Meir, Egypt
| Meir | |
|---|---|
 Meir
|
|
| Coordinates: 27°27′N 30°45′E / 27.450°N 30.750°E | |
| Country |
 Egypt
|
| Governorate | Asyut |
| Time zone | EST (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 (UTC) |
Meir is a village in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile, in the Asyut Governorate, some 7 kilometers southwest of el-Qusiya (Cusae). The modern village is situated at coordinates 27°27′00″N 30°45′00″E / 27.45000°N 30.75000°E, while the necropolis is located at 27°25′00″N 30°43′00″E / 27.41667°N 30.71667°E.
Meir was the functioning cemetery for Cusae, located in Egypt, approximately thirty to forty miles north of the city of Asyut. Meir functioned as an Old Kingdom-Middle Kingdom (6th-12th Dynasty) cemetery for the nomarchs of the fourteenth Nome of Upper Egypt. Below the hillside of the rock-cut tombs lies a cemetery that is specifically for the more common folk. The rock-cut tombs only functioned for nomarchs of the city of Cusae. Cusae was believed to be a cult center for the Egyptian deity Hathor. Proof of Hathor worshiping was found on inscriptions on the walls of the rock-cut tombs, which included numerous mentioning of the ‘Priestesses’ of Hathor’ as well as numerous depictions of cows. Aylward Blackman was the primary excavator of the site and as a result he published six volumes of work pertaining to his findings. The tombs are laid out North to South along a hillside and Blackman labeled the chapel-tombs A-E. Meir is known to have one of the richest sources of Middle Kingdom tombs. It is also known for the tombs having extremely detailed reliefs illustrating daily life scenes. Examples of well excavated tombs of this site include the tombs of Ukh-Hotep and Pepyankh the Middle.
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