Qaṣr ez-Zaiyān - Qaṣr ez-Zaiyān

Southeast side of the Temple of Amenibis
Qaṣr ez-Zaiyān · ‏قصر الزيان‎ Tchōnemyris · Τχονεμυρις
Governorate	New valley
height	18 m
no tourist info on Wikidata:
location
Qaṣr ez-Zaiyān

Qasr ez-Zaiyan (also Qasr el-Zaiyan, Qasr el-Zajjan, Qasr el-Zayyan, Qasr el-Sajjan, Arabic:قصر الزيان‎, Qaṣr az-Zaiyān; the ancient Tchōnemyris, "The great fountain"; ancient egyptian TA-ẖnmt-wrt, "The great fountain") is an archaeological site in the middle of the egyptian Sink el-Chārga in the Western desert. Here is the temple of Amenibis (Amenebis), the Amun of Hibis. The site is located approximately 21 kilometers south of the city el-Chārga.

background

The temple of Qaṣr ez-Zaiyān is located about 21 kilometers south of the city el-Chārga, 4.5 kilometers south-southwest of Qaṣr el-Ghuweiṭa and 5 kilometers north-northeast of Būlāq at the end point of the ancient route of Esna. The terrain outside of the temple hill is the deepest of the depression and is up to 18 meters below zero.

The local one Temple of Amenibis was dedicated to Amenibis, the Amun of Hibis, and the Theban trinity of the gods Amun, Mut and Chons. The temple was certainly built in Greek times. At the time of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (Reigns 138–161) the temple was expanded to include the large courtyard and decorated. At the entrance to the inner courtyard, Antoninus Pius is shown as the builder and the year of construction 140 AD. The temple may never have been completed. The reliefs were only roughly prepared, and the temple probably never had an entrance pylon and an access road. At least they haven't been found until today.

All travelers of the 19th century who came to el-Chārga also visited the temple of Qaṣr ez-Zaiyān and mostly also reproduced a translation of the inscription of the emperor Antoninus Pius. The first travelers were the French in 1818 w: Frédéric CailliaudFrédéric Cailliaud (1787–1869),^[1] 1819 British Archibald Edmonstone (1795–1871)^[2] and the British in 1825 and 1832 John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875)^[3] or. George Alexander Hoskins (1802–1863)^[4].

The German Africa explorer Georg Schweinfurth (1836–1925), who stayed here in 1874, reported on finds of glassware and ceramics and that two families still lived in the temple, who kept coins from the imperial and the Byzantine times as well as bronze figures, including a bull's head, and in the temple found cast copper pieces from Ptolemaic times. He was able to persuade one of the residents of the bronze figure of a ram.^[5] He was followed in 1898 by the British cartographer John Ball (1872–1941)^[6]. The most extensive description so far came from the German building researcher Rudolf Naumann (1910–1996), who stayed in 1936 in the El-Chārga depression.

A comprehensive excavation and research has not yet taken place, so that the temple has hardly been documented.

From 1984 to 1986 the temple was owned by the Egyptian Antiquities Administration (Egyptian Antiquities Organization) cleaned and restored, and Roman coins were also found. In the 1990s, the work was carried out by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) continued. A Japanese research team led by Hiroyuki Kamei and Katsura Kogawa has been working on the research since 2004. So far, a topographic map has been created, an archaeological survey has been carried out and a 3D model of the temple has been created. During the excavation in a 10 × 10 meter section in the west of the temple, adobe structures of a settlement were uncovered and various ceramic vessels were found.

getting there

You can get to this site by car. You drive from the city el-Chārga coming on the trunk road to Bārīsuntil you come to a signposted junction after approx. 18 kilometers 25.29530.545278Branch to Qasr ez-Zaiyan1 25 ° 17 '42 "N.30 ° 32 '43 "E got east. From here you can reach both the temple Qasr el-Ghuweita as well as that of Qasr ez-Zaiyan, south of the former.

mobility

The site of the temple has to be explored on foot.

Tourist Attractions

Corridor (dromos) to the adobe forecourt of the Temple of Amenibis

Main house of the Temple of Amenibis

The relief on the lintel of the entrance to the inner courtyard shows a king offering the image of the goddess Maat to the ram-headed Amun

Courtyard and access to the sanctuary of the Temple of Amenibis

Fall at the entrance to the sanctuary

Well in the west of the temple area

Niche in the sanctuary of the Temple of Amenibis

The temple is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The entrance fee is LE 40 and LE 20 for students (as of 11/2018). There is also a combined ticket for all archaeological sites in el-Chārga for LE 120 or LE 60, which is valid for one day (as of 11/2019).

The whole 25.2514530.57091 Temple complex(25 ° 15 ′ 5 ″ N.30 ° 34 '15 "E) is located on an approx. 4 meter high hill that is completely occupied by the complex. The temple and the associated facilities are surrounded by a 26 × 68 meter, approx. 2.5 meter thick mud brick wall. The system is oriented almost exactly from south to north. One enters the complex in the south through an undecorated sandstone gate, which probably fulfilled the function of the pylon. The actual temple is almost mainly in the eastern half, and the western wall of the temple marks roughly the middle of the area. In the west of the area there are more adobe buildings and a large well in front of the middle of the west wall.

