Tuesday 09 Sep/2025 – 03:26 PM
The Egyptian archaeological mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and operating at the Tel Pharaoh site in Al -Husayniyah city in Sharkia Governorate revealed a stone painting representing a new version of the famous Canop Decree, issued by King Ptolemy III in 283 BC. When senior priests met in the city of Canop (east of Alexandria) to sanctify and reveal King Ptolemy III, his wife, Bernky and his daughter, and distribute the text of the decree to the major Egyptian temples.
In confirmation of Cairo 24 .. The effects announce the detection of a stone plate by King Ptolemy III in Sharkia Governorate
This is the largest disclosure of its kind in more than 150 years, as it has not been found a new and complete version of the decree since that time.
Sherif Fathi, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, stressed in a statement that the continuous achievements of Egyptian archaeological missions that add new pages to the history of our ancient civilization, noting that this disclosure highlights the archaeological importance of Sharkia Governorate and the treasures it contains that are still dazzling the world, stressing that the ministry will continue its full support for all missions operating in Egypt, in a way that ensures the preparation of the appropriate climate for more discoveries Distinguished.
Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary -General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the importance of this disclosure comes from being a new complete copy of the Canop decree that is found after more than a century and a half, which is a qualitative addition that contributes to deepening our knowledge of the royal and religious texts in the Ptolemaic era, and enrich our understanding of history and ancient Egyptian language.
He added that this version is added to six known copies previously, including complete and incomplete ones that were revealed in sites such as Kom Al -Hosn, Sanjar Al -Hajar, and Tal Basta, pointing out that the discovered painting is fully engraved with hieroglyphic writing only, unlike other copies that were three -lines where he was written in hieroglyphic, democratic, and Greek, which opens new horizons to understand the old Egyptian language, and provides additional information About Ptolemaic decrees and royal and religious celebrations systems.
For his part, Mohamed Abdel -Badie, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, indicated that the discovered painting is made of sandstone, with a curved summit, with a length of 127.5 cm, 83 cm width and a thickness of about 48 cm, topped by the winged sun disk, hanging from the royal cobra neighborhood with white and red crowning, and between them a “de Ankh” inscription, meaning “life”. The middle part contains 30 hieroglyphic writing lines, which were carried out with medium carving quality.
Dr. Hisham Hussein, head of the Central Administration of Lower Egypt, added that the engraved texts include accurate details of King Ptolemy III and his wife, Burniki (the good God), including providing gifts to the Egyptian temples, preserving the internal peace, alleviating taxes in periods of low level Every four years (Al -Kubaisi system) and its allocation to the worship of the good God, and their daughter, Berniki, diluted in the Egyptian temples. The decree also stipulated the copies of these paintings in the hehythphs, the democratic and the Greek and placed in the most important major temples.
It should be noted that the site of Tel Pharaoh (the ancient Egyptian city of Emat) in the east of the Nile Delta was an important urban center since the era of the middle state, as the previous excavations revealed luxurious residential temples and buildings from the Ptolemaic era, including a temple dedicated to the worship of the goddess and Wajit.
Earlier, a source of Cairo 24 revealed an archaeological statement that is a stone plate at the Tel Pharaoh site in Al -Husayniyah, Sharkia Governorate.
