ʿAin et-Tibnīya - ʿAin et-Tibnīya

View of the Temple of Amun-Re (so-called Alexander Temple) from the south, as it was in 2002
El-ʿAin et-Tibnīya · ‏العين التبنية‎ Qaṣr el-Maqīṣba · ‏قصر المقيصبة‎
Governorate	Gīza
height	130 m
no tourist info on Wikidata:
location
ʿAin et-Tibnīya

El-'Ain et-Tibniya (also Ain / Ayn el-Tibaniya, Arabic:العين التبنية‎, al-ʿAyn at-Tibnīya, „Source of straw“) Denotes a spring and a hamlet about 5 kilometers west of the city el-Bāwīṭī in the valley el-Baḥrīya. In the south is with the so-called Alexander Temple an important archaeological site, which is also Qaṣr el-Miqīṣba,قصر المقيصبة, Is called. This temple is the only one in Egypt that was in reign Alexander the Great was erected.

background

Area map of ʿAin et-Tibnīya

The local temple, mostly not exactly Temple of Alexander the Great called, is the sun, wind and fertility gods Amun-Re, not Alexander the Great. The representations in the temple testify that Alexander was the client, and this temple is the only one from Alexander's reign in Egypt. The reason for its establishment could be that Alexander was on his way back from Siwa crossed the valley of el-Baḥrīya.

Exclusively this temple area is also called Qaṣr el-Maqīṣba (also Qasr el-Migysbah, Arabic:قصر المقيصبة‎, Qaṣr al-Miqīṣba).

This site was one of the lesser known in the El-Baḥrīya Depression. Some travelers like Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823), Frédéric Cailliaud (1787-1869) and Georg Steindorff (1861–1951) do not mention them at all. Of John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875), who visited the temple in 1825,^[1] and Paul Ascherson (1834–1913), who visited him in 1874,^[2] short descriptions are available. John Ball and Hugh J.L. Beadnell have only listed the site on their map without giving a description.^[3]

The Egyptian Egyptologist Ahmed Fakhry (1905–1973) carried out an initial inspection and clearing in 1938, and further excavations were carried out in 1942–1945. Around 1997 the French archaeologist Frédéric Colin picked up the pilgrim inscription on the left (western) post of the gate entrance in the south, which had already been discovered by Fakhry, and documented it with the addition of the inscription on the red granite altar that was found in this area and is today in Egyptian Museum in Cairo is kept that the temple was dedicated to Amun-Re. The pilgrim inscription came from a Petobastis, son of Petoèsis, who wanted to sacrifice to Ammon.

The site of the Alexander Temple was in Christian time populated. Around 80 meters north of the wall of the Holy of Holies there are now heavily silted up remains of ancient settlements. From the houses, ostracas, coins and ceramic objects found, Fakhry was able to conclude that Christians settled here until early Arab times (12th century). On the Ostrakon Bahria 10 the French archaeologist Guy Wagner also found the name of the settlement, the village of Poka (Πόκα).^[4] Fakhry gave a floor plan of one of the buildings in which Peter Grossmann recognized an early Christian church.^[5] The existing one Churus, as the transverse hall in front of the sanctuary (sanctuary), indicates that the church could have been built in the second half of the 7th century at the earliest. Various Greek and Coptic ostracas, which are inscribed shards of stone, were also found in the area of ​​the temple. A Syrian ostracon could be dated to the 5th century AD.^[6]

getting there

Coming from el-Bāwīṭī, you drive to the west on the asphalt road by car or bicycle Siwa or el-ʿAin et-Tibnīya. At the 28.34821128.8247351 Branch to Siwa(28 ° 20 ′ 54 ″ N.28 ° 49 ′ 29 ″ E) continue straight ahead (to the west) until you have reached the hamlet.

First you get that Ahmed Safari Camp. If you want to continue to the temple, drive around the camp on its west side. You will then come to a pump house. Here you choose the path that leads past the pump house on the left (east). It is about 900 meters from the camp to the temple.

mobility

In the hamlet there are only sand tracks and trails. All-terrain vehicles, motorcycles or bicycles are ideal for the onward journey. You can even walk on foot.

