Berenike: Roman Trade on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt
Jason Baldridge
June 1995
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Buried under the shifting sands of the Egyptian desert since its abandonment
in about the sixth century AD, the ancient Red Sea port town Berenike lay
undetected until Giovanni Belzoni discovered it in 1818. Unable to conduct
large-scale excavations or simply uninterested in what the rest of the
sand-covered town had to offer, he and later visitors only investigated
Berenike's temple and the surface of the site,. The current excavations
at Berenike seek to remedy this neglect of the town so that more meaningful
information about the people and the functioning of this important trading
town may be discovered.
Many things are already known about the site from the writings of ancient
historians such as Strabo, Ptolemy the geographer, and Pliny as well as
from texts such as the Periplus Maris Erythraei (a merchant's guidebook
to the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian Ocean). Berenike was founded by
Ptolemy II Philadelphus in the mid-third century BC as a place of commerce
with Africa and Arabia and as a port for receiving elephants from Africa
that were to be trained and used in war against the Indian elephants in
the Seleucid army. These forest elephants, which were a smaller variety
than the Indian elephants or the African bush elephants, were captured
near Adulis, shipped up the Red Sea to Berenike, transported across the
Eastern Desert to Apollonopolis (Edfu). and then brought up the Nile. Ptolemy
IV Philopater obtained 73 elephants this way and tried them against Antiochus
and his Indian elephants at Rafah; during the battle, the African elephants
ran back through the ranks, killing many soldiers from Philopater's army.
Despite the disappointing performance by the elephants, Philopater was
still victorious.
Several factors contributed to the choice of location of Berenike (see
Egypt map). It was just within the domains of Egypt and it is near the
point where the Nile nears the Red Sea coast. Though the distance over
land would be less if a more northern location were chosen, the time saved
in land travel would be lost battling the strong winds of the Northern
Red Sea, a factor which contributed greatly to the establishment of Berenike
further south. Finally, Berenike hosts a large, well-sheltered harbor that
eased loading and unloading of ships.
Philadelphus named the town after his mother, Berenike. Berenike came
to Egypt after the death of her Macedonian husband Philip. She apparently
used considerable charm and intellectual power to establish herself as
the most influential of Ptolemy's wives, and, eventually, with the bearing
of her son Philadelphus, she was elevated to the throne as Ptolemy's queen.
Ptolemy II built temples, held festivals, and founded Berenike in his mother's
name, putting her on a list of deified royalties next to Alexander the
Great and Ptolemy I.
A temple, which was the primary focus of research at the site until
now, was erected in Berenike to the god Serapis. It is thought that the
cult of Serapis was designed by Ptolemy I to fulfill two functions. The
first was to provide a religious link between the Egyptian and Greek inhabitants
of Egypt. Serapis was apparently a Hellenized form of Osirapis, a local
god of Memphis who was himself an amalgamation of Osiris and the Apis bull
(Osiris-Apis; hence, Osirapis). Serapis was unsuccessful in establishing
this link and gained popularity only in Alexandria. Being the primary god
of this great trading city gave Serapis the role of protector of sailors
and travelers and thus gave him prominence at Berenike as well. Serapis
did fulfill Ptolemy's other purpose as the patron god of the Ptolemaic
dynasty, and, as an addition to the Hellenistic pantheon, Serapis enhanced
the prestige of the Ptolemaic empire. The worship of Serapis spread throughout
the Mediterranean lands, even reaching Britain, and became one of the last
pagan beliefs to battle Christianity. It would be interesting to see if
Berenike gave Serapis transport to India or the east coast of Africa.
And interesting side note concerning Berenike involves Eratosthenes'
calculation of Earth's circumference. He made the original calculation
based on data between Syene and Alexandria, but then checked those results
using data between Berenike and Ptolemais of the Hunts. Pliny credits the
final result, which is remarkably close to the actual circumference considering
the measuring accuracy of the times, to the latter towns.
The last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Cleopatra is considered by
some to be the greatest successor of Alexander, and she was constantly
using her ingenuity to keep the Romans from controlling Egypt. She, being
the only Ptolemy to become fluent in the Egyptian language (as well as
many others-including the language of the Trogodytes, the indigenous people
of the Red Sea coast near Berenike), was actually a "symbol of resistance
to Rome and the promise of deliverance from her yoke" (Bell 63). Despite
her clever use of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, however, the Romans added
Egypt to their dominions.
