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TH E NOTITI DIGNIT TUM N DTH E GEOGR PHYOF EGYPTObservations on Some M ilitar y Camps and Place Names in Upper EgyptK.A. Worp , Amsterdam

A fewtoponyms occurringin 31of thesectionon theOrientin theN otitiaD ignitatumand intheItinerariumAntoniniAugustiare thesubjectof thefollowingpaper. Ihave madeanumberofsimilar observa tionsonmilitarycampsandplace nam esinLow er Egyptin anarticle alreadypublished in theZPE. M yworkin thisfield wasinspiredby an invitationtoserve as a co-editorof a new topographical lexicon to bepublishedbyA.M.Hakkert.Suchataskis greatlyfacilitated, of course, by the fact thatthanksto theefforts of S.Daristhegreat project of A.Calderini'sDizionario de i nomi Geografici etopografie dell'Egitto greco-romano has nowbeen completed andthough this workhas notalwaysfoundacclaim,2o neshouldbegratefultothecompilersof theD izionario,astheir collectionofmaterialsis areal 'Fundgrube'.

Firsta few general remarks: it is well known that the part dealing with the Orient in theNotitiaDignitatum (hereaftertheNotitia3 is asourceofparam ount importancefor ourknowledgeof thedispositionofarmyunitsinearly ByzantineEgypt.4 31 ofthis part liststhearmyunitsunderthecommandof theDu xThebaidos andtheir disposition, wh ile 28containsasimilar listoftroopsunderthecommandof theComeslimitisAegypti and their disposition.Theborder line betweenthe twoterritories appearstocoincide withtheboundary between theOxyrhynchiteandH ermopolitenomes; i.e.theOxyrhynchite nomeis thesouthernm ost partofLower Egypt ('Aegyptus' in theterminologyof theNotitia.),whereasth e Hermopolite nome isthe northernmost part of theThebaidor UpperEgypLSI need no tenter here intoth ecomplex question aboutthedateof thecompilation of theNotitia.Let itsufficetoassume thattheNo titiawascompiled originally towardthe end of thefourth century.6

Editors and other students of the Notitia have always tried to identify place namesoccurring inthis sourcewith toponyms mentioned elsewhere in classical an d post-classicalliterature. Ofoutstanding interestinthisrespectis theso-calledItinerariumAntonini AugustiZPE87(1990) 291-295.2Cf. M. Drew-Bear, Le Nome Hermopoli te. Toponymes el sites(Missoula 1979).xii: "LeDizionario neconstitue,deplusenplus, qu'un travaildecompilation htiveetsans critique.3Ihaveused the edition of theNotitia by O.Seeck(Berlin 1876,repr. Frankfurt1962).^Essentialbibliography: J.Maspero, L'arme romaine de l'Egypte d'Auguste Diocttien,Cairo 1918; D. vanBerchem,L'armedeDiocttienet lareforme conslantinienne,Paris 1952; idem,L'occupationmilitairede lahauteEgypte sous Diocltien',Roman Fron tier Studies 1967. Proc . Vlllh Internat.Congr.(Tell A viv1971)123-27;R.M.Price. 'The LimesofLowerEgypt' (in: Aspects of the Notitia Dignitatum, Papers presentedto the conference at Oxford, Decem ber 13 - 15, 1974, ed. by R. Goodburn & P. Bartholomew,BA RSuppl.Ser.15[1976])143-154; A.K.Bowman,TheMilitary Occupation of UpperEgypt in theReignof

Diocletian',BASF 15 (1978) 25-38.5Actually, 28 of theNotitia containsalso an indication of acontemporaneous further sub-division ofAegyptus intotheprovincesof (a)Aegyptus 'properly speaking',(b)Arcadia,and (c)Auguslamnica.ForAugustamnicacf. J.Lallemand,L'administration civiledel'Egypte de l'avnementde Diocltien lacrationdu diocse, pp. 53-54; originally (i.e. starting with A.D. 341) it covered the same area as the formerHeptanomia or Aegyptus Hercuiia (i.e. the Oxyrhynchite, theArsinoite an dpossibly th eHerakleopolitenomes) and the Eastern half of IheDelta; later on (after A.D. 386, but before A.D. 399) its territory waslimitedtoonlythe Eastern Delta, whiletheareaof the former Hercuiiawasre-baptised asArcadia Price,op.cit. pp. 145-46,co nvinci ngly demonstrates thatby shifting 11 . 37-39 to a place in between 11. 24-25 or25-26adistinction between Auguslamnica andArcadiacan bemade.Ihav e expressed my acceptance ofPrice'sidea already in my ZPEarticlereferred toabove inf n. 1.

