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Kasr Ibrim ( Qasr Ibrim ) : Pharaonic

Qasr Ibrim is an archaeological site in Lower Nubia. It was originally a major city perched on a cliff above the Nile, but the flooding of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam transformed it into an island and flooded its outskirts. Qasr Ibrim is the only major archaeological site in Lower Nubia to have survived the Nile floods. Both prior to and after the Nile floods, it has remained a major site for archaeological investigations.



Human habitation at the site dates back to the New Kingdom, but it reached its greatest prominence in the Middle Ages, when the area became the home of the Eparch of Nobatia. Qasr Ibrim is the source of the largest collection of Old Nubian documents ever found, including the records of the Eparch. The site was inhabited until the 1840s. Today the island is closed to all but archaeologists.

 

This important site derives its name from the nearby village of Ibrim, on the east bank of the Nile. Qasr Ibrim is also notable for its fortress of Qasr Ibrim ("The Castle of Ibrim"), which certainly stood on older pharaonic foundations. Partly built "in Roman times under the prefecture of Gaius Petronius during Augustus' reign," it was originally a pharaonic site where material from the New Kingdom and later periods of Egyptian history were found. The earliest record is a stela dates back to year 8 of Amenhhotep I’s reign, while "a temple structure of Taharqa (with a painting showing the king offering to a god)" is also known here.

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