By Owen Jarus
A temple built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus has been discovered at the ancient city of Thmuis (also known at Tell Timai) on the Nile Delta in Egypt.
Ptolemy II was a king of Egypt and the son of one of Alexander the Great’s generals. During his reign Egypt had a vast navy and controlled harbours and territory throughout the eastern Mediterranean. He erected a stela (a stone carving) at Thmuis and inaugurated a building and restoration program in the city.
Archaeologists believe that the newly discovered temple may have been built as a memorial to his dead queen – Arsinoe II. She was held in such high regard that the king deified her after she died.
“We suspect this was a temple that was built for Arsinoe (the second) – a memorial temple for Arsinoe,” said Professor Robert Littman of the University of Hawaii. He leads the research team along with Jay Silverstein, an archaeologist at the same institution.
More work needs to be done on the structure, “right now all we have are fluted columns and one inscription, one cartouche of Ptolemy,” said Professor Littman. He added that they have also found fragments from an art relief.
The size of the columns suggests that it was a large temple. The team plans to use Ground Penetrating Radar and magnetic survey to determine its dimensions and get clues as to its layout.
Arsinoe II was Ptolemy II’s sister and second wife, becoming his queen after he disavowed his first bride, Arsinoe I. She has been in the news recently with new research suggesting that she ruled Egypt as a female pharaoh alongside the king.
After Arsinoe II’s death in 268 BC “Philadelphus used the name of Arsinoe to give an identity, a colour, to the representation of his empire as a sea power,” writes Celine Marquaille, of Kings College London, in a book on Ptolemy’s life.
The king had a powerful navy and “linked this power to his dynasty by creating a deity Arsinoe-Aphrodite-Kypris,” Marquaille said. The newly created goddess became a protector of seafarers.
That wasn’t the only aspect of Arsinoe II’s deification. After her death statues were created depicting the queen as the goddess Isis. Silverstein said that archaeologists from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities have found an example at Thmuis itself, some distance away from the newly discovered temple.
See the full article with pictures at Unreported Heritage News
