Мысырдагы Аварис қаласының археологиялық қазбалары

Archaeological site in Egypt

Avaris ('/æ//v//ər//ᵻ//s/; Egyptian: ḥw. t wꜥr. t, sometimes hut waret; Αὔαρις; Άβαρις; حوّارة) was the Hyksos capital of Egypt located at the modern site of Tell el Dab'a in the northeastern region of the Nile Delta. As the main course of the Nile migrated eastward, its position at the hub of Egypt's delta emporia made it a major capital suitable for trade. It was occupied from about the 18th century BC until its capture by Ahmose I.

The name in the Egyptian language of the 2nd millennium BC was probably pronounced *Ḥaʔət Waʕrəʔ “House of the Region” and denotes the capital of an administrative division of the land (wʕr. t). Today, the name Hawara survives, referring to the site at the entrance to Faiyum. Alternatively, Clement of Alexandria referred to the name of this city as "Athyria".

In 1885, the Swiss Édouard Naville started the first excavations in the area around Tell el Daba. Between 1941 and 1942, Labib Habachi, an Egyptian Egyptologist first forwarded the idea that the site could be identified with Avaris. Between 1966 and 1969 and since 1975, the site has been excavated by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Using radar imaging technology, its scientists could identify in 2010 the outline of the city including streets, houses, a port, and a side arm of the River Nile passing through the city. The site at Tell el Dab'a, covering an area of about 2 square kilometers, is in ruins today, but excavations have shown that, at one point, it was a well developed center of trade with a busy harbour catering to over 300 ships during a trading season. Artifacts excavated at a temple erected in the Hyksos period have produced goods from all over the Aegean world. The temple even has Minoan like wall paintings that are similar to those found on Crete at the Palace of Knossos. A large mudbrick tomb has also been excavated to the west of the temple, where grave goods, such as copper swords, have been found.

The site was originally founded by Amenemhat I on the eastern branch of the Nile in the Delta. Its close proximity to Asia made it a popular town for Asiatic immigrants. Many of these immigrants were from Judea and they were culturally Egyptianized, using Egyptian pottery, but also retained many aspects of their own culture, as can be seen from the various Asiatic burials including weapons of Syro Judean origin. One palatial district appears to have been abandoned as a result of an epidemic during the 13th dynasty. In the 18th century BC, the Hyksos conquered Lower Egypt and set up Avaris as their capital. Kamose, the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth Dynasty, besieged Avaris but was unable to defeat the Hyksos there. A few decades later, Ahmose I captured Avaris and overran the Hyksos. Canaanite style artifacts dated to the Tuthmosid or New Kingdom period suggest that a large part of the city's Semitic population remained in residence following its reconquest by the Egyptians. The pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty set up a capital in Thebes and the palatial complex at Avaris was briefly abandoned, but areas such as the Temple of Seth and G6 region remained continuously occupied. It appears as well, that the site of Avaris had gone through a hiatus, dated after the time of Amenhotep II and until the late 18th dynasty. After Ramesses II constructed the city of Pi Ramesses roughly to the north, Avaris was superseded by Pi Ramesses, and thus finally abandoned during the Ramesside period. Large portions of the former site of Avaris were used by the inhabitants of Pi Ramesses as a cemetery and burial ground, and part of it was used as a major navy base, while the "Harbor of Avaris" toponym continued to be used for Avaris' harbor through the Ramesside period. The name "Avaris" is also referred to in Papyrus Sallier I in the late 13th century BC. In addition, the 'Avaris' toponym is also known to Manetho in the 3rd century BC, quoted by Josephus in his Against Apion 1.14.