Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "VERENIKI Ancient city EGYPT" .
VERENIKI (Ancient city) EGYPT
Berenice (Berenike, Strab. xvi. p. 770, xvii. p. 815; Plin. vi. 23,
26, 29, 33; Steph. B. s. v.; Arrian. Peripl. M. Rub.; Itin. Antonin. p. 173, f.;
Epiphan. Haeres. lxvi. 1: Eth. Berenikeus and Berenikiades, fem. Berenikeia),
a city upon the Red Sea, was founded, or certainly converted from a village into
a city, by Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, and named in honour of his mother, the daughter
of Ptolemy Lagus and Antigone. It stood about lat. 23° 56? N., and about long.
35° 34? E., and being in the same parallel with Syene, was accordingly on the
equinoctial line. Berenice, as modern surveys (Moresby and Carless, 1830-3) have
ascertained, stood nearly at the bottom of the Sinus Immundus, or Foul Bay. A
lofty range of mountains runs along this side of the African coast, and separates
Berenice from Egypt. The emerald mines are in its neighbourhood. The harbour is
indifferent, but was improved by art. Berenice stood upon a narrow rim of shore
between the hills and the Red Sea. Its prosperity after the third century B.C.
was owing in great measure to three causes: the favour of the Macedonian kings,
its safe anchorage, and its being a terminus of the great road from Coptos, which
rendered Berenice and Myos Hormos the two principal emporia of the trade between
Aethiopia and Egypt on the one hand, and Syria and India on the other. The distance
between Coptos and Berenice was 258 Roman miles, or eleven days' journey. The
wells and halting places of the caravans are enumerated by Pliny (vi. 23. s. 26),
and in the Itineraries (Antonin. p. 172, f.). Belzoni (Travels, vol. ii. p. 35)
found traces of several of these stations. Under the empire Berenice formed a
district in itself, with its peculiar prefect, who was entitled Praefectus Berenicidis,
or P. montis Berenicidis. (Orelli, Inscr. Lat. no. 3880, f.) The harbour of Berenice
was sheltered from the NE. wind by the island Ophiodes (Ophiodes nedos, Strab.
xvi. p. 770; Diod. iii. 39), which was rich in topazes. A small temple of sandstone
and soft calcareous stone, in the Egyptian style, has been discovered at Berenice.
It is 102 feet long, and 43 wide. A portion of its walls is sculptured with well-executed
basso relieves, of Greek workmanship, and hieroglyphics also occasionally occur
on the walls. Belzoni confirmed D'Anville's original opinion of the true site
of Berenice (Memoires sur l'Egypte Ancienne), and says that the city measured
1,600 feet from N. to S., and 2,000 from E. to W. He estimates the ancient population
at 10,000. (Researches, vol. ii. p. 73.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A city of Egypt on the coast of the Sinus Arabicus, from which a road was made across the intervening desert to Coptos on the Nile, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 258 miles in length. From this harbour the vessels of Egypt took their departure for Arabia Felix and India. It was through the medium of Berenice also, and the caravan route to Coptos, that the principal trade of the Romans with India was conducted. By this line of communication it is said that a sum not less than what would now be $2,000,000 was remitted by the Roman traders to their correspondents in the East, in payment of merchandise which ultimately sold for a hundred times as much. The ruins of the ancient Berenice are found at the modern port of Habest.
This extract is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
An ancient port on the W coast of the Red Sea 959 km SE of Cairo, noted by Strabo (16.1.5; 17.1.45) and by Pliny (6.23.103). Founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphos (275 B.C.) and named for his mother, it was a transit station for goods from Arabia and India. These goods were corfveyed by camel caravan N to Leucus Limen (present Quseir), then W towards Coptos (Justinianopolis, present Qift). Along the road, guards were posted and water provided since it was a military road where taxes were collected. The port itself was provided with a fortification to protect the city against piracy. In the center of the city a small temple was dedicated to the god Khem by the emperor Tiberius. Offerings were also presented to the goddess of the emerald mines. At a nearby mine site, Sakait, a temple hewn from living rock was dedicated to Serapis and Isis.
S. Shenouda, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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