Welcome to one of the most ancient locales in all of an already ancient land! Many of the roots of a thriving culture that lasted millennia had their start in the Nome of the Great Land!

The 8th Nome of Upper Egypt may be found 300 miles south of present-day Cairo. Its primary city is Abydos, or Abjdu, which lies by the west bank of the Nile at that point. Abydos has many early dynastic and pre-dynastic points of interest; indeed the entire area is rich in pre-dynastic artifacts associated with cemeteries, kept intact by the dry climate and the current distance of many of these places from the river.

However, the 8th Nome is not devoted entirely to funerary arrangements.

Ancient and pre-dynastic settlements included copious farming villages - after all, the Nile's floodplains were welcomed for just this reason. In the small village of. El-Mahasna, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of beer-brewing. Elsewhere, a faience workshop, with its necessary kilns, has been pieced together. Residential and occupational areas persisted in this Nome in the Old and in the New Kingdom eras.

Rulers associated with this region include the near-legendary Scorpion King, Narmer, Ka and Iry-Hor of the 0 Dynasty; Aha, Djer, Djet, Den as Kings, and Queen Merneith of the 1st Dynasty; and Peribsen (Seth-Peribsen), and Khasekhemwy of the 2nd Dynasty were either buried here or had significant funerary activities in the area. Thus, the roots of the unification of the Two Lands were sealed upon these soils.

Nor was this region ignored by later dynasties. Temples and lesser artifacts have been found commissioned by Thutmose III, Ramesses II, as well as a large temple dating from the 30th Dynasty. Old Kingdom and New Kingdom rulers built religious structures in the area. A cemetery in the north was utilized during the Middle Kingdom, and up through the Greco-Roman period. These interred were not royal.

Resources for Nome of the Great Land:

• Baines and Malek, Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt
  
• Midant-Reynes, The Prehistory of Egypt
  
• Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt
  
• Tour Egypt ~ Abedjou ~ Thinis ~ Abydos ~ Dynasty 0 Serekhs ~ From Luxor to Aswan