Long
before the first Pharaohs raised their prodigious edifices along the Nile,
signaling the emergence of the world greatest civilization, the river was
a source of sustenance for small bands of hunter gathers.
Soon after the summer
solstice, villagers waited out the deluge in their mud huts covered with
"reeds", venturing outside their village by means of sturdy papyrus
rafts.
This
primitive hand to mouth existence that prevailed around 5200 BC came
to an end with the discovery of the multi use of reeds which grew
wildly along the banks of the Nile and in the vast tracts of marshland
of the Delta.
It
is in these circumstances that a simple raft, made of bundles of papyrus
reeds lashed together with ropes, made its first appearance on the
River Nile. It was the earliest means of transportation on the river.
Though it was of limited life and use, it was a necessity for herdsmen
who had to cross crocodile infested waters. The raft made of "reeds"
was the most important means of transportation, especially during the flood
period between
July and
October.
In
Ancient Egypt; people wove
"reeds" into mats, plaited it for ropes,
pared it to make musical flutes, bundled it together to form light rafts
perfect for fishing in the marshes, and roofed their mud houses with it.
Selected reed stalks were craftily pared to be used as calligraphic pens,
while papyrus "reeds" were pressed and woven into a suitable medium
on which to write.
As
a result, the flowing hieratic script came into wide use, as Egyptian scribes
used a selection of pens made of reeds to write. Another revolutionary
use of papyrus reeds was the making of paper. This dual use of papyrus
reeds had a stupendous impact on Egyptian civilization.
With
writing, Egyptians could record their deeds and transactions, give lasting
form to their thoughts and visions, and preserve their laws. Writing proved
a mighty influence on progress and vastly speeded the growth and spread
of ancient Egyptian civilization.
Meanwhile,
as the flood surge reached the famous bend of the River in Upper Egypt,
strong current significantly slowed down. Natural mound like levees began
to be built up along the Nile in this area as its heavier deposits
accumulated over the centuries. Following the permanent rise in the water
level of the river,
reeds
began to colonize on the shores.
This ideal spot attracted many of the population of the nearby area (known
in antiquity as the sixth Nome), and there they choose to settle
and built their city.
Because
of its proliferation and importance, the papyrus reed was one of
the symbols of Upper Egypt and its form was recreated in the shapes
of pillars in several hypostyle halls. While the city built on the right
bank of the River Bend was named after the Ancient Egyptian term
for reeds "Qnna". Today the term still refers to a well known province
(muhafazah)
of Qina in Egypt
and as well designates our vital
waterway "Qanat" al-Suways.
ETYMOLOGIES:
While
the history of the "Reeds" In Egypt showed great antiquity,
the etymologies of the various Egyptian terms for "Reed" are equally
fascinating:
"Reeds" were
known in Ancient Egypt by several names, such as: qnna, qsh,
ksb, and or unb. All of which have survived
in our Arabic language (a sister language of the same Afro-Asiatic
linguistic branch) as: qanah,
qashsh,
Qasab,
and
anbuwb
respectively.
(see attachment below).
In
the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq, in the palace of
Nebuchadnezzar
II (604-562 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the World,
were a mountain like series of planted terraces. Many of them filled
with reeds or "Qneh" as they were called in the Babylonian
language.
In Ugarit * -
at Ra's Shamrah, Syria: The technician among
the gods of Ugarit was god Kotharu. He is depicted
as the intelligent artisan and the maker of wonderful weapons. He is also
seen as the inventor of the composite bow.
"In the Ugaritic
(1)
legend, Kotharu presents this precious bow with its
four arrows to the human king Dani'ilu, who in turn gives them to
his son Aqhatu. The god Aqhatu then advises the goddess to
collect certain materials herself and to give them to Kotharu
so that he can make a similar bow and arrows for her. The goddess `Anatu
then
becomes jealous, and asks Aqhatu to give her the bow in exchange
for silver and gold. But Aqhatu refuses and then proceed to enumerate
the materials used in the construction of the bow: Among them - canes
or "qn-m" (used in this Ugaritic text in
the plural form) from the divine marshes of al-Sham
(Syria).
(KTU 1.17:VI.20-25.) |
In the
Old Testament,
which was written in
Hebrew/Aramaic, references to the same
term "reed" appears 29 times. The only term explicitly used
for "reed" in the text appears invariably as Qaneh, a
term borrowed from the Ugaritic language (see above paragraph).
At the end of Antiquity,
the Greeks of Byzantium used the term "Canon" to refer to
their laws. The source of the term was inspired from a loan term
for reed: Kanna, used as a ruler or a yardstick, hence the
rule of law.
Finally, at the close
of Medieval times, the term for
"Cannon" was used to refer to a
new horrific weapon which had the shape of a hollow reed. This new
invention effectively changed the face of history, and ushered the world
into the modern Ages.
The most intriguing
aspect of this etymology is that the Ancient Egyptian term "qnna"
(over 7000 years old) has survived in today's English language
as "cane" (a stick). This world record of longevity is actually
a loan word dating from the Pre-Dynastic Naquwdda period. It came
by way of the Hebrew/Aramaic via Greek "Kanna" and Latin
"canna")
through the different stages of many successive Biblical translations.
(1) The
ancient Canaanite city-state of Ugarit is of utmost importance for those
who study the Old Testament. The literature of the city and the theology
contained therein, in addition to Old Arabic, go a very long way
in helping Biblical scholars to understand the meaning of various Biblical
passages as well as aiding us in deciphering difficult Hebrew/Aramaic words.
Ugarit was at its political, religious and economic height around the 12th
century BCE.
Ugarit
experienced a very long history. A city was built on the site in the Neolithic
period around 6000 BCE. The oldest written evidence of the city is found
in some texts from the nearby city of Ebla written around 1800 BCE. At
that time both Ebla and Ugarit were under Egyptian hegemony, which shows
that the long arm of Egypt extended all along the west coast of the Mediterranean
Sea (for Ugarit is located in modern day Syria roughly dead east of the
NE coast of Cyprus on the coast of Syria). The population of Ugarit at
that time was roughly 7635 people. The city of Ugarit continued to be dominated
by the Egyptians through 1400 BCE.
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