Upper Egypt

Thinis

Nekhen

Thebes

Naqada

Map of Upper Egypt showing important sites that were occupied during Naqada III (clickable map)

Upper Egypt (Egyptian Arabic: صعيد مصر‎‎ Saʿīīd Maṣr, shortened to الصعيد El Ṣeʿīd; pronounced [esˤːe.ˈʕiːd], Coptic: ⲙⲁⲣⲏⲥ) is the strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends between Nubia and downriver (northwards) to Lower Egypt.

Geography

Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile above modern-day Aswan, downriver (northwards) to the area between Dahshur and El-Ayait, which is south of modern-day Cairo. The northern (downriver) part of Upper Egypt, between Sohag and El-Ayait, is also known as Middle Egypt.

In Arabic, inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis and they generally speak Sai'idi Egyptian Arabic.

In ancient Egypt, Upper Egypt was known as tꜣ šmꜣw,^[1] literally "the Land of Reeds" or "the Sedgeland"^[2] It was divided into twenty-two districts called nomes.^[3] The first nome was roughly where modern-day Aswan is and the twenty-second was at modern Atfih just to the south of Cairo.

History

Hedjet, the White Crown of Upper Egypt

Predynastic Egypt

The main city of prehistoric Upper Egypt was Nekhen,^[4] whose patron deity was the vulture goddess Nekhbet.^[5]

By about 3600 BC, Neolithic Egyptian societies along the Nile had based their culture on the raising of crops and the domestication of animals.^[6] Shortly after 3600 BC, Egyptian society began to grow and increase in complexity.^[7] A new and distinctive pottery, which was related to the Levantine ceramics, appeared during this time. Extensive use of copper became common during this time.^[7] The Mesopotamian process of sun-drying adobe and architectural principles—including the use of the arch and recessed walls for decorative effect—became popular during this time.^[7]

Concurrent with these cultural advances, a process of unification of the societies and towns of the upper Nile River, or Upper Egypt, occurred. At the same time the societies of the Nile Delta, or Lower Egypt also underwent a unification process.^[7] Warfare between Upper and Lower Egypt occurred often.^[7] During his reign in Upper Egypt, King Narmer defeated his enemies on the Delta and merged both the Kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt under his single rule.^[8]

Dynastic Egypt

For most of pharaonic Egypt's history, Thebes was the administrative center of Upper Egypt. After its devastation by the Assyrians, its importance declined. Under the Ptolemies, Ptolemais Hermiou took over the role of Upper Egypt's capital city.^[9] Upper Egypt was represented by the tall White Crown Hedjet, and its symbols were the flowering lotus and the sedge.

Medieval Egypt

In the 11th century, large numbers of pastoralists, known as Hilalians, fled Upper Egypt and moved westward into Libya and as far as Tunis.^[10] It is believed that degraded grazing conditions in Upper Egypt, associated with the beginning of the Medieval Warm Period, were the root cause of the migration.^[11]

20th-century Egypt

In the 20th-century Egypt, the title Prince of the Sa'id (meaning Prince of Upper Egypt) was used by the heir apparent to the Egyptian throne.^{[Note 1]}

Although the Kingdom of Egypt was abolished after the Egyptian revolution of 1952, the title continues to be used by Muhammad Ali, Prince of the Sa'id.

List of rulers of prehistoric Upper Egypt

The following list may not be complete (there are many more of uncertain existence):

Name	Image	Comments	Dates
Elephant			End of 4th millennium BC
Bull			4th millennium BC
Scorpion I		Oldest tomb at Umm el-Qa'ab had scorpion insignia	c. 3200 BC?
Iry-Hor		Possibly the immediate predecessor of Ka.	c. 3150 BC?
Ka[13][14]		May be read Sekhen rather than Ka. Possibly the immediate predecessor of Narmer.	c. 3100 BC
Scorpion II		Potentially read Serqet; possibly the same person as Narmer.	c. 3150 BC
Narmer		The king who combined Upper and Lower Egypt.[15]	c. 3150 BC

List of nomes

Map of Upper Egypt with its historical nomes

Part of a series on the
History of Egypt
Prehistoric Egypt pre–3100 BC
Ancient Egypt Early Dynastic Period 3100–2686 BC Old Kingdom 2686–2181 BC 1st Intermediate Period 2181–2055 BC Middle Kingdom 2055–1650 BC 2nd Intermediate Period 1650–1550 BC New Kingdom 1550–1069 BC 3rd Intermediate Period 1069–664 BC Late Period 664–332 BC
Classical antiquity Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt 332–30 BC Roman and Byzantine Egypt 30 BC–641 AD Sasanian Egypt 619–629
Middle Ages Islamic Egypt 641–969 Fatimid Egypt 969–1171 Ayyubid Egypt 1171–1250 Mamluk Egypt 1250–1517
Early modern Ottoman Egypt 1517–1867 French occupation 1798–1801 Egypt under Muhammad Ali 1805–1882 Khedivate of Egypt 1867–1914
Modern Egypt British occupation 1882–1922 Sultanate of Egypt 1914–1922 Kingdom of Egypt 1922–1953 Republic 1953–present
Egypt portal

See also

• Sa'idi people
• Upper and Lower Egypt
• Geography of Egypt

Further reading

• Edel, Elmar (1961) Zu den Inschriften auf den Jahreszeitenreliefs der "Weltkammer" aus dem Sonnenheiligtum des Niuserre Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, OCLC 309958651, in German.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

• Media related to Upper Egypt at Wikimedia Commons