Temple

Hilary Wilson on… Bread, beer, and economics – Part 2

Hilary Wilson shows how the ancient Egyptians were paid in food and drink.

World news

Unusual religious monument uncovered in Egypt Excavations at the ancient Egyptian port city of Pelusium (modern-day Tell el-Farama) have uncovered the remains of a unique 2,000-year-old temple that is believed to have been dedicated to the local deity Pelusius. Archaeologists…

A rare religious site

Excavations at the ancient Egyptian port city of Pelusium have identified a unique 2,000-year-old temple believed to be dedicated to the local deity Pelusius. In 2019, archaeologists from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities working at the site of Tell el-Farama…

Uncovering Imet: An ancient Egyptian city in the Nile delta

Excavations at Tell Nabasha are shedding new light on life in a delta city, and the death of its great temple. To find out more, Matthew Symonds spoke to Nicky Nielsen.

The temple of Qasr el-Sagha

Geoffrey Lenox-Smith visits an isolated temple in the desert north of the Fayum.

Karnak developments

A residential settlement dating to the Middle Kingdom has been uncovered at Karnak by an Egyptian–French mission. The ‘city’ is in the south-east corner of the complex, dated to the reign of Nectanebo I (c.380- 362 BC), within its outer…

Win a copy of Riddle of the Sphinx: An Ancient Egyptian Puzzle Book by Trevor Naylor

Where is this? If you know, email the Editor peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com before 28 February with your answer, giving your full name, address, and a contact phone number. One lucky reader will have their name selected at random from all the correct…

Restoration at Edfu and Esna

The original colours of scenes inside the Temple of Edfu are now visible following cleaning and restoration work by a team from the University of Würzburg and the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The team removed the surface dirt, bird debris,…

Imperial impact: Illuminating Icenian interactions with Rome at Caistor St Edmund

Excavations by the Caistor Roman Project outside the walls of Venta Icenorum are revealing the impact on local Iron Age communities of the development of a Roman regional capital. This summer, Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Giles Emery to find out more.

Basilica columns

A joint team from the Ministry of Antiquities and the University of Colorado have completed the restoration and reinstallation of a number of huge granite columns at Ashmunein, in Minya Governorate. Known as Hermopolis Magna in the Graeco-Roman era, the…

Berenike’s Buddha

Stories from the world of archaeology, art, and museums

Win a copy of The Oldest Book in the World by Bill Manley

Do you recognise this object?

Above The Roman altar stone discovered in a sunken room in the gardens of Leicester Cathedral. below A sherd of pottery found at the Leicester site. The letters IIVST identify a potter called Justus who worked at La Graufesenque in the late 1st century AD.

Beneath the cathedrals: discoveries at Notre-Dame and Leicester Cathedral

At another English cathedral, that of Exeter, excavations have revealed Roman remains

Top The newly discovered columns at the Temple of Wadjet at Buto (Tell el Fara’in). above right A depiction of a bird headed god wearing a feathered headdress that might represent the goddess Nekhbet.

Columns of a 7th-century BC hall uncovered at Buto

Finds of religious pottery vessels and fragments of reliefs suggest the hall dates to the Saite Period.

Win a copy of ‘Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World’ by Bob Brier

Do you recognise where in Egypt this photograph was taken?

Above The 1.3 km long tunnel discovered under the Ptolemaic temple of Taposiris Magna.

Tunnel unearthed beneath temple of Taposiris Magna

A 1.3 km tunnel has been discovered 13 metres beneath the Ptolemaic temple of Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria. The massive 2 metre high structure appears to be similar to the Eupalinian Aqueduct on the island of Samos, and is…

Travels in an antique land: the Temple of Nekhbet-Hathor at Elkab

Each issue, AE magazine goes off the beaten track to explore some of Egypt’s lesser known sites, new museums, and newly opened monuments, with tips to help the independent traveller. In this issue, the intrepid Karl Harris searches for a small New Kingdom temple in the Wadi Hilal at Elkab.

Left The new visitor centre at San el Hagar (Tanis). right The newly discovered Roman bathhouse at Esna.

Burials and bathhouses: a round-up of some of the latest Ancient Egyptian discoveries

A Spanish team has announced the discovery of the remains of 60 mummies, buried in two tombs close to the tomb of the New Kingdom vizier Amenhotep-Huy in el-Assasif (West Bank of Luxor).

World news in brief: Palaeolithic cooking practices, an Etrsucan temple, and re-examining Ötzi

A glance at some of the latest exciting archaeological stories from across the globe.

Archaologie Vulci Ausgrabung Franceschini

The Past

Archaeologists unearth Etruscan temple at Vulci

The temple is believed to date to around the end of the 6th or beginning of the 5th century BC.

Left and below Two scene details from the restored Amun Ra Chapel at the Sety I Temple at Abydos.

