The Walls of the Ruler Ian Shaw, ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', Oxford University Press 2000, p. 159

Miriam Lichtheim Miriam Lichtheim (3 May 1914, Istanbul – 27 March 2004, Jerusalem) was a Turkish-born American-Israeli Egyptologist, known for her translations of ancient Egyptian texts. Biography Miriam was born in Istanbul on May 3, 1914, to Richard Lichtheim ...

, ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'', volume 1, University of California Press 1973, p. 224 was a fortification, or possibly a whole string of them, built by

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynas ...

in the 14th nome of

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...

to protect the eastern approaches to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. It succeeded 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 ...

''Walls of

Sneferu Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phar ...

''.

Robert Morkot Robert George Morkot, FSA (born 1957) is an archaeologist and academic, specialising in Ancient Egypt. He is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter. His current research is focused on the external relations of Ancient Eg ...

, ''The Egyptians: An Introduction'', Routledge 2005, p. 42 The Walls of the Ruler are mentioned in the ''

Tale of Sinuhe ''The Story of Sinuhe'' (also known as Sanehat) Retrieved November 6, 2018. is considered one of the finest works of ancient Egyptian literature. It is a narrative set in the aftermath of the death of Pharaoh Amenemhat I, founder of the 12th Dyn ...

'' and in the ''

Prophecy of Neferti The ''Prophecy of Neferti'' is one of the few surviving literary texts from ancient Egypt. The story is set in the Old Kingdom, under the reign of King Snefru. However, the text should be attributed to an individual named Neferyt, who most likely c ...

''. No remains have been found.

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

depictions show forts which had a secured supply of water and were surrounded by crocodile-infested ditches or canals which were spanned by bridges.

Cultural impact

Alfred J. Hoerth speculates that in the biblical tradition of

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely E ...

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

led the Israelites south to

Pithom Pithom ( Ancient Egyptian: ; Hebrew: ; Ancient Greek: or ) was an ancient city of Egypt. Multiple references in ancient Greek, Roman, and Hebrew Bible sources exist for this city, but its exact location remains somewhat uncertain. A number o ...

and

Etham The Stations of the Exodus are the locations visited by the Israelites following their exodus from Egypt, according to the Hebrew Bible. In the itinerary given in Numbers 33, forty-two stations are listed, although this list differs slightly ...

; would he had led the people northwards toward the

Promised Land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...

, they would have most likely encountered the Walls of the Ruler. It would not have been possible for a large group of people to go undetected pass these fortifications. A fictionalized version of the Walls of the Ruler are present in the first DLC (The Hidden Ones) of the 2017 video game ''

Assassin's Creed Origins ''Assassin's Creed Origins'' is a 2017 action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the tenth major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series, following 2015's ''Assassin's Creed Syndicate''. ...

''. Unlike real-life accounts of it, it is located on the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

, rather than mainland Egypt.

References

Forts in Egypt Geography of ancient Egypt {{AncientEgypt-stub