It was only during my third trip to Abydos that I became aware there was more for visitors to see than the temples of Sety I and Ramesses II and the Osirion. Like many other tourists, I had been on long day-trips from Luxor and, among other constraints, time is such a major factor in how much you can see when you have just a few hours. I knew that Abydos was one of the oldest cities in Upper Egypt, holding great significance throughout Egyptian history as a place of pilgrimage. I also knew that there were monumental royal graves further out in an embayment of the low Western Desert, but I had always assumed, correctly as it happens, that visits to this area required special permission.
However, there are two ancient sites in north Abydos that you can visit very easily if you stay locally. Kom el-Sultan (Arabic for ‘King’s Hill’) is the location of a mud-brick walled settlement that the ancient Egyptians called Abdju (‘Abydos’ in Greek), and where the Great Temple of Osiris once stood. It is also the location of several small New Kingdom stone monuments, and was considered the starting point of an important, possibly annual, Festival of Osiris. In the same area, Shunet el-Zebib (Arabic for ‘Storehouse of the Raisins’) is an enormous mud-brick structure dating from the time of Khasekhemy c.2686 BC. Its true function is still not fully understood, but it does hold a key place in the evolution of the Egyptian pyramid. It is one of the oldest preserved mud-brick buildings in the world, as well. Neither site has much to observe in the way of fine details – stone blocks and any in situ carvings are few and far between – but the two sites combine to make a fascinating half-day out for anyone with an interest in large-scale construction work and ancient mud-brick.
Getting there
Modern-day Abydos is approximately 500 km south of Cairo and 170 km north of Luxor by road. It is possible to visit from either of those cities, and many tourists make the long day-trip from Luxor with an additional stop-off at Dendera. Much nearer to the town itself is Sohag International Airport, which is 25 km away, and el-Balyana train station, around 10 km away. My friend and I took the three-hour train journey from Luxor, and followed it with a 30-minute cross-country trek in a tuk-tuk. We were lodging for a week at the delightfully comfy Flower of Life Guesthouse in Arabet Abydos. The guesthouse is on the very edge of the village and directly overlooks the temple of Ramesses II, so we were treated to some wonderful semi-aerial views of this temple day and night. In the distance, towards the very edge of the low desert, I could make out the area known as Umm el-Qa‘ab (‘Mother of Pots’) – the approximate location of the mythical land of pqr (Peqer/Poker) – where several large subterranean tombs of the Early Dynastic Period are located. To the ancient Egyptians, this was a vast and sacred land of the dead and, by the Middle Kingdom, it was even considered to be the burial place of Osiris himself. During this time, Abydos grew into a major cult centre of ceremony and ritual, and remained so for many centuries to come.
