Tanis, Egypt

Tanis (Τάνις), the Greek name of ancient Djanet (modern صان الحجر Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar), is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of Egypt ({{coor dm|30|58|N|31|52|E|}}). It lays on the Tanitic branch of the Nile (now silted up), and it was the supposed site of some of the action in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Related Topics:
Greek - Nile delta - Egypt - Nile - Raiders of the Lost Ark

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Tanis is called צֹעַן (Ṣōˁan) Zoan in Numbers 13:22, Isaiah 19:11,13, 30:4; Ezekiel 30:14; and Psalms 78:12,43. According to Numbers 13:22 and Psalms 78:12,43 it was built seven years after Hebron. It was also in the area of Goshen, where Joseph settled his family in Egypt, though long before Tanis was ever built.

Related Topics:
Numbers - Isaiah - Ezekiel - Psalms - Hebron

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Tanis was founded in the late Twentieth dynasty, and became the northern capital of Egypt during the following Twenty-first dynasty. During the Twenty-second dynasty Tanis was also Egypt's capital (though there were often rival dynasties located elsewhere). It was an important commercial and strategic city until it was threatened with inundation by Lake Manzala in the 6th century CE, when it was abandoned. There are ruins of a number of temples, including the chief temple dedicated to Amun, and a very important royal necropolis of the Third Intermediate Period (which contains the only known intact royal burials other than Tutankhamun). Many of the stones use to build the various temples at Tanis came from the old Ramesside town of Qantir (ancient Per-Ramesses), leading former generations of Egyptologists to believe that Tanis was, in fact, Per-Ramesses.

Related Topics:
Twentieth dynasty - Twenty-first dynasty - Twenty-second dynasty - 6th century - Amun - Necropolis - Third Intermediate Period - Tutankhamun - Qantir - Egyptologist

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The chief deities of Tanis were the Amun, his consort, Mut, and their child Khonsu, formering the Tanite triad. This triad was, however, identical to that of Thebes, leading many scholars to speak of Tanis as the "northern Thebes".

Related Topics:
Amun - Mut - Khonsu - Thebes

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