DEFENSIVE FORTIFICATIONS IN BARIS OASIS, EL-KHARGA AT THE END OF THE 13th CENTURY H. (19th CENTURY A.D.): AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL STUDY

Abstract

Numerous archaeological studies have investigated military buildings in different Egyptiancities throughout the Islamic Era as an important type of Islamic buildings. However, thesestudies have not taken into consideration the military buildings built in the Oasis of Egypt'sWest Desert, whose architectural history does not receive as much attention by ancienthistorians and modern researchers as other Egyptian cities such as Cairo and Alexandria orany other Egyptian city. Had it not been for the incidental dispersed references made by somegeographers and historians to oases in the Islamic Era such as Al-Masoudi, Ibn Hawqal, IbnDaqmaq and others, there would have been almost no news about these oases. All thesereferences indicate the isolation of these oases from consecutive ruling authorities in Cairoand their weak position at that time. As a result of this isolation and neglect, the oases wereexposed throughout the Islamic Era to a lot of attacks and raids by those who coveted theirwealth. They were ruled by Al Abdoun of the barbaric Lowata tribe. They were invaded by theNubians in the mid (4th century H. /10th century A.D.). They were attacked by Banu Sulaym atthe end of the 11th century H. /17th century A.D. After that the Nubians came back and raidedthem in the early (13th century H. /19th century A.D.) Then, the oases, especially Paris, wereattacked by Al-Darawish coming from the Sudan through Darb Al-Arba'in in (1311 H. /1893A.D.). Therefore, during that period, a lot of defensive fortifications were constructed in thisoasis, only five tawabi (plural of tabia meaning fortresses) survived as they were thesouthern border of El-Kharga Oases and their first defense line against these attackspreventing them from penetrating into the north. This paper provides an accurate architecturaldocumentation of the architecture of these tawabi which have not been investigated by anyprevious studies and of what remained of their architectural units and elements, especiallythat there are many factors which led to the deterioration of their architecture. The paper thenmakes a comparison between their planning and the planning of their contemporarycounterparts which were constructed in other Egyptian cities, to highlight the similarities anddifferences between them on the one hand, and to have thorough knowledge of the designpatterns of this kind of military buildings in Egypt at this time of its history on the other hand.