Tanis (San el – Hagar)

As one approaches the little village of San el-Hagar in the north eastern delta one can see from afar the huge hills of the ruins of Tanis, called Zoan in the Bible. It was the largest settlement mound of antiquity in Egypt (Known as a "kom", an earthen mound over ancient buildings), measuring 5200 X 3900 feet (1600 X 1200 m), and reaching a height of just under 130 feet (40 m). It soon attracted the attention of excavators. Auguste Mariette went to Tanis in 1860, Flinders Petrie followed in 1883/84 and in 1929-1951 the French archaeologist Pierre Montet, who was to succeed in uncovering the tombs of the kings, dug there. A French team is working in Tanis today and no end to their work is in sight. The place was elevated to be the new capital of Egypt at the start of the Twenty-first Dynasty, when the Ramesside capital in piramesse was abandoned for both political and economic reasons. In the center of the hill lies the great temple of Amun. It is enclosed by a massive brick wall, 1397 X 1200 feet

(430 X 370 metres), which was last extended under the ptolemies.

The entrance has a huge gate built by Shoshenq III (Twenty-second Dynasty) and like so many buildings in Tanis it consists of older blocks of granite that were dragged here and fitted together. Behind this, stretches an area full of monuments, statues, obelisks, columns and relief blocks, but the original architecture is almost totally lost.

The Temple Area

21st /22nd Dynasty, 10th /9th centuries B.C.

When the Tanite rulers took the decision to move their capital further to the north, into the delta, a major problem had to be solved. For the stone quarries for the building material lay far away in Upper Egypt. Consequently, they ordered the buildings and monuments of the Ramesside metropolis to be demolished; these were then taken over a distance of a good 13 miles (20 km), to be re-erected at their new destination. It was a process that must have taken several decades. Even after the political power shifted to other delta cities in the course of the 1St millenium B.C. the tradition of settlement at Tanis persisted right into Greek and Roman times. The main shrine (ca. 760 feet or 235 m in length) was fitted out with particular elaboration; it had three great pylons before the rear temple building and consisted for the most part of blocks of granite. Four obelisks stood before the third pylon dedicated to Osorkon II alone (Twenty-second Dynasty), with colossal figures from the time of Ramesses the Great.

Colossal Figure of Ramesses II

The long reign of Ramesses II lasted 67 years, from 1279 to 1213 B.C. Among other things it meant that not enough of the statues of the ruler needed for his gigantic building program were available anywhere in the land. Hence numerous statues of earlier kinds were removed from shrines in the greater Memphis district as well as from Delta sites and used to adorn the temple buildings. They included original works of the Nineteenth Dynasty like this upper part of a colossal standing figure ( 12.5 feet or 3.85 m high ) .

Obelisk of Ramesses II

Although Tanis suffered for many years from the persistent removal of its stones and many individual monuments have found their way into the museums of Cairo and Paris , the great wealth of objects that are still in place do give some idea of the former magnificence of the temple . As well as countless statues, some of which are up to 65 feet (20 m) high, 23 obelisks alone have been discovered. Most of them, like this great fragment (13 feet or 4.20 m high) are of red granite and were once made for the "House of Ramesses" under Ramesses II.

The Tombs of the Kings

Twenty- first / Twenty –second Dynasties,

10th / 9th century B.C.

In the south west corner of the temple complex the French archaeologist Pierre Montet found royal necropolis for kings of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties in 1939. The burial chambers lie close together. They were once underground and no trace had remained of the superstructures that were assumed to have surmounted them. The tombs , and particularly the rich treasure in the tomb of Psusennes I (Twenty – first Dynasty) can certainly compare with the contents of the tomb of Tutanhamun , with cult vessels of precious stones , magnificent jewelry and not least the golden mask of the king . Psusennes I's consort Mutnodjmet, Pharaoh Amen- mope and his general Wendjebauendjed were all buried with Psusennes I . Beside this tomb is the burial chamber of Osorkon II, and slightly to one side the tomb of Shoshenq III. Two more burial chambers remained unfinished. The earth at Tanis may hide more sensations, for great kings of this period, like Shoshenq I, and their tombs have not yet been discovered.

The Silver Coffin of Psusennes

Twenty- first Dynasty, Ca. 1000 B.C., silver, gold,

L.185 cm, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

As wan the custom of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, Psusennes I also ordered himself to be buried in several layers of coffin. But it was not easy to carry out his command, for the shortage of stone in the delta was an unwelcome but indisputable fact, even for royal tombs. The solution was pragmatic rather than appropriate to a pharaoh, for Psusennes used his contacts with the priest kings of the divine state of Amun to appropriate a granite sarcophagus of king Merenptah (Nineteenth Dynasty), whose tomb in the Valley of the kinds had already been plundered. The second anthropomorphic coffin of black granite was also given a new inscription. It had once held an official of the early Nineteenth Dynasty. It was in this that the magnificent silver coffin of the Tanite ruler was laid and it can be seen as an original artefact of his time. The changing play of the metal colors is extremely beautiful.

Pectoral of Psusennes I with heart scarab

Twenty-first Dynasty, ca. 1000 B.C., gold with inlays,

H. 10.5 cm, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Montet found many items of jewelry on Psusennes I's mummy, including this magnificent pectoral in the form of a winged scarab (in dark green jasper). The scarab was a powerful symbol of regeneration and recurs on many of the items of jewelry in the tomb. Here it links a Shen ring, the sign of cyclical infinity, with a horizontal cartouche that contains the birth name of Psusennes I. Most of the Tanite gold is suspected to be recycled material from New Kingdom burials.

The Golden Mask of Psusennes I

Twenty- first Dynasty, ca. 1000 B.C., gold, lapis, lazuli

H.48 cm, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Whereas only pure face masks were used in the other royal burials at Tanis, the golden mask of Psusennes I completely envelops the head of the deceased ruler, transmitting his features to us in timeless beauty. The king wears the headdress with a rearing uraeus on his forehead, the plaited beard of the divine ruler and a broad necklace adorned with a floral pattern. His eyebrows, eyelids and the plaited beard are inlaid with costly lapis lazuli.