Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Deir el-Gabrawi, the most important Old Kingdom necropolis of the Upper Egyptian 12^th nome, is formed of two cliffs, the northern one near the village of Arab el-Atiyat and the southern one near the village of Deir el-Gabrawi. Its tombs date back to the late Old Kingdom, although an earlier chronology has been suggested. However, no trace of a contemporary town has yet been found. Later on, a late Roman locality called Hierakon and the quartering of a Roman cohort were built in its close vicinity, and the dead from these settlements were buried in the tombs of the old necropolis. A rather peculiar characteristic of Deir el-Gabrawi is that some local governors simultaneously controlled the 12^th as well as the 8^th Upper Egyptian nomes during the 6^th Dynasty.