One of the most important events for merchants and traders that is thought
to have occurred during Cleopatra's time was the utilization of the monsoons
of the Indian Ocean by Hippalus. Having gained the knowledge that the monsoons
blew from the north-east during the winter and from the south-west during
the summer, Greek and Roman navigators were able to make the round trip
to India within a year's time. Despite the considerable danger, the lure
of profits caught many enterprising fellows, and the trade between India
and Rome (via Egypt) increased dramatically. Once the Romans had mastered
the use of the monsoons, they no longer had to use the Arabs as expensive
middlemen for Indian goods.
After the Romans took over Egypt, they used it basically as an estate
from which they extracted grain, taxes, and other forms of wealth. They
put very little back into the country. However, as important as what was
produced in Egypt was the access to the trade routes with India and Africa
that brought in such highly valued goods as pepper and ivory. The Romans
created a series of roads between the Thebaid and the ports on the Red
Sea coast to facilitate trade with Africa and India and to make the natural
resources of the Easter Desert more accessible (see Eastern Desert map).
This primarily took the form of mines of gold and emerald, and quarries
of porphyry and granite. To make movement through and around the desert
possible, watering stations were set up at twenty mile intervals. These
eventually became fortified posts to protect travelers from raids by the
desert inhabitants. Travel along the Berenike-Coptos road (272 miles long)
was done during the night because of the extreme heat, and the trip took
twelve days to complete.
THE RED SEA PORTS AND TRADE WITH OTHER REGIONS
The primary Red Sea ports were Myos Hormos, Philoteras, Leukos Limen, and
Berenike. In early Roman times, Myos Hormos was the most frequented of
these ports. This is perhaps because the desert roads were less secure
during these times, and the trip to Myos Hormos from the Thebaid took six
to seven days less than the trip to Berenike. However, Berenike eventually
replaced Myos Hormos as the most prominent port because it "had one great
advantage over Myos Hormos: it was some 230 nautical miles further south,
and that spared homebound vessels days of beating against the northerlies
[winds)] that prevail in the Red Sea above latitude 20. Merchants might
have saved six to seven days in overland transport by sailing past Berenike
to discharge at Myos Hormos, but they might well have lost a month in making
the attempt" (Casson 97). Leukos Limen, which had been used by the Ancient
Egyptians under the name Duau, came to use most probably in the late first
century AD. All of these ports faded from use with the conquering of Egypt
by the Arabs, though a few were retained in some capacity to transport
Islamic pilgrims across the Red Sea to Mecca.
A great deal about the trade between Rome and India and Africa is known
from the Periplus Maris Erythraei. The author, whose identity is
not known, was apparently an Egyptian-Greek merchant-trader who most likely
lived at Berenike in the middle of the first century AD. In the Periplus,
he describes the many aspects of the ports located on the Erythraean Sea
(Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian Ocean). He discusses their rulers, the
local character and appearance of the people, the goods to bought and sold,
and other useful bits of information. Trade with Africa, (east coast) seems
to have been a safe, time consuming (two year round trip), and reasonably
profitable venture that was taken up by merchants who had little capital.
Trade with India, however, was dangerous (due to storms and pirates), quick
(one year round trip), and highly profitable, making it attainable only
for those who could raise the sufficient capital. Often, one ship would
carry the cargoes of several merchants who each leased separate holds on
the ship.
A summary of some of the trade goods mentioned in the Periplus
is given by Casson. From Africa: ivory, tortoise shell, frankincense, myrrh,
and various grades of cassia. From Arabia: frankincense, myrrh, and aloe.
From India: native spices and drugs and aromatics (costus, bdellium, lykion,
nard, malabathron, pepper), gems (turquoise, lapis lazuli, onyx, diamonds,
sapphires, "transparent gems"), textiles (cotton cloth and garments as
well as silk products from China), ivory, pearls, and tortoise shell. (Casson
17).
Some of the things exported by the Romans to the Horn of Africa include
undressed cloth, robes, cloaks, flint glass, myrrhine (travertine) from
Thebes, copper, sheets of soft copper, iron, wine of Italy, and olive oil.
However, a trade imbalance seems to have existed between India and Rome,
with India having the advantage. In AD 77, Pliny wrote that Indian rulers
had been exploiting the Romans by absorbing great amounts of money and
giving merchandise in return at a hundred times its prime cost. The Romans
did have a few things that were highly desired by the Indians. Among these
were emeralds, which Indian rulers wore set in their crowns. These emeralds
were procured by the Ethiopians from the Blemmyes, with a large profit
going to the Ethiopians. Indian women also fancied the red coral which
is prevalent along the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea coasts, and they would
pay up to twenty times the weight in gold of the coral, which they used
to make jewelry. Berenike also had a nearby source of peridot on Zabargad
(St. John's) Island.
