The Oryx nome (

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

: ''Ma-hedj'') was one of the 42 '' nomoi'' (administrative divisions;

: ''sepat'') in ancient Egypt. The oryx nome was the 16th nome of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

Wolfram Grajetzki Wolfram Grajetzki (born 1960, in Berlin) is a German Egyptologist. He studied at Free University of Berlin and made his Doctor of Philosophy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He performed excavations in Egypt, but also in Pakistan. He publishe ...

, ''The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt: history, archaeology and society''. London, Duckworth Egyptology, 2006, pp. 111-13 and was named after the

Scimitar oryx The scimitar oryx (''Oryx dammah''), also known as the scimitar-horned oryx and the Sahara oryx, is a ''Oryx'' species that was once widespread across North Africa. In 2000, it was declared extinct in the wild on the IUCN Red List. A captive b ...

(a type of antelope). It was located, approximately, in the territories surrounding the modern city of Minya in

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, though Middle ...

History

The nome is mentioned on vessels found in the pyramid complex of king

Djoser Djoser (also read as Djeser and Zoser) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Tosorthros (from Manetho) and Sesorthos (from Euseb ...

, who ruled at the beginning of the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

. Near Zawyet el-Maiyitin were buried the local governors of the late Old Kingdom.
Most of the history of this nome in the Middle Kingdom comes from the rock-cut tombs of its

nomarch A nomarch ( grc, νομάρχης, egy, ḥrj tp ꜥꜣ Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsib ...

s, which were buried at

Beni Hasan Beni Hasan (also written as Bani Hasan, or also Beni-Hassan) ( ar, بني حسن) is an ancient Egyptian cemetery. It is located approximately to the south of modern-day Minya in the region known as Middle Egypt, the area between Asyut and Mem ...

. Like many other nomes, the Oryx nome rose to prominence during the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious ...

, an epoch that witnessed the decline of royal power and the increase of the local governors' influence. When, during the end of this period, the

11th Dynasty The Eleventh Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XI) is a well-attested group of rulers. Its earlier members before Pharaoh Mentuhotep II are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, whereas the late ...

of Theban rulers were close to defeating the rival 10th Dynasty of

Herakleopolis Heracleopolis Magna ( grc-gre, Μεγάλη Ἡρακλέους πόλις, ''Megálē Herakléous pólis'') and Heracleopolis (, ''Herakleópolis'') and Herakleoupolis (), is the Roman name of the capital of the 20th nome of ancient Upper Eg ...

, the nomarch of the Oryx nome

Baqet III Baqet III was an ancient Egyptian official and '' Great Chief of the Oryx nome'' (the 16th nome of Upper Egypt) during the 11th Dynasty in the 21st century BCE. Apart from the position of governor of the entire nome, Baqet III also held the titl ...

switched from neutrality to an allegiance to the Thebans. Subsequent nomarchs managed to gather a considerable amount of wealth between the late 11th to middle 12th Dynasty, as shown by their large and finely decorated tombs at Beni Hasan; some of these governors, like

Khnumhotep II Khnumhotep II (''ẖnmw-ḥtp, "Khnum is pleased"'') was an ancient Egyptian '' Great Chief of the Oryx nome'' (the 16th nome of Upper Egypt) during the reign of pharaohs Amenemhat II and Senusret II of the 12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom (20th ce ...

, also held the national-level office of Overseer of the

Eastern Desert The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea and ...

.
During the highly centralized reign of pharaoh

Senusret III Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the ...

, the power of the nomarchs of the Oryx nome may have declined dramatically, as no burials of governors were found after his reign. In the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...

this nome became part of the 15th Upper Egyptian nome and disappeared as its own administrative unit.

Cities and deities

The Oryx nome governed many important cities but for most of these the exact locations are still uncertain: Akoris (modern Tihna el-Gebel), Men'at Khufu (possibly Minya),

Hebenu Hebenu is an ancient Egyptian city. It was the early capital of the 16th Upper Egyptian Nome. The modern village of Kom el Ahmar (Minya Governorate) is built on the site where the ancient city stood. See also * List of ancient Egyptian towns ...

(possibly Kom el-Ahmar),

Nefrusy Nefrusy was an ancient Egyptian city which location is north of modern day cities of El Ashmunein and El Quseyya. It is known for being the site of Battle of Nefrusy between the forces of Kamose and Hyksos forces, which saw the first attested us ...

(location unknown) and

Herwer Herwer was an ancient Egyptian town in the 16th nome (Oryx nome) in Upper Egypt. It is mentioned in several ancient inscriptions dating from the Old, Middle and New Kingdom. The main deities of the place were Khnum and Heqet, both several tim ...

(possibly Hur).
The capital of the Oryx nome is far to being securely determined. It may have been Herwer, though the nomarchs' necropolis is at Beni Hasan which was likely close to Men'at Khufu, and is known that some governors such as

Khnumhotep I Khnumhotep I (''ẖnmw-ḥtp, "Khnum is pleased"'') was an ancient Egyptian '' Great Chief of the Oryx nome'' (the 16th nome of Upper Egypt) during the reign of Pharaoh Amenemhat I of the 12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom (early 20th century BCE). T ...

were both nomarch and governor of Men'at Khufu. According to the inscriptions on the

White Chapel The White Chapel of pharaoh Senusret I, also referred to as the Jubilee Chapel of Senusret I, was built during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. During the New Kingdom it was demolished and used as filler for the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak, ...

Senusret I Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the most ...

, the local god of the Oryx nome was

Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...

of Hebenu. Other important deities were

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

at Nefrusy and the couple

Khnum Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt an ...

Heqet Heqet (Egyptian ', also ' "Heqtit"), sometimes spelled Heket, is an Egyptian goddess of fertility, identified with Hathor, represented in the form of a frog. To the Egyptians, the frog was an ancient symbol of fertility, related to the annual ...

at Herwer.

Nomarchs of the Oryx nome

The following is a genealogy of the nomarchs of the Oryx nome during the late 11th and 12th Dynasty (the limit between the two dynasties passes approximately along the third and fourth generations). The nomarchs are underlined.Wolfram Grajetzki, ''Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom'', London 2009, pp. 110-14; 136-38

History

Cities and deities

Nomarchs of the Oryx nome

References

Further reading