CAIRO - "Jerusalem" dot com - (Xinhua) - The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced today, Monday, the discovery of the remains of the temple of the god Zeus Cassius at the "Tal El-Farma" site in North Sinai, northeast of Cairo.

The ministry said in a statement that an Egyptian archaeological mission operating at the Tell Al-Farma site (Pelozium) in the North Sinai antiquities region succeeded in discovering the remains of the temple during the excavations it was conducting at the site as part of the Sinai development project for the year 2021-2022.

The unearthed temple of the god Zeus Cassius is located about 200 meters west of Pelusium Castle, and 100 meters south of the memorial church at the site, according to the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, Mostafa Waziri.

Waziri explained that the location of the discovered temple was determined based on the presence of the remains of a huge gate on the surface of the earth that collapsed in the past due to a strong earthquake that struck the city.

The gate consisted of two columns of pink granite, each about 8 meters long and a meter thick, in addition to a granite upper lintel that was installed at the top of the gate.

For his part, the head of the Egyptian antiquities sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Ayman Ashmawy, said that the archaeological mission succeeded in discovering for the first time the remains of the temple, which is built of mud bricks on a raised platform of rubble and broken stones, and its roof bears columns of pink granite, where the entrance to the temple is located towards the east. Pointing out that the ascent to it was by means of an ascending staircase covered with marble.

Ashmawy pointed out that the French archaeologist Jean Claida had managed in 1910 to discover late Greek inscriptions executed on the lintel indicating the presence of the Temple of Zeus Cassius in this place, but he did not find it.

In turn, the head of the Central Department of Antiquities of Lower Egypt, Nadia Khader, said that many huge stone blocks of pink granite were discovered dumped in the streets surrounding the site of the temple, which is likely that the site was later exploited as a quarry and some of its parts were moved to be reused in building churches in Tal Al-Farma. , including the Corinthian crowns of the Temple of Zeus Cassius, which were reused in the memorial church located north of the temple.

While the Director General of Sinai Antiquities, Hisham Hussein, confirmed that those discovered blocks are now being studied, documented and photographed using photographic technology to re-install them using modern programs and technologies, which contributes to reaching the closest architectural design to the Temple of Zeus Cassius.

Hussein explained that the archaeological survey and limited excavation work carried out at the site during the year 1910 by the French archaeologist Jean Claida within the archaeological survey and excavation project of the International Suez Canal Company did not succeed in uncovering the remains of the temple.

However, it revealed in the place a stone block of pink granite with an incomplete inscription in ancient Greek, which was rediscovered again during this season 2022, in addition to another stone block of pink granite with an intaglio inscription in Greek that was discovered for the first time this season. By studying the two blocks, it was found that the texts complement each other. , according to Hussein.

He added that the inscriptions indicate that Emperor Hadrian ordered new additions to the temple of Zeus Cassius, and that the ruler of Egypt, Titus Flavius Titanos, made these additions.