A new look at the Butic Canal, Egypt

Robert Schiestl

doi:10.5194/egqsj-70-29-2021

Abstract

Abstract. The Butic Canal – a Roman period transversal route across the northern Nile Delta – was the longest artificial watercourse in the Nile Delta, yet it remains very poorly understood. To date, the canal has not yet been verified by archeological excavations. The route of the eastern section of the canal has been indirectly identified based on a linear elevated feature most likely representing earth from the excavation of the canal. This study combines the analysis of historical sources and remote sensing data, such as satellite imagery and the TanDEM-X digital elevation model, in order to discuss its date of construction, route, and functions. Based on the data of the digital elevation model, new constructional features are visible in the eastern delta providing the first detailed route of a Roman-era artificial watercourse in Egypt. It is suggested that the canal's construction is placed in the context of imperial investments in the infrastructure of the eastern part of the Roman empire.

Highlights

The Boutikos potamos, the Butic Canal, is named and described only in one ancient source, a 2nd century CE geographic treatise written in Greek by Ptolemy (Klaudios Ptolemaios, 4, 5, 44; Stückelberger and Graßhoff, 2006)
If the town of Buto is no longer connected to the Butic Canal, how can the designation of Butic Canal be explained? Butic does not necessarily refer to the town alone but is applied to a larger region, the “land of Wadjet (Buto)”, which we find outlined in the Satrap Stela of the late 4th century BCE (Schäfer, 2011)
The Butic Canal was most likely created by reactivating existing canals: a Flavian section in the western delta and a possibly Pharaonic route in the eastern delta

Summary

Introduction

The Boutikos potamos, the Butic Canal, is named and described only in one ancient source, a 2nd century CE geographic treatise written in Greek by Ptolemy (Klaudios Ptolemaios, 4, 5, 44; Stückelberger and Graßhoff, 2006). Inter alia, a landscape archeological angle, the ancient land- and waterscapes were investigated using historic maps, satellite images, auger core drillings, and a digital elevation model (DEM). While this has resulted in much new information on the ancient water courses of the region (Ginau et al, 2019), no features were discerned which suggest themselves as a regional segment of the Butic Canal. 4 in the context of the reconstruction of the route This will be preceded by a discussion of the textual sources for the canal This investigation combines ancient historical textual sources, archeological sources, and remote sensing information

Textual evidence

Chronology

The route

Conclusions