Travailler dans les mines d’or ptolémaïques du désert Oriental égyptien

Abstract

The French Eastern Desert archaeological mission excavated, in 2014 and 2015, a gold mine operated by the Ptolemies in the late fourth century BC. Among the surface remains, besides the technical facilities related to the transformation of quartz ore into gold, four rooms, used as dormitories and workshops, were uncovered. They probably housed the prisoners employed in and around the mine, whose inhumane living conditions were described by an ancient geographer, Agatharchides.

Keywords

• Eastern desert
• Egypt
• archaeology
• gold mine
• Lagides
• prisoners