Ancient Temple Dedicated To God Zeus Discovered In Sinai, Egypt

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - While excavating in  Tel Farama site in North Sinai, Egypt an archaeology team unearthed an ancient temple dedicated to God Zeus.

"The remains, made of mudbricks, were found on a 170cm tall mount of debris and rubble.

The mission also found a collection of marble blocks that might have once formed a staircase to enable worshippers to reach the temple.

Credit: Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry

The site is located between the Peluzium Fort and the Tezkariya Church," Ahram Online reports.

Tell el-Farma, also known by its ancient name Pelusium, dates back to the late Pharaonic period and was also used during Greco-Roman and Byzantine times.

There are also remains dating to the Christian and early Islamic periods.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said on Monday the temple was not located until the Egyptian mission unearthed a collection of red granite blocks that once formed the temple’s entrance gate, which was destroyed long ago.

The entrance gate comprised a few red granite columns, each 8m tall, and an upper lintel decorated with Roman text about the construction day of the Zeus Caseous (Kasios) Temple.

Zeus-Caseous (Kasios) is a conflation of Zeus, the God of the sky in ancient Greek mythology, and Mount Kasios in Syria, where Zeus once worshiped.

In 1910, Waziri added, French Egyptologist Jean Cledat uncovered a collection of engraved blocks confirming the existence of the temple in the area, but he could not find it.

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It was not until last month that the Egyptian archaeological mission stumbled upon the blocks of the temple gate.

A photogrammetry survey and study are currently being conducted on the blocks to understand the architectural design of the temple.