The area of ​​the archaeological site can only be explored on foot. The subsoil is sandy.

Tourist Attractions

Left back wall in the Temple of Amun-Re

Temple in 2000

Mud brick building to the east of the temple

Ceramic finds from the area of ​​the temple

Ceramic finds from the area of ​​the temple

Don't forget to buy the ticket at the “museum” in el-Bāwīṭī. There is no sale on site!

Nowadays you enter the site in the northeast, where the guard house is also located. Now you walk around the temple complex because the entrance is in the south. The complex is about 50 meters long and about 19 meters wide in the south.

In the asymmetrical layout, the path leads directly from the entrance gate to the 28.3419628.8220311 Temple of Amun-Re(28 ° 20 ′ 31 ″ N.28 ° 49 ′ 19 ″ E). The gate was built from sandstone blocks. This path also gives access to the other rooms of the temple complex. The temple itself consists of two consecutive chambers made of sandstone blocks and is about 8.5 meters long. The top of the temple is missing these days. At the beginning of the 2000s, the building was bricked up and given a wooden ceiling.

Only the back wall of the rear chamber has a decoration that was probably originally made in two registers (picture strips). Only the lower one is still preserved. It contains a double scene, which is divided by a column of inscriptions. On the left you can see Alexander the Great sacrificing fields to Amun-Re. Immediately in front of Alexander there is a sacrificial structure, behind Alexander a man, certainly a priest, with the incense offering. Behind the god Amun-Re is probably his companion, the goddess Mut. The scene on the right has an identical structure. Alexander offers vessels of water to Horus and Isis. In front of Alexander there is another sacrificial structure, behind him a man with the incense offering. In the lower part of the illustration, a few remains of paint can still be seen.

The relatively small temple house is from 45 rooms, which were executed in adobe architecture, essentially in the east and south. These rooms were used as accommodation and storage for the temple staff. In the walls of these rooms, niches with a semicircular top were inserted.

The entire complex was surrounded by an adobe wall.

Even today, ceramic remains can still be found that could be decorated with geometric patterns and human figures (attention: it is forbidden to take them away!). Such finds have been made near the guard house.

Before or after the visit you can of course go through the Gardens and fields of the hamlet and on 28.34580628.8219482 Well house run past.

kitchen

Restaurants can be found in el-Bāwīṭī or in the local one Ahmed Safari Camp & Hotelwhich also has a restaurant.

accommodation

Well near the Ahmed Safari Camp

Accommodation is usually chosen in el-Bāwīṭī or in 28.34805628.8222221 Ahmed Safari Camp & Hotel. Both the Ahmed Safari Camp and the hotel located 1.5 kilometers west of el-ʿAin et-Tibnīya 28.3444228.8077512 Sands Baharia are in the article el-Bāwīṭī described.

trips

With the purchased ticket you can visit several sites within a radius of el-Bāwīṭī visit, which you should of course visit because the ticket is only valid for one day. These are the "museum" in el-Bāwīṭī, the burial ground of Qārat Qaṣr Salīm, ʿAin el-Muftillā and Qārat Ḥilwa. The most comfortable excursion is in an all-terrain vehicle or by bike. But you can also walk. In any case, you have a distance of almost 20 kilometers. The settlement is still on the direct route to Qārat Ḥilwa Qaṣr ʿAllām from the late ancient Egyptian period.

literature

• Fakhry, Ahmed: Baḥria Oasis; vol. II. Cairo: Government Press, 1950, Pp. 41–47, 85, fig. 29 [plan], 30, 71, plates XXIV – XXXV, XLIV.B (English).
• Fakhry, Ahmed: The oases of Egypt; vol. II: Bahrīyah and Farafra Oases. Cairo: The American Univ. in Cairo Pr., 1974, ISBN 978-977-424-732-3 , Pp. 99-104 (English).
• Colin, Frédéric: Un ex-voto de pèlerinage auprès d’Ammon dans le temple dit “d’Alexandre”, à Bahariya (désert Libyque). In:Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale (BIFAO), ISSN0255-0962, Vol.97 (1997), Pp. 91-96, 433 (French).

Individual evidence

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28 ° 20 '49 "N. 28 ° 49 ′ 18 ″ E