{"id":524598,"date":"2026-07-04T08:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T08:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/524598\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T08:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T08:06:09","slug":"archaeologists-find-inscriptions-of-pharaohs-ancient-deities-in-egyptian-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/524598\/","title":{"rendered":"Archaeologists find inscriptions of pharaohs, ancient deities in Egyptian temple"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Previously unexplored parts of the ancient temple complex in the village of al-Qasr in the Bahariya Oasis were uncovered during excavations completed two weeks ago, Egypt&#8217;s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced in a mid-June statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The temple dates back to Egypt\u2019s 26th Dynasty, the last native dynasty of ancient Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BCE.<\/p>\n<p>Excavations completed by an Egyptian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/archaeology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">archaeological<\/a> mission on behalf of the Supreme Council of Antiquities unearthed the temple\u2019s main hall, housing 16 sandstone columns and several connecting chambers and shrines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, noted that a number of stone blocks bearing the names and titles of King Psamtik I &#8211; the first Pharoah of the 26th Dynasty &#8211; were found within the chamber.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Additional hieroglyphics discovered within the temple names several ancient Egyptian deities, including Amun-Ra (diety of the sun and creator deity), Amunet (a primordial goddess, the female counterpart of Amun-Ra), and Khonsu (diety of the moon).<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Hieroglyphic carvings found at the ancient temple complex in the village of al-Qasr in the Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, July 3, 2026.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"822\" height=\"829\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/728212.jpeg\"\/>Hieroglyphic carvings found at the ancient temple complex in the village of al-Qasr in the Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, July 3, 2026. (credit: EGYPTIAN TOURISM AND ANTIQUITIES MINISTRY)<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Archaeologists also found inside the temple a stone stele dating to the 18th Dynasty, during the reign of King Amenhotep II, and fragments from the 19th Dynasty, during the reign of King Ramesses II.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The discovery \u201crepresents new evidence of the great historical and archaeological importance of the Old Palace site in the Bahariya Oasis, and its role as a prominent religious and administrative center across successive historical periods, explained Leithy.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence of older, Greek, Roman activity at the site<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Further, he noted that it sheds light on the history of the Bahariya Oasis and showed that the site was home to significant activity in the centuries leading up to the 26th Dynasty.<\/p>\n<p>Sabry Farag, director-general of Bahariya Oasis Antiquities, strengthened Lethy\u2019s words, pointing to the fourth and fifth century CE ostraca, and Coptic and Latin texts discovered at the site as evidence of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/archaeology\/article-898485\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greek<\/a> and Roman activity there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Basins used for producing wine and oils were also found, added Farag.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy praised the archaeological mission\u2019s efforts, and affirmed that unearthing the temple chamber \u201ccontribute to deepening our understanding of ancient Egyptian civilization and reveal more of its secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Fathy added that the discoveries embody the value of Egypt&#8217;s \u201cunique archaeological wealth,\u201d and reflect the\u201d competence of Egyptian archaeological personnel and their ability to uncover new chapters of the nation&#8217;s ancient history, a cornerstone for strengthening the cultural tourism product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ancient Greco-Roman cemetery unearthed in Egypt&#8217;s Nile Delta<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in June, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/archaeology\/article-899220\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">an ancient Greco-Roman cemetery<\/a> was discovered at the Tel Kom Aziza archaeological site in Beheira Governorate in northern Egypt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Excavation of the site revealed multiple different types of burial, from simple burial pits where the deceased were directly interred in the soil to those with frames made from mud bricks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Several painted plaster and barrel-shaped pottery coffin, among those most common coffin types in the Ptolemaic period, \u00a0were also found at the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Leithy noted that the burial orientations didn\u2019t only vary in method, but it in position as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Orientation of the burials varied between north\u2013south and east\u2013west axis, Leithy explained, adding that the hand positions of the deceased differed between folded or crossed over the pelvis, around the neck, in the distinctive Osirian position with arms crossed over the chest, or straight alongside the thighs.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, complete burials of wild boars were found at the site &#8211; a rare discovery in ancient <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/archaeology\/article-898354\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Egyptian funerary<\/a> sites given the animal\u2019s association with the deity Set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Older artifacts found at the site also show the cemetery had been built above older settlement levels, with finds dating back to Egypt\u2019s Old Kingdom, New Kingdom, the Late Period, all the way into the Greek and Roman eras.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Previously unexplored parts of the ancient temple complex in the village of al-Qasr in the Bahariya Oasis were&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[44398,2523,2520,5543,84206,42,43,140551,107916,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-524598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ancient-egypt","tag-archaeological-site","tag-archaeology","tag-egypt","tag-greek","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-romans","tag-temple","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}