El Bagawat, is an ancient Christian cemetery, one of the oldest in the world, which functioned at the

Kharga Oasis The Kharga Oasis (Arabic: , ) ; Coptic: ( "Oasis of Hib", "Oasis of Psoi") is the southernmost of Egypt's five western oases. It is located in the Western Desert, about 200 km (125 miles) to the west of the Nile valley. "Kharga" or ...

in southern-central

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

from the 3rd to the 7th century AD. It is one of the earliest and best preserved Christian cemeteries from the ancient world.

Location

The Necropolis of El Bagawat is located in the Western Desert in Kharga Oasis. This is one of the largest oases in Egypt and is 34 m below sea level.

History

The El Bagawat cemetery is reported to be pre-historic and is one of the oldest Christian cemeteries in Egypt. Before Christianity was introduced into Egypt, it was a burial ground used by the non-Christians and later by the Christians. The chapels here are said to belong to both the eras. Coptic frescoes of the 3rd to the 7th century are found on the walls. There are 263 funerary chapels, of which the Chapel of the Exodus (first half of the 4th century) and Chapel of Peace (5th or 6th century) have the best-preserved frescoes, although fresco fragments can also be seen in Chapels 25, 172, 173, 175, and 210.

Features

The El Bagawat cemetery has a very large number of tombs in the form of chapel domes. They are built of mud bricks. The tombs have etchings of biblical stories, and also of saints and “personifications of virtues”. In the Exodus Chapel, there is a depiction of the

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

of Isiah; and also of Tekla postured with raised hands, in front of fire being doused by rain. In the Chapel of Peace, the illustrative fresco is of Thekla and Paul. There are paintings in the cemetery which show the

ark of Noah Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...

in the form of an "Egyptian barque". Also notable are carved representations of

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

scriptures, including

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

Daniel in the lion's den Daniel in the lions' den (chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel) tells of how the biblical Daniel is saved from lions by the God of Israel "because I was found blameless before him" (Daniel 6:22). It parallels and complements chapter 3, the story of S ...

, the sacrifice of

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

, and Jonah swallowed by a fish.

References

;Bibliography * * * * * {{coord, 25.486, 30.555, type:landmark_region:EG, display=title 3rd-century establishments in Egypt Christian cemeteries Cemeteries in Egypt Coptic settlements Western Desert (Egypt)