Kellis Information & Kellis Links at HealthHaven.com

Coordinates: 25°30′57″N 29°05′44″E / 25.51583°N 29.09556°E / 25.51583; 29.09556

Ancient Kellis, now known as Ismant el-Kharab (Ismant the ruined), was a village in Egypt during the Roman Period. Kellis was located about 2.5 km east-southeast of present day Ismant in the Dakhleh Oasis. The village was 1050 m long and 650 m wide (Knudstad and Frey 1999: 189), built almost entirely of mud brick on a low terrace with wadis to the southeast and northwest, and surrounded by fields. Small businesses included weaving, handcrafted pottery and blacksmithing. Attractions in Kellis included the Temple of Tutu and three churches; the Small East Church is the oldest known church building in Egypt. The site was occupied from the late Ptolemaic Period, (Schweitzer 2001: 270), was abandoned sometime after the year 392 (Hope 2002: 205-6), and has remained unoccupied since then, except for a time in the 1940s, when some Bedouin camped there. Many buildings are buried beneath the sand. The tops of some are visible from the surface; others are hidden, waiting to collapse as an unwary tourist crosses.

[edit] See also

List of ancient Egyptian sites

[edit] References

Hope, C.A. 2002 Excavations in the Settlement of Ismant el-Kharab in 1995-1999, Dakhleh Oasis Project: Preliminary Reports on the 1994-1995 to 1998-1998 Field Seasons, C.A. Hope & G.E. Bowen eds., Oxbow Books: Oxford.

Knudstad, J. E & R.A. Frey 1999 Kellis, the Archaeological Survey of the Romano-Byzantine Town at Ismant el-Kharab, Reports from the Survey of the Dakhleh Oasis 1977-1987, C.S. Churcher and A.J. Mills eds, Oxbow Books: Oxford.

Schweitzer, A. 2002 Les parures des cartonnage des momies d’une nécrople d’Ismant el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis Project: Preliminary Reports on the 1994-1995 to 1998-1998 Field Seasons, C.A. Hope & G.E. Bowen eds., Oxbow Books: Oxford.

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