The archaeological site of Kom Abu Billou is located in the western Nile Delta, in the vicinity of the Wadi el-Natrun. In antiquity, the site was the hallowed cemetery of Terenouthis, a rural town founded during the Old Kingdom or even earlier. The inhabitants developed a local industry centred on the mining of the natron deposits that occur naturally in the Wadi el-Natrun. This natron was exported throughout Egypt for use in cosmetics, mummification, and industrial purposes such as glassmaking. Until the Ptolemaic Period, the town carried the name Per-Hathor-nebet-mefkat (‘Estate of Hathor, Lady of Turquoise’), in honour of its chief deity. For simplicity, most people simply referred to the town as ‘Mefkat’, with the name Terenouthis not attested prior to the Ptolemaic Period. We can surmise that this is a Hellenised form of Ta-Renenutet (‘the Land of Renenutet’), and that the name invokes the serpent goddess, an aspect of Hathor, who presided over the harvest, as well as the fate of newborn infants.
Mefkat in the Late Period
Prior to the politically fragmented Third Intermediate Period, Mefkat had been politically insignificant. This changed during the 9th century BC, when the town was the residence of influential and well-connected officials who owed allegiance to the Libyan pharaohs ruling from the Delta cities of Tanis and Bubastis. Djedbastetemtehou, a female member of one of these prominent families, was even sent to the southern city of Thebes to become ‘Singer of the Interior of Amun’, thus joining the retinue of the powerful priestess God’s Wife of Amun. This lady’s beautifully carved funerary stela, which undoubtedly once marked her grave or cenotaph at Mefkat, depicts her holding a mirror (an attribute of Hathor) and is inscribed with a votive prayer asking the goddess for wine, cakes, and other delicacies in the afterlife.
The annals of the neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (ruled 669-631 BC) record the abrupt end of Mefkat’s political prosperity. They tell us that Mefkat and the surrounding region were under the control of a governor named ‘Iptihardishu’, probably an Assyrian form of the Egyptian name Padihordisu. The previous Assyrian king, Esarhaddon, had invaded Egypt in 671 BC, temporarily pushed the Twenty-fifth Dynasty Nubian pharaoh Taharqo (c.690-664 BC) into the south, and accepted the submission of the various local rulers in the north. Taharqo had then made a comeback, leading to a new invasion in 667 BC by the new Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal. The northern rulers again submitted to the invader, but soon attempted to switch their allegiance back to Taharqo. In response, they were deported to Assyria. All – including Iptihardishu – were executed there, except for Nekau I of Sais, who had maintained his allegiance to the Assyrians. It was ultimately his son Psamtek I, who would become king of a reunited northern Egypt in 664 BC, with Thebes and the rest of southern Egypt absorbed in 656 BC.