6Cf.Price,op .cit. |fn.4] 146.


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464 Worp(hereafter theItinerarium)J primarilyalist ofplace nameswith indicationsof the distancebetweeneachplace and thenextone inthis same list. There is nodoubt thatthelist (in itspresentformcompiledca.A.D. 300, i.e.acentury beforetheNo titiawerecompiled) referredtothelocationsofmansioneswhere travellers couldstay.8Furthermore,sincethe publicationsof documentary papyri started toenrichourknowledgeof thetopographyofGraeco-RomanEgyptthese have been takenintoaccountfor ourbetter understandingofboththeNotitiaandtheitinerarium,ofcourse.Very informativeinthisrespectare thefamous P.Panop.Beattypublished in 1964.Thanks especially to these documentarypapyri manyplace names in theNotitia havebecome, notwithstanding their sometimes garbled form, familiar enoughto usnow,but in afewcasestoponyms in theNotitia have raised problems and - though identifications havesometimes been proposed-1think thatthelast wordasregards these identificationshas not yetbeen said.Some names in 31 are easily recognizable:1. 23,Lico =Lycopolis;1. 25, Tentira =Tentyra (Dendera); 1. 28, Lato - Latopolis; 1. 32,Cusas=Koussai; 1. 34, Apollinopolissuperior =Apollinopolis Ano;1. 37, Filas =Philae; 1. 39,Hermunthi =Hermonthis;1. 43,Poisarietemidosrefers,ofcourse,to thewell-known SpeosA rtemidos(Beni Hassan).Amoreproblematical item, however, occurs inline53 ofthis paragraph, whereonereads:Ala octavo Abydum -Abocedo.

(Ms'V:ABECEDO before correction)In a footnoteonefinds thatE.Boekingsuggested9correcting this latter nameto 'Abotide'(ablative of a place name 'Aborts' ), butthis correction does nothelp muchto answer th equestion whattherelationship betweenthepreceding name Abydumand thefollowing name'Abocedo' (or Abotide )is. Moreover, asregards thisplace 'Abolis' nomore isknown10than that it was the name of a place in Egypt (mentionedby two classical authors, i.e.Hecataeusan dHerodian),but it is notknown where inEgyptitshouldbelooked for. This isnotvery illuminating. On theother hand, thereis not asingle furtherattestation of theplacename Abocedo in anyother(semi)-literary sourceor in adocumentary papyrus,and Ihavetherefore come tothinkthatwe aredealing herewithacorruptionin themanuscript traditionoftheNotitia.If onesupposesthatin anearly manuscripttheletters were writteninuncials,an Eand a Cmust have looked quite similar. Furthermore, one maysuppose thatan I and theverticalhastaof afollowingDwere conflated. These considerations leadme tosupposethattheoriginal reading was 'A B OCCD.',developing into'ABOCEDO ', and one canunderstandthis asmeaning that a militaryunit, viz. an 8th a/a of the ...(name lost), was located in amilitary campatAbydos, i.e.to theWestof it, or -perhapsa bitlessattractive -thatit waslocated atAbydos 'on theWestbank'.11Unfortunately, this entryis theonlyone inthis partoftheNotitia presenting suchan extra piece of information aboutthe precise location of amilitarycarnpeitheratsome point outsideof amajor townor on theNile bank; moreover,wedo notseemtohaveanyarchaeologicalreportofremainsof anymilitary camp foundto the haveused theedition by O.Cuntz, ItinerariaRomano,1(Leipzig 1929),esp.pp.21-23.8Cf.D. vanBerchem. 'L'ItinraireAntoninet levoyageenorientdeCaracalla(214-215)'.Comptes rendusdel'Acadmie desInscriptions& Belles-Lettres 1973,pp.123-126.9Inhiseditionof theNotitia,publishedbetween1839-1853.10Cf.th eentryin A.Calderini,Dizionario Geografico,I.I4 and J.Ball,Egypt in th eClassical Geographers(Cairo 1942) 167. eentryin A.Calderini, Dizionario Geografico,I 1 4,shouldbecorrectedaccordingly.Asregardsthe

