“Discover the Secrets of Time: How Archaeologists Brought a 2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Temple Back to Life!”
Alongside experts from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the resourceful team has spent the last two years uncovering, preserving, and documenting these layers of paint. According to Phys, some of the inscriptions have officially revealed the ancient Egyptian names of certain constellations for the first time.
French Egyptologist Serge Sauneron led Esna’s excavation in the mid-1900s. While he recognized how invaluable these inscriptions were and published his findings in full, he never saw the full picture. Now officially restored to their original colors with layers of dirt removed, historians are reassessing them entirely.
University of TübingenHundreds of inscriptions and illustrations were properly documented for the first time, with rigorous restoration revealing vibrant paint hidden beneath layers of dirt.
“The hieroglyphics that Sauneron explored were often only very roughly chiseled out, the details only applied by painting them in color,” said Leitz. “This means that only preliminary versions of the inscriptions had been researched. Only now do we get a picture of the final version.”
This resourceful team of 15 threw caution to the wind and tirelessly continued their work despite lockdowns due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Every inch of the colorful sandstone structure, which is 121 feet long and 65 feet wide — and nearly 50 feet high — has since been carefully documented.
While only the Esna Temple’s vestibule (or pronaos) remains, the structure has remained intact for millennia. This is likely due to the fact that it was situated in front of the actual temple building, under the direction of Roman Emperor Claudius (who reigned from 41 to 54 A.D.) and had thus been shielded from the elements.
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