The urban landscape of Bakchias : : a town of the Fayyūm from the Ptolemaic-Roman period to late antiquity / / Paola Buzi and Enrico Giorgi.

• Superior document: Archaeopress Roman archaeology ; 66
• VerfasserIn: Buzi, Paola,; Giorgi, Enrico,
• TeilnehmendeR: Giorgi, Enrico,
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : Archaeopress,, [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Archaeopress Roman archaeology ; 66.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (v, 109 pages) :; illustrations, maps.

This book summarises the results of field research--including historical, historico-religious and papyrological studies--conducted on the archaeological site of Bakchias, located in the north-eastern part of the Fayyūm region. The book provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the rise and fall of the kome of Bakchias.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright page -- Introduction Bakchias and its geographical context -- List of Figures -- Paola Buzi -- Reshaping Bakchias -- Bakchias: Its rediscovery, its cults -- Chapter I -- The rediscovery of an ancient Ptolemaic-Roman village… which turned out to have had a much longer life than previously supposed -- After Grenfell, Hunt and Hogarth -- The multiple names of Bakchias -- The changes in the environment in the twentieth century and the lost necropoleis of Bakchias -- A subject still to be still explored: the administrative relation between Bakchias and some neighboring komai -- The cults of Bakchias in the Ptolemaic-Roman period…and before -- Enrico Giorgi -- The Urban Landscape of Bakchias -- Chapter II -- The genesis and urban development of Bakchias -- The pre-Ptolemaic village -- Figure 1. The Fayyum with some of the main villages (Rossetti 2018 from Google Map). -- Figure 2. Plan of Bakchias with base Google Map (Rossetti 2018). -- Figure 3. Bakchias plan with the locations of the excavation seasons (Rossetti 2018). -- The Ptolemaic Town -- Figure 4. Bakchias plan with some of the edifices testified by papyri (Rossetti 2018). -- Figure 5. The Fayyūm with the expansion of the lake during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, when the first reclamation of the region took place (Morini 2007b). -- Figure 6. The Fayyūm in the Ptolemaic Period, when the second reclamation of the region took place (Morini 2007b). -- Figure 7. Bakchias plan during the early Ptolemaic period (Rossetti 2017). -- Figure 8. Views of the North Kom with the main sacred area in the middle. -- Figure 10. Bakchias plan during the Late Ptolemaic period (Rossetti 2017). -- Figure 9. Bakchias plan during the Ptolemaic period (Rossetti 2017). -- Figure 11. Bakchias plan during the Roman period (Rossetti 2017). -- The Roman Age Town.

The abandonment of the North Kom and the development of the South Kom -- Figure 12. Views of the South Kom. -- Figure 13. A disused mill in the archaeological area. -- The Modern Era -- Figure 14. Stellite image taken in 1968, within the framework of American Corona project (Buzi et al. 2011). -- Chapter III -- Figure 1. General plan of the two temple areas. -- The central sacred area -- The sacred areas of the town -- Figure 2. Plan of the area of the kiln. -- Figure 3. View of the kiln. -- Temple B -- The oldest phases -- Figure 4. The area with of the Amphora near the kiln. -- Figure 5. The Amphora imported from Tyre, that can be dated to the seventh-sixth centuries BC. -- Temple A -- Figure 6. View of the Temple A, on the right, and of Temple B in the background. -- Figure 7. View of the area of the Temple B from south. -- Figure 10. View of the Temple A from east. -- Figure 9. Temple B: floor plan. -- Figure 11. Temple A: floor plan. -- Figure 12. Temple A: a view of kiosk BSE 314, seen from the east, with the temple complex in the background. -- Figure 13. View of the entrance to the Temple A, raised with stones in Roman times, with what remains of the propylon (BSE 385). -- Figure 15. The headless statue of a kneeling male figure with the inscription erased. -- Figure 16. The base for a sphinx or lion that still bears part of the paws and a Demotic inscription. -- Temple C -- Figure 17. Temple C: floor plan with the Temple A on the left. -- Figure 18. Temple C: the sancta sanctum in sandstone blocks, where traces of structures are still visible. -- Figure 19. Temple C: the pylon seen from the north-west. -- Temple D -- The eastern sacred area -- Figure 20. Temple D: floor plan.

