Archaeologists have uncovered an entrance to a large stone temple in an ancient Egyptian town, Athribis, near the modern city of Sohag.
The south tower of the Athribis pylon and the hill behind it. It is believed that there is a sanctuary here. Image credit. Marcus Müller, Athribis Project.
“The entrance to the temple in the rock appears to lie beneath a still-untouched pile of rubble behind it,” said archaeologists Professor Christian Reitz and Dr Markus Müller from the University of Tübingen.
“Since 2022, we have been working with Mohamed Abdelbadia of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority and the Egyptian team at Asribis to excavate the large stone temple.”
“Excavations have been underway since 2012 to reveal an ancient temple district built between 144 BC and 138 AD.”
“The width of the complex was a total of 51 meters, and the monumental temple entrance towers were each 18 meters high.”
“Today there is only about five meters left. The rest was sacrificed to quarrying,” they added.
“Thanks to the fallen coins, the removal of this stone may have taken place in 752 or shortly thereafter.”
Archaeologists also discovered a relief of a king offering a sacrifice to the lion-headed goddess Lepit and her son Kolantes.
A newly discovered hieroglyphic inscription reveals for the first time which king was responsible for the decoration of the pylon, and perhaps also for its construction: Ptolemy VIII in the 2nd century BC.
“We unexpectedly encountered a previously unknown chamber in the northern tower,” the researchers said.
“We used air cushions, wooden scaffolding and rollers to remove ceiling blocks weighing approximately 20 tonnes.”
“We found a chamber about 6 meters long and 3 meters wide.”
“It was a storage room for temple utensils and was later used to store amphora.”
“A corridor led to the room through a pylon, allowing access from outside.''
“This entrance is also decorated with reliefs and hieroglyphs,” they added.
“Once again we see the goddess Lepit, but on the opposite door frame the fertility god Min is depicted, along with two very rarely depicted beings, the falcon-headed decan (who can measure the hours of the night) It is accompanied by a star.
“Unique in Egyptian temple architecture is the second door in the façade of the pylon, which opens onto a previously unknown staircase that led to the upper floors on at least four floors. It has now been destroyed and further storage rooms may be rebuilt there.”
“Finely smoothed limestone blocks in vertically cut rock facades may belong to rock sanctuaries,” says Professor Wrights.
“The finds over 3 meters high and the typical decorations at the top of the temple, such as the cobra frieze, indicate that there may have been a door behind the temple.”
Source: www.sci.news
