Hidden Entrance to a Mysterious Ancient Temple Found Tucked Away in an Egyptian Cliff Face

Archaeologists have uncovered a hidden gateway to a 2,100-year-old temple built into a cliff face in Egypt. The stone structure is located in the ancient city of Athribis, about 125 miles north of Luxor.

The ornate entrance is known as a pylon, or two towers flanking a main entrance, according to a statement from the University of Tübingen in Germany. The team also discovered a second door on the pylon, which leads to a hidden staircase that once featured at least four different flights. These flights led to an upper floor that has since been destroyed.

In the northern tower, archaeologists found reliefs of the Egyptian king Ptolemy VIII, who ruled during the second century B.C.E. The artworks depict the king, known for his unstable reign and clashes with his family, offering sacrifices to the lion-headed goddess Repit and her son Kolanthes.

That’s not all that the researchers discovered in the north tower. They also stumbled upon a hidden chamber, which measures about 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. The room was once a storage area that held temple utensils and jars called amphorae.

More reliefs were found near this chamber’s entrance. These artworks included images of the fertility god Min-Ra and creatures known as decans, which are depicted with human bodies and animal heads: One has the head of a falcon, while the other has the head of an ibis. Such creatures represented clusters of stars that the Egyptians used to tell time at night.

The team also found a second relief of Repit. The temple could be dedicated to Repit, though researchers can’t know that for sure. As Christian Leitz, an Egyptologist at the University of Tübingen who led the research, tells Live Science’s Owen Jarus, “The name of this building is still not known.”

Sarah Symons and Juan Antonio Belmonte, archaeoastronomers who have worked in Egypt but were not involved in the research, both tell Live Science that the newly discovered temple entrance “is interesting but that more information on the temple and decans is needed.”

Excavations at the temple have been ongoing for two years. This site is part of a larger temple district that researchers have been studying since 2012. They think the complex was likely built sometime between 144 B.C.E. and 138 C.E. Even after so much time, its many mysteries are still unfolding.

Newsweek's Aristos Georgiou writes that the larger complex also includes “evidence of a settlement and the remains of a necropolis, as well as ancient quarries.” Researchers think more discoveries are waiting to be uncovered.

“The complete scientific excavation started with us and will last some time,” Leitz tells Newsweek. “We will not finish it this season.”

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.