When they first began trading in the Eythraean Sea, the Greeks and the
Romans were mostly limited to trade within the Red Sea and the nearby African
coast. Arabs supplied Indian goods at ports such as Ocelis and Muza and
withheld their sailing knowledge of the Indian Ocean from the Greeks and
the Romans so as to maintain their monopoly on Indian goods. Eventually,
the Romans also perfected the use of the various monsoons and began bypassing
these ports except as last stops to obtain supplies to get them across
the Indian Ocean. Even with their knowledge and big ships, the Roman merchants
had to be wary of attacks by the pirates who stalked the Erythraean Sea.
Traders often carried companies of archers on their ships for protection.
The author of the Periplus even advises his readers to sail down
the middle of the Red Sea and avoid coming close to the shore as a way
of slipping past the pirates of the Red Sea.
EARLY INVESTIGATIONS AT BERENIKE
With this brief overview of the Greek and Roman history relating to Berenike
and its trade, attention can now be focused on the site itself and its
surrounding areas (see Figures 1 and 2). The town's ruins were almost discovered
in 1541 by Juan de Castro. He scanned the coastline near Berenike, but
did not land, and thereby failed to see the ruins he was looking for. Finally,
Belzoni discovered Berenike in 1818. He proceeded to excavate the temple
in the scientific fashion of the day-he set a young Bedouin boy to digging
with a shell while he was out exploring and drinking tea. The boy unearthed
some artifacts and revealed some hieroglyphs. In the 1830's, Wilkinson
visited the site and made a more complete investigation, including a map
of the town and a nearly complete excavation of the temple. His drawings
of the hieroglyphs in the temple remain as the only record of some of the
writings on the temple, as the hieroglyphs themselves eroded away after
the excavations exposed them. Wellsted also visited Berenike in the 1830's
and described the town as consisting of 1000 to 1500 houses that branched
off in narrow streets at right angles to each other (Wellsted was perhaps
projecting his own ideal, as the modern survey shows that the layout of
the town is not nearly so ordered). Wellsted gave the latitude of Berenike
as 2315 N (the coordinates given by the most recent measurements are 23
54.62 N / 35 28.42 E). Other scholars and explorers, such as Golensheff
and Murray, came to Berenike and conducted various excavations of the Serapis
temple and surveys of the nearby desert during the 19
th and
20
th centuries. Apart from temple excavations, explorers at
Berenike also made many surface finds. These include old nails, fish hooks,
nets, old coins, emeralds, potsherds (in great quantity), glass of various
colors, glass beads, pieces of agate, brass, keys, bracelets, Roman coins,
knitted work, textiles in scraps, weaving, and bits of papyrus in Greek
cursive hand (Meredith 58).
Some of the items found during the temple excavations include a bust
of Serapis with an inscription in Roman lettering, the head of a Roman
statue, a bronze arm, a marble arm, half of a full stone figure, a figure
holding an animal over its head, a bad figure of Isis and Horus, pieces
of alabaster (actually travertine) and marble, a terra cotta lamp, wooden
clamps, a fragment of alabastrine stone with a Greek inscription on each
side, a tablet of reddish pudding-stone thought to be part of a stele of
a hereditary prince, and a stone tablet with a groove around the edge and
an incised symbol that resembles an anchor (Meredith 62-70). Some of the
rulers mentioned in various inscriptions include Ptolemy VII (Euergetes
II), Cleopatra, Marcus Arelius, Lucius Verus, and Tiberius.
Belzoni estimated the town had about 2000 houses and a population of
10,000. Wellsted felt that neither the size of the temple nor the extent
of the town would seem to fit that of an emporium between the East and
the West; however, he adds that Berenike, being 270 miles from the Nile
and far removed from populated areas, is about right for its purpose. Murray
called it an "annual market town of 1000 booths" whose only permanent buildings
were a small temple and a couple of warehouses. He felt that people occupied
Berenike only during the time when ships left for and returned from India.
