Sepat: Nome, District.

Niwt: City, town

Per-dt: Estate or villa

Per: Town house

Iwyt: Small house, hut.

SEPAT 1 - WHITE WALL
The first Sepat of Lower Egypt covered the area around the city of MenNefer, situated not far from where the Nile spread itself out into the many arms of the Delta. This was a strategically well chosen point, where control over the waterways and the entry to the southern parts of the land could be kept. Here King Aha founded the city in the Early Dynastic Period (2920 - 2575 BC) which was to stay the capital of Egypt for more than a thousand years. Later kings would establish cities like Waset, Itj-Tawy and Pi-Ramesses as capitals but some political power would remain at MenNefer.

AW Niwt is:
MenNefer

SEPAT 3 - THE WEST
The third Sepat in Lower Egypt is located in the northwest Delta, flanking the Libyan desert. In the New Kingdom, the Sepat capital was Imu, nowadays Kom el-Hisn, which in its turn replaced an even earlier and importan town: Hwi-Ihyt, which has never been found. All that remains of Imu is a mound; here was once a temple built by Senwosret I, dyn. XII and dedicated to Hathor-Sekhmet, 'Mistress of Imu", the patron deity of the area. Hathor-Sekhmet is often seen as two aspects of the same deity, at least in this area. Later, in the Greco-Roman Period, Alexandria, on the Mediterranean rose to power and is still a big city.

AW Niwt:
Alexandria

SEPAT 5 - NORTHERN SHIELD
This sepat stretches from the area around the city of Sais (Gr: Zau, Arabic: Sa el-Hagar) along the Damietta branch towards the coast. During the 26th dynasty, Sais was the capital of Kemet. At that and other times it was also a Greek trade center. Here was also the city of Per-Wadjet/Buto, which was the capital of Lower Egypt in the PreDynastic days. This city was also the seat of the "Souls of Pe", the spirits of the mythical ancestor kings. These were together with the "Souls of Nekhen", from the city Nekhen in Upper Egypt, called upon at every new ruler´s ascendancy to the throne for greeting the new king and for protection of the land.

AW Niwt:
Zau (Sais)

SEPAT 9 - ANDJETY
This Sepat was located in the mid-Delta, around the capital of Djedu (Gr: Busiris), along the Damietta branch of the Nile. The town was mentioned in several places, already in the Old Kingom, like the Victory Stela of Piye and also in the Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan. When the cult of Osiris took over from the local deity Andjety, prpobably towards the end of the Old Kingdom, this became an important pilgrimage destination, complementary to Abydos in Upper Egypt.

Niwt: Djedu

SEPAT 13 - PROSPERING SCEPTRE
The Prospering Sceptre had as its symbol an ox. The area was located around the Delta apex, a convenient spot for goings and comings between the different parts of Kemet and therefore Iunu, the Sepat capital, had the double function of being both the cult center for the Heliopolitan Creation Myth with the cult of Re, and a center for trade with foreign countries. Nowadays, the ancient capital lies buried under the suburbs of Cairo.

Niwt: Iunu

SEPAT 18 - PRINCE OF THE SOUTH
This Sepat covers the north east delta around the city of Per-Bast (Gr: Bubastis). The route from MenNefer to Sinai and Asia went through here. Before the 3rd intermediate, the capital of this sepat was Tanis, but in the 22nd Dynasty it was moved to Per-Bast (Gr: Bubastis), as the cult of the once fierce "Eye of Re", Bast, assumed a more benign aspect as a mother-goddess associated with fertility and the city became an important pilgrimage- and cult center. Close to this, at modern Saft el-Hinna, was found traces of another ancient town; Per-Sopedu, once capital of the 20th Sepat. This falconheaded deity protected the Egyptian turquoise mines at the Sinai peninsula and during the 22nd Dynasty he had a cult center at Per-Sopedu, which gives a sign to the Sepat being an area through which much people moved, coming and going east.

Niwt: Per-Bast

SEPAT 19 - PRINCE OF THE NORTH

Within very short distance from each other, the modern villages of Tell el-Daba, el-Khatana and Qantir, could be said to all be covering the probable remains of two important ancient centers in the 2nd intermediate and the Ramesside periods: Avaris and Pi-Ramesse. The area is full of sandy mounds which are slowly being examined since the late 1960´s, revealing a good deal of intersting finds. The remains at Tell el-Daba probably goes back to the 1st intermediate and among other things statues of Queen Sobekneferu have been found. In the Middle Kingdom, the area saw a large influx of asiatic people, which went down trhough history as the Hyksos, the invaders of 15th dynasty.

At Qantir, 2 km north of Tell el-Daba, excavations begun in the 1920´s revealed finds leading to the conclusion that this was the site of the great delta capital founded by Seti I and established by Ramesses II: Per Ramesse. Examinations are still being done, great parts of the ancient city are buried under modern, expanding villages. It will probably not be possible therefore, to excavate the whole city but by using magnetic sensors it has been found that it covers ca 4 square miles.

Niwt: Pi-Ramesse

Here ends the sepats of Lower Egypt.

Sepats of Upper Egypt is here.

Back to Main Guide Page

Sources: (The sources will not be repeated on the Niwt pages.)
Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt - John Baines, Jaromir Malek
Britiish Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt - Ian Shaw, Paul Nicholson
Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Revised edition) - Margaret R. Bunson
A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses - George Hart
Egyptsites
Touregypt

Some useful Hood links:

Map over Egypt with Sepat borders and Ancient Placenames

Egypt Neighbourhood Message Board

Hoods: Correction Center

Egyptian Occupations

Living in Ancient Egypt - Hearth and Home

Ancient Female Names

Ancient Male Names