Tarrana

Coordinates: 30°26′07″N 30°50′14″E / 30.43518°N 30.83722°E / 30.43518; 30.83722
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Aṭ-Ṭarrānah
الطرانة
Town
UTC+2 (EST
)

Tarrana (

Merimde Beni-salame and the northern town of Kom el-Hisn.[3]
The ruins of ancient Terenuthis are found at Kom Abu Billo, northwest of the modern city.

Names

Tarrana was known to the ancient Egyptians as Mefket, meaning "turquoise" in Egyptian, itself an epithet of the goddess Hathor who was object of local veneration as "Hathor, Mistress of Turquoises". It was during the Graeco-Roman period that the town became known as Terenuthis,[3] from the Egyptian *Ta-Renenût ("the domain of the goddess Renenutet")[4] which in turn became the Coptic Terenouti, as well as Tarrana or Tarana, the modern town.[3] The toponym Kom Abu Billo (or Kom Abu Bello) refers to a small modern village lying on Terenuthis’ necropolis, in the northwestern part of the whole site; it probably takes the name from the ancient temple of Apollo that once stood here.[3]

Geography

The modern town of El-Tarrana is on the Rosetta branch of the Nile, on the fringes of the Libyan Desert. The ancient necropolis of Kom Abu Billo is a short distance west of El-Tarrana, and is now bisected by the El-Nasseri Canal, a 40-meter-wide irrigation canal.[4]

Excavations

The site was first excavated in 1887–88 by

Egyptian Antiquities Organization, and took place between 1969 and 1974 due to the imminent construction of a canal which would have crossed the site.[3] Nowadays, Terenuthis is poorly preserved partly because of these extensive excavations, partly due to the enlargement of the modern city of Tarrana and its crops.[3] Since 2012, the site is explored by a mission of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.[5]

History

The earliest tombs discovered in the site date back to the

6th Dynasty. Another cemetery was made during the Middle Kingdom, and another one in the New Kingdom, the latter being characterized by the use of large-faced ceramic coffins.[3]

At one point, a temple of Hathor was erected, of which some blocks depicting pharaoh

sacred cattle were buried. Another temple, dedicated to Apollo, was built at the northernmost border of the site: it was later completely destroyed to its foundations, leaving only a few blocks.[3]

The northeastern sector of the site hosted a very large necropolis dating to the

Demotic Egyptian texts, and provide glimpses of daily life of the period between 100-300 CE.[3]

A smaller cemetery, dating to the 2nd century CE, was dedicated to Aphrodite. Two Roman thermae once stood south of the aforementioned temple of Apollo.[3]

Terenuthis became a bishopric that, being in the province of Aegyptus Prima was a

First Council of Ephesus
in 431.

The monks sometimes sought refuge in Terenuthis during incursions of the Maziks.[8] John Moschus went there at the beginning of the 7th century.[9] There is frequent mention of Terenuthis in Christian Coptic literature.

Tarrana was the site of a minor battle during the

Nikiou in the Delta. The Muslims travelled north along with western bank of the Nile, in order to take advantage of the wide-open spaces along the fringes of the Libyan Desert, but had to cross back over to the east to reach Nikiou. Amr chose to cross the Nile at Tarranah, where he was met by a Roman cavalry force. The Muslims easily defeated the Romans and proceeded to reach Nikiou by 13 May.[10]

The name Tarrana dates from around the time of the Mamluk sultan

Dimashqi spoke praises of it. It was a source of natron.[2]

In December 1293, the emir Baydara, who had assassinated the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil and now claimed the title of Sultan for himself, was captured and killed near Tarrana after most of his supporters fled.[11]

Shortly prior to the

Mamluk Sultanate, including Tarrana.[12]

On October 27, 1660,[13] a bloody massacre took place in Tarrana against members of the Faqariya political faction on the orders of the Ottoman governor, who was collaborating with the rival Qasimiya faction.[14] This event was the main source of tension in Egyptian politics for at least 30 years thereafter, with the Faqari leader Ibrahim Bak Dhu al-Faqar vowing to annihilate the Qasimiya in revenge.[14]

The

El Negaila in Beheira Governorate; at that time, the population of the town was 1,331 (693 men and 638 women).[15]

Gallery

  • The necropolis at Kom Abu Billo
    The necropolis at Kom Abu Billo
  • Ptolemy I (right) offering to Hathor; block from the temple of Hathor
    Ptolemy I (right) offering to Hathor; block from the temple of Hathor
  • Tomb-chapel, Graeco–Roman period
    Tomb-chapel, Graeco–Roman period
  • Vault of a Graeco–Roman tomb
    Vault of a Graeco–Roman tomb
  • Roman funerary stele, Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
    Roman funerary stele, Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terenuthis.
  1. ^ a b c "Geonames.org. Aṭ-Ṭarrānah". Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b Maspero, Jean; Wiet, Gaston (1919). Matériaux pour servir à la géographie de l'Égypte. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale. pp. 58, 120–121.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-203-98283-5
    , pp. 498–500
  4. ^ a b McCleary, Roger V. (1992). Johnson, Johnson (ed.). "Ancestor Cults at Terenouthis in Lower Egypt: A Case for Greco-Egyptian Oecumenism". Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization (51): 221–231. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  5. ^ French archaeological Mission
  6. ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1
    ), p. 987
  7. ^ Oriens christianus, II, 611.
  8. ^ Cotelier, "Ecclesiæ græcæ monumenta", I, 393.
  9. ^ Pratum spirituale, LIV, CXIV.
  10. ISBN 978-1473828650
    . Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  11. ISBN 978-3847100911
    . Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  12. S2CID 246638375
    .
  13. ISBN 0-203-16923-9
    . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  14. ^
    JSTOR 3596053
    .
  15. ^ Egypt min. of finance, census dept (1885). Recensement général de l'Égypte. p. 304. Retrieved 21 June 2020.

Site and blog of the French Archaeological Mission: https://kab.huma-num.fr/ and https://aboubillou.hypotheses.org/ .

Attribution
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