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Archaeologist Reveals Dazzling History at Tanis, Delta of Thebes


Thu 11 Jul 2019 | 03:50 PM
Ahmed Moamar

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