El-Tod

El-Tod ( , from , , , ) was the site of an ancient Egyptian town and a temple to the Egyptian god Montu. It is located southwest of Luxor, Egypt, near the settlement of Hermonthis. A modern village now surrounds the site.

History The history of the site can be traced to the Old Kingdom period of Egyptian history. A granite pillar of the Fifth dynasty pharaoh, Userkaf, is the oldest object found at El-Tod. It was this same pharaoh who ordered that the temple to Montu be enlarged. Evidence of Eleventh dynasty building is shown in the discovery of blocks bearing the names of Mentuhotep II and Mentuhotep III. Under Senwosret I, these buildings were replaced with a new temple. Further additions to this temple were made under Ptolemy VIII.

Culture Aside from Montu, to whom a temple was dedicated, the Egyptian goddess Iunit was of local importance. According to Flinders Petrie, the god of Tuphium was Hemen. As part of the Thebaid, the area also saw the worship of Sebak (Sobek), the Egyptian crocodile god.

Remains

List of Ruins The archaeological site contains the ruins of a number of structures; including the main Ptolemaic period temple extension, Barque Shrine of Thutmose III, a dromos, part of the later north entrance, as well as an open air lapidarium.

Tod Treasure

In 1936, archaeologists discovered in the support structures under the ruined temple building a number of metallic and lapis lazuli artifacts. Most of the metallic objects were made of silver. They were earmarked for some authorities of unknown origin and epoch, who are believed to have been of non-Egyptian origin. Nevertheless, the style of the objects resemble artifacts that were excavated in Knossos, which date to c. 1900–1700 BC.According to P-B Geneviève of the Louvre museum Yet, at Knossos such objects were made of clay, possibly imitating metal.

The initial discovery of four chests (inscribed with the name of Pharaoh Amenemhat II) made of copper and containing the objects had been made by F. Bisson de la Roque.Pierrat-Bonnefois Geneviève, Louvre Museum website. Musée du Louvre, Multimedia Division, Cultural Production, Department 75058, Paris, Cedex 01, France [Retrieved 2011-12-13]. Also see at the Louvre Museum website Some sources posit that the treasure is of Asiatic origin and that some of it, in fact, was manufactured in Iran (the latter as claimed by Roger Moorey). cf. E. Porada, (1982) "Remarks on the Tod Treasure in Egypt", Some gold artifacts are also part of the Treasure, and they may have originated from Anatolia. A similar conclusion is drawn on the origin of the silverware based on evidence obtained from relative analysis of the metallic constituents.Paul T. Nicholson, Ian Shaw books.google.co.uk Ancient Egyptian materials and technology (702 pages) Cambridge University Press, 2000 ,[Retrieved 2011-12-19]K.R.Maxwell-Hyslop (citing E.Porada) JSTORA Note on the Anatolian Connections of the Tôd Treasure Anatolian Studies Vol. 45, (1995), pp. 243-250 (article consists of 8 pages) Published by: British Institute at Ankara [Retrieved 2011-12-13]

Objects that were found as part of the Treasure seem to have originated from various parts of the world, indicating trade contacts between the Ancient Egyptians and other early civilizations.

The total weight of all gold items was 6.98 kg, and of the silver items 8.87 kg. After discovery, the Treasure was divided between the Louvre Museum and the Egyptian Museum.

See also List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities

References

El-Tod

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