Umm el-Baragat (Faiyum)

Alternative site names:

Theodosiopolis; Tebtunis

Site description:

Although thought to have been originally founded in the New Kingdom, the extensive city flourished in the Graeco-Roman Period. Besides domestic architecture, there is a small temple dedicated to Soknebynis (a manifestation of Sobek) and a cemetery of over a thousand mummified crocodiles. A Roman Period temple library provided a large number of papyri concerning administrative, literary, medical, and religious matters were found.

Type of site:

Temple; town; cemetery; animal necropolis

Timeframe:

Temple (12th Dynasty-Islamic Period); Town (12th Dynasty-Islamic Period); cemetery (Graeco-Roman Period); animal necropolis (Late Period-Graeco-Roman Period)

Excavation season:

Relevant publications:

Grenfell, Bernard P. and Arthur S. Hunt 1901. Excavations in the Fayûm. Archaeological Report 1900-1901, 4-7.

Hadji-Minaglou, Gisèle 2015. Le développement urbain de Tebtynis à l'époque gréco-romaine d'après les fouilles récentes. In Quenouille, Nadine (ed.), Von der Pharaonenzeit bis zur Spätantike: kulturelle Vielfalt im Fayum. Akten der 5. Internationalen Fayum-Konferenz, 29. Mai bis 1. Juni 2013, Leipzig, 39-54. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.