265:, though they felt the area had been too plundered to produce anything of much value. At this time, archaeology as a pursuit of knowledge was almost unheard of, and papyri and other artifacts were often treated as items to collect. Also during this time (i.e., the late 19th and early 20th centuries), excavators were almost solely interested in artifacts dating to the older dynasties. Graeco-Roman sites such as Karanis continued to be plundered for sebbakh until Francis W. Kelsey, a professor of Latin language and literature at the University of Michigan, observed this devastation and received grants to search for an excavation site in 1924. Starting excavations of Karanis in 1925, his goal was to "increase exact knowledge rather than the amassing of collections", with a focus on common people. The papyri collected are now part of the
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fifth century. As
Karanis' dry conditions are ideal for the preservation of papyri, this was the main focus of early excavators, and led them to infer that the town was on the verge of abandonment by this time. However, recent radiocarbon dating of organic specimens such as stockpiled seeds indicates that the town remained consistently inhabited at least through the sixth century.
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to the crocodile related gods
Pnepheros and Petesouchos. It is built in an Egyptian style, made of limestone blocks, and may have been built on the site of an earlier temple. In addition to shrine rooms and storage rooms, the north and south sides of the south temple contain houses and storerooms for
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In the late second century, and again in the second quarter of the third, there were notable recessions that mirrored difficulties experienced by the Empire at large. Some houses had been left to collapse by the end of the third century, and the latest papyrus samples recovered date to the early
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The north temple was built in the early Roman period, and is made of limestone in
Egyptian style. It is mostly undecorated, with the exception of Greco-Roman style engaged columns on the temple's outer corners and in each internal doorway. Though the temple has no inscription clearly stating its
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from or concerning these veterans from this period suggest that these new soldiers may not have been culturally Roman but instead Greek, or at the very least from the
Eastern empire. "The peace and political stability brought by Augustus and kept alive by his successors, meant prosperity for
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and the 370s. Also, with
Karanis being a relatively poor town, the documents and artifacts excavated " a microcosm of life as it was lived by ordinary people in Egypt under Greek and Roman rule," and provide evidence of the whole of Egypt's relationship to the Empire of
66:
and also recognizing the Faiyum's agricultural potential, sent workers to clean up the canals and restore the dikes that had fallen into decline, restoring productivity to the area. Karanis was continually occupied up until about the time of the seventh-century
269:. More recent excavations have been done by the Cairo University, the French Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the URU Fayum Project (a collaboration of UCLA, the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands, and the University of Auckland)
183:. The papyri contain mostly tax records, which is how archaeologists have determined that Karanis and its veterans were mostly poor, self-sufficient farmers who did not have much contact with other towns in the region.
50:. It was roughly 60 hectares in size and its peak population is estimated to be 4000 people, although it could have been as much as three times greater. Karanis was one of a number of towns in the Arsinoite
191:
These excavations were extremely troubled to say the least. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, farmers would “obtain permits to remove soil from the
Karanis mound to use as fertilizer (
204:
Drawing of South Temple from the
Grenfell-Hunt excavation in 1895. Finding no papryi and no evidence existing from the Pharaonic times, Grenfell and Hunt moved to other areas of the Fayum.
133:
The Fayum towns were settled by Roman veterans after
Augustus conquered Egypt, though the small number of Latin papyri found in Karanis (only two) and the overwhelming number of Greek
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The south temple's origins can be traced back to as early as the first century BC and it was occupied until the late third or fourth century AD. The temple was dedicated under
113:, and of a soft white limestone figure of a hawk-headed crocodile that likely represents the god Soknopaios. The temple also features an altar with the head of
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Beginning in 1924, large-scale excavations uncovered many structures on the site, including houses, granaries, a bath complex, and two significant temples.
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The papyri excavated are historically significant in that they come from the same place and time, all dating from the period between the reign of
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was built on the site in 1974, and displays some of the archaeological artifacts unearthed from
Karanis and the surrounding Fayoum region.
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the temple's priests. Local weddings and banquets could be held in the dining room in the temple's southeast corner.
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purpose, it is likely dedicated to a crocodile god, indicated by the presence of an altar that fits a crocodile
58:. The town largely stagnated in the late Ptolmaic period, until in the first century BC it expanded north when
684:
Motta, Laura; Johnson, Tyler Duane; Burton, Shannon; Reimer, Paula J.; Erdkamp, Paul; Heinrich, Frits (2024).
