Piramessess ("The House of Ramesses, Beloved of Amun, Great of Victories") was the capital city of Ancient Egypt during the 19th Dynasty reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279-1213 BCE). Even after Ramessess II’s death, the city continued to thrive, it served as a summer palace under Seti I and poems were written about its splendour. Piramesses was one of the greatest royal cities in ancient Egypt. Not only because of royal favour but also because of its strategic location by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile delta. The city quickly became a trade centre as well as a cosmopolitan metropolis with a military base, a harbour, and several temples dedicated to different deities.
The city was built by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, and had a population of roughly 300,000 inhabitants and was as such one of the largest ancient Egyptian cities. Around 1060 BCE, the Pelusiac branch of the Nile began to silt up which left the city without a water supply. This in turn led to its abandonment as a royal residence and its decline during the 20th Dynasty. During the 21st Dynasty the capital city was moved ca. 100 km to another newer branch of the Nile north-west of Piramesses. With the moving of the city, all the old Ramesside temples, statues, and obelisks were transported to the new city - Djanet (modern Tanis).
During the peak of Piramesses’ history, it is thought to have spread over ca 18 sq.km, and its layout has been mapped by ground-penetrating radar. It consisted of a massive central temple, a large precinct of mansions which bordered the Nile in the west, and a collection of houses and workshops in the East. The palace itself is believed to be covered by the modern village Qantir.
Interestingly, the team of archaeologists who discovered the site found evidence of multiple canals and lakes and described the city as the Venice of Egypt. When the stables of the site were excavated small cisterns were found adjacent to each of its 460 tether points. The team used mules, which are roughly the same size of an ancient Egyptian horse, to discover that a double tethered horse would use the cistern as a toilet and as such would leave the stable floor clean.
The Nile river has never been static. The sands shift and the river carves out new paths. Egyptians often followed these new paths, leaving behind sites such as Piramesses that can offer a wonderful glimpse into the past. This site gives us a deeper and more nuanced appreciation of the 19th, 20th, and 21st Dynasties.
Text: Anna Sunneborn Gudnadottir. MENAM Archaeology. Copyright 2023. Images:
Tiles from the palace: The Metropolitan museum of art
Pelusiac branch of the Nile: Wikimedia commons.
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