Graeco-Roman temple uncovered east of Siwa Oasis

CAIRO – 7 April 2018: The remains of a Graeco-Roman temple was uncovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities while performing excavations at the Al-Salam archaeological site on Wednesday.


The remains of a Graeco-Roman temple was uncovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities Wednesday - the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities Official Facebook Page.

Al-Salam archaeological site is about 50 kilometers east of Siwa Oasis. Aymen Ashmawi, the head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, recounted that they uncovered the front part of the temple in addition to parts of its foundations, its main entrance and one-meter thick stones from its outer wall.
The outer wall leads to a front courtyard with entrances to chambers. Ashmawi said he expects the rest of the temple to be excavated this year.


The remains of a Graeco-Roman temple was uncovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities Wednesday - The Ministry of Antiquities Official Facebook Page.


The head of the archaeological mission Abdel-Aziz El-Demery announced that the mission uncovered architectural parts including upper lintels decorated with scenes, in addition to parts of corner pillars decorated with the egg-and-dart architectural device commonly used in the Graeco-Roman era.


The remains of a Graeco-Roman temple was uncovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities Wednesday - The Ministry of Antiquities Official Facebook Page.

El-Demery said that the mission in addition discovered the remains of pots, coins, and a statue of a man with Greek facial features, as well as two limestone statues of lions, one of which is headless.

2018 is considered the year of archeological discoveries. The Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled Anany announced on Feb. 24 the discovery of eight tombs that contain about 40 coffins of Pharaonic priests and more than 1,000 Ushabti statues in Tuna el-Gebel area in Minya, an Egyptian governorate.

“Today we are announcing the beginning of a new discovery, the tombs are full of jewelries, potteries and pharaonic jars,” Anany recounted on Feb. 24.

This discovery as described by Anany is one of the largest and most important archaeological discoveries unearthed in recent times. The new archeological discovery is documenting some issues related to the live of ancient Egyptians in Minya province tens of centuries ago.

The most prominent finds in these tombs were a gold mask, coffins, mummies and statues. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities added that the area of the discovery requires years of hard work, pointing out that the main advantage of this discovery is that it was discovered by Egyptians.

It is worth mentioning that this discovery is considered the second discovery in 2018 after a new tomb was discovered in the Western Cemetery located in the Pyramids area in Giza to an ancient Egyptian woman named Hetpet, as announced on Feb. 3 by Anany.

Hetpet was a woman with a high social position in ancient times. She has number of cognomens of which is the Priest of the goddess Hathour. Hathour is a pharaonic goddess who symbolizes the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood.

Anany previously elaborated that the excavation work in this area started in October 2017 and will continue in 2018 under the supervision of Mostafa el-Waziry the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. El-Waziry previously announced that Hetpet played important roles at that time especially in the agricultural field.

“The tomb contains a group of dazzling inscriptions portraying rare amazing scenes like a monkey dancing in front of a complete musical troupe, a sailors’ fight, hunting birds, and fishing among others. All the inscriptions colors are very clear and bright,” el-Waziry announced after the discovery.

The tomb dates back to the Fifth Dynasty from about 4,400 years ago. The Western cemetery area was reserved for senior officials in the pharaonic area. The famous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass has previously discovered a group of ancient Egyptian tombs in this area.

Archaeologists at Cairo University have discovered catacombs including 18 non-royal mummies in Tuna el-Gebel on May 13, 2017. The burial shafts were found in the area, adding that the shafts led to a number of corridors inside a cachette of mummies. This discovery was the first human necropolis found in central Egypt with so many mummies.

Tuna el-Gebel in the city of Mallawi was the necropolis of Khmun. It contains monuments from the Greek and Roman eras, as well as the Late Middle Ages. The area hosts the Boundary Stelae of Akhenaton, catacombs of falcons, baboons and ibises, and the tombs of Petosiris and Isadora.

Tuna el-Gebel village is famous for having many archaeological tombs, which contributed greatly to the revival of archaeological and touristic life, and helped drive Arab and foreign tourists to the region once again. It is an archaeological village located in Al Minya Governorate. It has a population of more than 20,000 people.

Tuna el-Gebel was originally named “Towns” in the Pharaonic era. It was named Tahnet in the Roman era. Both names mean the “blessing” or “flood”. Tuna el-Gebel was considered a cemetery in the Pharaonic, Greek and Roman periods and it contains many important monuments including the tomb and the chapel of Isadora, the martyr of love, which dates back to the Greco-Roman period.

Tuna el-Gebel houses the tomb of the priest “Petosiris” dating back to the Greek era, the villa of the Dean of Arabic literature Taha Hussein, in addition to the existence of many archaeological sites that have not been discovered yet.