Temple of Al-Maharraqa is an ancient Egyptian Temple dedicated to Isis and Serapis. It was originally located in al-Maharraqa (Arabic: المحرقة, DMG: Al-Maḥarraqa, Greek: Hierasykaminos), Lower Nubia, approximately 140 km (87 mi) south of Aswan on the southern border of the Roman empire.[1] In the 1960s it was relocated as part of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.
Only a few years after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, the Kushites from the kingdom of Meroë launched a raid on the First Cataract region of Egypt in 23 BC.[2] The Roman prefect of Egypt, Petronius, retaliated and defeated the invading Meroitic army. He then proceeded to station a Roman garrison of 400 troops at the southern outpost of Qasr Ibrim.[3] After some negotiations, a permanent frontier between Meroë and Roman Egypt was established at Maharraqa.[4] Thus, Maharraqa formed the extreme southern frontier of Roman Egypt. After the Christian conversion of Nobatia in the 6th century the temple was turned into a church.
- ^ Dieter Arnold, Nigel Strudwick, Sabine Gardiner, The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture, I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2003. p.85
- ^ Stephen Quirke & Jeffrey Spenser (ed.) The British Museum Book of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson 1994. p.212
- ^ Quirke & Spenser, p.212
- ^ Quirke & Spenser, p.212