Wadi El Natrun ( Arabic: "Valley of Natron";

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

: , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern Egypt that is located below sea level and below the

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...

level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt deposits, salt marshes and freshwater marshes. In Christian literature it is usually known as Scetis ( in Hellenistic Greek) or Skete (, plural in ecclesiastical Greek). It is one of the three early Christian monastic centers located in the

Nitrian Desert The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism."Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., ''The Oxfor ...

of the northwestern

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

. The other two monastic centers are Nitria and

Kellia Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about 40 miles south of Alexandria. It was one of three centers of ...

. Scetis, now called Wadi El Natrun, is best known today because its ancient monasteries remain in use, unlike Nitria and Kellia which have only archaeological remains. The desertified valley around Scetis in particular may be called the Desert of Scetis..

Fossil discoveries

The area is one of the best known sites containing large numbers of fossils of large pre-historic animals in Egypt, and was known for this in the first century AD and probably much earlier.

Geography

Wadi al-Natrun is the common name for a desert valley located west of the Nile Delta, along the El Tahrir markaz, which is about 10 km west of the entrance to

Sadat City Sadat City ( ar, مدينة السادات ' ) is a city in the Monufia Governorate, Egypt. It is named after late president Anwar Sadat. The city is located northwest of Cairo. It is a first generation new urban community and one of the largest ...

on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, and about 50 km from Khattabah on the Nile (Rashid Branch), and it falls below the level of the plateau surface surrounding it about 50 meters. The length of this depression ranges between 5, 55 and 60 km, while its average width is 10 km, and its deepest point reaches 24 meters below sea level. The depression is the smallest depression in the Egyptian Western Desert, with an area of about 500 km2. Therefore, it is true that it is a depression and not a valley, because the region is a closed depression that has a beginning and an end, and it has no source, estuary or tributaries, so the launch of the word "Wadi" on the depression is not topographically correct. The Wadi contains 12 lakes, the total surface area of which is 10 km square and their average depth is only 2 m. The color of these lakes is reddish blue because its water is saturated with the Natron salt.

History

Ancient history

Natron valley is first attested in the story of the Eloquent Peasant, and it is mentioned among the list of seven oases in the Temple of Edfu. In Ptolemaic times it constituted part of the Nitrite nome ( grc, Νιτριώτης νομός). It was also known in Coptic as ''Mountain of Salt'' ( cop, ⲡⲧⲱⲟⲩ ⲙⲡϩⲙⲟⲩ) or ''Phanihosem'' (). The importance of the Natrun valley dates back to the Pharaonic era, as the ancient Egyptian and the Libyans fought there many battles. And this ended up with the Egyptians overcoming them and annexed the eastern side of the desert, which still belongs to Egypt. Then, Wadi al-Natrun became an administrative part of the country in the Pharaonic era, but there is no information about its history during their reign, and the latest writings on the wars between the libu and the Egyptians indicate that the last of them was in 1170 BC during the reign of Ramesses III. As for the religious significance of Wadi al-Natrun, there are many discoveries that indicate that this area was considered sacred as early as year 2000 BC at the very least. Among these discoveries is a bust of black granite dating back to the era of the Seventeenth Dynasty of the Pharaohs, and there is also a granite gate and stones from the lintel of a door bearing cartridges for King Amenemhat I, in a place called the backbone.

Economic history

The alkali lakes of the Natron Valley provided the Ancient Egyptians with the

sodium bicarbonate Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation ( Na+) and a bicarbonate anion ( HCO3−) ...

used in mummification and in Egyptian faience, and later by the Romans as a flux for glass making. The

Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway The Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway was a 33 miles (54 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm in Egypt. Track The track went from Khataba railway station at the standard gauge Cairo–Damanhur line to Bir Hooker in W ...

was built at the end of the 19th century as a 33 miles (54 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm, which attracted the first tourists to the wadi.

Monastic history

The desolate region became one of Christianity's most sacred areas. The desert fathers and cenobitic monastic communities used the desert's solitude and privations to develop self-discipline (

asceticism Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

). Hermit monks believed that desert life would teach them to eschew the things of this world and follow God's call. Between the 4th and 7th century AD, hundreds of thousands of people from the world over joined the hundreds of Christian monasteries in the Nitrian Desert, centered on Nitria, Kellia and Scetis (Wadi El Natrun). Saint Macarius of Egypt first came to Scetis (Wadi El Natrun) around 330 AD where he established a solitary monastic site. His reputation attracted a loose band of

anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites are ...

