Editing Tanis (section)

==Ruins==
Though Tanis was briefly explored in the early 19th century, the first large-scale archaeological excavations there were made by [[Auguste Mariette]] in the 1860s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graham |first=Geoffrey |chapter=Tanis |editor-last=Redford |editor-first=Donald B. |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt |volume=3 |page=350}}</ref> In 1866, [[Karl Richard Lepsius]] discovered a copy of the [[Canopus Decree]], an inscription in both Greek and Egyptian, at Tanis. Unlike the [[Rosetta Stone]], discovered 67 years earlier, this inscription included a full [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphic]] text, thus allowing a direct comparison of the Greek text to the hieroglyphs and confirming the accuracy of [[Jean-François Champollion]]'s approach to [[decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts|deciphering hieroglyphs]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Parkinson |first=Richard |title=Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and Decipherment |pages=19–20, 42}}</ref>

During the subsequent century the French carried out several excavation campaigns directed by [[Pierre Montet]], then by [[Jean Yoyotte]] and subsequently by Philippe Brissaud.<ref name=bard/>{{rp|921}} For some time the overwhelming amount of monuments bearing the cartouches of Ramesses II or [[Merenptah]] led archaeologists to believe that Tanis and Pi-Ramesses were in fact the same. Furthermore, the discovery of the [[Year 400 Stela]] at Tanis led to the speculation that Tanis should also be identified with the older, former [[Hyksos]] capital, [[Avaris]]. The later re-discovery of the actual, neighbouring archaeological sites of Pi-Ramesses ([[Qantir]]) and Avaris ([[Tell el-Dab'a]]) made clear that the earlier identifications were incorrect, and that all the Ramesside and pre-Ramesside monuments at Tanis were in fact brought here from Pi-Ramesses or other cities.<ref name=bard/>{{rp|921–2}}

[[File:Tanis I.jpg|thumb|left|The Royal Tombs of Tanis]]
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 pharaonic burials, the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]] having been entered in antiquity). The burials of three pharaohs of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties – [[Psusennes I]], [[Amenemope (pharaoh)|Amenemope]] and [[Shoshenq II]] – survived the depredations of tomb robbers throughout antiquity. They were discovered intact in 1939 and 1940 by [[Pierre Montet]] and proved to contain a large catalogue of gold, jewelry, [[lapis lazuli]] and other precious stones, as well as the funerary masks of these kings.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Bard |first=Kathryn A. |title=An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-118-89611-2 |edition=1st |series=New York Academy of Sciences Series |location=Newark |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Treasures of Tanis - Archaeology Magazine Archive |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0505/abstracts/tanis.html |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=archive.archaeology.org}}</ref>

Today, the main parts of the temple dedicated to [[Amun-Ra]] can still be distinguished by the presence of large obelisks that marked the various pylons as in other Egyptian temples. Now fallen to the ground and lying in a single direction, they may have been knocked down by a violent earthquake during the Byzantine era.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=TANIS (SAN EL-HAGAR): THE LOST GOLDEN CITY DURING THE AGES (ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDIES) |url=https://www.jotr.eu/index.php/volume25-2/283-tanis-san-el-hagar-the-lost-golden-city-during-the-ages-archaeological-and-historical-studies |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=www.jotr.eu}}</ref> They form one of the most notable aspects of the Tanis site. Archaeologists have counted more than twenty.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last1=Saleh |first1=Atef M. |last2=Mourad |first2=Sherif A. |last3=Elanwar |first3=Hazem H. |last4=Metwally |first4=Omar K. |last5=Zeidan |first5=Eissa |last6=Adam |first6=Mahmoud A. |last7=Ameen |first7=Mostafa F. |last8=Helal |first8=Khalid R. |last9=Sholqamy |first9=Mohamed S. |last10=Allam |first10=Hussien E. |last11=Ismael |first11=Mohamed A. |last12=Mostafa |first12=Khaled A. |last13=Helal |first13=Hany M. |last14=Elbanhawy |first14=Amr Y. |last15=Grosse |first15=Christian U. |date=2023-02-04 |title=The restoration and erection of the world's first elevated obelisk |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=2065 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-29092-z |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=9899242 |pmid=36739445|bibcode=2023NatSR..13.2065S }}</ref>

The chief deities of Tanis were Amun; his consort, Mut; and their child Khonsu, forming the Tanite triad. This triad was, however, identical to that of Thebes, leading many scholars to speak of Tanis as the northern Thebes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gómez |first=Alba María Villar |date=2016 |title=Notes on the cult of the Theban gods at Tanis: a general of Psusennes I |url=https://revistas.uam.es/isimu/article/view/7784 |journal=ISIMU |language=es |volume=18 |pages=271–276 |doi=10.15366/isimu2015-2016.18-19.016 |issn=2659-9090|hdl=10486/678343 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In 2009, the [[Ministry of Culture (Egypt)|Egyptian Culture Ministry]] reported archaeologists had discovered a [[sacred lake]] in the temple of Mut at Tanis. The lake, built out of limestone blocks, had been 15 meters long and 5 meters deep. It was discovered 12 meters below ground in good condition. The lake could have been built during the late [[25th Dynasty|25th]]–early [[26th Dynasty]].<ref>[https://www.egyptindependent.com/sacred-lake-found-delta/ Bossone, Andrew. ''{{'}}Sacred Lake{{'}} found in Delta'']. [[Egypt Independent]], October 15, 2009.</ref>

In 2011, analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, led by archaeologist [[Sarah Parcak]] of the [[University of Alabama at Birmingham]], found numerous related mud-brick walls, streets, and large residences, amounting to an entire city plan, in an area that appears blank under normal images.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/space_archaeology/satellite_street_plan_tanis.html|title=Space Archaeology - Street plan of Tanis}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/space-archaeologist-sarah-parcak-winner-smithsonians-history-ingenuity-award-180961120/|title=Space Archaeologist Sarah Parcak Uses Satellites to Uncover Ancient Egyptian Ruins|last=Tucker|first=Abigail|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref> A French archeological team selected a site from the imagery and confirmed mud-brick structures approximately 30&nbsp;cm below the surface.<ref>[https://www.science.org/content/article/satellite-imagery-uncovers-17-lost-egyptian-pyramids  Pringle, Heather ''Satellite Imagery Uncovers Up to 17 Lost Egyptian Pyramids'' 27 May 2011]</ref> However, the assertion that the technology showed 17 pyramids was denounced as "completely wrong" by the Minister of State for Antiquities at the time, [[Zahi Hawass]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Theodoulou|first=Michael|url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/idea-of-17-hidden-pyramids-is-wrong|title=Idea of 17 hidden pyramids is 'wrong'|publisher=The National|date=May 29, 2011 |access-date=October 18, 2016}}</ref>