Behind the entrance, a stone-lined corridor (dromos) leads to the actual one temple. The temple is 43 meters long and eight meters wide. First you come to an undecorated forecourt, about 22 meters long, from Roman times, the side walls of which were made of adobe bricks. Then you reach the actual, 13.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide temple house, which was built from sandstone and also faces south to north. Via a 5 meter high gate you enter the interior courtyard without decorations, which is known as the Offering room was used and at the end of which is the transverse one Sanctuary (Holy of Holies) and a narrow staircase are located. Since the hall has no pillars, this must have been an open courtyard.

The representations on the posts and the lintel at the passages show Antoninus Pius in sacrificial acts, for example before the Theban triad Amun, Mut and Chons. The lintel leading to the passage to the offering table hall bears a seven-line Greek inscription, which Antoninus Pius mentions as the commissioner of the restoration, and a cove with the winged sun.

[1] Αμενηβι θεω μεγιοστω τχονεμυρεως, και τοις

[2] συνναοις θεοις ὑπερ της εις αιωνα διαμονης Αντωνεινου

[3] Καισαρος του κυριου, και του συμπαντος αυτου οικου, ὁ σηκος του ἱερου και το

[4] προναον εκ καινης κατεσκευασθη, επι Αουιδιου Ἡλιοδωρου επαρχου Αιγυπτου,

[5] Σεπτιμιου Μακρωνος επιστρατηγου, στρατηγουντος Παινιου Καιπιωνος,

[6] ετους τριτου Αυτοκρατορος Καισαρος Τιτου Αιλιου Αδριανου Αντωνεινου

[7] Σεβαστου, Ευσεβους, Μεσορη οκτω και δεκατη.

[1] “For Amenibis, the very great god of Tchonemyris, and the

[2] related gods for the eternal preservation of the Lord Antoninus

[3] Caesar and all his house became the inner part of the temple and

[4] The porch rebuilt under Avidius Heliodorus, the Prefect of Egypt,

[5] when Septimus Macron were epistratege (commander in chief) and Paenias Caepion strategist (commander) [of the armed forces],

[6] in the 3rd year of the autocrat and emperor Titus Aelius Adrianus Antoninus

[7] Augustus Pius on the 18th of the Mesore [first month of the ancient Egyptian calendar, = 11th August 140]. "

To the left of the inscription you can see Emperor Antoninus Pius presenting the portrait of Maat to the ram-headed Amun of Hibis. On the right side, Antoninus Pius hands over a field to the ram-headed Amun of Hibis. The emperor is on the posts in four registers (picture strips) during various acts of sacrifice. On the left post the king offers two vases to Amun von Hibis, the goddess Mut and the god Chons. Only in the lowest register is he alone, as if he were about to step into the temple. On the left post he wears the White Crown of Upper Egypt, on the right the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. On the right post you can see the king making sacrifices in front of Amun, probably a goddess - but the register is lost today - and Thoth. The door reveals bear inscriptions of the king.

Access to the Sanctuary is decorated. Under a hollow with the winged sun, the emperor sacrifices in two opposite scenes on the lintel on the left the triad Amun of Thebes with ram's head, courage and chons and on the right the triad Amun by Hibis with the human head, courage and chons. Behind the standing deities, the seated Amun-Re was depicted on both sides. The posts again have depictions of sacrifices of the emperor in front of various gods in three registers. On the left post the king sacrifices before a god, probably Amun-Re, before a goddess, probably courage and a vessel to chons. The lowest register shows kibitzes on both posts (Rechit birds) about papyrus plants. On the right post, the king is shown making sacrifices to a god, a goddess and to the falcon-headed Horus. The reveals of this gate also have columns of inscriptions.

On the back wall of the sanctuary there is a cult image niche, which has a hollow at the top with a winged sun and a single-column text inscription on the sides.

A door to the left of the sacrificial table leads to the western part of the enclosed area. The domed fountain is also located here.

There are remains of one in the vicinity of the temple area Greco-Roman settlement.

accommodation

Accommodation is usually in the city el-Chārga elected.

trips

The temple can be used together with the temple of Qasr el-Ghuweita, the village Gināḥ and other sites along the road to Bārīs be visited.

literature

• Naumann, Rudolf: Buildings of the Khargeh oasis. In:Announcements from the German Institute for Egyptian Antiquity in Cairo (MDIK), Vol.8 (1939), Pp. 1-16, panels 1-11; in particular pp. 8-10, Fig. 4, panels 7 f.
• Hölbl, Günther: Ancient Egypt in the Roman Empire; 3: Sanctuaries and religious life in the Egyptian deserts and oases. Mainz on the Rhine: Babble, 2005, Zabern's illustrated books on archeology, ISBN 978-3-8053-3512-6 , Pp. 47–49, 52, 54–59, figs. 81–86.
• Kamei, Hiroyuki; Kogawa, Katsura: El-Zayyan 2003-2006. Tokyo: Tokyo Inst. Tech., 2007, ISBN 978-4-9903776-0-1 .

Individual evidence

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25 ° 15 ′ 05 ″ N. 30 ° 34 '15 "E