Editing Mendes

{{other uses|Mendes (disambiguation)}}
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'''Mendes''' ({{langx|grc|Μένδης}}, ''[[Genitive case|gen]]''.: {{Lang|el|Μένδητος}}), the [[Greek language|Greek]] name of the [[ancient Egyptian]] city of '''Djedet''', also known in ancient Egypt as [[Per (hieroglyph)|Per]]-'''Banebdjedet''' ("The Domain of the Ram Lord of [[Djed]]et") and '''Anpet''', is known today as '''Tell El-Ruba''' ({{langx|ar|تل الربع}}).

The [[city]] is located in the eastern [[Nile delta]] ({{Coord|30|57|30|N|31|30|57|E|}}) and was the [[Capital (political)|capital]] of the 16th [[Lower Egypt]]ian [[Nome (Egypt)|nome]] of [[Kha Nome|Kha]], until it was replaced by [[Thmuis]] in Greco-[[Roman Egypt]]. The two cities are only several hundred meters apart. During the [[Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt|29th Dynasty]], Mendes was also the capital of [[Ancient Egypt]], lying on the Mendesian branch of the [[Nile]] (now silted up), about 35&nbsp;km east of [[Al Mansurah|al-Mansurah]].

==History==
[[File:TellRubaShrine.jpg|thumb|''[[Shrine|Naos]]'' of [[Amasis II]] at Tell El-Ruba (ancient Mendes)]]
{{Hiero | Djedet (ḏd.t) | <hiero>Dd-d:t-niwt</hiero> | align=left | era=egypt}}
In ancient times, Mendes was a famous city that attracted the notice of most ancient geographers and historians, including [[Herodotus]] (ii. 42, 46. 166), [[Diodorus]] (i. 84), [[Strabo]] (xvii. p.&nbsp;802), [[Mela]] (i. 9 § 9), [[Pliny the Elder]] (v. 10. s. 12), [[Ptolemy]] (iv. 5. § 51), and [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] (''s. v.''). The city was the capital of the [[Mendesian nome]], situated at the point where the Mendesian arm of the Nile ({{lang|grc|Μενδήσιον στόμα}}, [[Scylax]], p.&nbsp;43; Ptol. iv, 5. § 10; ''Mendesium ostium'', Pliny, Mela, ''ll. cc.'') flows into the lake of [[Tanis]]. Archaeological evidence attests to the existence of the [[town]] at least as far back as the [[Naqada II]] period (4th millennium BCE). Under the first [[Pharaoh]]s, Mendes quickly became a strong seat of [[provincial government]] and remained so throughout the [[Ancient Egypt|Ancient Egyptian]] period. In [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] times, the nome it governed was one of the nomes assigned to that division of the native army which was called the ''[[Calasiris|Calasires]]'', and the city was celebrated for the manufacture of a [[perfume]] designated as the Mendesium [[unguentum]]. (Plin. xiii. 1. s. 2.) Mendes, however, declined early, and disappears in the first century AD; since both Ptolemy (''l. c.'') and [[P. Aelius Aristides]] (iii. p.&nbsp;160) mention [[Thmuis]] as the only town of note in the Mendesian nome. From its position at the junction of the river and the lake, it was probably encroached upon by their waters, after the [[canal]]s fell into neglect under the [[Ptolemies|Macedonian kings]], and when they were repaired by [[Augustus]] ([[Suetonius|Sueton]]. ''Aug.'' 18, 63) Thmuis had attracted its [[trade]] and population.

==Religion==
The chief [[deities]] of Mendes were the [[Sheep|ram]] deity [[Banebdjedet]] (lit. ''Ba of the Lord of Djedet''), who was the [[Egyptian soul|Ba]] of [[Osiris]], and his [[wikt:consort|consort]], the fish goddess [[Hatmehit]]. With their child [[Har-pa-khered]] ("[[Horus]] the Child"), they formed the triad of Mendes.

The [[sheep|ram]] deity of Mendes was described by [[Herodotus]] in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]''<ref>Herodotus, History, Book II, 42 ([[Robin Waterfield]] translation)</ref> as being represented with the head and [[Wool|fleece]] of a [[goat]]: "...whereas anyone with a sanctuary of Mendes or who comes from the province of Mendes, will have nothing to do with ([[sacrifice|sacrificing]]) goats, but uses [[sheep]] as his sacrificial animals... They say that Heracles' overriding desire was to see [[Zeus]], but Zeus was refusing to let him do so. Eventually, as a result of Heracles' pleading, Zeus came up with a plan. He skinned a ram and cut off his head, then he held the head in front of himself, wore the fleece, and showed himself to Heracles like that. That is why the Egyptian statues of Zeus have a ram's head, is why rams are sacred to the Thebans, and they do not use them as sacrificial animals. However there is just one day of the year—the day of the [[festival of Zeus]]—when they chop up a single ram, skin it, dress the statue of Zeus in the way mentioned, and then bring the statue of Heracles up close to the statue of Zeus. Then everyone around the [[sanctuary]] mourns the death of the ram and finally they bury it in a sacred tomb."

