Tura (Egypt)

Tura was a site in Ancient Egypt, located about halfway between modern Cairo and Helwan. [Grimal, Nicholas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.111. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988] It was Egypt's primary quarry for limestone. [Grimal, Nicholas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.27. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988] The limestone from Tura was the finest and whitest of all the Egyptian quarries, so it was used for facing stones for the richest tombs, [ [http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/saqqara/Egyptology/Glossary/Tura.html Tura] Accessed July 28] as well as for the floors and ceilings of mastabas which were otherwise made of mudbrick. [ [http://xoomer.alice.it/francescoraf/hesyra/helwan.htm Helwan] Accessed July 28] It was used during the Old Kingdom and was the source of the limestone used for the "Rhomboidal Pyramid" or Bent Pyramid of Snefru, [Grimal, Nicholas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.109. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988] the Great Pyramid of Khufu, [ [http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110320/pyramid.htm Great Pyramid] Accessed July 28, 2006] the sarcophagi of many old kingdom nobles, [Grimal, Nicholas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.129. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988] the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom, [Grimal, Nicholas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.177. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988] and certain temples of the New Kingdom built by at least Ahmose I, who may have used Tura limestone to begin the temple of Ptah at Memphis and the Southern Harem of Amun at Thebes. [Grimal, Nicholas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988]

The Tura limestone was deep underground and instead of open-pit mining, the miners tunnled deep underground to cut large stones out, leaving some limestone behind to support the caverns left behind. [http://www.planetware.com/helwan/quarries-of-masara-and-tura-egy-cai-quar.htm Quarries of Masara and Tura] Accessed July 28, 2006] These tunnles were surveyed in 1941, and in quarry 35, workmen found many loose quires from books by Origen and Didymus the Blind, two Alexandrian Church Fathers. The workers who found them stole them, and although some were seized by the authorities, most are still missing, and turn up on the antiquities market from time to time. It is believed that some of the original books could have been up to 480 pages. [ [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/tura_papyri.htm The Tury Discovery of Manuscripts] Accessed July 28, 2006]

Tura was known to the ancient Egyptians as Troyu or Royu. This name was misinterpreted by Strabo to mean that it was inhabited by Trojans, thus the Hellenistic city was named Troia. This site was located at coord|30|00|N|31|16|E, and its site is occupied by the modern town of Tura, Cairo Governate. [Talbert, Richard. "Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World." p. 74. (ISBN 0-691-03169-X)]

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