Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation by Barry J. Kemp

Author:Barry J. Kemp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-24T10:20:02+00:00

Figure 87 Imaginative adaptation of architecture to topography: the fortress of Shalfak in the Second Cataract area of Nubia, built by Senusret III of the 12th Dynasty on a high rocky outcrop above the river. Plan after G.A.Reisner, N.F.Wheeler and D.Dunham, Second Cataract Forts II. Uronarti, Shalfak, Mirgissa, Boston, 1967, Map X.

on the west, and Kumma on the east (Figure 88). Semna fort took an L-shaped plan, the western wing covering a piece of relatively flat ground.48 The principal dimensions are about 130 metres from north to south, and the same from west to east. The girdle wall on the landward sides was protected by regularly spaced small towers, strengthened at greater intervals by larger projecting towers. The ground surrounding the wall was flattish, but still no outer rampart or parapet was thought necessary. Instead it was cleared for a distance of up to 29 metres, and beyond this, material was heaped up and covered with a stone pavement to form a glacis and counterscarp. At either end of the eastern wing the girdle wall was pierced by fortified gateways that allowed a road to pass entirely through the fort, crossing to the glacis by means of causeways. A narrow gate in the east wall gave

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