[[demonology|Demonologists]] in [[early modern times]] often imagined [[Satan]] as manifesting himself as a goat or [[satyr]], because goats had a reputation for lustful behavior and were used in the iconography of pre-Christian gods like [[Pan (god)|Pan]] and the goat of Mendes. The occultist [[Eliphas Levi]] in his ''Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie'' (1855) drew an image of the fictitious medieval idol [[Baphomet]] that conflated it with the goat of Mendes and the imagery of the Satanic satyr. The image of the [[satyr]]-like Baphomet and its supposed connection with Mendes has since been repeated by various occultists, conspiracy theorists, and [[neopagans]].<ref>"Pan en Egypte et le «bouc» de Mendès" by Youri Volokhine, in Francesca Prescendi and Youri Volokhine, ''Dans le laboratoire de l'historien des religions: Mélanges offerts à Philippe Borgeaud''. Editions Labor et Fides, 2011, pp. 637–642, 646–647.</ref>

==Ruins==
[[File:Ushabti of pharaoh Hakor, Louvre.jpg|thumb|[[Ushabti]] of pharaoh [[Hakor]], found at Mendes]]
The site is today the largest surviving [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] in the Nile delta, and consists of both Tell El-Ruba (the site of the main temple enclosure) and [[Tell El-Timai]] (the settlement site of Thmuis to the south). Overall, Mendes is about 3&nbsp;km long from north to south and averages about 900m east-to-west. An [[Old Kingdom]] [[necropolis]] is estimated to contain over 9,000 [[interment]]s. Several campaigns of 20th-century excavations have been led by [[North America]]n institutions, including [[New York University]] and the [[University of Toronto]], as well as a [[Pennsylvania State University]] team led by [[Donald Redford]]. Under the direction of Redford, the current excavations are concentrating on a number of areas in and around the main temple. 

Work on the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] processional-style temple has recently uncovered foundation deposits of [[Merenptah]] below the second [[Pylon (architecture)|pylon]]. It is thought that four separate pylons or gates existed. Evidence has suggested that their construction dates from at least the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], as [[foundation deposit]]s were uncovered. The original structures were buried, added to, or incorporated into later ones over time by later rulers. 

A cemetery of sacred rams was discovered in the northwest corner of Tell El-Ruba. Monuments bearing the names of [[Ramesses II]], Merneptah, and [[Ramesses III]] were also found. A temple attested by its foundation deposits was built by [[Amasis II]]. The tomb of [[Nepherites I]], which Donald Redford concluded was destroyed by the [[Achaemenids|Persians]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Redford | first = Donald B. | author-link = Donald B. Redford | title = Excavations at Mendes | publisher = Brill | year = 2004 | pages = 34 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tlpiAAAACAAJ&q=delta+reports| isbn = 978-90-04-13674-8 }}</ref> was discovered by a joint team from the [[University of Washington]] and the University of Toronto in 1992–1993. 

On the edge of the [[temple mound]], a [[sondage]] supervised by [[Matthew J. Adams]] has revealed uninterrupted [[Stratification (archeology)|stratification]] from the Middle Kingdom down to the [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]]. Coring results suggest that future excavations in that sondage should expect to take the stratification down into the Buto-Maadi Period. The material excavated so far is already the longest uninterrupted stratification for all of the Nile Delta, and possibly for all of Egypt.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Matthew J.|last=Adams|title=An Interim Report on the Naqada III – First Intermediate Period Stratification at Mendes|journal=Delta Reports|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlpiAAAACAAJ&q=delta+reports|issue=1|date=2009|pages=121–206|isbn=9781842172445}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities]]
* [[List of historical capitals of Egypt]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{More footnotes|date=April 2009}}
*Redford, Donald Bruce. 2001. "Mendes". In ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt'', edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 2 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 376&ndash;377.
*&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;. 2004. ''Excavations at Mendes''. Volume 1: ''The Royal Necropolis''. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 20. Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill. {{ISBN|90-04-13674-6}}
*&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;. 2005. "Mendes: City of the Ram God." ''Egyptian Archaeology: The Bulletin of the Egyptian Exploration Society'' 26:8&ndash;12.
* Baines & Malek 2000: ''Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt'', Checkmarks Books. {{ISBN|0-8160-4036-2}}
*{{SmithDGRG}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/b/dbr3/mendes.html|title=The Akhenaten Temple Project Excavations at Tel er-Rub'a|date=November 10, 2000|access-date=October 3, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811101537/http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/b/dbr3/mendes.html|archive-date=August 11, 2015|url-status=dead}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Mendes, Egypt}}
*[http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/great_mendes_stela.htm The Great Mendes Stela]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060320073250/http://www.egyptsites.co.uk/lower/delta/eastern/ruba.html Egyptian Monuments: Tell el-Rub'a]

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{{succession box|title=[[List of Egyptian capitals|Capital of Egypt]]|before=[[Sais, Egypt|Sais]]|after=[[Sebennytos]]|years=399 – 380 BC}}
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[[Category:Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 1st century]]
[[Category:Cities in ancient Egypt]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Egypt]]
[[Category:Populated places in Dakahlia Governorate]]
[[Category:Roman sites in Egypt]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Egypt]]
[[Category:Nile Delta]]
[[Category:Tells (archaeology)]]
[[Category:Former capitals of Egypt]]
[[Category:Baphomet]]