Qasr Qarun is an archaeological site located near

Lake Qarun Lake Moeris (, genitive Μοίριδος) was an ancient endorheic freshwater lake located in the Faiyum Oasis, southwest of Cairo, Egypt, which persists today at a fraction of its former size as the hypersaline Lake Qarun (Arabic: بركة قا ...

Faiyum Governorate Faiyum ( ) is one of the governorates of Egypt in the middle of the country. Its capital is the city of Faiyum, located about 81 mi (130 km) south west of Cairo. It has a population of 3,848,708 (2020). Etymology The name Faiyum com ...

, Egypt. The site primarily includes an ancient temple from the

Ptolemaic period The Ptolemaic Kingdom (; , ) or Ptolemaic Empire was an ancient Greek polity based in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 305 BC by the Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy I Soter, a companion of Alexander the Great, and ruled ...

. It is located approximately from the city of

Faiyum Faiyum ( ; , ) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location. Name and etymology Originally f ...

. The temple was dedicated to the worship of the god

Sobek Sobek (), also known as Suchus (), was an ancient Egyptian deities, ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile and is often represented as a crocodile-headed humanoid, if not a ...

and later

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

. From 330 BC to AD 640, the town was known as "Dionysias". The inhabitants of the region in the Islamic era called it "Qasr Qarun" because it was located near Lake Qarun. The temple is known for its solar event which occurs annually on December 21, wherein the sun illuminates the inner sanctum.

References

{{coord, 29.40589519133047, N, 30.41828622362407, E, display=title Archaeological sites in Egypt Former populated places in Egypt