Tebtunis


Tebtunis was a city in Lower Egypt. It was located in what is now the village of Tell Umm el-Baragat in the Faiyum Governorate. The town was known as Theodosioúpolis and Latin as Theodosiopolis in the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt.

History

Tebtunis was founded around 1800 BCE by the Twelfth Dynasty pharaoh Amenemhat III. The town flourished during the Ptolemaic Kingdom and is famous for the many papyri in Demotic and Greek found there. These papyri give information about how people in Tebtunis lived from day to day. For example, one papyrus was found that gave 'minutes' of a meeting of a group of priests. On this papyrus were the names of the priests, what the meeting was about, and a date – indicating that it was written during the Ptolemaic period. In Tebtunis, there were many Greek and Roman buildings. Tebtunis was a rich town and was a very important regional center during the Ptolemaic period.
Among the Tebtunis papyri are preserved many Egyptian astronomical and astrological texts, including several copies of the Book of Nut.

Tebtunis Papyri Volumes