Akoris ( grc, Ἄκωρις or Ἀκορίς); Egyptian: Mer-nefer(et) ( Old and Middle Kingdoms), Per-Imen-mat-khent(j) (New Kingdom), or Dehenet (since

26th Dynasty The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...

) is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

name for the modern

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

ian village of (, from ), located about 12 km north of Al Minya. The ancient site is situated in the southeast of the modern village.

Location

Akoris is located on the east bank of the Nile, at and below the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

cliffs about 12 km north of Al Minya. The limestone cliffs at the east side of the place are divided here by a valley, the (Arabic الوادي الطهناوي). The southern rock looks like a lying lion. Anciently, it lay in the Cynopolite Nome, north of Antinoopolis.

Names of the site

The site was named with several names. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms ''Mer-nefer(et)'' (''nice channel'') was used. In the New Kingdom the site was named ''Per-Imen-m3t-khent(j)'' (''The house of Amun the foremost lion''). In the Late period (from 26th dynasty) it was named ''T3-dehenet'' (''the cliff top''). In Greek times the names of Ἄκωρις (Akoris or in Latin Acoris) or Τῆνις (Tēnis) were given. The name of Akoris can be found in the third line of the rock stele of

Ptolemy V Epiphanes egy, Iwaennetjerwymerwyitu Seteppah Userkare Sekhem-ankhamun Clayton (2006) p. 208. , predecessor = Ptolemy IV , successor = Ptolemy VI , horus = '' ḥwnw-ḫꜤj-m-nsw-ḥr-st-jt.f'Khunukhaiemnisutkhersetitef'' The youth wh ...

at this site. Akoris is also mentioned by the geographer

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

, and the town appears in the

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-ce ...

. The Arabic name Tihna () comes from .

History

The site was settled since the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourt ...

. It was an important administrative town in the 17th upper-Egyptian nome in all ancient Egyptian times. It is the site of many rock-cut tombs, which belonged to officials of the Old Kingdom and the priests of the Late Period. Archaeological remains came only from the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

and earlier times. In the New Kingdom the Temple of

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as ( Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → ( Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egypt ...

was established in a former Old Kingdom tomb by Ramesses II and enlarged by Ramesses III. It is assumed that a fortress was established at this site in Persian times because of the strategic location of the town but no part of the fortress remains. Akoris became an important town during the

and Roman periods, and its name was changed to Akoris. The today's settlement traces came from the Roman and Coptic times.

Monuments

Akoris is home to several archaeological sites, including a number of rock-cut tombs from the

period, known as Fraser Tombs (about 2 km south of Akoris). Akoris comprises also two temples from early Egyptian history (

until the Roman period), a rock chapel (called rock chapel C), a Greek funeral chapel (formerly called “Roman temple”), two rock stelae of

Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great mona ...

, a rock stele of

, a stele of

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) ...

and the Gemini twins

Castor and Pollux Castor; grc, Κάστωρ, Kástōr, beaver. and Pollux. (or Polydeukes). are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.; grc, Διόσκουροι, Dióskouroi, sons of Zeus, links=no, from ''Dîos'' (' ...

and a necropolis from the Greek and Roman periods. These monuments are scattered for about 3 km along the desert and the limestone rocks.

Gods

The gods are related to the site location and shape of the rocks. The earliest goddess of this site is maybe a lion goddess. From the Fraser Tombs the goddess

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

, mistress of the valley entrance, is known (time of Menkaura, 4th Dynasty). Starting from the 18th Dynasty the god

the foremost lion is adored. The god

Sobek Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deities, ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is re ...

, Lord of Behet (Lord of the mouth of the desert path), was added at the 26th Dynasty and became later the main god of the site. Other gods like

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic language, Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughou ...

and/or Mut,

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He ...

Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...

and

Khonsu Khonsu ( egy, ḫnsw; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons or Khonshu; cop, Ϣⲟⲛⲥ, Shons) is the ancient Egyptian god of the Moon. His name means "traveller", and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon ...

were adored from Greek-Roman times.

Mining

Like similar sites in the north and south of Akoris, this site was used as a limestone quarry in ancient times.

Excavations

Records of the site were made during Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. A more comprehensive investigation was made by the German expedition conducted by

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien ...

in the 1850s. At the beginning of the 20th century further investigations were made by Ahmed Kamal and Gustave Lefebvre. Since 1981 new comprehensive excavations have been carried out by a Japanese team under H. Kawanishi. They uncovered a fine but fragmentary Middle Kingdom model of a wooden boat. Since 2002, the team has investigated the southern part of the site and uncovered the TIP town. The so-called Fraser Tombs were firstly discovered by the German Egyptologist

Heinrich Brugsch Heinrich Karl Brugsch (also ''Brugsch-Pasha'') (18 February 18279 September 1894) was a German Egyptologist. He was associated with Auguste Mariette in his excavations at Memphis. He became director of the School of Egyptology at Cairo, produci ...

in 1853 and firstly described by the British civil engineer George Willoughby Fraser half a century later.