1800 year old complete Roman city discovered in Egypt near Luxor Temple

1,800-year-old ‘complete Roman city’ discovered in Egypt near Luxor Temple

Egypt on Tuesday announced the discovery of the remains of “an entire Roman city” from the first centuries AD at Luxor, the Thebes of the pharaohs to the south.

According to the Ministry of Antiquities, it is “an entire residential city” of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, discovered “on the east bank of the Nile, near the Temple of Luxor”, about 500 km south of Cairo. .

In this “extension of ancient Thebes” “metallurgical workshops” with numerous tools and “Roman copper and bronze coins” have already been excavated, explains Mostafa Waziri, patron of antiquities: “And the excavations are continuing.

1,800-year-old 'complete Roman city' discovered in Egypt near Luxor Temple

As early as 2021, an Egyptian archeological mission on the west bank of Luxor, where the famous Valleys of the Kings and Queens are located, discovered the over 3000-year-old “largest ancient city in Egypt”.

Egypt has made several major discoveries in recent months, most notably at the necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo, but also, in Luxor in January, that of a tomb of a royal woman of the 18th dynasty, that of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, from Vor 3500 years.

1,800-year-old 'complete Roman city' discovered in Egypt near Luxor Temple

For some experts, these announcement effects have more political and economic significance than scientific ones.

Because the country with 104 million inhabitants in a severe economic crisis is relying on tourism to restructure its finances: its government is aiming for 30 million tourists per year by 2028, compared to 13 million before Covid-19.

To revitalize this sector, which has been running at half-staff since the Arab Spring of 2011, employing two million people and generating more than 10% of GDP, Cairo has been promising for months the imminent opening of its “Great Egyptian Museum” near the Giza Plateau.

Many predicted this to happen in 2022, the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone by Frenchman Jean-François Champollion and the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of the child Pharaoh Tutankhamen.