Asessment item 2. Cultural significance - Abu Mena PDF

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This document contains the essay I submitted for People, place and the past assessment 2. This item is usually given a lot of importance, and it is often worth around 50% of the final mark for the unit. Mine was graded 38/50, which is a distinction (76%). For this assessment you have to choose a si...

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CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

ABU MENA

FIGURE 1. ABU MENA. SOURCE: UNESCO N.D.

PEOPLE, PLACE AND THE PAST (8948) | 2024 WORDS

Abu Mena, also known as Sant Minas, is an archaeological site in the north-east of Egypt. It is located in Mayrut, between Alexandria and Wadi El-Natrun, in the dessert of Mareotis (see Figure 2 for location). Although the

FIGURE 2 LOCATION OF ABU MENA SOURCE: AFRICAN WORLD HERITAGE SITES

ancient name of the city is not known accurately, it is known that its current name derives from a famous Egyptian saint and martyr whom was buried in this dessert in the 4th century AD. His tomb was developed and expanded into a major Christian pilgrimage destination for believers to venerate over the next eight centuries. Such destination is known today as the Ancient City of Abu Mena. The city has been protected by Egyptian laws since ancient times and became a cultural world heritage site, named as such by the UNESCO, in 1979. It by Kaufman, an archaeologist from Germany. Moreover, it was also placed in the list of endangered sites in 2001 due to environmental factors affecting the site. The inclusion of the site on both lists prove how that this place is culturally relevant. The significance of this managed landscape can be addressed by looking at three main factors which include: tangible heritage, intangible heritage and its relation to world history. Abu Mena’s importance in terms of intangible culture falls upon the fact that it represents Christianism and its consequent tradition, values and belief systems. Moreover, it is also one of the eldest Christian sites and was the greatest pilgrimage destination at the time in Egypt [ CITATION Hed12 \l 3081 ]. As it has been previously stated, the place received its name after the famous Saint Mena. Mena was born in 285 A.D. in Niceous and executed in Phrygia; Asia Minor, in the 309 as a result of his Christian beliefs. Therefore, Abu Mena started as a centre for veneration and oration and as a commemoration of the martyr whom rejected the beliefs of the emperor and publicly professed his Christianity. Hence, in terms of anthropology, the use that was given to this place since humans started modifying it is spiritual . Tradition states that Saint Mena was able to perform medical miracles and that is what turned him into “one of the most wellknown Egyptian saints” [ CITATION Anc16 \l 3081 ]. A hypothesis believed by many, states that his sister, together with some soldiers, took his body from Phrygia to Alexandria (See route in Figure 3) and when the oppression of Christianism had ceased, moved it to the Western Desert. According to this legend, the western dessert was not the original planned location for his body, however, at one point the camels stopped walking and Mena’s sister took this as FIGURE 3 ROUTE FROM PHRYGIA TO ABU MENA. a signal from God and decided to SOURCE: LDOLPHIN. bury the body there [ CITATION FrV10 \l 3081 ]. In terms of values and meanings, the legends and myths, like the previous one, related to this site about the Martyr and the miracles he could perform; ranging from those that happened when he was alive to those that tell the story of how he appeared to people after death, are countless. These stories, as many in the bible, teach visitors and believers the importance of generosity, truth and kindness. Hence, this place represents the values of this specific religion. Also, the German archaeologist FIGURE 4 FLASK. SOURCE: ANCIENT ORIGINS

found tiny statuettes and small stelae representing Horus-Harpocrates; “the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality” during his excarvation in 1907 [ CITATION Mar17 \l 3081 ]. Although these are considered tangible culture, they still help modern society to understand the belief system of the population of this city and their religion. Flasks and ampulla have also been found. These objects were etched on both sides with an image of the saint in an adorating pose with two camels next to him, making reference to the myth of his sister’s trip to the dessert to bury his body. Pilgrims bough these flasks in the city and used them to carry oil and holy water [ CITATION Kat17 \l 3081 ]. These are significant since they have been found in a variety of places out of Africa and around the Mediterranean Sea, which shows from how many different places and how many believers travelled and used these flasks to take the healing power of Saint Mena back home. This, in turn, shows the trust of Christian groups in super natural forces which is the main pillar of the religion, thus, helping people understand the motives of pilgrims to become so. Saint Mina have always been defined as a Christian Coptic Orthodox Monastery. However, features of some of the churches there, including a sanctuary that has a western return; are characteristics proper of Egyptian Churches identified with Monophysitism. A modern excavation indicated that these features, together with the Northern Basilica’s setting outside the main community of Abu Mina, could suggest that the place attended the needs of a Monophysite community that took over the place on the 643 A.D after the Arab conquest. All in all, this place is culturally associated with Christian groups and it is significant in terms of spirituality since it tells the story of two different doctrines of Christianism and helps today’s civilisations to understand their belief systems through objects, myths and buildings.

