The Egyptians used two principal terms to describe a border or limit: lash, which refers to a real geographical limit set by people or deities, and djer, which appears to describe a fixed and unchanging universal limit. The tash, whether field boundary or national border, was therefore essentially an clastic frontier, and, in times of strength and pro. spcrity, such rulers as Senusret i (1965-1920 BC) and Thutmose ill (1479-1425 bc.) could stale an intention to ‘extend the borders’ {sewesekh lashrp) of Egypt.
The traditional borders of Egypt comprised the Western Desert, the Sinai Desert, the Mediterranean coast and the Nile CATARACi s. south of Aswan. These geographical barriers w'ere sufficient to protect the
Part of a hieratic papyrus inscribed milh military dispatches sent from the Egyptian garrison at Setnna, on the border with Upper Nubia. Middle Kingdom, c.1841 BC, from Thebes, it. 16 cm.
Egyptians from outside interference for many centuries. Later on, in the Pharaonic period, these natural borders helped to maintain Egypt’s independence during periods of relative weakness. Since, how'ever, the pharaoh’s titulary described him as the ruler of the entire known w'orld, the political boundaries of Egypt were theoretically infinite. In practice the greatest extent of the Egyptian empire - achieved during the reign of Thutmos III in the 18th Dynasty - was marked by the Euphrates in the northeast and the KURGUS boundary stele (between the fourth and fifth Nile cataracts) in the south.
The border with Lower Nubia was traditionally marked by the town of Elephantine (ASWAN), naturally defended by its island location and surrounded by a thick defensive wall. The original name of the settlement around the first cataract was Swenet (‘trade’), from which the modern name Aswan derives; this place name reflects the more commercial
Bronze
Bubastis
Nature of the southern border, representing opportunities for profitable economic activities rather than the threat of invasion. Because the first cataract represented an obstacle to shipping - despite an attempt by the Old Kingdom ruler Merenra (2287-2278 13C) to cut a canal - all trade goods had to be transported along the bank. This crucial land route to the east of the Nile, between Aswan and the region of Philae, was protected by a huge mud-brick wall, almost 7.5 km long, probably built principally in the 12th Dynasty.
The northeastern, northwestern and southern borders of Egypt were more or less fortified from the Middle Kingdom onwards. From at least the reign of Amenemhat l (1985-1955 Bc) the eastern Delta was protected by a string of fortresses, know n as the Walls of the Prince {inelnp beka). These were intended to prevent invasion along the coastal route from the Levant, which was known as the Way of Horns during the Middle Kingdom. At about the same time a fortress seems to have been established in the Wadi Natrun, defending the western Delta from the Libyans. The western and eastern Delta defences were well maintained throughout the second millennium 13C. The New Kingdom fortresses and garrisons of the Delta borders — including el-Alamcin and Zawiyet Umm cl-Rakham in the west and Tell Abu Safa (Sile), 'leil cl-Farama (Pelusium), Tell el-IIeir (Migdol) and Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom) in the east - w'crc intended to prevent any recurrence of the iiYKSOS invasion.
S. SciiosKE and H. Brunner, ‘Die Grenzen von Zeit und Raum bci den Agvptem’, Arcbivjiir
Orieptforsclimig 17 (195-1—5), 141-5.
D. O’Connor, ‘Demarcating the boundaries: an interpretation of a scene in the tomb of Mahu, cl-Amarna’, BES 9 (1987-8), 41-51.
S. Quirke, ‘Frontier or border? The northeast Delta in Middle Kingdom texts’, The urcbaeology, geography am! history of the Delta, ed. A. Nibbi (Oxford, 1989), 261-74.
E. Hor. nuxu, Idea into image, tran. s. E. Brcdcck (New York, 1992), 7.V92.
Bread see food and offering 'evble see COPPER. VND BRONZE see TELL B. ySTA
World History