It is known that wealthy families had agencies in Myos Hormos and Berenike
to handle family interests in overseas trade. Investors in Egypt, Rome,
and other great centers funded merchants through these agencies. It is
quite possible, therefore, that many of the Egyptian-Greek inhabitants
of Berenike worked there as businessmen when the ships were being received
or sent off, before or after which they would supervise the transport of
their clients' goods over the desert. They did not leave their expensive
luxuries totally behind when they ventured to Berenike, as indicated on
ostraca which tell of fine Italian wine shipped to Berenike for local consumption.
Under their employ were probably many people from local nomadic tribes
who aided the transport of goods across the desert, helped the loading
and unloading of ships, and maintained Berenike while the agents were gone.
Also connected to the town of Berenike are two forts and two settlements
near and mountains to the west of the site. Both forts are located in Wadi
Kalalat, eight kilometers to the northeast. The smaller fort simply met
the needs of a normal fort, but the larger fort contained a large cistern
with a diameter of 32 meters which is thought to have been the main water
supply for Berenike. The settlement at Shenshef, roughly 15 kilometers
south of Wadi Kalalat, consists of about 150 clean, well-built houses and
a hill fort. It has salty, but drinkable water readily accessible. Almost
all visitors to the site have been particularly impressed-the surveyors
of the current expedition lauded the quality of construction and layout
of the houses. Murray felt that Shenshef was well-protected to store precious
goods from Berenike, and that it would have been a good place to reside
between September and January for officials and merchants needing to write
reports and make up accounts. Perhaps a bit more enigmatic is the settlement
at Hitan Rayan, which I had the chance to visit (see Figure 3). The structural
remains are stone walls about two feet high that define the outlines of
the various buildings. These buildings would have probably been completed
by erecting tent structures on the tops of the walls. Several burial cairns
and graves are located on and near the site. The function of Hitan Rayan
is not known, though I heard one opinion that it might have been a local
copy of the Shenshef site. Both forts and both settlements have been linked
to Berenike through pottery evidence.
CONTEMPORARY INVESTIGATIONS
Having described some of the history and features of the site, I will now
discuss the current excavations and their results. The project is a joint
US-Dutch effort and is co-directed by Dr. Steven Sidebotham of the University
of Delaware and by Ms. Willeke Wendrich of Leiden University. The team
consists of a mixture of US, Dutch, English, and Belgian scientists, professionals,
and students. Ababda Bedouins were hired to help with digging, sieving,
moving, washing, and other odd jobs and as guides to the surrounding areas.
"The general research question for the project is to determine how the
settlement Berenike functioned in the international trade contacts, by
multi-disciplinary research into the way of life of the population, the
structure of the settlement and the character of the long distance trade"
(Wendrich, letter to expedition participants). The current excavations
are in their second year, and it is quite possible that they could extend
up to 15 more years because of the vast quantities of information that
remain below the sand that covers the town.
THE 1994 SEASON
The 1994 excavations were conducted to ascertain the productivity of the
site and the nature of the finds and to conduct surveys, in addition to
trying to answer the general research question stated above. Two trenches
were worked, the first one located at one of the highest points on the
site and the other located close to the harbor. Trench BE94-1 was dug on
an area that had been bulldozed by the Egyptian military when it was building
installations in 1973. It was found that while the bulldozing did turn
up a lot, as indicated by the increased quantity of surface finds, it has
had little impact except for the topmost portions of the site. Trench BE94-2
was dug in a section of a building that appears to be a warehouse-the primary
hope being that it would reveal a definitive connection with India. Some
items did indicate such a link, these being a coconut, an Indian resist-dyed
textile, and numerous beads. Other finds included pottery, metal fragments,
glass objects, a writing tablet, coins (60 total, dating from Ptolemaic
times to the 4
th / 5
th centuries AD), nails, bands
of copper alloys, iron remains, and Nile Valley and Nubian basketry.
A survey was done of the site to produce an accurate map of all visible
remains (see map, next page). To do so, a fifty meter square grid was laid
out using a point triangulated from the temple as its first reference point;
from this grid, all relevant points or items of interest could be mapped.
The mapping showed the town remains to cover approximately seven hectares,
with the greatest linear dimensions being 320 meters east to west and 250
meters north to south.
In addition to establishing some minor connections to India, the 1994
season also found that Berenike, Shenshef, and Hitan Rayan were all linked
through pottery. It also seems possible that Berenike had local metal,
rope, and glass production. The small amount of fish remains indicates
a population originating primarily from the desert rather than the Nile
or the Red Sea, though the local population seems to have been a mixture
of Nubian, Egyptian, and nomadic peoples. The 1994 Berenike report also
characterizes the materials used to construct the buildings as low in quality,
indicating the minimization of costs by government officials and private
entrepreneurs who needed only temporary housing and storage facilities.