'mechanics'of thecorruptionone m aycomparethecritical apparatusof1.44,wherethemanuscript 'M1readsTESELA, whereasother MSSread 'PESCLA', i.e. here, too, we have confusionof an uncialE and anuncial C. At the same time one should remember that there is a well-known village Pesla in theHermopoliteNome;fo rthis villagecf. M.Drew-Bear,LeNomeHermopolile 204f.


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NotitiaD ignitatemandGeography 465West of Abydos, though this place has been excavated pretty well. Nevertheless, I hope thatmyend eavour to remove a corrupt name in theNotitiais convincing.One may well ask whether there are more such place names in this paragraph of theNotitia, where one can try to improve upon our predecessors and get closer to the originalreading.Myanswerispositive,butbeforeproceedingIshouldliketo saysomething aboutthearrangement of the Notitia on the basis of those place names which can be identified withcertainty(see the map at the end ofth is article).Th elistoflocalitiesin theThebaidwherealaebelongingto the laterculutnminus(1. 42)were stationed-referredto in 11. 43-57 (theyare theblack circles on the map) - are app aren tly listedmostly'clockw ise', i.e. their listing starts in theNorthof theThebaidon theEast bankandgoesto theSouth,crossestheNileatSyene,and iscarried on going downstream on the Left bankuntil on e reaches theNorth of the Thebaidagain. Th e only element that slightly disturbs this neat scenario comes in 1. 57 where thereference toPrektis(supposedly situated on the Eastbank)12entails jumping from the Westbank backto theEast bank.So ,while startingoutfrom th eassumption that there originallywas some system in the listing of alaein theNo titia, one has to reckon w ith anoccasionaldeparturefrom a rigidapplicationof thesupposed system.Ishall come backtothis po int later.

A second place nameto bediscussed hereisPampane (1.52), between Contra-Apollino-polis(1.51,on theEast bank)andAbydos(1. 53, on theWest bank).Thishas been identifiedbya ll scholars workinginthisfieldwithPapa on theW est bank, situated 8milesto theSouthofContra-Coptosand 30milesto theNorthof Hermonthis(cf.Itlnerarium159.4).On the maponearrives at theareaon theW est bankof theNile opposite Thebes. Infact, inO.Stras.7 80on efinds apaym ent throughthe 'kollubistike trapeza'a tPapa to apraktorof the Memnonia(alsoon the Left bankof the Nile oppositeThebes);thispresupposesthattherewas acloseconnection indeed between Papa and this part of the Leftbank. On the other hand, there is aLondon papyrus from Syene which mentions a monastery at Pampane(P.Lond. V 1724);clearly one is dealing w ith twoseparatelocalities, viz. Papa andPampane.13On the authorityofthegeographerPtolemaeus(Geogr.IV 5 31)Pampanewassituated indeedon theW est bankoftheNile,somewherebetweenTentyraandHermonthis; maybeoneshouldnot besurprised,if atsome mo men t Pampane turnedout to be theoriginal (Egyptian) namefor theplacewhichiscalled 'Contra-Copto' in theItinerarium (159.3).A third rather unfamiliar geographical name in this part of the Notitia may be that ofPsinabla (1. 54) b ut it is comfortingto know that this locality is also mentioned in theP.Panop.Beatty14as afort wh ere a Rom an garrison w as stationed; the editor of these papyrialready madeaconvincing argumentforputtingthisforton theLeftbankof theNile oppositemodern Akhmimin thePanopoliteNome.15

