Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt
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Map of Lower and Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt (Arabic: صعيد مصر‎ Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo. The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Aiyat and Asyut is sometimes known as Middle Egypt. Modern inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis; they generally speak Sa'idi Arabic.

Upper Egypt was known as Ta Shemau ^[1] which means "the land of reeds."^[2] It was divided into twenty-two districts called nomes.^[3] The first nome was roughly where modern Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih (Aphroditopolis), just to the south of Cairo.

The main city of predynastic Upper Egypt was Nekhen (Greek Hierakonpolis),^[4] whose patron deity was the vulture goddess Nekhbet.^[5] For most of pharaonic Egypt's history Thebes was the administrative centre of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by the Assyrians its importance declined. Under the Ptolemies the city of Ptolemais took over the role of capital of Upper Egypt.^[6]

Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, and its symbol was the flowering lotus. It is also worth mentioning that the current heir apparent to the Egyptian throne is known as Muhammad Ali, Prince of Said (Said being the Arabic word for Upper Egypt). Since the Egyptian Throne has been defunct since 1953, the title is purely symbolic.

Ermann, Johan

n Peter Adolf; Hermann ,Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache

The Encyclopedia Americana Grolier Incorporated, 1988
Katheryn A. Bard, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge 1999
Michel Chauveau, Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies, Cornell University Press 2000
Ann Rosalie David, The Egyptian Kingdoms, Elsevier Phaidon 1975.

Footnotes

^ Ermann & Grapow, op.cit. Wb 5, 227.4-14
^ Ermann & Grapow, op.cit. Wb 4, 477.9-11
^ The Encyclopedia Americana, p.34
^ Bard, op. cit., p.371
^ David, op.cit., p.149
^ Chauveau, op.cit., p.68

Footnotes

See also