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Nome (Egypt)

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

The nomes of Ancient Egypt

A nome (Greek: district) is a subnational administrative division of Ancient Egypt. The use of the Greek name rather than the Egyptians' own results partly from Egypt's long Greek occupation. In addition, the Greeks were fascinated with Egypt, and left many historical records of the country.

The division of Ancient Egypt into nomes can be traced back to the Predynastic Period (before 3100 BC). These nomes originally existed as autonomous city-states, but later began to unify. The final conquest was completed by a certain Menes.

The nomes not only remained in place for more than three millennia, the area of the individual nomes and their order of numbering remained remarkably stable. Some, like Xois in the Delta or Khent in Upper Egypt, first appear in the Palermo stone which was inscribed in the Fifth dynasty; a few, like the nome of Bubastis, appear no earlier than the inscriptions of the New Kingdom. Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt's history, the country was divided into 42 nomes.

Lower Egypt, from the Old Kingdom capital Memphis to the Mediterranean Sea, comprised 20 nomes. The first was based around Memphis, Saqqara, and Giza, in the area occupied by modern-day Cairo. The numbering system then spread out in a more or less ordered fashion through the Nile delta, first covering the territory on the west before continuing with the higher numbers to the east. Thus, Alexandria was in the Third Nome, Bubastis in the Eighteenth.

Upper Egypt was divided into 22 nomes. The first of these was centered around Elephantine and Egypt's border with Nubia at the First Cataract – the area of modern-day Aswan. From there the numbering progressed downriver in an orderly fashion along the narrow fertile strip of land that was the Nile valley. Waset (ancient Thebes or contemporary Luxor) was in the Fourth Nome, Amarna in the Fourteenth, and Meidum in the Twenty-First.

Contents

1 The nomarch

2 Survival of the nomes

3 List of nomes

3.1 Lower Egypt
3.2 Upper Egypt

4 Reference

5 External link

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The nomarch

At the head of each nome stood its nomarch. The position of the nomarch was at times hereditary, while at others they were appointed by the pharaoh. Generally, when the national government was stronger, nomarchs were the king's appointed governors. When the central government was weaker, however – such as during foreign invasions or civil wars – individual nomes would assert themselves and establish hereditary lines of succession. Conflicts between these different hereditary nomarchies were common during, for example, the First Intermediate Period – a time that saw a breakdown in central authority lasting from the sixth and eleventh dynasties, until one of the local rulers was able once again to assert control over the entire country as pharaoh.

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Survival of the nomes

The nomes survived through the Ptolemaic period, into Roman times. Under Roman rule, individual nomes minted their own coinage, the so-called "nome coins," which still reflect individual local associations and traditions. The nomes of Egypt retained their primary importance as administrative units until the fundamental rearrangement of the bureaucracy in the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine.

From 307/8 CE, their place was taken by smaller units called pagi which eventually brought into prominence a powerful local official called a pagarch through whom all patronage flowed. His essential role was as an organizer of tax-collection, but later the pagarch assumed some military functions as well. The pagarchs were often wealthy landowners who reigned over the pagi from which they originated.

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List of nomes

Nomes were split between Upper and Lower Egypt

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Lower Egypt

Number	Egyptian Name	Capital	Modern Capital	Translation
1	Aneb-Hetch	Memphis	Mit Rahim	White wall
2	Khensu	Letopolis	Ausim	Cow's thigh
3	Ament	Apis	Kom el-Hisn	West
4	Sapi-Res	Ptkheka	Tanta	Southern shield
5	Sap-Meh	Sais	Sa el-Hagar	Northern shield
6	Khaset	Xois	Sakha	Mountain bull
7	A-ment	Metelis	Damanhur	West harpoon
8	A-bt	Heroonpolis	Tell al-Maskhuta	East harpoon
9	Ati	Busiris	Abu Sir Bara	Andjeti
10	Ka-khem	Athribis	Tell Atrib	Black bull
11	Ka-heseb	Leontopolis	Tell al-Urydam	Heseb bull
12	Theb-ka	Sebennytos	Samanud	Calf and Cow
13	Heq-At	Heliopolis	Materiya (suburb of Cairo)	Prospering Sceptre
14	Khent-abt	Tanis (Sile)	San el-Hagar	Eastmost
15	Tehut	Hermopolis parva	Baqliya	Ibis
16	Kha	Mendes	Tell al-Rubˁ	Fish
17	Semabehdet	Diospolis parva	Tell Balamun	The throne
18	Am-Khent	Bubastis	Tell Bastah (near Zagazig)	Prince of the South
19	Am-Pehu	Leontopolis (Tanis)	Nebesha or San	Prince of the North
20	Sopdu	Arabia	Saft al-Henna	Plumed Falcon

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Upper Egypt

Number	Egyptian Name	Capital	Modern Name	Translation
1	Ta-Seti	Elephantine	Aswan	Land of the arch
2	Thes-Hor	Apollonopolis magna	Edfu	Throne of Horus
3	Ten	Nekhen	al-Kab	Shrine
4	Waset	Thebes	Karnak	Sceptre
5	Herui	Coptos	Qift	The two falcons
6	Aa-ta	Tentyra	Dendera	The crocodile
7	Seshesh	Diospolis parva	Hu	Sistrum
8	Abdju	Abydos	al-Birba	Great land
9	Min	Panopolis	Akhmim	Min
10	Wadkhet	Aphroditopolis	Ifteh	Cobra
11	Set	Hypselis	Shutb	The creature associated with Set
12	Tu-ph	Antaeopolis	Qaw al-Kebir	Viper mountain
13	Atef-Khent	Lycopolis	Asyut	Upper Sycamore and Viper
14	Atef-Pehu	Cusae	al-Qusiya	Lower Sycamore and Viper
15	Un	Hermopolis magna	al-Ashmunayn	Hare
16	Meh-Mahetch	Theodosiopolis	Beni Hassan	Oryx
17	Anpu	Cynopolis	al-Kais	The black dog (Jackal)
18	Sep	Alabastronopolis	Kom al-Ahmar	Set
19	Uab	Oxyrhynchus	al-Bahnasa	Two Sceptres
20	Atef-Khent	Herakleopolis Magna	Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah	Southern Sycamore
21	Atef-Pehu	Crocodilopolis/Arsinoe	Madinat al-Fayyum	Northern Sycamore
22	Maten	Aphroditopolis	Atfih	Knife