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Abydos: Egyptian Lost City The place to find The earth's Oldest Brewery

Over its long and ancient history, Egypt had many capital cities. A few of these were largely fleeting and some were lost to some time and only have been discovered in the last 2 yrs (as with the situation of Dazzling Aten). Many ancient Egypt cities remain lost and archaeologists are continuing to search for them.

One from the oldest and earliest of Egypt's ancient capitals is considered to be an ancient city discovered near Abydos. This city takes back around 7,000 years – that's around 2,400 years before the Great Pyramid was built. It is also home to what is thought to be the earth's oldest (discovered) brewery.

What To Know About The Ancient Capital of Abydos

Abydos is situated around 6.8 miles west of the Nile close to the modern Egyptian towns of El Araba El Madfuna and El Balyana. New discoveries are excess made here with more ancient tombs, breweries, and other finds being discovered.

Abydos is recognized as probably the most important archaeological sites in all of Egypt. While it is not nearly as well-known and touristic as Luxor and other places, it was an essential cultic center. It was a sacred city with lots of ancient temples.

  • Location: 300 miles South of Cairo
  • Main Attraction: The Temple of Seti I
  • Osiris: Abydos Was Noted for Monuments Honoring Osiris (the God from the Underworld)

There is really a thought that Abydos was Egypt's capital in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods. Abydos is famous for the temple dedicated to Seti I – he was the daddy of Ramesses the truly amazing (the most famous pharaoh in history who also built the famous Abu Simbel rock-cut temples).

Abydos is notable for several things. Included in this are the memorial temple of Seti I (which contains the Abydos King List), the Abydos Graffiti (ancient Phoenician and Aramaic graffiti on the walls from the temple), the earth's oldest brewery, and the tombs.

  • Lost: A lot of The Old City Has Been Lost To Modern Construction

Unfortunately, much of the most crucial areas of the website (including the Great Temple and most of the ancient town) are today buried under modern buildings. Which is likely the brand new construction would have completely destroyed their original structures and artifacts.

The Necropolis of Umm el-Qa'ab

One of their most important possessions is the Umm el-Qa'ab – a royal necropolis where a number of Egypt's early pharaohs were entombed.

It was because of the pharaoh's tombs more people wanted to be buried there. This grew the town into an important cult site. The necropolis had a lengthy history and was utilized in every period of Egyptian history up until the time of the Romans.

  • Burial Center: Abydos Was Ancient Egypt's Most Important Burial Center

The modern name “Umm el-Qa'ab” means “Mother of Pots”. It earned its name because the area is utterly littered with the broken pot shards of offerings produced in earlier times.

It is thought that within the First Dynasty human sacrifice was practiced as part of the funerary rituals. Among the tombs – the tomb of Djer – is assigned to the burials of 338 individuals thought to happen to be sacrificed. You will find considered to happen to be strangled.

These people (together with animals like donkeys), were expected to help the pharaoh within the afterlife. For reasons that are not clear, the practice has ended with the conclusion of the First Dynasty.

Beer: The earth's Oldest Brewery

Of course, nobody is claiming to possess found the oldest beer brewery – it's just the oldest until the next oldest was discovered. But for now, it seems that American and Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed what is the oldest known beer factory in the world at Abydos.

In ancient and medieval times, beer wasn't the recreational beverage we all know it as today, instead, it was an important part of a staple diet – and everyone drank it.

  • Staple Diet: Beer Was Area of the Regular food staple

The evidence for that beer factory seems to go as far back to the reign of Pharaoh Narmer. It had been this Pharaoh who unified ancient Egypt at the beginning of the very first Dynastic Period (3150 BC- 2613 BC).

  • Date: Throughout the Reign of Pharaoh Narmer (3273 – 2987 BC)

Their finds include eight huge units that are considered to happen to be employed for brewing beer. All these is 20 meters (about 65 feet) long and 2.5 meters (about eight feet) wide.

  • Sacrifices: The is Proof of Egyptians Using Beer In Sacrificial Rites
  • Location: This Brewery Was Likely Built Here To supply Royal Ritual With Beer

The site has been known for some time – the British archaeologists found it in the early 1900s. But this may be the very first time it has been studied and located to be a truly ancient brewery.

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