Athena Review Image Archive ™
Temple of Cleopatra at Ermont (1857 photo)
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Temple of Cleopatra at Ermont (photo: Frith 1862).
In the Middle Kingdom (11-12th Dynasties), Erment (Greek Hermonthis) held a temple to Montu, a bull-like diety worshipped for warlike powers. The temple was rebuilt in the New Kingdom by Thutmose III in the 18th Dynasty. According to legend, Ramesses II invoked Montu as a war god in the battle of Kadesh.
The site was later renewed during the Ptolemaic period, when Cleopatra erected a monument to her son Caesarion, now called the Temple of Cleopatra. This dates the temple to ca. 45-31 BC.
Some time after this photo was taken by Frith in 1857, the site was razed late in the 19th century and replaced by a sugar factory. Only a pylon erected by Thutmose III is still standing today.
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