Figure 21. Temple D: the area outside the temple seen from the south-west. Clerical accommodation in the foreground (BSE 330) with storage rooms behind (BSE 404 - BSE 405). -- Temple E -- Figure 22. Temple E: floor plan. -- Chapter IV -- The Northern District -- The house of the priestess of Isis and the surrounding city block -- The northern gate and adjacent buildings -- Figure 1. General plan of the northern district. -- Figure 2. The ceiling made of wooden beams and rush matting. -- Figure 3. The flask decorated with erotic depictions. -- Figure 4. A view of the southern end of the block where the house of the priestess of Isis is located. -- Figure 5. A view of the southern end of the block with rooms A and B (BNO 360). -- Figure 6. The wooden fence built after the houses were abandoned. -- Figure 7. The wooden fences. -- Figure 8. A view of room C. -- Figure 9. A view of room D. -- Figure 10. A view of the inner corner of the room D. -- Figure 11. The ritual store of ceramics and animal bones. -- The rubbish dump -- Figure 12. Egyptian amphora with inscription containing a date (the fifth year of the reign of a Ptolemaic sovereign) followed by other letters that have recently been interpreted as two names, perhaps a certain Etearcus and definitely an Alexander. -- The houses furthest east -- Chapter V -- Figure 1. A section of the general plan including the baths and kiln. -- The Roman baths -- The buildings along the canal and the South Kom -- Figure 2. A section of the general plan including the baths and granary. -- Figure 3. The plan of the baths. -- Figure 4. The plan of the baths during the reigns of Augustus and Hadrian. -- Figure 5. A view of room C, with one of the most well-preserved floors. -- Figure 6. A view of room H, with remains of the floors. -- Figure 7. A view of room G, with remains of the mosaic.

Figure 8. The tank fout of its original position. -- Figure 9. A possible reconstruction of the baths during Hadrian's reign. -- Figure 10. A view of hypocaust L. -- Figure 11. A view of hypocaust E. -- The craftsmen's district -- Figure 12. The tank D, on the left, with the channel on the right. -- Figure 13. A plan of the craftsmen's district with kiln G. -- Figure 14. A view of tanks B and A in the craftsmen's district. -- Figure 15. The kiln during excavation work. -- The granary and storerooms -- Figure 16. A view of the public granary. -- The South Kom -- Paola Buzi -- The Last Bakchias -- Bakchias in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages -- Chapter VI -- Christian Bakchias: archaeological and documentary evidence before the 2006 excavation campaign -- The churches of Bakchias -- The discovery of the Eastern Church -- Figure 1. Planimetric representation the Estern church. -- Figure 2. The Estern church seen from east. -- Figure 3. The floor composed of a first level of stretcher bond mud-brick acted as a bed for a second level that was the actual floor, made of small limestone slabs. -- Figure 4. The silo located south-west of the church, made out of yellowish-white limestone slabs cut in irregular shapes, barely held together by a small amount of lime mortar. -- The Western Church -- Towards the discovery of a second church -- Figure 5. Planimetric representation of the Western church. -- Figure 6. Hypothetical reconstruction of the Western Church. -- Figure 7. One of the mud-brick pedestals that belonged to the late phase of the building's use and were found in both room D (the apse) and room B (the pastophorium). -- Figure 8. The large, complex building located below the Western Church, whose floors and interior walls had been coated in hydraulic lime and that was used as a workshop that handled liquids.

Chronological and stylistic considerations -- Figure 10. An example of a Corinthian-inspired capital with a large kalathos at the top, wrapped in four stylised acanthus leaves. -- Figure 9. Two examples of a Corinthian-inspired capital with closed, smooth leaves (Bakchias' first type). -- Figure 11. A capital - which is very similar to those that can be ascribed to the first type found in Bakchias - used as the base of a column in the church of Dayr al Hammām, near Hawārah. -- Concluding reflections regarding the Christian phase of Bakchias -- Figure 12. Stone materials that were probably taken from Temple C and used to make the foundations of the columns in the Western Church. -- Bibliographical references -- Plates -- Plate 1. Plan of Bakchias. -- Plate 2. Plan of the Central Area of Bakchias. -- Plate 3. Plan of the Northern Area of Bakchias. -- Plate 4. Plan of the Eastern Area of Bakchias. -- Plate 5. Plan of the Western Area of Bakchias. -- Plate 6. Plan of the Southern Area of Bakchias. -- Back cover.