The cliffs of Athribis in Egypt have revealed an ancient wonder: a hidden temple.
This latest find is part of an ongoing dig staffed by experts from the University of Tübingen and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, who have worked since 2012 on excavations in the area's larger temple district. The temple was first discovered in 2022, and since then, archaeologists have been carefully uncovering the long-lost monument and its accompanying artifacts, learning more about the newly discovered stone temple. The team has come to recognize that there could be a massive complex behind the entrance under still-untouched piles of rubble.
While only about 16 feet of the entrance pillars remain today, there was once enough space in this temple complex to hold hidden rooms and stairways -- and it still could be hiding even more ancient finds. "Finely smoothed limestone blocks on a vertically cut rock façade could belong to a rock sanctuary," Christian Leitz, professor at the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Civilization at the University of Tübingen, said in a statement.
Excavations in the northern tower at the entrance of the temple district have already revealed a mix of decorations, including reliefs associated with Ptolemy VIII from the 2 century B.C. In the imagery, a king offers sacrifices to the lion-headed fertility goddess Repit and her son Kolanthes. These newly discovered hieroglyphic inscriptions show that Ptolemy VIII was likely the king responsible for the area's construction.
In another new surprise, the team has discovered an unknown chamber in the north tower. Using an air cushion, wooden scaffolding, and rollers, the team cleared away a 20-ton ceiling block to open the chamber, which was likely a storage room used for temple utensils and amphorae vessels.
The chamber is connected to the tower pylon via a corridor, making it accessible from the outside. Throughout this entrance area, researchers have found plenty more reliefs and hieroglyphics, with Repit playing a key role in many of the scenes. The door frame opposite the newly discovered depiction of Repit shows the fertility god Min accompanied by two rarely depicted decans. These mythical creatures are meant to be stars allowing people to measure time at night, and feature human-like bodies with animal heads. In the newfound scenes, one decan has a falcon head, and the other an ibis.
Adding to the uniqueness of the architecture of this Egyptian temple, the façade of the pylon features a second door leading to a previously unknown staircase that originally went up at least four flights to the upper floor. Though it is now destroyed, this high level likely once held storage rooms.
Excavations are now focused on finding more information about the temple beyond the entrance. The pillars and decorations typical of the upper end of a temple indicate that there could even be yet another door behind it all.