Shipwrecks & Lost Worlds - Qasr el Banat: Rome's desert watering outpost

Qasr el Banat is an ancient Roman fort situated along the Wadi Hammamat road, which connected the Red Sea to the Nile River. The route was protected by fortified watering stations known as hydreumata to secure trade from mountain mines. Measuring roughly twenty-eight by thirty-six meters, the small station featured a central courtyard framed by rooms and a possible southern cistern. The surrounding cliffs and station stones bear centuries of carved graffiti, dating from ancient Egyptian dynasties through the Roman and Islamic eras.

Source: Wikipedia