Karanis

Karanis is in the north eastern Fayoum. It is one of the most important Greco-Roman sites in Fayoum.
It was found in the mid-third century BC by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In the Ptolemaic period the town
enjoyed a lot of prosperity, and the city expanded towards the north. In the 1 st century AD there were many
buildings, but at the Roman period it was a time of economic growth and expansion. Michigan University
chose to excavate in the site of Karanis in 1924. The result was recovering of many buildings and papyri
and a large amount of manufactured materials. Also Cairo University made excavation in the site from
1966 through 1975. Uncovered Roman baths, buildings, coins, papyri was excavated by Cairo University.

Many artifacts and papyri was found in Karanis are now preserved in Kelsey museum. First it was named
Karanos.2
The monuments there are well conserved. There are two temples in Karanis, the first one is the north
temple and the second is the south temple of Pnepheros and Petesouchos. The two temples are away from
each other by 180 meter. They were in different directions, the northern temple look at the south while the
southern look at the east. Karanis is now the most visiting touristic place in Fayoum.

Sebbakhin diggers

their job is fertile the soil. We are too lucky that is because they found a great number of papyri; they were
digging at the site in the time of Michigan university excavations. 4
The most important god in Fayoum was sobek. It was worshipped at Gebelein and kom ombo in
Upper Egypt.5 The cult of Sobek is originally from Fayoum, before it was an area of swamps and water full
of crocodiles. His cult was expanded all over Egypt. The city and its temple are fully destroyed; only a
small part of Medinet Madi the southern edge was preserved. 6 Sobek was the god of water; he was
represented like a crocodile or like a crocodile-headed human.7

1 Bard K., (1999), P.369.

2 Bagnall R.-Rathbone D.,(2004),p.131.
3 Davoli P., (1998), P.73.
4 Boak A.,(1936),P.115.
5 James T., (1979), P.153.
6 Eggebrecht A., (1984), P.271.
7 Eggebrecht A., (1984), P.271.

The site of the north temple was completely buried when Grenfell, Hunt and Hogarth had begun
excavation at Karanis at 1895. That was a result of el sabakhin diggers, they removed buildings before
1924. 8 The temple was a rectangular stone structure that contains a lot of chambers and courts. The roof
there was disappeared completely, we think that the absence of ruined structure in this part in the temple
indicates that the temple was used a quarry for building stone by the people there. The chapel of the great
altar was found in the northern end of the temple. The altar takes the largest space of the chapel which
appears from the back wall of the shrine.9 We conclude that the temple was built in an earlier period than
the Ptolemaic.10 It was a mix between Egyptian style and Greco-Roman style which appears in the columns
in the outer corners of the temple. Inside the temple there is three rooms, the last one contained a large altar
with a podium.11 It is in a great condition of conservation. It was said that temple was for the cult of the
crocodile-god Soknopaios, with the god Zeus- Ammon-Sarapis-Helios, and may be Isis also.12
The south temple was dedicated to the crocodile gods Pnepheros and Petesouchos, dated by the 2 nd
half of the 1st century of late antiquity. It was built in the honor of the Emperor Nero, later his name was
erased from the temple by Claudius that he had put his name instead.

13

It was built of limestone in

Egyptian style. It may be built on a site of an earlier temple. The temple consists of a long entrance room
leads to two shrine rooms, with a small storerooms and niches to each side, two staircases which leads to
the roof. The temple is located at the western end of the enclosure. The pylon lay on the east side.
Houses and storerooms is placed at the north and the south of the enclosure, those houses and
storerooms were used for the priests, in which were rebuilt on different plans for several times. The stone
entrance still stands in the southeast corner led into a dining room which was built by the emperor
Vespasian as the sources said; maybe it was built for weddings or for ritual gatherings. 14
The baths were found 50 meter of the north-west of the north temple, were excavated in 1975. From
the sequence of the rooms of the baths we know it was roman style, first the room of changing clothes
8 Boak A.,(1933),Pp.15-16.
9 Boak A.,(1933),Pp.8-9.
10 Boak A.,(1933),P.14.
11 Bagnall R.-Rathbone D.,(2004),P.132.
12 Boak A.,(1931),P.645.
13 Boak A.,(1933),Pp.20-.
14 Bagnall R.-Rathbone D.,(2004),p.131.

(apodyterium), then the cold bath room (frigidarium). We conclude from the style that the baths were built
in the early roman period. After the cold bath room there was the hot bath room (tepidarium), then the hot
air room (laconicum), and the hot bath room (caldarium). 15
There were many houses was excavated in Karanis. The best place of houses in a good state of
conservation was found in the east and west sides of the city. 16
Conclusion: karanis was an important town in Greco-Roman times, thats why the monuments were dated
in different dates. The site was excavated by many foreign missions, after being used as a local dump. All
the artifacts that were found in the site are now preserved in Kelsey museum. The site now is a touristic
attraction.

Bibliography:
-

Bard K.,(1999),Encyclopedia of the archaeology of the ancient Egypt, New York.

Davoli P.,(1998),Larchaeologia urbana nel fayyum di eta ellenistica e romana, Napoli.
Boak A.,(1936), The Journal of Roman Studies, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
James T.,(1979),An introduction to ancient Egypt, London
Eggebrecht A., (1984), l Egypte Ancienne,---Boak A.,(1933),Karanis: the temples, coin hoards, botanical and zoological reports, United

States of America.
Boak A.,(1931),American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America.
Boak A.,(1936),The Journal of Roman Studies, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
Bowman A.,(1986), Egypt After the Pharaohs , 332 Bc-Ad 642: From Alexander to the Arab
conquest, Hong kong.

15 Bagnall R.-Rathbone D.,(2004),p.133.

16 Bagnall R.-Rathbone D.,(2004),p.133.