Editing Heliopolis (ancient Egypt) (section)

==History==
[[File:Lower Egypt-en.png|thumb|Map of ancient Lower Egypt showing Heliopolis]]

===Ancient===
{{further|Ancient Egypt}}
Heliopolis was a regional center from [[prehistoric Egypt]].

[[File:Model of a Votive Temple Gateway at Heliopolis (49.183). 66.228.jpg|thumbnail|Model of a Votive Temple Gateway at Heliopolis, [[Dynasty XIX]]<ref>{{citation |contribution=Model of a Votive Temple Gateway at Heliopolis (49.183) |contribution-url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3756/Model_of_a_Votive_Temple_Gateway_at_Heliopolis_49.183 |title=''Official site'' |publisher=Brooklyn Museum |access-date=8 July 2014 }}.</ref>]]
It was principally notable as the cult center of the [[solar deity]] [[Atum]], who [[syncretism|came to be identified]] with [[Ra]]<ref name="autogenerated1">{{citation |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses |first=George |last=Hart |year=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0-415-34495-6 }}.</ref> and then with Horus as [[Ra-harakhty]]. The primary [[Egyptian temple|temple]] of the city was known as the "Great House" ({{langx|egy|Pr Ꜥꜣt}} *''Par ʻĀʾat'') or "House of Atum" ({{langx|egy|Pr I͗tmw}} *''Par-ʼAtāma'', {{langx|hbo|פתם|[[Pithom]]}}). Its priests maintained that Atum or Ra was the first being, rising self-created from the primeval waters. A decline in the importance of Ra's cult during the [[Fifth Dynasty of Egypt|Fifth Dynasty]] led to the development of the [[Ennead]], a grouping of nine major Egyptian deities that placed the others in subordinate status to Ra–Atum. The [[High Priest of Ra|High Priests of Ra]] are not as well documented as those of other deities, although the high priests of [[Dynasty VI]] ({{c.|2345|2181}}{{nbsp}}BC) have been discovered and excavated.<ref>[http://www.planetware.com/cairo/heliopolis-el-matariya-tombs-egy-cai-elmat.htm Planetware: Priests of Ra tombs, Heliopolis—Al-Matariyyah. accessed 01.28.2011] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223101624/http://www.planetware.com/cairo/heliopolis-el-matariya-tombs-egy-cai-elmat.htm |date=2010-12-23 }}</ref> 

During the [[Amarna Period]] of the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth Dynasty]], Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] introduced a kind of [[henotheism|henotheistic worship]] of [[Aten]], the deified solar disc. As part of his construction projects, he built a Heliopolitan temple named "Elevating Aten" (''{{lang|egy|Wcs I͗tn}}''), whose stones can still be seen in some of the gates of Cairo's medieval city wall. The cult of the [[Mnevis]] bull, another embodiment of the Sun, also had its altar here. The bulls' formal burial ground was situated north of the city.

In the [[Septuagint]] in [[Shemot (parashah)#First reading—Exodus_1:1–17|Exodus 1:11]], this city is mentioned as being one of the places that was rebuilt by enslaved [[Hebrews]]. The store-city [[Pithom]] in the same passage is, according to one theory, Heliopolis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pithom {{!}} ancient city, Egypt {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Pithom |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Today, it is generally believed that Pithom is the archaeological site of either Tell el-Retabeh or [[Tell el-Maschuta]].

===Hellenistic===
[[Alexander the Great]] halted at this city on his march from [[Pelusium]] to [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]].<ref>Arrian, iii. 1.</ref>

The temple of Ra was said to have been, to a special degree, a depository for royal records, and Herodotus states that the priests of Heliopolis were the best informed in matters of history of all the Egyptians. Heliopolis flourished as a seat of learning during the Greek period; the schools of philosophy and astronomy are claimed to have been frequented by [[Orpheus]], [[Homer]],<ref>The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus, [https://books.google.com/books?id=agd-eLVNRMMC Book I, ch VI].</ref>  [[Pythagoras]], [[Plato]], [[Solon]], and other Greek philosophers. [[Ichonuphys]] was lecturing there in 308 BC, and the Greek mathematician [[Eudoxus of Cnidus|Eudoxus]], who was one of his pupils, learned from him the true length of the year and month, upon which he formed his [[octaeterid]], or period of 8 years or 99 months. [[Ptolemy II]] had [[Manetho]], the chief priest of Heliopolis, collect his history of the ancient kings of Egypt from its archives. The later Greek rulers, the [[Ptolemies]], probably took little interest in their "father" Ra as Greeks were never much of sun worshipers and the Ptolemies favored the cult of [[Serapis]], and [[Alexandria]] had eclipsed the learning of Heliopolis; thus with the withdrawal of royal favour Heliopolis quickly dwindled, and the students of native lore deserted it for other temples supported by a wealthy population of pious citizens. By the first century BC, in fact, [[Strabo]] found the temples deserted, and the town itself almost uninhabited, although priests were still present.

Heliopolis was well known to the [[ancient Greeks]] and [[Roman Empire|Romans]], being noted by most major geographers of the period, including [[Ptolemy]], [[Herodotus]], and others, down to the [[Byzantine]] geographer [[Stephanus of Byzantium]].<ref>[[Ptolemy]], iv. 5. § 54; [[Herodotus]], ii. 3, 7, 59; [[Strabo]], xvii. p.&nbsp;805; [[Diodorus]], i. 84, v. 57; [[Arrian]], ''Exp. Alex.'' iii. 1; [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''H. A.'' vi. 58, xii. 7; [[Plutarch]], ''Solon.'' 26, ''Is. et Osir.'' 33; [[Diogenes Laërtius]], xviii. 8. § 6; [[Josephus]], ''Ant. Jud.'' xiii. 3, ''C. Apion.'' i. 26; [[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]''  iii. 21; [[Pliny the Elder]], v. 9. § 11; [[Tacitus]], ''Ann.'' vi. 28; [[Pomponius Mela]], iii. 8. [[Byzantine]] geographer [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''s. v.'' {{lang|grc|Ἡλίουπόλις}}.</ref>

===Roman===
In [[Roman Egypt]], Heliopolis belonged to the [[list of Roman provinces|province]] [[Augustamnica]], causing it to appear as {{nowrap|''Heliopolis in Augustamnica''}} when it needed to be distinguished from [[Heliopolis (Roman Phoenicia)|Roman Heliopolis]]. Its population probably contained a considerable [[Arabians|Arabian]] element.<ref>{{citation |author=Plin. |author-link=Pliny the Elder |title=[[Pliny's Natural History|Nat. Hist.]] |at=vi, 34 }}.</ref> Many of the city's [[obelisk]]s were removed to adorn more northern cities of the Delta and [[Rome]]. Two of these eventually became [[London]]'s [[Cleopatra's Needle (London)|Cleopatra's Needle]] and its twin in [[New York City|New York]]'s [[Central Park]].

[[File:Cogniet Leon Bataille D Heliopolis.jpg|thumb|''[[The Battle of Heliopolis]]'' by [[Léon Cogniet]]. The [[Battle of Heliopolis (1800)|Battle of Heliopolis]] took place during Napoleon's [[French campaign in Egypt and Syria|invasion of Egypt]] in 1800]]

===Islamic===
During the Middle Ages, the growth of [[Fustat]] and [[Cairo]] only a few kilometres away caused its ruins to be massively scavenged for building materials, including for their city walls. The site became known as the "Eye of the Sun" (''Ayn Shams'') and ''ʻArab al-Ḥiṣn''.