It is probable, however, that early phase building materials were better,
using primarily anhydrite and gypsum stones rather than coral rocks as
in later times. The survey also identified a 25 meter by 300 meter earthwork
bank (on the northwestern shore of the harbor) that was possibly the product
of dredging to remove sand, which had been brought in by the wadi, from
the harbor.
THE 1995 SEASON
The 1995 excavation and study seasons were much more expansive than the
previous year's exploratory investigations. Trenches one and two were continued
and were to be ultimately joined by five more. More specialists, in fact,
more people in general, were at the site to contribute what they could.
maps were made of Shenshef and Hitan Rayan and plans were drawn of the
Kalalat forts.
The purposes of trenches one and two have already been elaborated. Trench
one had many trash deposits from the 5th/6th centuries
AD, and it had minimal architecture. Dr. James Harrell, the site geologist,
and I cored a 2.9 meter hole in this trench and found pottery sherds all
the way down. It was decided to discontinue trench one (at least for now)
because it would become too deep and awkward (at 5 meters plus) before
reaching the lowest level and because it lacked substantial architecture.
Trench two did reach bottom this year, ultimately showing three major architectural
stages. A wall that showed on the very edge of the east balk of trench
two may be part of a building that was partially washed away in the wadi,
so another trench may be added next year to determine if the town extended
past the mound that presently marks the edge of the site.
Trench BE95-3 was dug on the west end of the site to see what was happening
there, but when no architecture showed up (though a lot of trash deposits
did), the trench was discontinued. Trench BE95-6 was then begun nearby,
with some fascinating results. Some items found there include a bronze
statue, a carved animal head, two altar basins, a stele base, and an incense
burner, indicating that trench six had unearthed part of a place of worship,
if not a temple. The walls were constructed of anhydrite and gypsum blocks,
a much higher quality building material than the coral that predominate
most of the trenches.
Trench BE95-4 was placed in one of the largest visible buildings on
the site. From what could be seen, the building consisted of an inner building
surrounded by an outer wall, almost like a sanctuary. Shortly after the
season began, Trench BE95-7 was placed in the north end of the building
on the hunch that it might be a temple. However, the finds from both trench
do not indicate that the building was a temple. More likely, due to the
amphoras, many coins, and other things found there, it was a place of commerce,
or perhaps even a customs building.
Trench BE95-5 was placed on the southernmost portion of the site near
the harbor and, in fact, is the south-easternmost trench ever excavated
on a Roman site. Not only did it exhibit some very nice architecture (see
Figure 4), it also unearthed ten complete and nearly complete amphoras-some
of which still had fish sauce powder in them. It is not clear what the
function of the building was, but it seems quite likely, because of the
amphoras and its proximity to the harbor, that the building served as a
shipping office for a family or a company.
During the last few days of the study season, I talked with many of
the specialists individually and took notes on their observations. A list
of the specialists and trench supervisors is included at the end of this
report. I must apologize for the simplistic descriptions given for the
specialist areas and the trenches, but in depth discussions of these topics
are beyond the scope of this report.
Textiles. Over 400 textiles have been found at Berenike, primarily
in the 4th and 5th century trash deposits. The preservation
is poor, but a full range of materials, including cotton, flax, wool, and
hair has been found in the textiles. Berenike appears to have been a consumer
city, obtaining most of its textiles elsewhere and often getting the best.
Some cottons from Nubia were found, as well as a resist-dyed textile with
a flower pattern. This probably came from the Nile Valley, and it suggests
that it was used in a nice house. Bits of tapestries were also found that
indicate that residents of Berenike were trying to make their homes somewhat
elegant despite the poor quality of their construction. A rather fascinating
piece was a weft-faced compound tabby with a complex weave that could allow
a weaver to pull colors or hide them at will.
Pigments and dyes. The dyes found in the textiles at Berenike
were rather expensive ones. One found was murex, which is a dark
blue that comes from murex shells and is very difficult to obtain-only
very wealthy people could have afforded it. Another dye is kermes,
a red which comes from an insect. A bright orange powder found caked inside
a piece of pottery seems to be a mixture of lead oxide and lead
carbonate. Another powder, which is bright blue with some fine quartz
particles mixed in, was identified as cuprorivate, also known as
Egyptian blue. These were identified by using powder x-ray diffraction.
