2,100-year-old temple from ancient Egypt discovered hidden in cliff face

Ruins of a structure in the desert — The newly discovered chamber is in the temple's north tower.

(Image credit: Marcus Müller, Athribis Project)

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient Egyptian temple hidden in a cliff face. The temple dates to around 2,100 years ago and was discovered at the site of Athribis, located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Luxor.

While excavating the temple, which is made of stone, the team found the remains of reliefs showing King Ptolemy VIII (reign circa 170 to 116 B.C.) offering sacrifices to the lion-headed goddess Repit and her son Kolanthes, the team said in a statement.

The team also uncovered a chamber that once held temple utensils and, later, amphorae, or clay vessels with two handles and narrow necks. At the entrance to the chamber, the team found reliefs depicting Repit and Min-Ra, with one of the reliefs showing Min-Ra accompanied by two decans — stars that enable people to tell the time at night. The decans have humanoid bodies with animal heads — in this case, one has the head of a falcon and the other the head of an ibis. Leitz said that other temples portray decans near gods, although usually there are more than two decans accompanying them.

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An Egyptian carving of a figure in black stone — A rare depiction of a decan (a star that enables time to be measured at night) with a humanoid body. In this case, the decan has a human body and a falcon's head.(Image credit: Photo: Marcus Müller, Athribis Project)

Owen Jarus is a regular contributor to Live Science who writes about archaeology and humans' past. He has also written for The Independent (UK), The Canadian Press (CP) and The Associated Press (AP), among others. Owen has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto and a journalism degree from Ryerson University.