TAPOSIRIS MAGNA

A city west of Alexandria between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis attested from the Ptolemaic Period to the early Christian Period. Its principal ruins consist of a tower believed to be modeled after the Pharos, or Lighthouse, of Alexandria and a templededicated to Isiserected by Ptolemy IIand used as a fortress during the Roman Periodand later as a monastery. The site was excavated from 1905–1907, 1937–1940, and 1946–1948 through the auspices of the Museum of Alexandria and since 1998 by a Hungarian expedition.