Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)
Jwnw or Iunu | |
Location | Egypt |
---|---|
Region | Cairo Governorate |
Coordinates | 30°07′46″N 31°18′27″E / 30.129333°N 31.307528°E |
Heliopolis (Jwnw, Iunu;
.Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, occupied since prehistoric Egypt.[1] It greatly expanded under the Old and Middle Kingdoms but is today mostly destroyed, its temples and other buildings having been scavenged for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from surviving records.
The major surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the
Names
| |||
Heliopolis iwnw[a] in hieroglyphs | |||
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Heliopolis is the
Its
Its traditional
The city also appears in the
History
Ancient
In
It was principally notable as the cult center of the
During the
The store-city
Hellenistic
Alexander the Great, on his march from Pelusium to Memphis, halted at this city.[15]
The temple of Ra was said to have been, to a special degree, a depository for royal records, and Herodotus states that the priests of Heliopolis were the best informed in matters of history of all the Egyptians. Heliopolis flourished as a seat of learning during the Greek period; the schools of philosophy and astronomy are claimed to have been frequented by
Heliopolis was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, being noted by most major geographers of the period, including Ptolemy, Herodotus, and others, down to the Byzantine geographer Stephanus of Byzantium.[17]
Roman
In
Islamic
During the Middle Ages, the growth of Fustat and Cairo only a few kilometres away caused its ruins to be massively scavenged for building materials, including for their city walls. The site became known as the "Eye of the Sun" (Ayn Shams) and ʻArab al-Ḥiṣn.
Legacy
The importance of the solar cult at Heliopolis is reflected in both ancient pagan and current monotheistic beliefs. Classical mythology held that the Egyptian bennu, renamed phoenix, brought the remains of its predecessor to the altar of the sun god at Heliopolis each time it was reborn. In the Hebrew Bible, Heliopolis is referenced directly and obliquely, usually in reference to its prominent pagan cult. In his prophesies against Egypt, Isaiah claimed the "City of the Sun" (Hebrew: עיר החרס) would be one of the five Egyptian cities to follow the Lord of Heaven's army and speak Hebrew.[19][b] Jeremiah and Ezekiel mention the House or Temple of the Sun (Hebrew: בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ, romanized: bêṯ šemeš) and Ôn, claiming Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire would shatter its obelisks and burn its temple[20] and that its "young men of Folly" (Aven) would "fall by the sword".[21]
The "Syrian Heliopolis" Baalbek has been claimed to have gained its solar cult from a priest colony emigrating from Egypt.[22]
The Titular Episcopal See of Heliopolis in Augustamnica remains a titular see of both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Present site
The ancient city is currently located about 15–20 meters (49–66 ft) below the streets of the middle- and lower-class suburbs of
Some ancient city walls of crude brick can be seen in the fields, a few granite blocks bearing the name of Ramesses II remain, and the position of the great Temple of Ra-Atum is marked by the Al-Masalla obelisk. Archaeologists excavated some of its tombs in 2004.[24] In 2017, parts of a colossal statue of Psamtik I were found and excavated.[25]
Gallery
A selection of old maps showing Heliopolis are below:
-
1743 map
-
1799 map
-
1882 map
See also
- List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities
- Other Heliopolises, particularly
- Ancient Egyptian creation myths – in reference to the religious belief system of Iunu at Heliopolis
- List of Egyptian dynasties– in reference to the reigns centered at Heliopolis
- Benben
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ ISBN 9774160088.
- ^ Griffith, Francis Llewellyn (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 945.. . In
- ^ "obelisk". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
- ^ Collier & Manley 1998, p. 29.
- ISBN 9773053474.
- ^ Gen. 41:45
- ^ Gen. 41:50
- ^ Ezekiel 30:17; prp. Amos 1:5 (apparently Baalbek). This last would be the expected form in pausa, but perhaps a play on awen "idolatry."
- ^ TLA lemma no. C5494 (ⲱⲛ), in: Coptic Dictionary Online, ed. by the Koptische/Coptic Electronic Language and Literature International Alliance (KELLIA), https://coptic-dictionary.org/entry.cgi?tla=C5494
- ^ Bonnet, Hans, Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte. (in German)
- ^ "Model of a Votive Temple Gateway at Heliopolis (49.183)", Official site, Brooklyn Museum, retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ISBN 0-415-34495-6.
- ^ Planetware: Priests of Ra tombs, Heliopolis—Al-Matariyyah. accessed 01.28.2011 Archived 2010-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Pithom | ancient city, Egypt | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ Arrian, iii. 1.
- ^ The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus, Book I, ch VI.
- Diogenes Laërtius, xviii. 8. § 6; Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 3, C. Apion. i. 26; Cicero, De Natura Deorum iii. 21; Pliny the Elder, v. 9. § 11; Tacitus, Ann. vi. 28; Pomponius Mela, iii. 8. Byzantine geographer Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Ἡλίουπόλις.
- Nat. Hist., vi, 34.
- ^ Isaiah 19:18.
- ^ Jeremiah 43:13 NASB; Compare NIV
- ^ Ezekiel 30:17 NIV
- ^ Macrobius, Saturn., i. 23.
- ^ "Al-Ahram Weekly | Features | City of the sun". Weekly.ahram.org.eg. 2005-06-01. Archived from the original on 2013-03-25. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
- ^ "Pharonic tomb uncovered in Cairo, suburbs of Matariya", Egiptomania, 26 August 2004.
- ^ "Colossal statue of 'forgotten' pharaoh brought to life in 3D images". 20 April 2018.
Bibliography
- Allen, James P. 2001. "Heliopolis". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 2 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 88–89
- Bilolo, Mubabinge. 1986. Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques d'Héliopolis et d'Hermopolis. Essai de thématisation et de systématisation, (Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 2), Kinshasa–Munich 1987; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2004.
- Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte - Hans Bonnet
- Collier, Mark; Manley, Bill (1998). How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Revised ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
- The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart ISBN 0-415-34495-6
- Redford, Donald Bruce. 1992. "Heliopolis". In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 3 of 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. 122–123
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Obelisk". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.