{
    "type": "FeatureCollection",
    "name": "site",
    "crs": {
        "type": "name",
        "properties": {
            "name": "EPSG:4326"
        }
    },
    "features": [
        {
            "type": "Feature",
            "geometry": {
                "type": "Point",
                "coordinates": [
                    25.407194,
                    29.228
                ]
            },
            "properties": {
                "id": 69,
                "site_uri": "https:\/\/4care-skos.mf.no\/site\/69",
                "modern_name": "Bil\u0101d al-R\u016bm",
                "ancient_name": "",
                "typology": "cemetery",
                "date_from": 350,
                "date_to": 500,
                "dating_criteria": "Text content and onomastics of the stelae.",
                "place_names": [
                    {
                        "language": "Arabic",
                        "pl_name": "\u0628\u0644\u0627\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0648\u0645"
                    }
                ],
                "trismegistos_uri": "https:\/\/www.trismegistos.org\/place\/61707",
                "pleiades_uri": "",
                "paths_uri": "",
                "description": "The site is located in the western region of S\u012bwa Oasis, to the west of \u1e2aam\u012bsa. The region includes a cemetery comprising numerous rock-cut graves dating from the Greco-Roman period (the area of interest), in addition to the remains of a mud-brick building at the foot of the mountain, and, further south, the remains of the so-called \u2018Doric Temple\u2019, dating from the first century CE, and a quarry. The mud-brick structure is considered by the inhabitants to have been a church, though the only support of this claim is the Siwan Manuscript, \u201ca 19th century writ preserving a mixture of Arab literary sources on Siwa and oral traditions about local history and law\u201d, which states that the area around the church was inhabited by \u201cwomen of ill-repute\u201d (Kuhlmann 1998: 174-175; Stanley 1911: 35-41; Fakhry 1944: 69, fig. 2; id 1973: 39; Bliss 1985: 108-31; Ghica 2012: 266). These ruins, known as Kasr el-Roum, or \u2018El-Amoudein\u2019 by Rohlfs, have also been considered to have been a Roman camp or a mausoleum (Rohlfs 1871: 92; Fakhry 1973, 90, 126, n. 2; Al-Dumayr\u012b 2005: 138; id 2007: 61; Ghica 2012: 268). Fakhry included a photograph of this structure in his earlier work (Fakhry 1944, pl. ix).\u00a0\r\nAccording to the local Egyptian inspectors, c. 150 rock-cut tombs in the mountain were inventoried, in addition to a number of built tombs at the foot of the mountain. These later tombs included poorly mummified human remains which were both interred in the ground and simply placed on the floor. Three funerary stelae were found in one of these later structures (see artefacts), repurposed from earlier architectural elements, which contained explicitly Christian content, indicating that these were in fact the tombs of Christians (Al-Dumayr\u012b 2005: 144-146, figs. 1 and 2; Al-Dumayr\u012b 2007: 60-61, figs. 54-57; Ghica 2012: 267). Although the Christian presence in S\u012bwa is known via texts, with, among others, heretical bishops from the Thebaid sent there in the fourth-century and exiles already in the third century (Ghica 2012: 264), this is the first archaeological evidence documenting a Christian community (Ghica 2012: 264, n. 460). The earliest textual evidence of a bishopric derives from a recently identified source, the Historia Episcopatus Alexandriae, dated to the late fourth century (Ghica 2012: 265, n. 466 and 467). The text, preserved in Ethiopic, mentions two bishops of Amm\u014dniak\u0113 (S\u012bwa), \u1e56a\u1e6daroq\u0101los and \u1e56a(n)filos (Bausi, Camplani 2016: 275), both ordained by Theonas, pope of Alexandria between 282 and 300.",
                "archaeological_research": "The site was visited by numerous early travellers with brief notes included in their travellogues, including William G. Browne, who \u2018discovered\u2019 the so-called \u2018Doric Temple\u2019 in 1792 (Browne 1799: 27), accompanied by the likes of F. Cailliaud in 1819 (Cailliaud 1826: 72), H. F. V. Minutoli in 1820 (Minutoli 1824: 173), G. Rohlfs 1869 (Rohlfs 1871: 92) and G. Steindorff (Steindorff, 1904: 126). Fakhry visited the site in the 1940s and included references in two works (1944 and 1975).