The Sinai peninsula as seen from space.©
The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai, is a peninsula which forms a land bridge between the continents Asia and Africa. The peninsula was named Sinai after the Biblical Mount Sinai, which is one of the most religiously significant places in the Abrahamic faiths.
The ancient Egyptians called the peninsula Biau (bỉꜣw, "Mining Country") or Khetiu-Mafkat (ḫtiw-mfkꜣt, "Ladders of Turquoise"), since the region was primary used for the mining of turquoise.[1] The land route across the northern Sinai, from Egypt into the Canaan and along the Mediterranean Sea, was called the Way of Horus.
| Biau | Khetiu-Mafkat | ||||||||||||
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History[]
The Sinai peninsula was colonized multiple times during ancient Egyptian history, mainly during periods of stability and centralized rule by turquoise mining communities to enrich the country's economy.
From the time of the First Dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai at two locations, now called by their Egyptian Arabic names Wadi Magharah and Serabit el-Khadim. The mines were worked intermittently and on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable. These may be the first historically attested mines.
Predynastic Period[]
A cave with paintings of people and animals was discovered about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Mount Catherine in January 2020, dates back to the Chalcolithic Period, circa 5th–4th millennium BCE.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Gauthier 1927, p. 189.
- ↑ "Cave Covered in Ancient Egyptian Paintings of Donkeys and People Discovered by Accident". Newsweek. 23 January 2020.
Bibliography[]
- Gauthier, H., 1927: Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques. Vol. 4. Egyptian Royal Geographic Society, Cairo.