The topic

Berenike was a port on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras (3^rd century BC-6^th century AD). This lecture examines some of the many amazing discoveries made there during almost three decades of excavation.

Founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus in about 275 BC, and named after his mother, Berenike initially imported elephants for use in the army as well as ivory and aromatics. In the Roman period, Berenike became a major conduit through which passed commodities, peoples, and ideas from all over the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean as well as from areas to the south along the Nile. Berenike was peacefully abandoned sometime before about 550 AD.

Since 1994, ongoing excavations have unearthed small parts of this large site, revealing extensive evidence of its cosmopolitan character. Discoveries include documents written on ostraca, papyri, stone, and wood in at least a dozen languages (Egyptian, African, Semitic, European, Indian, and more), extensive botanical and faunal remains (including an animal cemetery), and a wide array of other archaeological evidence demonstrating Berenike’s pivotal role in the maritime and overland trade routes that linked Europe, Africa, and Asia.

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this event.

Our events typically last an hour—50 minutes for the lecture, 10 minutes for Q+A.

The speaker

Steven Sidebotham has been a professor of archaeology and ancient history in the History Department at the University of Delaware since 1981. He has been co-director of the Berenike Project since its inception in 1994. His major research interest is commercial and cultural contacts between the wider Mediterranean world and the Red Sea-Indian Ocean during Hellenistic and Roman times.

The son of a career army officer, Dr. Sidebotham was born in Germany, attended high school in Turkey and the US, and did his undergraduate studies in Egypt, Greece, and the US (University of Pennsylvania). His graduate degrees are from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Sidebotham has been an active field archaeologist since 1972, working on land and underwater in 11 countries (Italy, Greece, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, and India).