Two Mountains Attractions Gebelein

On the eastern and northern slopes of the higher hill to the west are cemeteries dating from the Pre-Dynastic period (Naqada culture) to the end of the Middle Kingdom, but mainly from the First Intermediate Period. Near here was the town of Aphroditespolis or Pathyris (from Per Hathor, "House of Hathor"), which for a time was capital of a nome.

In the plain west of the hill, near the village of Gebelein, are the remains of ancient Crocodilopolis, with a large crocodile cemetery.

On top of the smaller eastern hill are the conspicuous Tomb of Sheikh Musa and remains of a Temple of Hathor, surrounded by a defensive wall. The temple, probably founded in the time of the Third Dynasty, was restored in the 11th Dynasty, enlarged in the reign of Tuthmosis, later destroyed and then rebuilt in the Ptolemaic period. A number of Greek and demotic papyri were found within the temple precinct.