The Delta site of Tell el-Yahudiya (Mound of the Jews) probably takes
its name from remains of a temple and town built in the 2nd century BC
by a Jewish priest called Onias, who was given permission by Ptolemy
IV Philometor to build a temple modelled on Solomon's Temple in
Jerusalem. The town was constructed for Jewish exiles from Jerusalem
and flourished for 200 years before the temple was closed by Vespasian
in AD 71.
Onias's temple and town was only a small part of the whole site
however, which had been called by the ancient Egyptians Nay-ta-hut and
Leontopolis (City of Lions) by the Greeks. The site dates to at least
as early as the Middle Kingdom and seems to have been occupied right
up to the Roman Period. Tell el-Yahudiya was first excavated and
published by Naville in 1890, Petrie in 1906 and later investigated by
du Buisson for the French Archaeological Institute.
The main focus of interest in the site has centred on a massive
rectangular walled enclosure, measuring about 515m by 490m, which has
been dated to the late Middle Kingdom or early Second Intermediate
Period. The purpose of the huge earthwork is not clear. There are no
Egyptian parallels for a structure with such massive defensive earthen
walls which were sloping and plastered on the outer face and almost
vertical on the inner face. For this reason the enclosure was thought
to be of foreign design and often interpreted as a Hyksos
fortification and known as the 'Hyksos Camp'. The Hyksos people were
of Asiatic origin, who were known to have gradually infiltrated the
Delta regions during the late Middle Kingdom, becoming a very powerful
force in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period. Tell el-Yahudiya
may have been one of their many strongholds, although some
Egyptologists regard the structure as religious rather than military.
Little of the enclosure walls survive today.
Remains of colossal statues of Rameses II have been found inside the
northern part of the enclosure and it is thought that he may have also
built a temple here. On the western side of the enclosure wall was a
temple of Rameses III and probably a palace which was decorated with
faience tiles depicting cartouches, rosettes and flowers, rekhyt birds
and foreign captives (many tiles are now in Cairo and other Museums).
Pottery dating to the Middle Kingdom and Hyksos Period found at the
site is especially characterised by a type of juglet named 'Tell el-Yahudiya
ware', which were manufactured from black-fired clay, often decorated
with a white incised zig-zag design. Study of the pottery has revealed
centres of production in Egypt and the Levant.
To the east of the enclosure there are cemeteries of various dates. |
