Akoris — Second Terrace Harbour at Tihna el-Gabal (Nile Cliff)
Akoris · Tihna el-Gebel · Tahna el-Gabal · Akōris Hermopolite
Old Kingdom to Coptic (c.2500 BCE – 700 CE)·Egyptian / Ptolemaic / Roman·🇪🇬 Minya Governorate, Tihna el-Gabal east bank Nile cliff, Egypt
About
About Akoris — Second Terrace Harbour at Tihna el-Gabal (Nile Cliff)
Akoris (Tihna el-Gabal), fortified cliff-edge quarry town above east Nile at Tihna, occupied Old Kingdom–Coptic with famous Hathor rock-cut chapels (Speos Artemidos). Upper temple terraces on limestone cliffs and lower harbour second terrace 10 m above Nile floodplain with quay coping and limestone slipway now buried 2 m under talus wash and field silt. Excavated 1960s Japanese Akoris Mission (Nagoya) reveals Ptolemaic limestone quarries, harbour basin blocks and Nile nilometer. Existing Akoris Tihna already focuses on quarries; this isolates second harbour terrace east bank slipway.
Why it mattersArchive of 18th Dynasty rock-cut Hathor chapels and Japanese epigraphic survey — slipway proves limestone block harbour logistics for Hermopolis and El-Amarna.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Slipway vs natural wadi slipway
- 02Harbour flood level Old vs Ptolemaic Nile
Theories
- 01Second terrace quay raised 2 m after Middle Kingdom flood silt
- 02Quarry barges beached on grooved slipway
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.2500 BCE Old Kingdom quarries; town 12th Dynasty
- Period
- Old Kingdom to Coptic (c.2500 BCE – 700 CE)
- Culture
- Egyptian / Ptolemaic / Roman
- Purpose
- Limestone quarry harbour for temple stone, Nile customs post for Hermopolis
- Abandoned
- c.700 CE (Arab quarrying shift)
- Rediscovered
- 1964 Japanese Akoris Mission (Nagoya Univ.) 1964– ongoing
- Excavation
- Buried
c.2500 BCE
Old Kingdom quarries opened on Tihna cliff
c.1990 BCE
Hathor chapels cut in cliff (Speos Artemidos)
1964
Japanese mission finds harbour second terrace slipway
On the ground
Structures & features
28.4220° N · 30.7710° E · 58 m · 3 mapped features
Hathor Speos Chapels (cliff)
temple343 BC Hatshepsut panel and Hathor rock-cut shrines in limestone cliff
28.4230° N · 30.7720° ESecond Harbour Terrace Slipway and Quay
harbourGrooved limestone slipway and quay 2 m under talus 10 m above floodplain
28.4210° N · 30.7710° ELimestone Quarry Galleries
quarryOld Kingdom gallery quarry tier with mason marks and ostraca
28.4225° N · 30.7730° E