Defensive Fortress Zarw, Along The Way Of Horus In Ancient Egypt
The rich fertile lands of Egypt’s Nile Delta must have been looked on with avaricious eyes from their next-door neighbors to the east. All that lush greenery lay in stark contrast to the deserts of the Sinai and beyond. The Northern Sinai coastline was the land bridge that joined Egypt and the rest of Africa with the Middle East and beyond into Asia. The natural gateway to all that Egypt had to offer. With no real natural barriers, the need for solid defensive structures on the eastern approaches to the Delta was crucial. Here lies the Way of Horus, the Wall of the Ruler/Prince, and the fortress of Zarw. This need for defense was understood as far back as the early Fifth Dynasty, as shown by the title ‘Overseer of the Way of Horus’ found in the tomb of Hekni-Khnwm, discovered just to the south of the causeway between the Cult Temple and the Valley Temple at Giza.
The Eastern Frontier showing the Way Of Horus (green), from Zarw (Image: Courtesy Ted Loukes)
The Way Of Horus
The Way of Horus is the ancient military road that leads from the eastern Delta, following the old Mediterranean coastline, to somewhere near the current Israeli border. It is believed to be the same route as the Way of the Philistines mentioned in Exodus in The Bible. The pyramid texts of the Sixth Dynasty King Teti also mention the Way of Horus. It turns up again in the First Intermediate Period in the Instruction to Merikare, a series of policy decisions made supposedly from an aging king to his heir: “For the mooring-post is staked in the district I made in the East from Hebenu to Horusway”.