Ancient Egypt news in brief

A round-up of some of the latest news from the world of ancient Egypt.

Top left Conservators at work on ceiling scenes in Esna Temple. top Detail of a newly restored scene at the Temple of Esna. above Another detail of a newly restored scene at the Temple of Esna. left Gold coins from the cache of Islamic coins discovered behind Esna Temple. below Silver coins from the cache of Islamic coins discovered behind Esna Temple.

New discoveries at Roman Period Temple of Esna

An Egyptian team has discovered a cache containing a number of coins from different historical eras

The Past

Previously unrecorded rituals identified at ancient Egyptian shrine

The remarkable discoveries of headless falcon skeletons and a stele depicting an Egyptian falcon deity have led researchers to dub the temple the 'Falcon Shrine'.

Aï Khanoum, 1968-1973

One archaeological milestone this year is the centenary of the founding of the Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA) in 1922. Their century of research has included investigations at Aï Khanoum, a Hellenistic city on the banks of the Oxus…

World news: Israel, Netherlands, and Spain

A round-up of some of the latest archaeology news from across the globe.

Left Excavations at Herwen Hemeling have uncovered several remarkably well preserved altars, with inscriptions revealing that they were dedicated to deities such as Mercury and Jupiter Serapis.

Roman sanctuary found in the Netherlands

Several Roman sanctuaries are known in the Netherlands, but this is the first to be discovered on the northern boundary of the empire.

The Temple of Khnum

Conservators working in the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper Egypt, have uncovered new details of the building’s colourful ceiling frescoes. Construction on the temple began in the Ptolemaic period and continued into the Roman period, with decoration completed during…

Above left Excavations on the Phoenician island city of Motya have uncovered evidence of a large monumental sanctuary, with a sacred pool at its heart. left The ‘Kothon’ at Motya has now been refilled and a replica of the statue of Ba’al placed in the middle, offering an idea of what the Phoenician sacred pool may have looked like.

Sacred Phoenician pool identified in Sicily

Numerous altars, stelae, votive offerings, and other finds associated with a religious complex were discovered.

Digging Caesar’s Forum: three thousand years of daily life in Rome

Fresh traces of urban life spanning almost three millennia are coming to light in central Rome. New Danish-Italian excavations have uncovered far more than Caesar’s monumental forum project. Delving through archaeological layers, while travelling back in time from Mussolini’s 1930s constructions, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Rubina Raja disentangle the complex urban stratigraphy of the Eternal City.

ABOVE The Altis, the sacred area of Olympia, was home to many monuments, such as here (in the foreground) the curving Philippeion, set up by Philip of Macedon after his victory over an independent Greece. Beyond is the Temple of Hera, built before the Temple of Zeus at the site.

The Changing Faces of Olympia

One of the most celebrated works of ancient Greek sculpture, Phidias’ statue of Zeus, was once housed in a temple at Olympia. Though this lost wonder was much admired by ancient visitors, it was not the only attraction at the site, for centuries the home of great panhellenic games. A new book by Judith Barringer explores the many transformations Olympia experienced, even before the creation of Phidias’ masterpiece, as David Stuttard reports.

Gianfranco Meggiato sculptor, Valle dei Templi Agrigento, Uomo Quantico h 5 metri

The Past

Quantum Man: exhibition at Sicily’s Valley of the Temples Archaeological Park

The gravity-defying sculptures are the works of Venice-born artist Gianfranco Meggiato

RIGHT Underwater archaeological investigations at the sunken city of Thonis Heracleion have uncovered a Ptolemaic galley which sunk in the 2nd century BC.

New discoveries from Egypt’s sunken city

Among the objects found were bronze artefacts, imported Greek ceramics, and wicker fruit baskets still containing grape seeds

Left A column of pink granite from the Roman temple in Tyre.

Sacred sites in Tyre

The investigations targeted the acropolis of the city, which was occupied from the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC).

Baalbek and Antioch, 1933

In 1933, the first season of excavations at Tell ed-Duweir (Lachish), south-west of Jerusalem, came to end. The remains of a building from the late 5th-4th century BC, described as a governor’s residence, had been unearthed and the defences of…

LEFT This year the Caistor Roman Project’s ‘Temple Field’ excavations have primarily focused on an enigmatic ‘auxiliary building’ close to a Roman temple. This photo shows its north west corner, which has been extensively robbed probably indicating that the most desirable building materials were used on the corners.

The ‘Priest’s House’: excavating an enigmatic Roman structure at Caistor St Edmund

Ongoing excavations by the Caistor Roman Project are shedding light on an enigmatic structure that once stood close to a temple built outside the walled town of Venta Icenorum, near Norwich. CA Editor Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Will Bowden about the latest finds.

Mogao Caves, 1943-1944

The oldest of the Mogao Caves temples that survive date from around AD 420. Among them is Cave 275, built during the Northern Laing period (AD 420-439).