686:"Re-dating Roman Karanis, Egypt: radiocarbon evidence for prolonged occupation until the seventh century AD"
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Egypt from
Alexander to the Copts : an Archaeological and Historical Guide, Revised Electronic Edition
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Karanis : the temples, coin hoards, botanical and zoölogical reports, seasons, 1924-31
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Letter from Terentianus to Tiberianus, Tiberianus given the military title of
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Michigan Papyri, Vol. VIII: Papyri and Ostraca from Karanis, Second Series
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38:), located in what is now Kom Aushim, was an agricultural town in the
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generations of landholders at Karanis well into the second century.
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Grenfell, Bernard P.; Hunt, Arthur S.; Hogarth, David G. (1900).
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Letter from Prolemaeus, "refers to a cult banquet in honor of
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Youtie, Herbert Chayyim; Winter, John Garret, eds. (1951).
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Archaeological site in the Egyptian depression of el-Faiyum
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Columbia Papyri VII: fourth century documents from Karanis
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71:, when is was gradually abandoned due to unclear causes.
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Bagnall, Roger S.; Rathbone, Dominic W., eds. (2017).
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724:. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
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The first real excavation was in 1895 by Englishmen
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571:Bagnall, Roger S.; Lewis, Naphtali (1979).
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267:University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
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643:Karanis, an Egyptian Town in Roman Times
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54:established in the third century BC by
46:located in the northeast corner of the
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598:. American University in Cairo Press.
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621:Boak, Arthur Edward Romilly (1933).
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679:. London: Oxford University Press.
577:. Missoula, Mont: Scholars Press.
554:Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt
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524:Grenfell, Hunt & Hogarth 1900
776:Former populated places in Egypt
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556:. London; New York: Routledge.
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640:Gazda, Elaine K., ed. (2004).
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771:Archaeological sites in Egypt
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676:Fayum Towns and Their Papyri
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488:Bagnall & Rathbone 2017
380:Bagnall & Rathbone 2017
368:Bagnall & Rathbone 2017
305:Bagnall & Rathbone 2017
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627:. University of Michigan.
69:Sasanian conquest of Egypt
35:
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552:Alston, Richard (1995).
476:Youtie & Winter 1951
464:Youtie & Winter 1951
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646:. Ann Arbor, Michigan:
99:Modern ruins of Karanis
56:Ptolemy II Philadelphus
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129:Conditions in the town
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23:Map of Fayum from 1895
747:29.51778°N 30.90333°E
259:Bernard Pyne Grenfell
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263:Arthur Surridge Hunt
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62:, having conquered
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605:978-1-61797-835-7
563:978-0-415-12270-2
526:, pp. 28–29.
452:Motta et al. 2024
358:, pp. 19–20.
344:Motta et al. 2024
329:Motta et al. 2024
274:Kom Aushim Museum
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212:Grenfell and Hunt
40:Ptolemaic Kingdom
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125:of the two.
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104:North Temple
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83:South Temple
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48:Faiyum Oasis
27:
26:
750: /
512:Alston 1995
428:Alston 1995
404:Alston 1995
293:Alston 1995
247:Arthur Hunt
187:Excavations
44:Roman Egypt
32:Koinē Greek
765:Categories
738:30°54′12″E
735:29°31′04″N
614:1061100384
546:References
536:Gazda 2004
500:Gazda 2004
440:Gazda 2004
416:Gazda 2004
317:Gazda 2004
176:Diocletian
156:speculator
123:syncretism
75:Structures
708:0003-598X
690:Antiquity
633:651241007
392:Boak 1933
356:Boak 1933
692:: 1–19.
666:57535704
170:" Greek.
158:. Latin.
60:Augustus
194:sebbakh
168:Sarapis
121:, or a
115:Serapis
36:Καρανίς
28:Karanis
706:
664:
654:
631:
612:
602:
581:
560:
146:Papyri
135:papyri
42:, and
722:(PDF)
280:Notes
111:mummy
64:Egypt
704:ISSN
662:OCLC
652:ISBN
629:OCLC
610:OCLC
600:ISBN
579:ISBN
558:ISBN
272:The
261:and
181:Rome
119:Zeus
89:Nero
52:nome
694:doi
767::
702:.
688:.
660:.
608:.
336:^
117:,
34::
710:.
696::
668:.
635:.
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566:.
30:(
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