Retjenu

Blank topographic map of Western Asia.
Map of Western Asia
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nw		 wN25

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Retjenu[1]
(determ.-foreign land)
in hieroglyphs

Retjenu (rṯnw; Reṯenu, Retenu), later known as Khor, was the Ancient Egyptian name for the wider Syrian region, where the Semitic-speaking Canaanites lived.[2] Retjenu was located between the region north of the Sinai Desert and south of the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia.[2] The term Retjenu was used to refer to this geographical area since the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BCE).[3] The geographical area of Retjenu were defined during the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1069 BCE) and considered to have been a collection of small states ruled by princes.[3] The boundaries of the area considered Retjenu shifted throughout time due to military, political, and economic factors.[4] Retjenu was divided into two geographical regions. Djahy the southernmost region covered the area between Askalon and Mount Lebanon stretching inland to the Sea of Galilee.[2] Amurru the northern region stretched between the Lebanon and Taurus Mountains.[2] During Thutmose III's (1479–1425 BCE) military campaigns in West Asia, the area of Djahy was referred to as Upper Retjenu and generally covered the area of Canaan.[3] Lower Retjenu was used to refer to the area of Amurru but also incorporated the cities located along Phoenician coast.[3]

The Egyptian term "Aamu", translated as "Asiatic", was used to refer to the people originating from the Levant.[5] In the Twelfth Dynasty (1991–1802 BCE) text Story of Sinuhe, "Aamu" is applied about the people of Retjenu.[5] The term "Western Asiatic" has been used to refer to the people of Retjenu but can be used to generally refer to the lands now located in modern Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, the Red Sea, and the Caucasus.[6]

  1. ^ Faulkner, Ramond O. Middle Egyptian. p. 154. Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1962.
  2. ^ a b c d Steindorff, George; Seele, Keith C. (2014) [1942]. "VI. Western Asia in the middle of the second millennium B.C.". When Egypt Ruled the East (revised ed.). University of Chicago Press. p. 47. ISBN 0-226-22855-X Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Vassiliev, Alexandre (2020-01-01). "Upper Retenu and Lower Retenu". Pp. 159-167 in C. Graves (Ed.), BEC 4: Proceedings of the Fourth British Egyptology Congress University of Manchester, 7-9 September 2018. London: EES.
  4. ^ Martin, Geoffrey T. (1998). "The Toponym Retjenu on a Scarab from Tell el-Dabʿa". Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant. 8: 109–112. ISSN 1015-5104. JSTOR 23786957.
  5. ^ a b Kamrin, Janice (2009). "The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan". Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections. 1 (3): 22–36. ISSN 1944-2815.
  6. ^ Saretta, Phyllis (2016-01-28). Asiatics in Middle Kingdom Egypt: Perceptions and Reality. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4725-0214-8.