Secondly, Abu Mena is very rich in terms of tangible culture as well. During Kaufman’s first excavation he discovered a basilica and a church. In 1998 the site was further excavated and this second excavation uncovered the extensiveness of the city [ CITATION Hen11 \l 3081 ]. Abu Mena comprises the ruins of a great basilica, hostels for pilgrims, monasteries and churches, villas, houses, baths, homes, a health centre, wine factories, arches and parts of an enclosure wall [CITATION UNE92 \l 3081 ]. Archaeologists have also found cemeteries and the remains of individual businesses including the town’s potters home [ CITATION Hen11 \l 3081 ]. Even though nowadays these buildings are mostly FIGURE 5 MAP OF ABU MENA. SOURCE destroyed, the foundations of the majority of TOUREGYPT. them are still visible [ CITATION ElA14 \l 3081 ]. These findings show modern civilisations how this population lived and how its people coped with birth and death. The great basilica comprises the tomb of the saint and, as it can be seen in Figure 5, it was composed by three different isles since its structure was expanded over time. The story of this place began on the 4th century when it was only a burial site. According to tradition after Saint Mena was martyred in the 306 A.D. his body was buried in an underground hypogeum in the dessert of Mareotis. In the early 5th century, a farmer discovered the tomb and its healing power when his flock was miraculously cured after taking it there. Following this event, the farmer decided to construct a small oratory made up of a tetra pylon. After this, the underground burial site was still reachable through an upright shaft which opened at its lowermost part, giving access to a star-shaped set of three galleries. Each of these galleries comprised seven symmetrically organized funeral caves. The relics of Saint Mena were located on top of the position of an uncompleted extension of the underground burial. When rumours of the site’s healing power started to circulate, the daughter of the emperor of Constantinople went there with leprosy. Soon after she went back home she recovered; therefore, the emperor ordered the building a whole city where the Saint’s Tomb was. The unfinished section was then converted into a semi-domed niche which resembled a Roman catacomb [ CITATION Jim13 \l 3081 ]. A small mausoleum made of sundried bricks was also built surrounding the tetra pylon oratory. All in all, over time the tomb of Saint Mena was constantly being enlarged by the creation of surrounding burials and buildings and since the end of the 4 th through the 8 th century it developed into “one of the most extensive and elaborated church complexes in Ancient Christian Egypt” [ CITATION Jim13 \l 3081 ]. All of these FIGURE6 PLANNING OF ABU MENA. SOURCE: buildings were constructed by mud TOUREGYPT. and bricks, which is one of the factors that make this place so vulnerable to environmental factors. However, archaeologists have not only found architecture

converted into a semi-domed niche which resembled a Roman catacomb [ CITATION Jim13 \l 3081 ]. A small mausoleum made of sundried bricks was also built surrounding the tetra pylon oratory. All in all, over time the tomb of Saint Mena was constantly being enlarged by the creation of surrounding burials and buildings and since the end of the 4 th through the 8th century it developed into “one of the most extensive and elaborated church complexes in Ancient Christian Egypt” [ CITATION Jim13 \l 3081 ]. All of these buildings were constructed by mud and bricks, which is one of the factors that make this place so vulnerable to environmental factors. However, archaeologists have not only found architecture but also objects such as the flasks and ampullas previously mentioned which were made of Terracotta in Abu Mena itself. This kind of tangible culture allows the study of how the economy of this place worked and moreover, how this civilisation presented their bodies through art. Both architecture and flasks present similarities with Roman culture in terms of the materials and techniques used to make them. This kind of material culture is significant because it allows today’s civilisations to understand the level of human development at the time in terms of understanding of geometry and use of technology since it presents a wide range or architectural techniques and, as seen in Figure 6, the planning incorporates geometrical and symmetric structures. On the other hand, in terms of world history, given that the place has existed from the 4th until the 13th century, it is related to several historical events. Moreover, modern excavations at some parts of the hypogeum propose that this area could date back to pagan times and indicate that Christians were not the first civilisation in the site, given the existence of other older burial sites around the area. Thanks to this place, which tells the story of the Saint, today’s civilisation’s understanding of certain periods of history can be widen. First of all, this place narrates the story of the reign of the emperor Dioclecian (284 -305 A.D.) whom demanded the oppression of Christianity though sacrifices of its followers [ CITATION JGo07 \l 3081 ]. Secondly, the remains of the city also show how throughout the 400s and 500s AD the site started growing very fast as it augmented in popularity after being discovered as a religious pilgrimage city. Moreover, it provides evidence on the Sassanian Persia invasion of 619 A.D. and how this and the Muslim conquest of Egypt on the mid-7 th century destroyed the ancient city as the Muslim religion was being forced on the population after its prophet Mohammed died [ CITATION Min16 \l 3081 ]. The ruins also show how the city was reconstructed during the late 7 th and early 8 th centuries and how later on, in the 900 AD, it was plundered and devastated again by the Abbasids [ CITATION Gro98 \l 3081 ]. Abu Mena was eventually abandoned in the 10th and

11th centuries. However, there was some recurring occupation until the 1200s but, after the 13th century, the remains of the once great holy city of Abu Mena were definitely forgotten beneath the sand of the extending dessert [ CITATION Jim13 \l 3081 ]. All in all, the city has undergone a variety of time periods including the late antique period, from 480 to 700 CE and a wide range of events through history and all these phases are represented in the architecture of the place. Hence, it provides relevant historical information of conflicts that happened locally and worldwide at the time. Thus, historical facts such as “Late Antiquity period saw a shift in religion in Egypt from paganism to Christianity and subsequently Islam”[ CITATION McL12 \l 3081 ] can be proven by looking at tangible and intangible culture found in this city. Also, taking into account that the flasks and ampullas have been found worldwide, they act as an instrument for the study of human movements and interaction throughout history and makes measuring the popularity of Saint Mena and of this place worldwide possible. Abu Mena was nominated and added to the list of World Heritage Sites in relation to criteria four of qualification. Such Criteria implies being an “outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or a landscape which illustrates a significant stage in Human History”. As shown throughout this essay, the Ancient City existed for eight centuries and was involved in several historical events such as the Muslim defeat along with the subjugation of Christianism, which progressively shaped the city turning it into a permanent proof and testament of those stages in world history. These stages and their consequent human development can be seen through the burial sites, ruins of old buildings, belief systems and relics present at this archaeological site. Hence, given that cultural heritage is what is left behind by the past and a place is historically relevant when it helps modern civilisations understand how and why things happened; Abu Mena is culturally significant.

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