By Ali Abu Dashesh
This city is still basking in eternity up till now. Its history distinguishes it from the daily life in the temporary Egypt.
It is Tanis that situates at the utmost north part of Egypt. It was called as Ge’ent in the texts of Ancient Egypt.
However, it was known as So;an in Hebrew and Tanis in Greek language.
The Arabs called it “ San El Hager” due to many monuments built in stone there.
Tanis is located on the Tanis tributary of the Nile River next to Al Husseina and Faqous cities in Al-Sharqia Governorate, some 200 km east to Cairo.
Dr Hussein Bassir, an archaeologist, said that Tanis is one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.
It was the metropolis of the 19th nome ( province in the Lower Ancient Egypt). It was also one of the main cities of the Delta.
Tanis’ importance appeared by the end of the Modern State in Ancient Egypt.
It was the capital of Egypt during eras of the less-political importance the 21st and 22nd Dynasties although they left richly history.
Archaeological diggings in Tanis begun with Auguste Mariette and William Flinders Petrie.
Pierre Monte, a French archaeologist succeeded in 1939 in discovering a number of royal graves of kings of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties and senior officials during their eras. Those graves were the burial chambers of seven kings of the two ruling families except of KingS Samendes and Amun EM Neesu from the 21st dynasty and Shoshenq I and Osorkon I from the 22nd dynasty.
The most famous royal graves at Tanis are those of Shoshenq III and Osorkon II.
Tanis amazes the world for its many beautiful artifacts extracted from its tombs.
The Egyptian Museum houses a whole hall to show pieces transferred from Tanis.
Those items were compared to ones of collection of the Golden Pharaoh, Tutankhamen ".
Sarcophaguses, jewelry, artifacts made from lapis lazuli and funeral masks of kings were among pieces found in the royal toms in Tanis.
A visit to Tanis makes one recalls thousands of years when the city lives its golden age.
Digging in Tanis is still going.
Philip Bresseau, a French archaeologist discovered site of the holy lagoon of the deity Mut ( wife of Amun and mother of Khonsu) in 2009.
The three deities are trinity of Tanis which likes one of Thebes so some depicters Tanis as Thebes of the Delta.
The length of the holy pond is 12 meters and its width is 15 and stone-lined of lime stone. The pond is the second one discovered in Tanis after another which was discovered in 1928.
Archaeologist are looking forward to finding more artifacts over the next seasons of digging.
Contributed by Ahmed Moamar
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