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Tanis, Egypt

 
Tanis, Egypt

 
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Tanis, Egypt
 
 
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Tanis, the 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....
 name of ancient Djanet (modern ??? ????? ?an al-?agar), is a city in the north-eastern 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....
 of 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....
. It lies on the Tanitic branch of the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 (now silted up).

s was founded in the late Twentieth dynasty
Twentieth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom. This dynasty is considered to be the last one of the New Kingdom of Egypt, and was followed by the Third Intermediate Period....
, and became the northern capital of Egypt during the following Twenty-first dynasty
Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period....
. It was the home city of Smendes
Smendes

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled....
, founder of the 21st dynasty. During the Twenty-second dynasty
Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period....
 Tanis remained as Egypt's political capital (though there were sometimes rival dynasties located elsewhere in Upper Egypt
Upper and Lower Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgAncient Egypt was divided into two regions, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta....
).






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Tanis, the 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....
 name of ancient Djanet (modern ??? ????? ?an al-?agar), is a city in the north-eastern 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....
 of 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....
. It lies on the Tanitic branch of the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 (now silted up).

History

Tanis was founded in the late Twentieth dynasty
Twentieth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom. This dynasty is considered to be the last one of the New Kingdom of Egypt, and was followed by the Third Intermediate Period....
, and became the northern capital of Egypt during the following Twenty-first dynasty
Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period....
. It was the home city of Smendes
Smendes

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled....
, founder of the 21st dynasty. During the Twenty-second dynasty
Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period....
 Tanis remained as Egypt's political capital (though there were sometimes rival dynasties located elsewhere in Upper Egypt
Upper and Lower Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgAncient Egypt was divided into two regions, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta....
). It was an important commercial and strategic city until it was threatened with inundation by Lake Manzala
Lake Manzala

Lake Manzala is a salt water lake in northeastern Egypt, near Port Said. It has an area of 1,360 km?....
 in the 6th century AD, when it was finally abandoned. The refugees founded the nearby city of Tennis
Tennis (city)

Tennis or Tinnis was an ancient city of Egypt situated at , on an island in Manzala Lake, southwest of Port Said. The city was founded by refugees from Tanis, Egypt, after which the city was named....
.

Ruins

There are ruins of a number of temples, including the chief temple dedicated to Amun
Amun

Amun, reconstructed Egyptian language Yamanu , was the name of a deity in Egyptian mythology who gradually rose from being an abstract concept to the patron deity of Thebes, Egypt and one of the most important deities in Ancient Egypt before fading into obscurity....
, and a very important royal necropolis
Necropolis

A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial place . Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term...
 of the Third Intermediate Period (which contains the only known intact royal Pharaonic burials - the tomb of Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun , Egyptian language was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt , during the period of History of Egypt known as the New Kingdom....
 having been entered in antiquity). Many of the stones used to build the various temples at Tanis came from the old Ramesside town of Qantir (ancient Pi-Ramesses/Per-Ramesses), which caused many former generations of Egyptologists to believe that Tanis was, in fact, Per-Ramesses. However the burials of three dynasty 21 and dynasty 22 pharaohs--Psusennes I
Psusennes I

Psusennes I, or [Greek language ???s?????], Psibkhanno or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I [Egyptian language ?r-p3-sb3-?ˁ?--n?wt] was the third Pharaoh of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt who ruled between 1047 – 1001 BC....
, Amenemope and Shoshenq II
Shoshenq II

Heqakheperre Shoshenq II was an Ancient Egypt king of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Egypt. He was the only ruler of this Dynasty whose tomb was not plundered by Grave robbing....
, survived the depradations of tomb robbers throughout antiquity. They were discovered intact in 1939 and 1940 by Pierre Montet
Pierre Montet

Pierre Montet was a respected France Egyptologist. He first began his studies under Victor Loret at the University of Lyon.He excavated at Byblos in Lebanon between 1921 and 1924, excavating tombs of rulers from Middle Kingdom times....
 and proved to contain a large catalogue of gold, jewellry, lapis lazuli and other precious stones including the funerary masks of these kings.

The chief deities of Tanis were Amun
Amun

Amun, reconstructed Egyptian language Yamanu , was the name of a deity in Egyptian mythology who gradually rose from being an abstract concept to the patron deity of Thebes, Egypt and one of the most important deities in Ancient Egypt before fading into obscurity....
, his consort, Mut
Mut

Mut, which meant mother in the ancient Egyptian language, was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture....
, and their child Khonsu, forming the Tanite triad. This triad was, however, identical to that of Thebes
Thebes, Egypt

Thebes was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile . It was the capital of Waset, the fourth Upper Egyptian Nome ....
, leading many scholars to speak of Tanis as the "northern Thebes".

In popular culture

In the film Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a action film-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas and starring Harrison Ford....
, Tanis was said to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a sacred container, where in rested the Tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna....
 which was hidden in a secret chamber. Tanis was inaccurately depicted having been destroyed in a sand storm
Dust storm

A dust storm or sandstorm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions and arises when a gust front passes or when the wind force exceeds the threshold value where loose sand and dust are removed from the dry surface....
 and buried until 1936 when it was discovered by a German expedition outside of Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
.

External links