The Ruins of Tanis in Egypt
Facts about The Ruins of Tanis in Egypt
Found in ancient texts, San al-Hajar was previously referred to as “Ja'anet,” which means city built in a desert, and in the Torah as “Sawan,” but then the Greeks called it by the name “Tanis” since it is sited on the Nile’s Tanisian branch while the Arabs later came to know it as “San” for its resemblance to so many stones.
In this region there are scores of graves, but the most significant of them all is that of Osirakon II featuring an entrance on the left inscribed with complicated words leading into a chamber containing a massive coffin displaying religious pictures on its sides; there is also another chamber inscribed but suffering from weather conditions exposure; then finally at its east end stands an apartment whose walls bear such message as requires a lot of work from its reader who may also come across an enormous sarcophagus.
It was also in this area that one would find the tomb of King Shashang III.There were religious scenes and texts on the walls as well as two coffins of the king a coffin lid lastly tombs for king Psusennes I and another one that was unknown single-chambered room containing an enormous sarcophagus.
In this region there are some temples including a huge temple for God Amun, which is constructed following a modern state temple design and comprises oblismosts, columns, edifices, double and single statues, pieces bearing hieroglyphic texts and religious scenes. According to the information about this temple provided on the wall, it measures around 300 meters long and is contained within very large mud-brick walls surrounded by it. There is also an old sacred lake without water remaining on the extreme north side of this area adjacent to a number of rocks believed to belong to a temple of God Khonsu or perhaps a part of his sanctuary.
On the southern side of the Great Temple is the temple of the goddess Mot, the goddess of motherhood in ancient Egypt, which consists of the remains of stones and double statues next to a limestone staircase leading to a dry sacred lake, and the temple is surrounded by the remains of an adobe wall.
A large number of archaeological missions have worked in the area since the French campaign, where Petrie, Marit and Montet worked in it, who revealed its golden relics in the tomb of Psusence I, and many obelisks and paintings came out of it, such as the Four Hundred Painting, the Canopus Decree, statues of the Sphinx in the Egyptian Museum, and the two obelisks of the Andalusian Garden and Cairo Airport.