Metals. Many metal artifacts were found in the 1995 season. The
major one was a bronze statue, but also found were copper forks and spoons,
copper and iron nails, two bronze keys, a small bronze bell, belt buckles,
rings, needles, and clips. Also, a simple 20 centimeter iron knife from
the 1st-3rd century iron industry was found. Some
iron products were made locally as there would have been no need to bring
in big machinery to work iron. Iron slag can still be seen on some of the
hills just outside the main town.
Coins. One-hundred and twenty coins were found, one-fourth of
which were identifiable. Three bronze Ptolemaic coins were found, two of
which were from the time of Ptolemy II (c. 275 BC) and another which depicted
Zeus. Next were two of Augustus, followed by 1st century bronze
coins of Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero (which is part silver).
One tetra drachm and one bronze of Vespasian follow, after which a gap
occurs until three of Philip I (c. 250 AD). All of the three previous coins
were minted in Alexandria. Some late 4th century Roman coins
include one of Theodosius I (which had the Christian C-R symbol on it)
and one of Arcadius which was minted in Aqiliea. Some of the coins show
their mixed Roman and Egyptian parentage on opposite sides as with one
of Tiberius with a hippopotamus on the reverse, a Vespasian with Isis,
and a Nero with a snake. One of the coins of Claudius is possibly a local
copy. The latest coin found was a Theodisius II from the 5th
century.
Pottery. The excavations turned up basically what was expected-namely,
a lot of amphoras, which constituted ninety percent of the pottery. Everything
was imported, but many were Egyptian copies of outer wares. The material
at Berenike is similar to the ceramics of northern Red Sea locations such
as Suez, Abu Sha'ar, and Mons Claudianus, but there is no Indian connection
yet. Various types of "native" wares were present, including those of Nubians,
Blemmyes, and nomads and some decorated red blackware. Also found were
terra sigilata fine wares, some of which were made in Italy, but most of
which were Egyptian copies. The amphoras were mostly from the Nile. Some
of their contents would have included fish sauce, wine, oil, and flour.
The pottery dates from the 1st century BC to the 5th/6th
centuries AD, with the majority occurring after the 1st century
AD.
Glass. Surprisingly, some very good, very delicate fine wares
were found at Berenike that had more special shapes than normal Roman usage.
Two of these were drinking glasses and one was a perfumed oil bottle. Glass
and shell beads were apparently produced in Berenike, as indicated by a
shell with unfinished beads being carved out of it and by a glass waster
from bead blowing. Some real usage wares were found, but they were mostly
in fragmentary pieces.
Wood. Very few wood items were found, primarily because wood
does not preserve well in Berenike's moist soil. Some of the items found
include a comb, a spindle whorl, some turning pieces or caps, and other
basic things. Some of these were made of acacia, a hardwood from the Nile.
Archaeozoology. All of the animals at Berenike were for either
work or consumption-pets were a luxury not afforded. Camels, donkeys, and
horses were there for work. Sheep and goats, which can survive quite well
on the desert fauna, were generally slaughtered young. Large cattle were
probably brought from the Nile, and pigs were possibly imported. Some wild
animals such as hares, foxes, sea cows, and gazelles were hunted for their
meat and their hides. Over thirty species of fish were present. The powdered
remains of a fish sauce were found in the intact amphoras from trench five.
This was made by putting salt on the fatty parts of fish and leaving it
to ferment in the sand. Such sauces are still consumed today.
Archaeobotany. The focus this year was on cultivated species,
twenty-three of which were identified. These can be used to find out not
only about what people were eating, but also about the trade routes which
existed. There were five different regions of origin, one of which was
the Mediterranean basin (Italy, Greece, etc.) from which walnuts, hazelnuts,
peaches, almonds, and olives were brought. Flax, legumes (lentils, white
lupines, and bitter vetches), barley, wheat, watermelon, grapevine, and
coriander came from the Nile Valley, and sugar dates, dates, doam palm,
and Christ's thorne came from the Eastern Desert. Sorghum was brought from
Sudan, and rice, pepper, Job's tear, and coconuts were imported from South
Asia. Sorghum could have been locally cultivated in periods of high rain,
as well as wheat and barley. Barley would have probably been for consumption
by animals, as indicated by its presence in dung. A lot of animal dung
was found, but none had been burnt as fuel.
