Unearthing the remains of a temple and nearly 85 tombs from the Ptolemaic period in Sohag.. Pictures

The Egyptian archaeological mission operating in the Haredi region of Sohag, affiliated to the Supreme Council of Antiquities, succeeded in uncovering one of the checkpoints and observation points from the era of King Ptolemy III. Previous excavations in the early 2000s.

Dr. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the discovered checkpoint is a mud-brick and brick building similar to the so-called Tower House. It was built for the purpose of inspection, monitoring, tight traffic between the borders of the regions, tax collection, and securing ships and navigation in the Nile.

Dr. added. Mustafa Waziri said that the discovered temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis, and it dates back to the era of King Ptolemy III (Joergetes) and extends for a length of 33 m and a width of 14 m, with an axis from north to south.

As for his planning, Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that it consists of an open, rectangular hall, in the middle of which is a row of four columns, followed by a transverse hall with two columns in the middle leading to the Holy of Holies, and in the middle of the temple is a staircase. The floor of the temple was formed from stone slabs of local limestone.

During the excavations, the mission found on the northern side of the temple a limestone purification basin and a votive plaque for the temple. On the northern side, it found 5 ostraca with inscriptions in the Demotic script, in addition to 38 coins dating back to the Roman era and a small part of a limestone column, in addition to To the detection of some animal bones, which showed through their study that they represented the food of the priests of the temple.

For his part, Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Central Administration of Upper Egypt Antiquities, said that the mission also succeeded in uncovering the homes of one of the foremen and a number of remnants of papers related to the names, salaries and tasks of the workers, in addition to nearly 85 cemeteries dating back to different periods from the end of the old state until the end of the ancient state. The Ptolemaic period, its layout varied, including tombs dug in several levels in the mountain, including tombs with a well or several burial wells, and other tombs with a ramp that ends with a burial chamber.

In the tombs dating back to the Ptolemaic era, 30 mummies cards were found, which were considered as a burial permit written in ancient Greek only, hieratic and demotic script with human remains and mummies remains. These cards usually include the name of the deceased, the name of his father or mother, his home, occupation and age at death in addition to To some supplications for the ancient Egyptian deities.

The mission also carried out some documentation work for a group of quarries on the site, including a quarry of King Ramses III of the nineteenth dynasty, where the mission cleaned it and strengthened the rock painting of Ramses III, which was mentioned in the Haris papyrus that King Ramses III dispatched 38 skilled quarry workers to this area ( Jabal Haridi) for cutting stones to build a temple for him in the tenth region, in addition to three Ptolemaic quarries for each of (Ptolemy III, IV, V and Ptolemy XII), which proves that Jabal Haridi was a source of stones in the Ptolemaic era due to the quality of stones in this site.