arab Archaeology News

2,400-Year-Old Temple Found in Cairo

(Courtesy Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities)
(Courtesy Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities)
(Courtesy Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities)

CAIRO, EGYPT—A team of Egyptian and German archaeologists discovered the remains of a limestone colonnade and a well-preserved ceiling in Cairo’s modern district of Mataria. The 2,400-year-old building is thought to have been a shrine that was surrounded by a mud brick wall and located in the ancient capital city of Heliopolis, or Iunu. “The shrine belonged to the 30th Dynasty Pharaoh Nectanebo I (379 B.C. – 360 B.C.),” Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty announced in a press conference reported in The Cairo Post. Nectanebo I founded the 30th Dynasty, which was the last Egyptian royal family to rule Egypt before it was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. The team also uncovered a bust of the New Kingdom Pharaoh Merenptah (1580 B.C. – 1080 B.C.). To read about the discovery of another ancient Egyptian temple