Upper Egypt

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Upper Egypt (Arabic: صعيد مصر‎ Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo. The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Asyut is sometimes known as Middle Egypt. Modern inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis; they generally speak Sa'idi Arabic.

Upper Egypt is on the western side of the Nile River, which runs over 4,000 miles long.

Upper Egypt was known as Ta Shemau ^[1] which means "the land of reeds."^[2] It was divided into twenty-two districts called nomes.^[3] The first nome was roughly where modern Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih (Aphroditopolis), just to the south of Cairo.

The main city of predynastic Upper Egypt was Nekken (Greek Hierakonpolis),^[4] whose patron deity was the vulture goddess Nekhbet.^[5] For most of pharaonic Egypt's history Thebes was the administrative center of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by the Assyrians its importance declined. Under the Ptolemies the city of Ptolemias took over the role of capital of Upper Egypt.^[6] Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, and its symbol was the flowering lotus.

In modern Egypt, the title Prince of the Sa'id (meaning Prince of Upper Egypt) was used by the heir apparent to the Egyptian throne. Although the Egyptian monarchy was abolished in 1953, the title continues to be used by Muhammad Ali, Prince of Said and Hereditary Chief, Sheikh Beja Khawr al`allaqi, Prince of Sa'id.

[edit] References

1. ^ Ermann & Grapow, op.cit. Wb 5, 227.4-14
2. ^ Ermann & Grapow, op.cit. Wb 4, 477.9-11
3. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana, p.34
4. ^ Bard, op. cit., p.371
5. ^ David, op.cit., p.149
6. ^ Chauveau, op.cit., p.68

Upper

[edit] Bibliography

• Ermann, Johann Peter Adolf; Hermann ,Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache
• The Encyclopedia Americana Grolier Incorporated, 1988
• Katheryn A. Bard, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge 1999
• Michel Chauveau, Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies, Cornell University Press 2000
• Ann Rosalie David, The Egyptian Kingdoms, Elsevier Phaidon 1975.

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