Paleogeography of Egypt about 2000 B.P. : Geospatial analysis and Cartographic Verifcation of the Journey of The Holy Family using GIS and Remote Sensing

Abstract

This thesis, entitled “PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF EGYPT ABOUT 2000 B.P. Geospatial analysis and Cartographic Verification of the Journey of The Holy Family using GIS and Remote Sensing”, aimed to redraw the path of the Holy Family from its escape from Bethlehem to Egypt, until its return to Nazareth again. In addition to the spatial verification of the locations of the itinerary stations. The thesis consists of five chapters, each of which deals with multiple aspects, in addition to 62 figures and 32 tables. The first chapter discusses all the sources and references that referred to the names of the stations of the Holy Family's journey from the first century AD to 2022 which the researcher was able to obtain. The chapter ends with a map of the locations of all known stations, 62 in Egypt and 9 in Palestine, in addition to 12 unknown stations. While the second chapter presented the cartographic spatial verification of the path stations that were referred to in the first chapter, which are located in Palestine and the northern sector of North Sinai. the old road network was checked. That is after verifying the ancient Roman road network and its stations as part of a base map for these two regions. The chapter concluded with a map of the confirmed itinerary, which extends through these two mentioned regions. In the same context, the third chapter presented the ancient Roman road network in Egypt, especially in the Nile Delta and the valley until Asyut in the south, where it is the last stop for which the itinerary extended according to the documents. The chapter also presented a proposed result for a part of the path that was not previously mentioned in any of the references, which extends from al-al-Ma’adi in the south of Cairo to Deir al-Garnous, which is located in the north of Minia. The chapter ended with a presentation of the confirmed path stations in the Nile Valley and Delta region. To complete a geographical base map to verify the path of the Holy Family's journey, it was necessary to verify the extension of the network of the Nile River branches and the ancient canals at the time of the Holy Family, which is what was presented in the fourth chapter. The chapter also presented a proposal for a map of the ancient river branches and their extension, and the spatial changes of some of the geomorphological units that make up the delta, according to what was obtained from databases and atlases specific to that period. A simulation of the ancient Nile flood levels on the current topographic surface in Egypt was presented, to remedy the current climatic changes and fluctuations. The chapter concluded with the locating of the stations of the Holy Family's journey path on the map of the ancient Nile branches. The spatial analysis was carried out using GIS in the fifth chapter, to elicit the extent of congruence and spatial compatibility between the stations of the itinerary and the two networks of old roads and Nile branches. The reasons that led to the deviation of some stations from the logical cartographic geographical extension of the flight path were explained. As a result, 2 roads were proposed for the Holy Family's flight from Palestine to Egypt, and 3 roads for its return to Nazareth again. Accordingly, the main objective of the thesis has been reached, which is to verify the road and its stations, after the proposed final map of the Holy Family's journey (Escape and Return) was produced.