Sais (Sau)
The site of the ancient Egyptian city of Sau, later known as Sais, lies near the village of Sa el-Hagar on the right bank of the Rosetta arm of the Nile. It was the chief center of the cult of the goddess Neith and the residence of the kings of the 24th and 26th Dynasties.
The existence of the town is attested from the beginnings of Egyptian history, and in the Early Period it was a political and religious center of the Delta.
The existence of the town is attested from the beginnings of Egyptian history, and in the Early Period it was a political and religious center of the Delta.
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The principal temple was dedicated to the goddess Neith (Nereth, the "Fearsome One"), who was venerated as the mother of the sun god, a war goddess with a bow and arrows as her attributes and one of the four protective goddesses of the dead. As the incarnation of the power of Lower Egypt she wore the Red Crown. After the unification of the two kingdoms the political importance of Sais rapidly declined. It now became the chief town of the fifth nome of Lower Egypt, with a territory which until the time of the 12th Dynasty extended over the area of the later fourth nome.
History
The rising of Saite local Princes against Ethiopian and Assyrian rule towards the end of the eighth B.Q. brought the town back into the politcal limelight. Bocchoris and his son Tefnakhte made it the capital of their ephemeral kingdom of Lower Egypt and founded the 24th (First Saite) Dynasty. Later it became the capital of Psammetichus I and his successors of the 26th (Second Saite) Dynasty.
Herodotus gives detailed accounts of the ceremonies in honor of Osiris which were celebrated here and of the splendid buildings erected by Psammetichus and Amasis. A representation of the royal burial place, which, as at Tanis, was in the principal temple, has also come down to us.
Practically nothing is left of the ancient city, and the site has little to interest the ordinary visitor. Considerable remains of brick masonry were still standing in the 19th C., but these have been almost completely removed by peasants digging for sebbakh, the fertile soil found on ancient sites. The stone had long been robbed for reuse in later buildings. There is an astonishingly large number of statues, architectural fragments and sarcophagi from Sais in museums all over the world.
History
The rising of Saite local Princes against Ethiopian and Assyrian rule towards the end of the eighth B.Q. brought the town back into the politcal limelight. Bocchoris and his son Tefnakhte made it the capital of their ephemeral kingdom of Lower Egypt and founded the 24th (First Saite) Dynasty. Later it became the capital of Psammetichus I and his successors of the 26th (Second Saite) Dynasty.
Herodotus gives detailed accounts of the ceremonies in honor of Osiris which were celebrated here and of the splendid buildings erected by Psammetichus and Amasis. A representation of the royal burial place, which, as at Tanis, was in the principal temple, has also come down to us.
Practically nothing is left of the ancient city, and the site has little to interest the ordinary visitor. Considerable remains of brick masonry were still standing in the 19th C., but these have been almost completely removed by peasants digging for sebbakh, the fertile soil found on ancient sites. The stone had long been robbed for reuse in later buildings. There is an astonishingly large number of statues, architectural fragments and sarcophagi from Sais in museums all over the world.
