Ancient city dating back to Greco-Roman era uncovered in Minya

CAIRO – 10 July 2018: An ancient city dating back to the Greco-Roman era was discovered in Minya governorate. The uncovered city contains many ancient tombs carved in rocks, and extending to about 2 kilometres and 600 meters in width, as well as Greek-Roman columns, a church, and a cross.

The security forces in Minya governorate discovered the ancient city after foiling a theft attempt of the ancient city's artifacts.


Ancient artifacts discovered in Minya - Egypt Today

On July 3, the Ministry of Antiquities found a cache containing hundreds of pottery vessels, dating back to the beginning of the Greco-Roman era, the Coptic era and the Islamic era.

Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, Ayman Ashmawy, said that it seems that during the Second World War between 1939 and 1945, famous British archaeologist, Alan Rowe, along with Greco-Roman Museum officials hid a number of pieces in the garden of the Greco-Roman Museum to protect them from being looted or damaged.


Ancient artifacts discovered in Minya - Egypt Today


The discovered items include vessels which contain ashes of dead people; these vessels were used to bury the ashes during the Hellenistic period in the Greek era. The items also include a large collection of liquid vessels of various shapes and sizes, as well as crockery and colored pots, a large number of dishes which date back to the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods and large quantities of glazed pottery decorated with geometric and vegetal drawings dating back to the Islamic era.

Such an archaeological discovery is very important because it unveils archaeological collections which have not been studied before, making it a reference for future archaeological studies.