\r\nMost of the archaeological interest in the area has focused on the \u2018Doric Temple\u2019. A Greek misison, directed by Liana Souvaltzi, began excavating the temple in 1989, and in 1995 the claim was made that it was the burial place of Alexander the Great, leading to much controversy and eventually the revocation of the team\u2019s permission to conduct excavations in Egypt. The misison did, however, reveal fragments of a large Greek inscription dating to the reign of Hadrian (Nur el-Din 1995: 45-46; Kuhlmann 1998: 164). The only archaeological work known to have taken place in the actual funerary area was that of the SCA, with work conducted between 1997 and 2001, under the direction of al-Dumayr\u012b (Al-Dumayr\u012b 2005; id 2007). A ceramic prospection was conducted in March 2009 by V. Ghica and D. Dixneuf, as part of a larger survey of S\u012bwa, in the hopes of clarifying dating elements related to the \u2018Christian\u2019 tomb, but none were able to be identified (Ghica 2012: 267).",
                "bibliography": "\u2022 Al-Dumayr\u012b, A. A. 2005. \u0633\u064a\u0648\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0627\u0636\u064a \u0648\u0627\u0644\u062d\u0627\u0636\u0631. Alexandria: Yasso.\u2022 Aldumairy, A. A. 2007. L\u2019Oasis de Siwa: d\u2019hier \u00e0 aujourd\u2019hui, 60-61. Alexandria: Yasso.\u2022 Bausi, A. and Camplani, A. 2016. \u201cThe History of the Episcopate of Alexandria (HEpA): Editio minor of the fragments preserved in the Aksumite Collection and in the Codex Veronensis LX (58).\u201d Adamantius 22: 249-302.\u2022 Belgrave, Ch. D. 1923. Siwa. The Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. London: John Lane.\u2022 Bliss, F. 1985. \u201cSitte und Recht in Siwa (Westliche W\u00fcste \u00c4gyptens).\u201d Der Islam 62: 108-131.\u2022 Browne, W. G. 1799. Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria, from the Year 1792 to 1798. London: Printed for T. Cadell junior and W. Davies, Strand ; And T.N. Longman and O. Rees, Paternoster-Row\u2022 Bruhn, K.-C. 2010. Kein Tempel der Pracht: Architektur und Geschichte des Tempels aus der Zeit des Amasis auf A\u0121\u016brm\u012b, Oase Siwa. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.\u2022 Cailliaud, F. 1826. Voyage \u00e0 M\u00e9ro\u00e9, au fleuve blanc, au-del\u00e0 de F\u00e2zoqi dans le midi du Royaume de Senn\u00e2r, \u00e0 Syouah et dans cinq autres oasis; fait dans les ann\u00e9es 1819, 1820, 1821 et 1822, tome I et II. Paris: Imprimerie Royale.\u2022 Fakhry, A. 1944. Siwa Oasis: Its History and Antiquities.\u00a0Cairo:\u00a0Government Press.\u2022 Fakhry, A. 1973. Siwa Oasis. Cairo: \u00a0American University in Cairo Press.\u2022 Ghica, V. 2012. \u201cPour une histoire du christianisme dans le d\u00e9sert Occidental d\u2019\u00c9gypte.\u201d Journal des savants 2: 264-268.\u2022 Kuhlmann, K. P. 1988. Das Ammoneion: Arch\u00e4ologie, Geschichte und Kultpraxis des Orakels von\u00a0Siwa. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.\u2022 Kuhlmann, K. P. 1998. \u201cRoman and Byzantine Siwa: Developing. Latent Picture.\u201d In Life on the Fringe. Living in the Southern Egyptian Deserts during the Roman and Early-Byzantine Periods. Proceedings of a Colloquium Held on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo 9-12 December 1996, edited by O. E. Kaper, 159-180. Leiden: Research School CNWS.\u2022 Minutoli, H. F. V. 1824. Reise zum Tempel des Jupiter Ammon in der Libyschen W\u00fcste und nach Ober-Aegypten in den Jahren 1820 und 1821. Berlin:\u00a0August R\u00fccker.\u2022 Nur el-Din, M. A. H. 1995. \"Eine wichrige arch\u00e4ologische Entdeckung. Bericht vom 7.3.95 \u00fcber die Ausgrabung einer griechischen Expedition in al-Maraqi bei Siwa.\u201d Kemet April: 45-46\u2022 Rohlfs, G. 1871. Von Tripolis nach Alexandrien : Beschreibung der im Auftrage Sr. Majest\u00e4t des K\u00f6nigs von Preussen in den Jahren 1868 und 1869 ausgef\u00fchrten Reise, Vol.\u00a0\u00a02. Bremen: K\u00fchtmann.\u2022\u00a0Stanley, C. V. B. 1911. A Report on the Oasis of Siwa. Cairo: Egyptian Government, The Department of Health.\u2022 Steindorff, G. 1904. Durch die Libysche W\u00fcste zur Amonsoase.\u00a0Bielefeld [u.a.]:\u00a0Velhagen & Klasing.\u2022 Wagner, G. 1987. Les Oasis d\u2019\u00c9gypte \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque grecque, romaine et byzantine d\u2019apr\u00e8s les documents grecs: Recherches de papyrologie et d\u2019\u00e9pigraphie grecques. Cairo: Institut fran\u00e7ais d\u2019arch\u00e9ologie orientale.",
                "external_links": [],
                "authors": [
                    {
                        "author": "Victor Ghica",
                        "year": "2021"
                    },
                    {
                        "author": "Rhiannon Williams",
                        "year": ""
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}