The modern day town of Qantir is a jumbled collection of ramshacklebuildings typical of a delta town today. Judging by its central position onthe scan. It is almost certainly sitting slap-bang on the top of Ramesses II’s palace.
According to accounts of the time, Ramesses the Great’s palace was vast.
The heart of the city adorned with monuments celebrating his rule andlongevity. The outside walls would have dazzled painted white and decoratedwith glaze tiles.
As incredible as the scan of Piramesse is, all it provides us with is thefootprints of the city’s once impressive architecture. But we can get aglimpse of what it must once have looked like from other sites whereRamesses the Great’s influence was felt.
“The vast majority of the temple the Ramesses II’s time are now lost.
However when one looks at the the great pylon he erected at Luxor Temple,when you look at some of its constructions at Karnak, and also its slightlylater temple Madinat Habu. On gets a flavor of what the buildings that oncedominated the city of Piramesse might have looked like.”
With such a large expanse of the city laid bare, the scan had one moresecret to reveal. These bare areas showed where lakes, canals and waterwaysran through Piramesse fed by the Nile. This final piece of the jigsawcompleted the picture and showed just how unique Piramesse truly was. Itcontained huge temples, palatial riverside villas of the wealthy. Windingcramp streets of less well-heeled neighborhoods. And the site of the palaceof the pharaoh himself. But it was Ramesses the Great’s choice of locationwithin the Nile Delta that made the city so unique. With canals fed by thewaters of the Nile, Piramesses was quite simply the Venice of its day. |