On the west bank of the Nile, seven kilometers southwest of present-day Sohag (Upper Egypt), once stood the city of Athribis. However, on the site extending over more than 30 hectares, now studied by archaeologists, they made an unprecedented discovery: in the middle of its necropolis, its several quarries and its residential complex, experts from the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities and the University of Tübingen (Germany) have uncovered the hidden and well-preserved entrance to a 2,000-year-old temple. An announcement made by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Facebook on November 23, 2024.
The entrance to the “Great Temple of Arthribis”, dedicated to Min
The excavations brought to light the remains of the pylon, that is to say the monumental structure which forms the main entrance to the so-called “Great Temple of Arthribis”. It was flanked by two towers approximately 24 meters high, so that according to estimates, the supposed building could have reached an impressive width of approximately 51 meters by approximately 18 meters.
The archaeological mission also made it possible to complete the excavation of its southern chamber, built between 144 BC. and 138 AD. BC and partially discovered by British scientists at the beginning of the 20th century. The age of the temple itself is not known.
But it was undoubtedly dedicated to Min, the Egyptian god who gave his name to the ninth nome of Upper Egypt, where Athribis was located. Among the oldest deities of the empire, he was the god of lightning and ancestral kingship, who impregnated the sky goddess each evening to give birth to the sun – before it was absorbed by Amon.
He was thus considered the incarnation of fertility, so much so that in iconography, he is often represented in the form of a standing man holding his erect penis with one hand and a scariole lettuce (Lactuca serriola) in the other – believed, according to the ancient Egyptians, to promote fertility.
In the northern tower of the pylon, researchers have indeed identified wall engravings representing Min offering sacrifices to his wife the lioness goddess Repyt and their son the child god Kolanthes. Other reasons include “secondary astronomical idols acting as celestial stars to measure the hours of the night”it is indicated.
Hieroglyphic inscriptions designate the pharaoh probably behind the construction of the pylon – and perhaps the temple: Ptolemy VIII, king of the Lagid dynasty whose reign, during the 2nd century BC. BC, mixed intrigues, family rivalries and power struggles.
Discoveries that multiply throughout the excavations
In this same northern tower of the entrance, an unexpected chamber was also revealed, measuring approximately 6 meters long by 3 meters wide. It appears to have served as a storage room for temple utensils and, later, for amphorae. In ten years of research in this region of Athribis, the German-Egyptian team has already identified more than 30,000 ostraca (pottery shards used as a writing support), bearing texts in ancient dialects.
“The full scientific excavation has started with our team and will take some time. We will not finish it this season”adds to Newsweek Christian Leitz, head of the project affiliated with the Institute of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Tübingen.
The discovery of the door of the possible “Great Temple of Arthribis” has nevertheless already been qualified in the press release “major breakthrough” by Dr. Mohammed Ismail Khaled, Secretary of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. It was announced the same month as a major excavation that revealed eleven tombs filled with jewelry and precious objects from ancient Egypt.
