Controlling the borders of the empire: the distribution of Late-Roman ‘forts’ in the Kharga oasis

In the Western Desert, the Romans installed a series of fortresses very similar in shape and size, all placed at important desert crossroads: Qasr Qarun in the Fayyum, Qaret el-Toub in Bahariya, el-Qasr in Dakhla and el-Deir in Kharga. Logically, another similar fortress should be located in Farafra, probably at the intersection of the two tracks connecting Dakhla, Bahariya and Siwa; perhaps future research in the area will uncover evidence of such an installation. The function of these fortresses must have been twofold: controlling the local trade and representing a network of reference points for the army. This article analyses their distribution across Egypt's Western Desert.