Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Four New Egyptian Temples Discovered

Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed four new Egyptian temples amidst the 3,000 yr old remains of an ancient fortified city that could have been used to impress foreign delegations visiting Egypt, antiquities authorities announced.

The find was made in Qantara, a couple of miles east of the Suez Canal. These Egyptian temples mark the latest discovery by archaeologists digging up the remains of the city on the military road known as "Way of Horus." Horus is a falcon-headed god, who represented the greatest cosmic powers for ancient Egyptians.

Among the discoveries was the largest mud brick temple found in the Sinai with an area of 70 by 80 meters and fortified with mud walls 3 meters thick, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The Way of Horus once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present-day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

The chief of the excavation team Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud stated the large brick temple could potentially rewrite the historical and military significance of the Sinai for the ancient Egyptians. The temple contains four hallways, three stone purification bowls and colorful inscriptions commemorating Ramses I and II. The grandeur and sheer size of the temple could have been used to impress armies and visiting foreign delegations as they arrived in Egypt.

The dig has been part of a joint project with the Culture Ministry that started in 1986 to find fortresses along the military road. Hawass said early studies suggested the fortified city had been Egypt's military headquarters from the New Kingdom (1569-1081 B.C.) until the Ptolemaic era, a period lasting about 1500 years.

Abdel-Maqsoud said the fortified city corresponded to the inscriptions of the Way of Horus found on the walls of the Karnak Temple in Luxor which illustrated the features of 11 military fortresses that protected Egypt's eastern borders. Only five of them have been discovered to date.

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