Coordinates: 25°7′8″N 32°47′52″E / 25.11889°N 32.79778°E / 25.11889; 32.79778

Eileithuia / el-Kab

El Kab is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of Wadi Hillal, about 80 km south of Luxor, consisting of prehistoric and Pharaonic settlements, rock-cut tombs of the early 18th Dynasty (1550-1295 BC), remains of temples dating from the Early Dynastic period (3100-2686 BC) to the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC), as well as part of the walls of a Coptic monastery. First scientifically excavated by James Quibell at the end of the nineteenth century, the site has been investigated primarily by Belgian archaeologists since 1937.

Ancient Nekheb[link]

The walled Pharaonic settlement of Nekheb was one of the first urban centres of the Early Dynastic period, and for a short time in the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) it eclipsed in the city of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) on the opposite bank, becoming the capital of the third nome of Upper Egypt. Its massive mud-brick walls, dating to the Late Period (747-332 BC) and still largely preserved, enclosed an area of about 25,000 sq. m. Near the centre of the town are the remains of sand-stone temples dedicated to the deities Nekhbet and Thoth, which date primarily to the 18th to 30th Dynasties (1550-343 BC), but the original foundation of the temple of Nekhbet almost certainly dates back to the late fourth millennium BC.

It is the site of the ancient city Nekheb, the companion city to Nekhen. The city is surrounded by a massive mud-brick wall, thought to have been built by Nectanebo II as a defensive measure.

Necropolis[link]

The necropolis has some important tombs, showing the early history of the 18th Dynasty and the reunification of Egypt. The rock-tombs of the provincial governors of El-Kab in the New Kingdom include those of Sobeknakht II an important official whose saved the Theban 16th or 17th dynasty from near destruction by invading forces from Kush, Ahmose, son of Ebana, an admiral in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos rulers (c.1550 BC), and Setau, a priest during the reign of Ramesses II (1184-1153 BC). The style of the early 18th Dynasty wall-paintings anticipates that of the first New Kingdom nobles' tombs at Thebes.

Ptolemaic and Roman eras[link]

During the Greco-Roman period, the town flourished and became known as Eileithyiaspolis (Latin: Lucinae Civitas).

Ancient campsites[link]

In 1967 Pierre Vermeersch discovered a series of well-stratified epipalaeolithic campsites. Radiocarbon-dated to c.6400-5980 BC, these are the type-sites of the Elkabian microlithic industry, filling a gap in the prehistoric cultural sequence of Egypt, between the Upper Palaeolithic period (c.10,000 BC) and the earliest Neolithic phase (c.5500 BC)

References[link]

• J.E Quibell, El-Kab (London, 1898).-, 'L'Elkabien. Une nouvelle industrie epipaleolithique a Elkab en Haute Egypte, sa stratigraphic, sa typologie'. CdE 45 (1970), 45-68.
• P.Derchain and P.Vermeersch, Elkab, 2 vols (Brussels and Louvain, 1971-8).

Bibliography[link]

• Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, 92-3.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: El Kab

• El Kab at Project Gutenberg by James E. Quibell (1898 account of archeological expedition)

Ludovic (Ludo) Coeck (25 September 1955 – 9 October 1985) was a Flemish-Belgian footballer who played as left winger or central midfielder. His clubs included Berchem Sport, Anderlecht, Internazionale and Ascoli Calcio. He was capped for the Belgian national team 46 times.

Coeck was a member of the Belgian squad at España 82, where he played in all five of his country's games and scored with a long-range free-kick against El Salvador, and at Euro 84, where he appeared as a substitute in the defeats by France and Denmark.

On 7 October 1985, while he was on his way back to Brussels, after signing for Lierse, Coeck was badly injured when his BMW ploughed into crash barriers near the town of Rumst. He died two days later, at the University of Antwerp Clinic in Edegem.

External links[link]

• Profile at weltfussball

v t e Belgium squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Pfaff 2 Gerets (c) 3 L. Millecamps 4 Meeuws 5 Renquin 6 Vercauteren 7 Vandereycken 8 Van Moer 9 Vandenbergh 10 Coeck 11 Ceulemans 12 Custers 13 Van der Elst 14 Baecke 15 De Schrijver 16 Plessers 17 Verheyen 18 Mommens 19 M. Millecamps 20 Vandersmissen 21 Czerniatynski 22 Munaron Coach: Thys

v t e Belgium squad – UEFA Euro 1984 1 Pfaff 2 Grün 3 Lambrichts 4 Clijsters 5 De Wolf 6 Vercauteren 7 Vandereycken 8 Claesen 9 Vandenbergh 10 Coeck 11 Ceulemans(c) 12 Munaron 13 Baecke 14 De Greef 15 Verheyen 16 Scifo 17 Voordeckers 18 Czerniatynski 19 Mommens 20 De Coninck Coach: Thys