Geology. Berenike was built on top of a coral terrace which is
surrounded on the north and west by Wadi Mandi and on the south and east
by a supratidal flat (sabkha). The tectonic uplift that raised the coral
terrace to its present elevation of about two meters above sea level must
have occurred before Berenike was founded; otherwise, it would have been
built near sea level, which is highly unlikely. The sea level has risen
at least one meter since the town's beginning, placing its lowest walls
at current sea level. The harbor was very different in appearance and extent
in Roman times, as indicated by the sabkha stratigraphy revealed by coring.
Cross-sections of the sediment along a given row of coring holes display
three main facies of the sabkha. The uppermost facies was formed by wadi
and wind deposition, the middle by sedimentation on the beach as it was
continually pushed back by wadi sedimentation, and the bottom by the deposition
of sand and organic material under water (of the lagoon). These results
indicate that the lagoon may have at one time reached the edge of the town
and that it is still receding. Certain patterns of sedimentation and the
presence of sherds as deep as 1.25 meters in the embayment north of trenches
four and seven indicate that the area could have been a secondary harbor
that was connected to the bay via a channel, but more coring needs to be
done to confirm this.
Four main building materials - coral, anhydrite, gypsum (gypsite), and
limestone - were used in construction at Berenike. The coral probably came
from the reef rubble of the coral terrace. In construction, the coral was
held together by a locally derived mortar consisting of gypsiferous, bioclast
sediment. The anhydrite, gypsum, and limestone were most likely quarried
from formations on Ras Banas. All rocks evident on the site could be found
locally except for vesicular basalt and carbonate cobbles, which were possibly
brought to Berenike as ship ballast. Other exotic materials included a
piece of peridot from Zabargad Island, emeralds, a flake of obsidian, and
a piece of cut, polished marble from Turkey.
Many anhydrite and gypsum ashlars were used in critical parts of coral
walls in buildings of late periods throughout the site, suggesting that
they came from a single building, perhaps the Serapis temple, which had
been partially or wholly dismantled in antiquity.
Some of the finds this year merit specific description, and certainly
one of these is the bronze statue from Trench BE95-6 (see Figure 5). At
higher levels of the trench, many bronze fragments, including an arm with
a snake entwined around it, were discovered. Further excavation revealed
the statue intact below the knees and standing on a gypsum pedestal. Hopes
for an inscription on the pedestal were not fulfilled, but the presence
of the snake indicates that the statue may be of Hygieia, a healing goddess
who had a popular following. Originally regarded as the daughter of Asclepius,
the Greek god of healing, she eventually was considered as his divine companion
and female counterpart. That the cult of a healing goddess was present
at Berenike is not surprising. I suspect that the albeit harsh environment
that the residents of Berenike lived in and the dangerous journeys of the
merchants and sailors made many people associated with Berenike very aware
and appreciative of health matters. Also, the Romans might have tried to
make the local nomadic population more health-conscious by bringing their
medical philosophies and their healing deities. It would be interesting
to know how the natives interpreted a goddess who was associated with snakes.
Another interesting item from BE95-6 was what appears to be a statue
head carved out of gypsum (see Figure 6). It looks like an animal, but
what it is exactly is not known. Some speculated that it was a lion, but
there is no surety to this hypothesis. The shape in which the form of the
animal has been molded suggests to me that it was a kind of ornamental
piece to attach to a wall or column, or that it was perhaps an armrest
for a special bench or chair. Also located near the above two items in
BE95-6 were two altar basins, one large and one small, and an incense burner
that is shaped like a temple pool with two miniature staircases leading
into the pool. I saw altar basins that were almost identical to the ones
at Berenike when I was walking around some Roman ruins near the temple
of Luxor.
A small figurine of Harpocrates, the child Horus, was found in BE95-5.
It may have been an amulet-it is very small and depicts only the head.
The piece can be identified by the shaved head and sidelock of youth and
the finger pointed to the mouth, a common representation of Harpocrates.
He was supposedly stunted from the waist down because of his premature
birth, and he is commonly show as seated and sucking his thumb or as a
baby being suckled by Isis. As a part of the Alexandrian triad of Serapis,
Isis, and Harpocrates, he became the form of Horus most worshipped in late
times, particularly with the rise of Isis as great-mother goddess. The
god of the poor and humble, "Horus-the-child is specifically the potential
that is still weak and defenceless as a child, the power that needs to
be nurtured" (Quirke 17). It seems hardly surprising to find evidence of
Harpocrates in Berenike, where the primary temple is that of Serapis.
