Tura (Egypt)

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Tura was a site in Ancient Egypt, located about halfway between modern Cairo and Helwan[1]. It was Egypt's primary quarry for limestone.[2] The limestone from Tura was the finest and whitest of all the Egyptian quarries, so it was used for facing stones for the richest tombs,[3] as well as for the floors and ceilings of mastabas which were otherwise made of mudbrick.[4] It was used during the Old Kingdom and was the source of the limestone used for the "Rhomboidal Pyramid" or Bent Pyramid of Snefru[5], the Great Pyramid of Khufu[6], the sarcophagi of many old kingdom nobles,[7] the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom,[8] and certain temples of the New Kingdom built by at least Ahmose I, who may have used Tura limestone to begin the temple of Ptah at Memphis and the Southern Harem of Amun at Thebes.[9]

The Tura limestone was deep underground and instead of open-pit mining, the miners tunnled deep underground to cut large stones out, leaving some limestone behind to support the caverns left behind.[10] These tunnles were surveyed in 1941, and in quarry 35, workmen found many loose quires from books by Origen and Didymus the Blind, two Alexandrian Church Fathers. The workers who found them stole them, and although some were siezed by the authorities, most are still missing, and turn up on the antiquities market from time to time. It is believed that some of the original books could have been up to 480 pages.[11]

Tura was known to the ancient Egyptians as Troyu or Royu. This name was misintepreted by Strabo to mean that it was inhabited by Trojans, thus the Hellenistic city was named Troia.[10] This site was located at 30°00′N 31°16′E, and its site is occupied by the modern town of Tura, Cairo Governate.[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.111. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  2. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.27. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  3. ^ Tura Accessed July 28
  4. ^ Helwan Accessed July 28
  5. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.109. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  6. ^ Great Pyramid Accessed July 28, 2006
  7. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.129. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  8. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.177. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  9. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  10. ^ a b Quarries of Masara and Tura Accessed July 28, 2006
  11. ^ The Tury Discovery of Manuscripts Accessed July 28, 2006
  12. ^ Talbert, Richard. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. p. 74. (ISBN 0-691-03169-X)
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