Tanis

30.96666666666731.866666666667Koordinaten: 30 ° 58 'N, 31 ° 52 ' E

Tanis ( ancient Egyptian Djanet; Arabic San el- Hajar / صان الحجر / san al - Ḥaǧar ) was an ancient Egyptian town in the northeastern Nile Delta. The earliest finds date back to late Ramesside period, it is simple burials, sometimes in so-called slipper coffins. An earlier settlement could not yet be detected. This also fits that no text sources exist. The archaeological site is located in the southeast of the present village of San al - Hagar.

History

In the earlier research, the city was equated with Pi -Ramesses. This conjecture has now been proven wrong. Only at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period (1075 - 652 BC) quite suddenly arose a great city, Dynasty 21 was also the capital of Egypt.

This is demonstrated on the one hand by a written source of the Egyptian name of the city " Djanet " in the narrative of the Wenamun. On the other could be archaeologically proven that the Pi -Ramesses was abandoned by the silting up of the Pelusiac Nilarms since the 21st dynasty as a quarry for Tanis because in this time the construction of large temples fell. Many rulers of the 21st and the 22nd dynasty found their final resting place here. Throughout the course of the late period Tanis remained an important place.

Buildings

In the center of the city stood the Temple of Amun. It was started by Psusennes I and expanded in the following years. He probably also built a first enclosure for this plant. Siamun sat a yard with a pylon in front of the temple, Osorkon II extended this further by two pylons. Inside the temple district some unanswered robbed royal tombs of the 21st and 22nd Dynasty (including Psusennes I ) could be found. In the 30th Dynasty, Nectanebo II surrounded the temple with a new wall. He also had a sacred lake dug and built to the east of Amuntempels a smaller temple dedicated to Horus. A little off was the courage / Anta temple, which was built by Ptolemy IV.

The royal necropolis

In the southwest of the Temple District of Amun, within the enclosing walls are the remains of the grave sites of some rulers of the 21st and 22nd Dynasty. By protecting the enclosing some of the graves have been discovered without robbing. A series of five complexes are distinguished. The largest part of Psusennes I, who was buried here with his wife Mutnedjemet, as well as the officials and Wendjebauendjed Anchefenmut. In later times here King Amenemope and Sheshonk II have been buried. Especially the grave chamber of Psusennes I found himself without robbing. Right next to this complex was of Osorkon II, in which the Prinzhorn Eight was buried. The local funerals took all deprived. Other smaller tombs belong Sheshonk III. , King Amenemope before he was buried next to Psusennes I and an unknown person. All these graves were robbed.

Excavation history

First excavations were undertaken in 1860 by Auguste Mariette. 1883 and 1884 continued Flinders Petrie continued the work, except where inscriptions also peculiar statues and sphinxes were discovered.

Pierre Montet discovered in his excavations in the years 1939 - 1946 the said Royal Tombs of Psusennes I, Osorkon II and III Sheshonk. ( 21 - 22 Dynasty), which are among the most important excavation finds in Egypt.

The excavation line is now at the Société Française des Fouilles de Tanis headed by Pierre Brissaud.

Trivia

• In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones discovered at Tanis supposedly buried there ark.
• In the movie Pandorum the target planet of the colony ship is named Tanis.
• The feature film Maciste, Avenger of the Pharaohs ( Maciste nella valle dei re) plays at Tanis around 1040 BC, when it was the capital.
• In the vampire / werewolf trilogy "Underworld" Tanis is a chronicler, whose knowledge / possessions, many important details are hidden