In addition to the intact 4th/5th century amphoras
from BE95-5, special pottery finds included various ostraca, frog lamps,
and amphora lids with designs on them. Of particular interest were a couple
of pottery sherds on which a ship was drawn that I believe supports Dr.
Sidebotham's opinion on the kind of masts that were used on ships in the
Red Sea. A new kind of amphora was discovered, the pieces of which I managed
to put together and obtain the shape from top to bottom of the otherwise
fragmented amphora.
The excavations will most probably continue on as long as the site produces
useful information-and looking at how little of the town has been touched,
it will probably be many years before it dries up. However, I am quite
amazed at how much information a few well-placed trenches can yield. This
report is just the tip of the iceberg, a way of getting acquainted with
Berenike and what is happening there. It will be interesting to see how
the specialists imbue the finds with meaning so that we can better understand
the port and its inhabitants and visitors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bell, H. Idris.
Egypt: From Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest.
Ares Publishers, Chicago: 1948
Bell, H. Idris. Cults and Creeds in Graeco-Roman Egypt. Ares
Publishers, Chicago: 1957
Casson, Lionel. The Periplus Maris Erythraei: text, translation,
and commentary. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton: 1989
Ferguson, John. The Religions of the Roman Empire. Cornell Univ.
Press. Ithaca, NY: 1970
Ions, Veronica. Egyptian Mythology. Harper and Row, Yugoslavia:
1982
Lewis, Naphtali. Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule. Oxford Univ.
Press, Oxford: 1983
McCrindle, Jim. The Christian Topography of Cosmos. Burt Frankin,
New York: 1897
Meredith, David. "Roman Remains in the Eastern Desert of Egypt." JEA
38 (1952): pp. 94-111
Meredith, David. TABVLA IMPERII ROMANI - Map of the Roman Empire.
Society of Antiquities of London, London: 1958
Murray, G.W. "The Roman Roads and Stations in the Eastern Desert of
Egypt." JEA 11 (1925): pp. 138-150
Murray, G.W. Trogodytica: The Red Sea Littoral in Ptolemaic Times.
GJ 133 (1967): pp. 24-33
Quirke, Stephan. Ancient Egyptian Religion. British Museum Press,
London: 1992
Schoff, Wilfred. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Munshiram
Manoharial Publ. Pvt. Ltd. , New Delhi: 1974
Sidebotham, S.E. and W.Z. Wendrich. Berenike 1994, Preliminary Report.
Centre of Non-Western Studies, Leiden: 1995
Warmington, E.H. The Commerce Between the Roman Empire and India.
Cambridge Univ. Press, London: 1974
Wellsted, R. "Notice on the ruins of Berenice." Royal Geographic Society,
JRGS 36 (1836): pp. 96-100
Wilkinson, I.G. General View of Egypt. John Murray, London: 1835
Members of the Berenike team for the 1995 season who provided information
for this report.
Dr. S.E. Sidebotham, Co-director and numismatics
Willeke Wendrich, Co-director and basketry
Dori Gould, Supervisor, Trench BE 95-1
Paul Haanen, Supervisor, Trench BE 95-2
Lenny Sundelin, Supervisor, Trench BE 95-4
Shinu Abraham, Supervisor, Trench BE 95-5
Heather Beckman, Supervisor, Trench BE 95-3,6
Jolanda Bos, Supervisor, Trench BE 95-7
Dr. John Wild, Textiles
Dr. Felicity Wild, Textiles
Hardip Dhaliwal, Pigments and Dyes
Martin Hense, Metals
Dr. John Hayes, Pottery typology/chronology
Odile Hoogzaad, Pottery
Aranea Dijkmans, Glass
Dr. Wim Van Neer, Archaeozoology
Dr. A. Lentacker, Archaeozoology
Dr. Rene Cappers, Archaeobotany
Dr. James Harrell, Geology
Acknowledgments:
I would like to thank several people for the help they gave me before,
during, and after my visit to Berenike. Dr. David Hoch started it off by
make sure that I contacted Dr. Harrell about his trips to Egypt. Dr. James
Van Fleet and the others on the committee which approved my application
for a travel grant made the trip financially feasible for me. I would very
much like to thank Dr. Jim Harrell for inviting me to accompany him on
an extraordinary adventure and for his help as a teacher, advisor, and
friend. Lastly, I am forever grateful for all of the wonderful friends
I made while at the site and while traveling around Egypt. I will not forget
this experience, and I hope that more students will take advantage of opportunities
such as this.
Jason Baldridge
June 8, 1995