Amka

Amka or Amqa (Hebrew: עַמְקָה Arabic: عمقا‎) is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The location of the moshav roughly corresponds the former Arab village, depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Yemenite Jews, who arrived from the southern Arab country of Yemen, founded the village's successor Amka in 1949. In 2014 its population was 629.

Etymology

Palmer thought the name Amka to come from the Arabic form of “deep”, while Ringgren suggested that the name preserves the name of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27 as part of the allotment of the Tribe of Asher.

History

Ancient history

During the Roman period, the village located at the same site was called Kefar Amqa. In the Byzantine period the location was probably identified with the village of "Amico".

During the Crusades

During the Crusader period, it was referred to as Amca. In 1179 Joscelin III acquired the land of the village, and in 1220 Jocelyn III´s daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben, Count of Henneberg, sold their land, including ‘’Amca’’, to the Teutonic Knights.

Amka (official)

Amka was the name of an ancient Egyptian senior official who served the Pharaohs Djer, Djet and Den during the First Dynasty of Egypt. He is the first early Egyptian official whose career can be traced almost continuously.

Amka served during three reigns in the First Dynasty; his name appears on seal impressions from the tombs of the pharaohs Djer, Djet and Den and of Queen Merneith in the royal cemetery at Abydos. His career began in the last years of the reign of King Djer, continued through the reign of Djet and ended in the first years of the reign of King Den, when Merneith was regent. Under Djer he was already involved in the administration of the domain of "Hor-sekhenti-dju" and had the titles "nebi" and "heri-nehenu".

He retained the latter title under Djet. Under Merneith and Den, he appears to have reached the height of his career, achieving the rank of mortuary priest (sekhenu-akh). His last position was as district administrator (adj-mer) of the House of the Calf (hut-ihut), a district in the western Nile Delta, probably near Kom el-Hisn. He appears to have moved from the administration of royal foundations to regional administration.