Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 16:49:06 CST
From: Adam Bulow-Jacobsen <Adam.Bulow-Jacobsen@ens.fr> (by way of cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones))


On the excavation of Maximianon/el Zerqa, Egypt.

The excavation was begun last year and the second (final) season has just been 
completed. The work is funded by the French foreign office under the auspices 
of Institut francais d'archeologie orientale in Cairo. 
El Zerqa is the best preserved of the Roman army-stations along the road from 
Coptos to Myos Hormos (Quseir). The rubbish-dump outside the gate and one room 
inside the fortress have produced over 1500 Greek and Latin (some 10% of the 
total) ostraca dating mostly from the 2nd century AD, but none of them carrying 
a firm date.
The most important find has been the identification of Myos Hormos as Quseir 
(i.e. Quseir al Qadim) which has just been published in BIFAO 94 (appeared last 
week). Other interesting data concern the cults at the various stations along 
the road and the ancient names of the stations, among them that of el-Zerqa 
itself - Maximianon. Other names that were already known, but that have come up 
again are Persou = Wadi Hammamat and Phoinikon = Laqeita. A few new names are 
not as yet identified. The texts are mostly private letters exchanged between 
the soldiers, very often concerning the production and sending of vegetables, 
but also lists of guards and a number of (very) sub-literary texts have been 
found.
The ostraca will be published in the foreseeable, rather than immediate, future 
by Helene Cuvigny, Jean-Luc Fournet and myself.
Adam Bulow-Jacobsen