EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Searching for Ptolemy XII:

inscriptions from Sinai
Hesham Hussein gives us a look at some finds from Tell Maessalem, near Port Said: well-preserved
blocks of an as yet unidentified cult building of Ptolemy XII Auletes (c.80–58 and 55–51 bc) for the
first time reveal historical traces of that king in this north-western region of the Sinai Peninsula.

For an archaeologist, to live and work in the same region Right: a detailed
can be quite significant. It is through this local presence satellite image
indicating Tell
that important information came to my attention Maessalem and
regarding some royal inscribed blocks that had been the location of the
found, in 2007, by a fish farmer while building a pond. discovered blocks
The archaeological context of the find, not surprisingly, (A). Below: a
had been destroyed and the blocks moved elsewhere satellite image
of north-western
for sale. Sinai with
Tell Maessalem is one of a number of archaeological Graeco-Roman
sites in the North Sinai region dating back to the archaeological
Graeco-Roman era. More specifically, Tell Maessalem sites (Image:
is located in the plain of el-Tina (Sahl el-Tina) in the Google earth).
north-western part of the Sinai Peninsula, approximately
10.2 km west of Tell el-Farama, and about 20 km north-
east of al-Qantara. During the Graeco-Roman Period
Tell Maessalem stood on the western bank of the now
vanished Pelusiac branch of the Nile. In the early 1990s,
the Supreme Council of Antiquities undertook some
limited excavations at the site, but since then it has
become surrounded by commercial fish farms. When
a new pond was recently dug outside the site’s buffer
zone, about 500 m to the east (see Site A on the map),
uncovering a significant number of limestone blocks,
some with inscriptions, pond construction quickly
turned into an illegal excavation. Unfortunately, in
the process the looters, hoping to find gold, completely
destroyed the archaeological context and damaged most
of the blocks. Eventually, the royal blocks were put up for
sale. Even so, I succeeded in finding the blocks’ hiding
place and with the help of the al-Qantara Inspectorate Below: Relief of Ptolemy XII Auletes (H: 0.19 m,W: 0.60 m, D: 0.40 m)
managed to move them to secure storage at the al- (Photo: Hesham Hussein).
Qantara Magazine (North Sinai).
Thirteen inscribed limestone blocks, well-preserved
except for damage sustained during the illegal dig,
have since been cleaned of adhesive mud by a team
of Egyptian conservators. It was noted that traces of
chisel marks are still visible on the blocks. Our research
shows that the exposed blocks had been reused as cheap
foundation for a building of the late Roman Period.
Traces of ash-lime mortar are still visible, covering the
sunk relief, indicating the reutilization of the blocks.

28
 EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Part of a wig, decorated collar and mane of a male

lion deity (Photo: Hesham Hussein).

Extended damage turned the study of the scenes and walls would have been about 0.5 m deep. It is, in fact, the
inscriptions into a sort of puzzle: a block inscribed with only decorated and inscribed cultic building of its type
the remains of four vertical lines shows the royal titulary known in Sinai of the Ptolemaic Period. Comparing the
(nomen and praenomen) of Ptolemy XII Auletes with remaining scenes with those of other archaeological sites
some unusual features, using hieroglyphs that are not in North Sinai, may yet enable us to complete further
attested anywhere else in connection with this ruler. parts of our puzzle, perhaps confirming that Ptolemy
Remains of a wig, a decorated collar and the mane of XII Auletes had dedicated this chapel to the different
a lion seem to indicate a lion-headed deity in human forms of the god Horus, lord of Tharw, lord of Mesn.
form (a leontocephaline). Such a god is indeed attested
from the Sinai, with a seated statue discovered at Tell
Heboua, which might be the lion-headed Horus, lord
of Mesn, a frontier city located in the same region.
Another block decorated with a wig and a collar found
in two parts and the remains of a crown with feathers
have been identified. While the complete scenes are lost,
some blocks can be matched to each other: a partially
destroyed block showing a life-size kilt (a shendyt)
indicates a seated male with a belt around his waist; it
might belong to another one showing a foot, perhaps
suggesting a seated male god. Part of the ceiling decorated with stars (Photo: Hesham Hussein).
Only one decorated ceiling block was found, and
while the puzzle is still incomplete we can confirm that
the ceiling would have shown a complex and detailed
representation of stars on (apparently) a blue background,  Hesham M. Hussein is Inspector of the Ministry of Antiquities
symbolizing the night sky. for North Sinai. He has excavated on Sinai, at Alexandria, al-Sharqia
What remains of the incomplete scenes and inscriptions and Fayum, and supervised the excavation project at Tell el-Kedwa. He
was also one of the Visiting Scholars at the Egypt Exploration Society
suggests that the blocks came from the ruins of a cultic in 2015. The author wishes to thank Dr Mohamed Abd el-Samie,
building, dating back to Ptolemy XII Auletes, the father former Director of the North Sinai and Lower Egypt, and al-Qantara
of Cleopatra. The blocks’ thickness indicates that the Inspectorate for his efforts and support.

29