Tanis

Great Sphinx of Tanis

Tanis, biblical Zoan, modern Ṣān al-Ḥajar al-Qibliyyah, ancient city in the Nile River delta, capital of the 14th nome (province) of Lower Egypt and, at one time, of the whole country. The city was important as one of the nearest ports to the Asiatic seaboard. With the decline of Egypt’s Asiatic empire in the late 20th dynasty, the capital was shifted from Per Ramessu, and about 1075 bce the 21st-dynasty pharaohs made Tanis their capital. A large temple of Amon was built, mainly with stone from the ruins of Per Ramessu. The Libyan pharaohs of the 22nd dynasty continued to reside at Tanis until the collapse of their shrinking domain before Shabaka, the Kushite founder of the 25th dynasty, in 712 bce. Tanis declined with Shabaka’s shift of the royal capital to Memphis and with the rise of Pelusium, 20 miles (32 km) to the east, as the main eastern-frontier fortress and trade centre.

In 1939 several intact royal tombs of the 21st and 22nd dynasties were excavated in the main temple enclosure in Tanis. Silver coffins, gold masks, and jewelry in gold and silver recall the burial of Tutankhamen, though they are not as rich. Moreover, the tombs and even the sarcophagi were reused material from earlier periods. In 2009 a sacred lake measuring 50 by 40 feet (15 by 12 metres) and dedicated to the goddess Mut was found at Tanis.