Tra deserto e vie d’acqua. Mito e uso del territorio nell’antico Egitto

The civilisation of ancient Egypt provides an interesting opportunity to observe the close connection between the peculiarities of the territory, its mythopoietic capacity, the use of resources and the administrative development of the state. Tell el-Maskhuta, a site that is revealing an ancient border town along the Wadi Tumilat, thanks to excavations by the CNR ISPC, can be considered a remarkable case study. The ancient city and the valley itself provide us with notable data on the intertwining, in Egypt, of the characteristics of the territory, the ability to optimise its resources, mythical vision and administrative organisation. The wadi was one of the most important routes to Sinai and the Levant, and a navigable canal was dug there to connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, making the ancient city an important international crossroads. The peculiar east-west course of the Wadi Tumilat, where in ancient times the floodwaters certainly reached, at least partially, depending on the flow rate, probably gave particular value to the territory where, uniquely in Egypt, the course of the sun coincided with that of the flood. Documents show how the wadi entered into a typically Heliopolitan theological reflection, which from a ritual point of view affected the entire area, with a peculiar oriental characterisation.