s, hermits and monks who settled nearby in individual cells. Many of them came from nearby Nitria and Kellia where they had previous experience in solitary desert living; thus the earliest cenobitic communities were a loose consolidation of like-minded monks.Roger S. Bagnall, etc. ''Egypt from Alexander to the early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide'', Getty Publications, 2004
pp. 108–112
/ref> By the end of the fourth century, four distinct communities had developed: Baramus, Macarius, Bishoi and John Kolobos. At first these communities were groupings of cells centered on a communal church and facilities, but enclosed walls and watchtowers developed over time and in response to raids from desert nomads. Nitria, Kellia, and Scellis also experienced internal fractures related to doctrinal disputes in Egypt. At its peak the place contained 700 monasteries. The monasteries flourished during the Muslim conquest of Egypt (639–642), but in the eighth and ninth centuries taxation and administration concerns led to conflicts with the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

government.

Invasion of Scetis

Scetis was attacked by the Mazices who "came sweeping off the Libyan desert" in 407-408 AD and was decimated, causing many notable Desert Fathers to leave the region, such as Abba Anoub. One of the survivors, St. Arsenius the Great, remarked in 410 that, "The world has lost Rome and the monks have lost Scetis." As the Jesuit historian and Professor Willian J. Harmless said, "Scetis’s destruction marked a turning point in the history of early Christian monasticism. The site would be resettled a few years later, and in fact would suffer other raids, notably in 434, 444, and 570." Nitria and Kellia were eventually abandoned in the 7th and 9th centuries respectively, but Scetis continued throughout the Medieval period. Although some of the individual monasteries were eventually abandoned or destroyed, four have remained in use to the present day: * Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great * Paromeos Monastery *

Monastery of Saint Pishoy The Monastery of Saint Pishoy (also spelled Bishoy, Pshoi, or Bishoi) in Wadi El Natrun, Beheira Governorate, Egypt, is the most famous monastery of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria named after Pishoy. It is the easternmost of the four ...

Syrian Monastery The Monastery of Saint Mary El-Sourian is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun in the Nitrian Desert, Beheira Governorate, Egypt. It is located about 500 meters northwest of the Monastery of Saint Pishoy. The monastery is ded ...

Some of the most renowned saints of the region include the various Desert Fathers, including Saint Amun, Saint Arsenius,

Saint Isidore of Scété Saint Isidore of Scetes (died ) was a 4th-century A.D. Egyptian Christian priest and desert ascetic. Isidore was one of the Desert Fathers and was a companion of Macarius the Great. John Cassian John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic ...

, Saint John the Dwarf, Saint Macarius of Egypt,

Saint Macarius of Alexandria Saint Macarius of Alexandria (died 395) was a monk in the Nitrian Desert. He was a slightly younger contemporary of Macarius of Egypt, and is thus also known as Macarius the Younger. Life Macarius was born about the year 300 in Alexandria. He ...

, Saint Moses the Black, Saint Pishoy, Sts. Maximos and Domatios, Saint Poimen The Great and Saint Samuel the Confessor. To this day Wadi El Natrun remains the most important center of Coptic

monasticism Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...

Saint-Exupéry's plane crash

The environs of Wadi Natrun have been identified as the likely site of where the plane of French aviator

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

crashed on December 30, 1935. After miraculously surviving the crash, he and his plane's mechanic nearly died of thirst before being rescued by a nomad. Saint-Exupéry documented his experience in his book '' Wind, Sand and Stars''.Saint-Exupéry, A. de. 1939. ''Terre des hommes'' (English title: Wind, Sand and Stars). Paris. The event is thought to have inspired his most famous work, '' The Little Prince''.

Gallery

Image:Bischoy Kloster BW 10.jpg,

, Scetes, Egypt Image:Bischoy Kloster BW 1.jpg, Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Scetes, Egypt Image:Bischoy Kloster BW 9.jpg, Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Scetes, Egypt Image:Macarius Kloster BW 1.jpg, Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great, Scetes, Egypt File:Frescos from the Wadi Natrun monastery1.jpg, Frescos at the

, Scetes, Egypt File:Frescos from the Wadi Natrun monastery2.jpg, Frescos at the Syrian Monastery, Scetes, Egypt File:Naba' El-Hamra Lake-2.JPG, Naba' El-Hamra Lake

References

External links

The monasteries of the Arab Desert and Wadi Natrun
UNESCO World Heritage Centre 1992–2012 {{Authority control Populated places in Beheira Governorate Coptic settlements Deserts of Egypt Coptic Orthodox monasteries in Egypt Natrun Natrun Places associated with hesychasm *