Nowwetake leaveof thesectionon thealaeandhavealookat the cohortesstationedinthe Thebaid. A lready earlier I mentioned a slight departurefroma neat scenario concerning the'clockwise' listing in the section on the alae; thesectionon the cohortes (11. 58-67) seems toshowanothercaseof such a departure. First, let us try toreconstructsuch a 'clockwise' listingsimilar to that of the alae. Place names like Theracon (1. 58) corrupted from Hieracon(Wesseling's correction of the Notitia's manuscript textproposed in hisedition of the12Cf.M.Drew-Bear, LeNome Hermopolite 223.^For this questionone may nowalsoconsultS.Timm,Das christlich-koptische gypten, IV 1822-23 s.n.Pampane, who makes the same distinction that I do. TheDiiionario Geograflco, IV 33 s.n. Pampanis, stillidentifiesPampanewithPapa.14For references cf.DizionarioGeograftco, V 162.15Cf. S.Timm,Das christlich-koptische gypten, IV2038-39.It isunclear to mewhetheron e should identifythis place with th e place Psinaula located on the East bank in the plain of el-'Amarna on a map in A.

Grohmann,Studien zu r historischen Geographieu nd Verwaltungd esfrh mittelalterlichen gypten (Wien1959)45.


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466 WorpJtlnerarium [at p. 167.2] mustbeaccepted), and Muthis (1. 59) are foundin thesame order ontheEastbankin theItinerarium;Iprefertopass overSilili (1- 60) forjustaminute,butPeamu(1. 61), too, is situated correctly on the East bank, though more to the South (oppositeAbydos),16 and even more to the Southone finds Syene andE lephantine (11.64-65) on theEastbank;the 'CastraLapidariorum' (1. 66) may berelatedto thestonequarriesnear modemAswan(every touristisoffered atourto theso-called 'unfinished obelisk'),but thenameis sounspecific, thatone may perhaps also reckon withaquitedifferent locality.17 On theotherhand,it iscertain thatDiospolis (I. 67) wassituatedfarmoreto theNorthon theLeftbank.Butwh a t of places likeNitnu andBurgus Seven (11. 62-63), if they should be looked forsomew here between Peamu and Syene? There are no other attestations of these place names inthis region and, tho ugh there is aconsiderable distance between these tw oplaces, it wouldseemto methatthemilitary campsalreadyknown between PeamuandSyenearelocatedatsuchregular intervals that thereishardlymuchspaceandneedfor twoextra campsatthis sideoftheNile.Th e DizionarioG eografico doesnotlistaseparate en try 'Nitnu', bu telsewhereinthe same workone finds18 a suggestion that 'Nitnu' should be taken as acorruption forNithine , in theItinerarium (154.2) spelled 'Nitine', a place situated in the Western Deltabetween Andropolis andHermopolis parva. This ideaof the Dizionario compilers simplycannotstand,as the 'Nitnu' of theNotifia wassituatedin theThebaid.Another proposal wasmade by D. van Berchem,19 who suggested to identify 'Nitnu' withAntinoopolis . Such ahypothesis presupposes thatone isw illing indeed to reckon with some departure from th enormal sequence of the listing ofcohorts' locations (as A ntinoopolis l ies to the North ofHierakon,onewould expect 'Nitnu' before1 . 58). Now,vanBerchem's ideaof aninterruptionin the expected sequence ofplace names seems acceptable. Moreover,initself itseems likelyenoughthatatsome timein the 4thcen tury therewas amilitary garrisoninA ntinoopolis(afterall,it was thecapitalof theThebaid).Butevenso vanBerchem'sproposaldoesnotseem fullyconvincing, as it entails a rather far-going corruption of the w ell-kno wn place nameANTINOOY (i.e. the complete disappearance/omission of the initialA-,a transposition of theletters -TT->-IT-and thedisappearanceof the -O-after the 2nd-N-).In fact, as far aspalaeographical and linguistic considerations are concerned, there isanother place nameind ocumentary papyriwhichmay beadduced for an attemptto identify'Nitnu', viz. N E T N H O Y . In this connection it should be remembered that in the Greekpronunciation of this period the -- and the-i -areoftenconfused and the -N- preceding the Etamayhave caused thelossofthatletter (also consistingof twovertical hastaewithaconnectingstroke) in theprocessof copyingtheMss. This villageism entioned in a few Oxyrhynchitepapyri,20but it may have been situatedin theborder region between the Oxyrhynchite andHermopolite Nomesand it may beassumedthatatvarioustimes it wasconsidered tobelongtoeithernone.If this idea iscorrect,itw ould entail that11.62-63 would haveto betransferred(toin between 11. 67 and 68?) and that 'Nitnu' would have to be situated to the North of

