Near to the modern village of el-Simbellawin, to the south-east of el-Mansura,
are the ruins of a double city known to the Greeks as Mendes and
Thmuis and today called Tell el-Rub'a and Tell el-Timai. Mendes was
the capital of the 16th Lower Egyptian nome, known in ancient Egyptian
as Per-Banebdjedet. The city was the cult centre of the ram-god
Banebdjedet, (literally, 'Ram [or manifestation], Lord of Djedet') and
was said to be the home of Dynasty XXIX kings, who may have had their
royal residence there. Today the sites are represented by two mounds,
several hundred metres apart, the southern and more ruined mound
covering the city of Thmuis which replaced Mendes as nome capital in
Graeco-Roman times.
The nome capital of Per-Banebdjedet is mentioned as early as Dynasty
IV in ancient texts - the original deity being the goddess Hat-mehit
(mother of Horus in the Triad of Mendes), who was increasingly
replaced during the Old Kingdom by her consort Banebdjedet. The oldest
surviving monuments date to the late Old Kingdom and consist of a
settlement, including remains of a temple and a necropolis of mastaba
tombs. Herodotus, the Greek historian who visited Egypt around 450 BC,
mentioned the sacrifice of goats at Mendes, in contrast to the use of
sheep elsewhere in Egypt, though it is possible that he mistook the
sacred ram for a goat.
The temple precinct of the ram-god at Tell el-Rub'a was recorded by an
Arab geographer, Subh el-A'sha in the 15th century AD, as being intact
up to the roof, but there are now few remains. The only part of the
temple to be seen today is dated to Ahmose II (Amasis) of Dynasty XXVI,
and attested from foundation deposits found at the site. It is now
suggested that this may have been built over earlier temples, as
foundation pits of Dynasty XVIII and a few isolated granite blocks
bearing the names of Rameses II, Merenptah and Rameses III have been
found around the precinct as well as remains possibly dating to the
Middle Kingdom or First Intermediate Period. A fortress known as 'Rawaty'
is known to have been constructed at Mendes during the reign of
Amenemhet I of Dynasty XII. The main temple building was oriented
north to south and covered an area of 70m by 120m, where a monolithic
red granite naos, almost 8m high, survives alone standing above its
surrounding pavement to mark the once sacred site. This was one of
four shrines in the temple dedicated by Ahmose II to Re, Geb, Shu and
Osiris, gods with which the Ram of Mendes became associated. The
temple was later restored by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and papyrus
capitals of red granite and a granite Hathor capital (now in Cairo
Museum), belonged to a birth-house at the side of the temple. A sacred
lake was situated to the south-east outside the main temple enclosure
and there is also evidence of a harbour complex.
Little else is left of the temple, its enclosure walls are not
well-preserved and only a few fragments have been found. Excavations
during the 1970s and 1980s revealed settlement remains from
Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods and several North American
expeditions including the University of Toronto (led by Professor
Donald Redford) and the University of Pennsylvania have continued work
at Mendes, uncovering much of the Old Kingdom necropolis. There have
also been a number of New Kingdom fragments found in the surrounding
area - but it is possible that these may have been removed from
Per-Rameses (Qantir) after the abandonment of that city.
At the south-east corner of the temple precinct are remains of royal
tombs of Dynasty XXIX, including Nephrites I (Baenre Merynetjeru),
which were subsequently destroyed by the Persians. |
