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8 - Growing with the Empire? From Village to Town

Kom Abou Bellou and Its Urban Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2024

By
Sylvain Dhennin
Edited by
Katherine Blouin
Katherine Blouin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Kom Abou Bellou is located halfway between Cairo and Alexandria, two kilometres west of the current Rosetta branch of the Nile. Despite early interest in the site and its good general state of conservation, it has remained largely ignored. Work undertaken in 2013 at Kom Abou Bellou reassesses our knowledge of the territory. The space, which includes the city, is considered over the long-term chronology to facilitate an analysis of the city and its space from the point of view of its internal organisation, its functions and its relation with its natural, political and socio-economic environment. The site has been occupied from the Old Kingdom until at least the tenth century CE. Diachronic study makes it possible to highlight the phenomena of creation, modification and appropriation of this space, notably the displacement of the settlement according to the periods and the reuse of previously occupied spaces. These transitions provide many examples that allow us to observe changes in the urban system and, more broadly, data on the land use patterns and the perception of space. This chapter aims to present the first reflections on this matter, which will be expanded as the archaeological site and its documentation are studied.

Keywords

HistoryArchaeologyEgyptNileDeltaKom Abou BellouSettlementUrban
Type
Chapter
Information
The Nile Delta
Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Period
 , pp. 275 - 297
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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