LEONTOPOLIS

:''This article is about the large ancient city of Lower Egypt; for other uses of Leontopolis, see Leontopolis (disambiguation)''
'Leontopolis' (Greek: , Ptol. iv. 5. § 51, Strabo xvii. pp. 802, 812) or 'Leonto' (, Hieronym. ''ad Jovian.'' ii. 6) or Latin: 'Leontos Oppidum' (Plin. v. 20. s. 17) or Egyptian: 'Taremu', was an Ancient Egyptian city known as 'Tell al Muqdam' today.

Contents

History

The site

See also

References

External links

History

The city is located in the central part of the Nile Delta region. It was the capital of the 11th nome of Lower Egypt (the Leontopolite nome) and was probably the centre of pharaonic power under the 23rd dynasty. Strabo is the earliest writer who mentions either the nome, or its chief town: and it was probably of comparatively recent origin or importance.
The Greek name means "City of Lions", given on account of the presence here of a temple to the lion god Maahes. Sekhmet and Bast were also both worshipped locally.
In the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-145 BC) a temple, modelled after that of Jerusalem, was founded by the exiled Jewish priest Onias IV. (Joseph. ''Ant. Jud.'' xiii. 3. § 3; Hieronym. ''in Daniel.'' ch. xi.) The Hebrew colony, which was attracted by the establishment of their national worship at Leontopolis, and which was increased by the refugees from the oppressions of the Seleucid kings in Palestine, flourished there for more than three centuries afterwards. After the outbreak of the Jewish War, the Leontopolite temple was closed in the first century CE, amid the general backlash against Judaism. (Joseph. ''B. Jud.'' vii. 10. § 4.)

The site

Antiquarians were long divided as to the real site of the ruins of Leontopolis. According to D'Anville, they were covered by a mound called ''Tel-Essabè'' (Tel es-sab`), or the Lion's Hill (Comp. Champollion, ''l'Egypte'', vol. ii. p. 110, seq.). Jomard, on the other hand, maintains that some tumuli near the village of ''El-Mengaleh'' in the Delta, represent the ancient Leontopolis., And this supposition agrees better with the account of the town given by Xenophon of Ephesus. (''Ephesiaca'', iv. p. 280, ed. Bipont.) Smith sites the city at latitude 30° 6′North, which is considerably further south than the actual site.
Most scholars today agree that Leontopolis is located at Tell al Muqdam, at latitude 30° 45′North.

See also

★ Jewish Temple of Leontopolis

References

★

★ Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), p. 74.

External links

Leontopolis article at JewishEncyclopedia.com [1]