16Cf.P.BeattyPanop.2.291-92.17E.g.thestone quarriesat Akoris on theEastbank?Butthenthelinestandsout-of-order.^DizionarioG eogra fico ,III 355, s.n.'Nitliine'.^L arme deDiocttien et larforme constantinienne67 .2Forits location somewhereinth Oxyrhynchitenomecf .P.Pruneti,/ centri habitait del 'Ossirinchite,119;theallegationslistedthere date from A.D.442/3-557); cf.BASP18[1981]44-46wherethereference toNetneu giveninconnection with the Hermopolitan nome inP.Laur.in75(Oxyrhynchus,A.D. 574), 11. 13-14isdiscussed.TheGreek textreads:

NeivTilpvtoct(A 'Epuou-]noXttm)[ ] xfapeiv.]The ending -jtdXitou in'.14excludes restoring 'Opwyxou.J. Gascou, however, suggests torestore

IOU(TtVVO-]| JtoXlTOV).


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468 WorpLatopolis with Contra-Latopolis, Hermonthis with Thebes, Tentyra with Maximianopolis ,Diospolis Parvawith Chenoboskion,Abydos withPeamu,Psinabla with Thmou, Lycopoliswith IsiuandH ierakon,CussaewithPesla,an dHermopolis withPrektis.At the same time itbecomes apparentwhy it isprobably correcttolocate thecampof Praesentia (1. 33) oppositeOmboi, i.e. because of the large gap in the defense line which would ariseotherwise.24Ishould be inclined to put Pampane to the North of its supposed 'alter ego', Papa, oppositeKoptos/Diocletianopolis. Finally, Nitnu/Netneu and the Burgus Severi m ay mutual lycorrespond andsupplem ent each otherat theNo rthernmo st border of theThebaid inordertocloseoff theSouth-bo und ways intotheinteriorofSouth ern Egypt.On the West bank the average distance between each military camp in the Thebaid is 25.5miles.The largest distance between twoadjacent camps, viz.thatbetween Praesentia (IF th at isto beidentified w ith Contra-Omboi)a ndSyene, counts about43miles, whilethenext largestdistance, viz. th at between Cussae an dLycopolis, counts about35miles. Likewise, on theEast bankthe largest distance betweentw oad jacent camps isabout44miles (between KoptosandThebes), whiletheaverage distancebetweencampsisabout27miles.

24This campat Praesentia (cf.U. Wilcken , Archiv7 [1924] 105 on SPP XX 83 iii.4 [cf. Versoii.6,11]: Wahrscheinlich lag Praesentia neben Omboi ) may be identicalwitha place namePersentia occurring inSPP X 198.5, where a ship is being attributed to acertain Theodorus 'from Persentia'. Th eeditor of theDizionario Geografico (IV 107 s.n. Persentia) states that the place may belong to theHermopolitannome,butI w onder w hat the basis forthisattribution is, as there are no other H ermopolitanplacenames mentioned/inthis papyrus.For thebishopricofnepCENmin Coptic sourcescf. S.Timm,Das christlich-koptischegypten, IV 1902. To besure,I do not think thatth e identificationof Praesentia withth e Roman camp atNagel-Hagar (onthiscf. P. Zignam's paper givenat the 1991 Congrs d EgyptologiedeTorino [I owethisreferenceto thekindnessof B.Meyer, Paris]is assured.

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NotitiaDignitatum andGeography 469NETNEOU? BURGSSEVERI?

Places discussedareunderlined

FROM: Roman Frontier Studies 1967 Tell vivUniversity 1971)125[D. van Berchem]

worp notitiadignitatumegypt

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