TELL ELBALAMUN

Modern name for the site of the northernmost city of Egypt situated near the Mediterranean coast of the northeastern part of the Delta. Egyptian Behdet, later Paiuenamun. Greek Diospolis Parva. The city is attested from the Old Kingdomuntil the Roman Period and was the capital of the 17th nome of Lower Egypt created during the New Kingdom, although little now remains. The principal gods worshipped here were Horus, lord of Behdet, and later Amun, to whom the main temple was dedicated during the New Kingdom. The site was briefly examined by Howard Carter in 1913 and an Egyptian expedition from 1977–1978. Since 1991, Tell el-Balamun has been excavated by an expedition from the British Museum, which has traced the outlines of the main temple and subsidiary temples built during the Saite Period until Dynasty 30 and has discovered burials of the Third Intermediate Period within the temple walls.