Fatireh el-Beida

Cite this page: Barbara Tratsaert, “Fatireh el-Beida”, Archiopedia / Αρχειοπαίδεια (Future date), p. 175 (revision #-), ISSN 2732-6012. DOI: To be assigned (entry under construction).

Fatireh el-Beida (also known as Fatireh, Fatireh el-Beda) is a shrine in the Eastern Desert of Egypt dated to the Roman period (30-600AD).

Some researchers have identified this settlement with Hadrabia or Abu Zawal.

1. Geography

Country: Egypt

Coordinates: 26°42’40”N-33°15’00”E

The settlement is situated off-road in Kainepolis (Qena)-Abu Sha’ar (N & S quarry road).

2. Generalities

It is thought that this site provided religious functions for the imperial quarries at Mons Porphyrytes and Mons Claudianus. Eight hydreuma are known to be located in the hinterland. The inscription found between the sites Abu Zawal and Fatiri is in Latin and dated to the reign of Nerva (96-98AD). It mentions the procurator Flavius Diadorius and his dependent FalviusFortunatus. He was a procurator augusti and procurator metallorum. This inscription refers to quarry administration, it is found SW of the site.

3. History

The settlement consists of a row of five well-preserved huts; all have a square top plan with one entry/exit. It follows the edge of the wadi with one building slightly off the alignment. This is similar to the administrative cluster identified at Wadi Daghbag. The building identified as a shrine consists of a few large slabs that appeared to have come from a quarry nearby. The structure sits at the foot of a hill and seems to have been built quickly. More remains of other buildings and a badly worn structure were seen on the opposite side, also seen at Wadi Daghbag. According to Barnard the layout of the settlement is not typical as it is only a small site with a shrine, a few huts and a quarry and it did not seem to have played a major role in the region.

4. Hinterland sites

• Wadi Dara/Wadi Dip
• Hadrabia
• Fatiri
• Semna
• Gidami
• Wadi Hammama/Abu Gerida
• Erediyah
• Wadi Sagi
• Kab Amini

6. References

• Barnard online [accessed February 2014]. • Hirt 2010: 107-113 • Hume 1937: 725, 726-727 • R. B. Jackson, At Empire’s Edge. Exploring Rome’s Egyptian Frontier, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2002, p. 68 • R. Klemm and D. Klemm, “ChronologischerAbriß der AntikenGoldgewinnung in der OstwüsteÄgyptens”, Mitteilungen des DeutschenArchaölogischen Institutes AbteilungKairo 50, 1994: 2019 • R. Klemm and D. Klemm, Gold and Gold mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Archaeology of the Ancient Gold Mining Sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese Eastern Deserts, Springer, Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 70-80 • S. E. Sidebotham, Berenike and the ancient maritime spice route, University of California Press, 2011, p. 88, 130-131, 133, fig 7.1ff • S. E. Sidebotham, “Newly Discovered Sites in the Eastern Desert”, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 82 (1), December 1996, pp.190-192 • S. E. Sidebotham, M. Hense and H. M. Nouwens, The Red Land. The Illustrated Archaeology of Egypt's Eastern Desert, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo and New York, 2008, pp.38, 62, 123 • Helck, Otto 1977: 741 • Caste, Soukiassian 1989: 10-12

large building