The City and Temple of Esna During the Greco-Roman Period

Dr. Radwan Abdel Rady Sayed Ahmed Sayed, professor at the Egyptian Antiquities Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Aswan University

23 August 2017

12:00 PM

the (F3) Floating Room at the BA

 The BA Antiquities Museum is organizing a lecture titled “The City and Temple of Esna During the Greco-Roman Period”. The lecture is set to be held on Wednesday, 23 August 2017at 12:00 noon in the (F3) Floating Room at the BA, and it will be delivered by Dr. Radwan Abdel Rady Sayed Ahmed Sayed, professor at the Egyptian Antiquities Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Aswan University. The researcher will discuss the city of Esna, which was a city in the Thebaid region of Upper Egyptian ancient (pharaonic) Egypt and then became the region’s capital during the Greco-Roman Period. Esna is known for its various significant archaeological sites that date back to all the different eras of ancient Egypt, from the times of prehistoric Egypt until the Islamic Golden Age. Esna is also known for the cemetery of the sacred Nile perch (Lates niloticus), the symbol of the goddess Neith, and the cemetery of the sacred gazelle, the symbol of the goddess Anuket in Koumir. The most renowned monument in this city is the Temple of Esna, which dates back to the New Kingdom, the Late Period, the Ptolemaic period, and up until the Roman period. The temple is characterized by its remarkable architectural splendor, religious inscriptions, and exceptional scenery. Nowadays, it rests about nine meters below the ground level of the surrounding street. Only a Roman pylon containing a hall of columns remains, while the rest of the ancient temple rests below the modern houses that surround the temple in a connected circle.