The Cut in the Pass at 'Aqabat el-'Urqūb / המעבר החצוב בעקבת אל-ערקוב

• Published in: ארץ-ישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה 1973-01, Vol.יא, p.290-292
• Main Authors: תמרי, שמואל, השמשוני, אביה, Tamari, E., Hashimshoni, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: Hebrew
• ISSN: 0071-108X

Anyone seeing the pass cut by Qānṣūh al-Ghaūrī (Sultan 1501—1516) through 'Aqabat al-'Urqūb, in the first quarter of the Egyptian Darb al-Ḥadj, asks what its significance was. The topographical considerations of improving the route, facilitating passage and allowing a temporary halt there, appear to be only partly cogent. It is difficult to assume that the work was essential, for the spot could have been detoured. It would appear that, besides the functional consideration, the project was intended to serve as a monument to Qānṣūh al-Ghaūrī's enterprises along the entire length of the Darb. This interpretation is based on the monumental inscription carved into the eastern wall of the pass. Two items in the inscription tend to strengthen this interpretation: It does not relate only to 'Aqabat al-'Urqūb but to a series of main stations all along the Darb; and its first line includes the first three verses of Sūrat al-Fatḥ (Quran 48); these verses are often quoted in connection with the hadj and in commemorative structures. A symbolic interpretation of the project is plausible, possibly serving also to explain the remains of the two abradj ("towers") and other structures still extant near the pass. W. E. Jennings-Bramley (Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement, 1911, p. 36) interpreted the two towers as "Alamas" (ā'lām), that is, heaps of stone, signposts to which every pilgrim and traveler added a stone of his own. This interpretation is apparently based on a custom, found in Palestine and Arabia, of erecting heaps of stones at certain points along roads, at which holy sites or important cities are first visible, It is doubtful, however, that pilgrims could have so casually deposited the very large stones making up the towers.