X-Nico

12 unusual facts about Upper Egypt


Amarna letters

The letters were found in Upper Egypt at Amarna, the modern name for the Egyptian capital of Akhetaten (el-Amarna), founded by pharaoh Akhenaten (1350s – 1330s BC) during the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.

Ammar El Sherei

Sherei was born blind on 16 April 1948 in the village of Samalot, 25 km from Minya in Upper Egypt, to a large family of Al Shereis.

Betsy Bryan

Betsy Morrell Bryan (born 1949) is an American Egyptologist who is leading a team that is excavating the Precinct of Mut complex in Karnak, at Luxor in Upper Egypt.

François-Étienne de Damas

He then rose to général de division and commanded part of Upper Egypt after Kléber's death.

John Petherick

In 1845 he entered the service of Mehemet Ali, and was employed in examining Upper Egypt, Nubia, the Red Sea coast and Kordofan in an unsuccessful search for coal.

Louis Desaix

It was his division which bore the brunt of the Mamluk attack at the battle of the Pyramids, and he crowned his reputation by his victories over Murad Bey in Upper Egypt.

Maggie Gobran

In 1989, she gave up her academic career to become a Coptic Orthodox Christian consecrated servant and set up the charity Stephen's Children, whose aim is improving the lives of the children of Christians and families living in Cairo's slum quarters and impoverished communities in rural Upper Egypt, who are constantly harassed and haunted because of their faith.

Meir Ashkenazi

An envoy of the Khan of Crimea in the sixteenth century, Ashkenazi was killed by pirates on a voyage from Gava (near Genoa) to Dakhel (probably Dakhel or Dakleh in the western oasis of Upper Egypt), between the 15th and the 25th day of Tammuz (July), 1567.

Mohamed Saad

In 2006, Saad starred in Katkout (The Chick), in which he played a hopeless Upper Egyptian who stumbles into a career as a boxer and crimefighter.

Mosque of Amir al-Maridani

The eight columns that support the dome, however, are all of equal size, have ancient Egyptian capitals, and were likely brought from Upper Egypt.

Quay with Sphinxes

Their faces are portraits of Amenhotep III and the shape of their headwear (crowns "pa shemti") indicate that he was the ruler of two kingdoms—the Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

Thebaine

Thebaine (paramorphine), also known as codeine methyl enol ether, is an opiate alkaloid, its name coming from the Greek Θῆβαι, Thēbai, an ancient city in Upper Egypt.


Esna

Ptolemy III Euergetes, the restorer of so many temples in Upper Egypt, was a benefactor to Latopolis, and he is depicted upon the walls of its temple followed by a tame lion, and in the act of striking down the chiefs of his enemies.

Governorates of Egypt

Non-urban Governorates in Upper Egypt and along the Suez Canal are all named after their capitals, while governorates in the Nile Delta and the deserts tend to have names different from their capitals (Kafr el-Sheikh, Damietta, and Matruh Governorates being exceptions).

Kuchuk Hanem

It seems certain that she was also an influence on George William Curtis, suggesting that she was one of the most sought-after entertainers in Upper Egypt during the colonial period.

Merkhet

This particular exhibit dates to 600 BC, and, according to a related inscription, belonged to the son of a priest who hailed from a temple dedicated to the Egyptian god Horus, located close to Edfu in Upper Egypt.

S.H. Leeder

The book was written after the author lived in Egypt and visited several Coptic families in the Delta and Upper Egypt.

Second Dynasty of Egypt

One important event possibly happened during the reign of Khasekhemwy: many Egyptologists read his name ("the Two Powers arise"), commemorating the union of the Upper and Lower Egypts.