All Topics  
Leontopolis

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Leontopolis
 
 
  Topics Leontopolis Topic Home

Leontopolis (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ) or Leonto or Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
: Leontos Oppidum or Egyptian
Egyptian language

Egyptian is a branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages language family along with the Chadic languages, Berber languages, Semitic languages, Cushitic languages and possibly Omotic languages languages....
: Taremu, was an Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian city that is known as Tell al Muqdam today.

History
The city is located in the central part of the Nile Delta
Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the River delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas?from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline?and is a rich agricultural region....
 region. It was the capital of the 11th nome
Nome (Egypt)

A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian language term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic Egypt period....
 of Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 (the Leontopolite nome) and was probably the centre of pharaonic
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
 power under the 23rd dynasty
Twenty-third dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-third Dynasty of ancient Egypt was a separate regime of Meshwesh Berber people Pharaoh, who ruled ancient Egypt. This dynasty is often considered part of the Third Intermediate Period....
. Strabo is the earliest writer who mentions either the nome, or its chief town: and it was probably of comparatively recent origin or importance.

The Greek name of this city means,City of Lions", given on account of the presence of temples to the lioness goddesses Bast
Bast (goddess)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Bast is an ancient solar and war goddess, worshipped at least since the Second dynasty of Egypt. In the late dynasties, the priests of Amun began to call her Bastet, a repetitive and diminutive form after her role in the pantheon became diminished as Sekhmet, a similar lioness war deity, became more domin...
 and Sekhmet
Sekhmet

In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet , was originally the warrior goddess of Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lion, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians....
, and their son, Maahes
Maahes

Maahes was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed Deity of war, whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as a lion prince, the son of the goddess Bast in Lower Egypt and of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and shared her natures....
, the lion prince.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Leontopolis'
Start a new discussion about 'Leontopolis'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Leontopolis (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ) or Leonto or Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
: Leontos Oppidum or Egyptian
Egyptian language

Egyptian is a branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages language family along with the Chadic languages, Berber languages, Semitic languages, Cushitic languages and possibly Omotic languages languages....
: Taremu, was an Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian city that is known as Tell al Muqdam today.

History


The city is located in the central part of the Nile Delta
Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the River delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas?from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline?and is a rich agricultural region....
 region. It was the capital of the 11th nome
Nome (Egypt)

A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian language term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic Egypt period....
 of Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 (the Leontopolite nome) and was probably the centre of pharaonic
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
 power under the 23rd dynasty
Twenty-third dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-third Dynasty of ancient Egypt was a separate regime of Meshwesh Berber people Pharaoh, who ruled ancient Egypt. This dynasty is often considered part of the Third Intermediate Period....
. Strabo is the earliest writer who mentions either the nome, or its chief town: and it was probably of comparatively recent origin or importance.

The Greek name of this city means,City of Lions", given on account of the presence of temples to the lioness goddesses Bast
Bast (goddess)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Bast is an ancient solar and war goddess, worshipped at least since the Second dynasty of Egypt. In the late dynasties, the priests of Amun began to call her Bastet, a repetitive and diminutive form after her role in the pantheon became diminished as Sekhmet, a similar lioness war deity, became more domin...
 and Sekhmet
Sekhmet

In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet , was originally the warrior goddess of Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lion, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians....
, and their son, Maahes
Maahes

Maahes was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed Deity of war, whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as a lion prince, the son of the goddess Bast in Lower Egypt and of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and shared her natures....
, the lion prince. Live lions were kept at the temples during the time of the Greek occupation.

In the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor (180
180 BC

Events...
-145 BC) a temple
Land of Onias

The Land of Onias is the name given in Hellenistic Egyptian, Jewish history, and Latin literature sources to an area in Ancient Egypt's Nile delta where a large number of Jews settled....
, modelled after that of Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
, was founded by the exiled Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish priest Onias IV
Onias IV

Onias IV is the designation given to the son of Onias III and the lawful heir of the legitimate high priests. He had reason to hope that the victory of the national party under Judas Maccabeus would place him in the office of his fathers; but being disappointed in his expectations by the election of Alcimus, he went to Egypt to seek aid again...
. The Hebrew colony, which was attracted by the establishment of their national worship at Leontopolis, and which was increased by the refugees from the oppressions of the Seleucid kings in Palestine
Palestine

Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is derived from a name used already much earlier for a narrower geographical region, mainly along the coastal region....
, flourished there for more than three centuries afterwards. After the outbreak of the Jewish War
Jewish War

Jewish War can relate to:*A shorter title of the work by the Jewish historian Josephus, also known as The Wars of the Jews or The Wars of the Jews....
, the Leontopolite temple was closed in the first century CE, amid the general backlash against Judaism
Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
.

It was a titular see
Titular see

A titular see in the Roman Catholic Church is a Diocese or Archdiocese that now exists in title only. Until 1882, such titular sees, were distinguished by the Latin phrase in partibus infidelium or more often simply in partibus....
 of the Roman Catholic church.

The site


Antiquarians were long divided as to the real site of the ruins of Leontopolis. According to D'Anville, they were covered by a mound called Tel-Essabč (Tel es-sab`), or the Lion's Hill. Jomard, on the other hand, maintains that some tumuli near the village of El-Mengaleh in the Delta, represent the ancient Leontopolis., And this supposition agrees better with the account of the town given by Xenophon of Ephesus
Xenophon of Ephesus

Xenophon of Ephesus was a Roman and Byzantine Greece writer. His surviving work is the Ephesian Tale, one of the earliest novels as well as one of the sources for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet....
. Smith
William Smith (lexicographer)

Sir William Smith , was a distinguished English lexicographer....
 sites the city at latitude 30° 6'North, which is considerably further south than the actual site.

Most scholars today agree that Leontopolis is located at Tell al Muqdam, at latitude 30° 45'North.

See also


  • Jewish Temple of Leontopolis


External links

  • article at JewishEncyclopedia.com