Archaeologists in Egypt have announced the discovery of a 3,200-year-old inscription near the ancient military route known as the “Way of Horus,” which may finally pinpoint the location of the long-lost city of Mesn. Found at Tell Abu Seifi, situated by the Suez Canal near the northern Sinai Desert and the eastern Nile Delta, the artifact references Ramesses II, who ruled from approximately 1279 to 1213 B.C.<\/p>\n
According to a translated statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the inscription identifies Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with the sky and war, as the “Lord of the City of Mesn.” The research team also uncovered the ruins of a temple dedicated to Horus at the site, although Hesham Hussein, director general of Delta and Sinai Archaeology, noted that the structure was almost completely destroyed, limiting the information that can be extracted from it.<\/p>\n
The convergence of the inscription and the temple has led officials to propose that Tell Abu Seifi is indeed the historical Mesn, also spelled Mesen. However, Hussein cautioned that further investigation is required to confirm the identification. He added that because the city’s archaeological identification had previously remained uncertain, experts cannot yet provide reliable estimates regarding its original size or population.<\/p>\n
If the identification holds, the settlement appears to have been inhabited for an extensive period. A bronze seal dating to the Ptolemaic era (circa 304 to 30 B.C.) previously unearthed at Tell Abu Seifi bears the inscription “Horus, Lord of Mesen,” and Ptolemaic coffins found at the location feature similar text. Hussein emphasized that the title directly links the deity to the location, with archaeological evidence underscoring the significance of this cult.<\/p>\n
The site’s proximity to the “Way of Horus,” a fortified road connecting the eastern Nile Delta to the southern Levant, further supports its strategic importance. Peter Brand, a history professor at the University of Memphis who was not involved in the excavation, stated that the evidence strongly suggests Tell Abu Seifi is Mesn. He explained that Mesn, located near modern-day Qantara, likely served as a launching point for Egyptian armies campaigning in Canaan, Lebanon, and Syria.<\/p>\n
“The Egyptian empire dominated this part of the Middle East,” Brand said, noting that Ramesses II’s father constructed forts along these ways and that Ramesses himself marched armies across the Sinai, including during his famous campaign against the Hittite Empire at the Battle of Kadesh.<\/p>\n
Brand also highlighted that a statue pedestal bearing a likeness similar to the one mentioned in the new inscription\u2014specifically referencing Ramesses II restoring a statue of Horus of Mesen\u2014was previously discovered at the site. He described the temple of Horus at Mesn as the most important religious center in the region.<\/p>\n
Despite the compelling findings, some scholars urge caution. James Hoffmeier, an archaeologist and professor at Trinity International University, acknowledged the strength of the case but requested additional evidence, such as ceramics, to be certain. Gregory Mumford, an anthropology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, pointed out that similar inscriptions mentioning Mesn have been found at other locations, including a fortress at Kom el-Qolzoum on the Suez and a fort at Tjaru in the northwest Sinai Desert. Mumford suggested Mesn might refer to a broader area encompassing multiple sites rather than a single city.<\/p>\n
Egyptology professors Oren Siegel of the University of Toronto and Shirly Ben Dor Evian of the University of Haifa also expressed excitement but emphasized the need for more detailed information, particularly regarding the hieroglyphic inscriptions, before offering definitive commentary. Research at the site continues, and Hussein noted that historical records indicate a second settlement named Mesn existed in southern Egypt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A newly discovered inscription mentioning Ramesses II and the god Horus suggests Tell Abu Seifi may be the lost Egyptian city of Mesn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[782,781,1377,1378,1376,162],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ancient-egypt","tag-archaeology","tag-inscriptions","tag-mesn","tag-ramesses-ii","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}