One of the important
Delta sites, San el-Hagar is the location of the ancient city of Dja'n ( the
biblical Zoan ), called by the Greeks Tanis .
This city was of
particular importance in post-New Kingdom times, serving as the burial site for
the kings of the 21st and 22nd dynasties; a provincial
capital in the Late Period; and a commercial capital of the Delta region until
it was replaced by Naukratis, and eventually by Alexandria .
The site is located
to the north of Faqus and Qantir in the eastern Delta and was excavated by François
Auguste Ferdinand Mariette ( 1860-80 ), William Matthew Flinders Petrie (
1883-86), Jean Pierre Marie Montet ( 1921-51 ) and others and is still
undergoing study by French archaeologists .
The main temple
precinct of Tanis lay within a massive mud-brick enclosure wall some 15 m ( 49
ft ) thick and measuring almost 430×370 m ( 1410×1214 ft ) .
This great wall
encompasses a number of independent structures as well as the remains of a
separate, irregularly shaped inner enclosure . The complex is entered today
from the west by way of the gate of Sheshonq III; and a processional avenue,
originally decorated with over 15 obelisks of Ramesses II, leads from this
entrance to the area of the Great Temple of Amun which stood at the enclosure's
centre .
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