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Ancient Egyptian temple to the sun cult uncovered near Cairo

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Ancient Egyptian temple to the sun cult uncovered near Cairo

The templewas built sometime during ancient Egypt's fifth dynasty (circa 2465 B.C. to2323 B.C.) — a "period in which the cult of the sun reached its apexwith the construction of a new type of monument specifically devoted to the sungod, commonly known as 'Sun Temple,'" said Massimiliano Nuzzolo,co-director of the archaeological dig and a researcher at the Institute ofMediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences inWarsaw. He co-directs it with Rosanna Pirelli of the University of Naples"L'Orientale" in Italy.

The sun cultwas a powerful cult in ancient Egyptian religion. In later times, Ra mergedwith Amun — the chief god of Thebes (Luxor) — to form Amun-Ra who was regarded,at least by some Egyptians, as being the most powerful of the Egyptian gods. Hewas worshiped until around 1,500 years ago, the time that Egyptian polytheismbecame extinct.

The newlyuncovered sun temple was made from mud bricks and measured at least 197 feetlong and 66 feet wide (60 meters by 20 m). It contained an L-shaped entranceportico, a courtyard, storage rooms and rooms that may have been used forcultic purposes, Nuzzolo told Live Science in an email.

"Thewalls of this building were all plastered in black and white and often alsoshow traces of painting in red and blue," Nuzzolo said. The entrance porticowas partially made of white limestone and had two limestone columns.

The templewas ritually demolished, possibly before it was even finished, so that a newsun temple could be made from stone at the site for a pharaoh named Niuserre(reign circa. 2420 B.C. to 2389 B.C.). Niuserre "reused part of thestructure as a platform or subfoundation for his new temple," Nuzzolosaid.

 

Thearchaeologists found two deposits of artifacts, one of which has dozens ofintact beer jars and a few finely made and red-slipped vessels, while the othercontains seal impressions, including the seals of pharaohs who ruled during thefifth and sixth dynasties. One of the earliest seals belongs to Shepseskare, an"enigmatic" pharaoh who ruled Egypt before Niuserre, Nuzzolo said.

TheMetropolitan Museum of Art(opens in new tab) in New York City lists Shepseskareas reigning from circa 2438 B.C to 2431 B.C., and Raneferef (also known asNeferefre) ruling from circa 2431 B.C. to 2420 B.C.

Thisdiscovery is not completely new, as 19th-century German archaeologists found a"very small part" of the mud brick sun temple, according to Nuzzolo.The latest excavation uncovered the rest of the temple between 2019 and 2022.

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