Qaw el-Kebir

Qaw el-Kebir or El Etmannyieh is a village in the Asyut Governorate of Egypt. An old settlement, it was known in Ancient Egypt as Tjebu or Tkow '. In Greek and Roman Egypt, its name was Antaeopolis' after its tutelary deity, the war god known by the Hellenized name Antaeus.

History

Several large terraced funerary complexes in Tjebu by officials of the 10th nome during the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties represent the peak of non-royal funerary architecture of the Middle Kingdom. Cemeteries of different dates were also found in the area. The tomb of the local governor May dates to the New Kingdom.

Ptolemaic temple

A Ptolemaic temple of Ptolemy IV Philopator, enlarged and restored under Ptolemy VI Philometor and Marcus Aurelius, was destroyed in the early nineteenth century.
The temple in this town was large, comparatively speaking—an 18-column pronaos, with a twelve-column hypostyle hall preceding the vestibule hall, the inner sanctum, and two flanking chambers of equal size.

Fusion of Seth and Horus

The edifice was dedicated primarily to "Antaeus", who represented a warrior fusion of Seth and Horus. This deity's name is written with an obscure hieroglyph, which gives no clue as to the pronunciation. Modern Egyptologists read the name as Nemtiwey.

Cult of Nephthys

Nephthys was the primary goddess who received worship in this temple, or perhaps in an adjunct shrine of her own, as the corresponding female power of Nemtiwey. A Prophet of Nephthys is attested for Tjebu. In cliffside quarries not far from the ancient site, visitors can see notable reliefs of both Antaeus and Nephthys. At the same time, the site has again drawn most of its interest since 19th- and early 20th-century archaeologists have studied the maze of relatively well-preserved tombs in the district.