director of the excavations at Amheida and a co-author of the accompanying volume An Oasis City (2015). He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.Gaëlle Tallet is Assistant Professor of Greek History at the Université de Limoges, and director of the El-Deir archaeological mission in Kharga. She is co-editor, with Thierry Sauzeau, of Mer et désert de l'Antiquité à nos jours: Approches croisées (2018).
Summary
The Great Oasis of Egypt studies societies of the oases in the western desert, hundreds of miles distant from the Nile but closely tied to it, including how people used underground water for agriculture, developed their own slant on Egyptian religion, and adopted Greek and Roman literary and artistic culture.
