Karanis

Karanis is the ancient name of an Egyptian village in the Fayum. The modern name of the ruin site is com Auschim.

The place

Karanis was probably founded in the 3rd century BC by Greek colonists under Ptolemy II and leave AD at the end of the 5th century. During the ancient city in size had almost urban in character, yet he was administratively a village, but probably represented a small regional center. The place has a special significance for archeology, as it is very well preserved. Individual houses were at their discovery partially a few stories high on. The dry climate of Egypt preserved next to numerous organic materials. Most finds dated to the fourth and fifth centuries AD

Buildings

Karanis had two temples that were built in the Egyptian style of stone, the larger of the two is dated to the 1st century BC. Here were the twins Pnepheros and Petesuchos, revered local aspects of the crocodile god Sobek. There were two main roads that crisscrossed the city and next to numerous smaller streets. The built of mud brick houses were originally several stories high. Ceilings were made of wooden beams. Street, there was mostly large windows. The interior walls were usually simply plastered and not decorated. There were some fully painted niches in which deities are depicted, apparently there were home shrines. There are partially preserved the wooden doors and the key to lock it. From papyri show that several families lived generally in every house.

In the village there were also several large granary. A special feature are the once numerous dovecotes, five of which were obtained from their exposure mostly. Since many of the dovecotes were built on the roofs of the houses, they are inevitably collapsed first. Three of these towering dovecotes have a square base of side length 4.5 meters, the single door opening height of 3 meters can be reached only by a ladder. In the mud-brick walls were admitted as nesting sites Tonröhren. In form and function, they thus correspond to the dovecotes, which are still 2,000 years later from the Nile Delta to be found up to Nubia.

Finds

In the houses are still very well preserved furniture, such as tables or seats found. Niches in the walls were used as shelves. Ever was very large, the yield of all kinds of everyday objects, such as Bastkörben, glasses, tools made ​​of wood, fabric remnants, but also toys, during the excavations. Numerous papyri provide an insight into the lives of residents. From the years 171-175 AD control lists are preserved. However, there were also private letters, contracts and inhabitants lists.

Karanis was excavated 1924-1935 from the University of Michigan. Only 45,000 objects found were brought to Michigan. The rest remained in Egypt.