REVIEW of Hélène Cuvigny, Ostraca de Krokodilô

Hélène Cuvigny, Ostraca de Krokodilô. La correspondence militaire et sa circulation (O. Krok. 1-151). Praesidia du désert de Bérénice II. Fouilles de l'IFAO 51. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 2005. Pp. 283. ISBN 2-7247-0370-7. €35.00.


Reviewed by Thomas Kruse, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Word count: 2653 words

Hélène Cuvigny is a distinguished expert on the area of the Egyptian Eastern desert between the Red Sea and the valley of the Nile in the Roman period. Since 1994 in the context of a research project which is funded by the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale in Cairo she has been entrusted with the exploration of the network of the small Roman forts (praesidia) along the 180 km road leading from Qift (ancient Koptos) to Qusayr on the Read Sea. Almost at the beginning of this project it turned out that Qusayr or (to be more precise) the ancient site of Qusayr al-Qadîm, 5 km north of the modern town, is the ancient sea port of Myos Hormos, which had until then been located in historical maps of the region about 160 km further to the north along the Red Sea coast. more at BMCR

publisher: IFAO