Buto
Βουτώ | |
Alternative name | Per-Wadjet Butus Tell El Fara'in |
---|---|
Location | Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt |
Region | Lower Egypt |
Coordinates | 31°11′47″N 30°44′41″E / 31.19639°N 30.74472°E |
Type | Settlement |
Site notes | |
Condition | In ruins |
Buto (
Today, it is called Tell El Fara'in ("Hill of the Pharaohs"), near the villages of Ibtu (or Abtu), Kom Butu, and the city of
History
Buto was a sacred site in dedication to the goddess Wadjet[6] and was an important cultural site during prehistoric Egypt, from the Paleolithic to 3100 BC.
Archaeological evidence seems to show that Upper Egyptian Naqada culture replaced Buto-Maadi culture (also known as the Lower Egyptian Cultural Complex), perhaps after a conquest. But, more recently, scholars have expressed reservations about this; they pointed out that, at the delta, there was a considerable transitional phase.[9]
The unification of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt into one entity is now considered to be a more complex process than previously thought.[10]
Earliest texts
In the earliest records about the region, it contained two cities, Pe and Dep.[11] Eventually, they merged into one city that the Ancient Egyptians named Per-Wadjet.[12]
The goddess Wadjet was the patron deity of Lower Egypt and her oracle was located in her renowned temple in this area. An annual festival was held there that celebrated Wadjet. The area also contained sanctuaries of Horus and Bast, and much later, the city became associated with Isis.
At that time, many deities had parallel identities and roles, yet merged into a unified pantheon of deities due to the great similarities. That was not the case with patron deities, however. The patron deity of Lower Egypt,
Ptolemaic period
During foreign occupation of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Kingdom, a dynasty that ruled from 305 to 30 BC, the classical Greeks coined the toponym Buto for the city. It served as the capital, or according to Herodian, merely the principal village of the Nile Delta. Herodotus styled it the Chemmite nome,[2] Ptolemy knew it as the Phthenothite nome (Φθενότης),[14] and Pliny the Elder as Ptenetha.[15]
Greek historians recorded that Buto was celebrated for its monolithite temple and the oracle of the
Writing during that Graeco-Roman period, Plutarch reported that Isis had entrusted the baby Horus to "Leto" (Wadjet) to raise at Buto while Isis searched for the body of her murdered husband Osiris.[19] According to these same late sources, the shrew (sometimes associated with Horus) was worshiped at Buto as well.[20]
Archeological findings
A palace building dating to the Second Dynasty is considered one of the most important discoveries within Buto.[21] Archaeological excavations were undertaken at Buto by the Egypt Exploration Society from 1964–1969, under the direction of Veronica Seton-Williams[22] and later, by Dorothy Charlesworth.[23] The German Archaeological Institute, Cairo has been excavating at Buto since the early 1980s. Six Greek bathhouses also were excavated by different missions in Buto.[24]
In 2022, excavations over an area of 6.5m x 4.5m uncovered the remains of an ancient hall lined with pillars within the larger temple structure. The hall contained the remains of three surviving columns, aligned on a north-south axis at the southwestern end of the temple. A number of stone fragments decorated with engravings where found, as well as numerous ceramics and pottery associated with ritual activity.[6] In a press release issued by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, archaeologists also found a limestone painting with the representation of a bird’s head wearing a white crown surrounded by feathers.[25]
See also
- List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities
- Diocese of Buto for ecclesiastical history and current titular sees
- Kafr El Sheikh Governorate
- Sais, Egypt
References
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium.
- ^ a b Herodotus ii. 59, 63, 155.
- ^ Strabo xvii. p. 802.
- S2CID 129238547.
- ISBN 9780500051009.
- ^ a b "Ancient temple remains uncovered on "Hill of the Pharaohs"". Heritage Daily. November 16, 2022.
- ^ Buto – Maadi Culture. ancientegyptonline.co.uk
- ^ Maadi. University College London
- ^ Buto – Maadi Culture. ancientegyptonline.co.uk
- ^ Carol A. Redmount, Lower Egypt. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt.
- ^ Strabo, XVII., i., 18
- ^ Webpage for Buto Archived 2011-02-15 at the Wayback Machine, modern Tell El Fara'in at the website of the German Archaeological Institute.
- ^ Wilkinson, Toby A. H. (1999). Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 292.
- ^ Ptolemy, iv. 5. § 48.
- ^ Pliny the Elder v. 9. s. 11.
- ^ Herodotus ii. 155
- ^ Aelian. V. Hist. ii. 41
- Champollion, l'Egypte, vol. ii. p. 227.
- ^ Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride 18, 38, in the Moralia V:26.
- ^ Herod. ii. 67.
- ^ "Projekt - Dainst". www.dainst.org.
- ^ Seton-Williams, M.V. (1988). The Road to El-Aguzein.
- ^ "1969 Tell el-Fara'in | Artefacts of Excavation". egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ Hossam Mohamd Ghonim (2020): Bathing like a Greek, in: Egyptian Archaeology, 56, Spring 2020, pp. 16-20
- ^ "Unearthing the remains of the Column Hall of the Temple of Bot in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate". Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. November 16, 2022.
External links
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Butos". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
- Media related to Buto at Wikimedia Commons