THEADELPHIA
(Batn-Ihrît) Egypt.
A city
30 km NW of Medinet El-Faiyûm. Of the seven temples
that were here during the Ptolemaic period, four had the
right of asylum. The main temple was that dedicated by
Ptolemy III Euergetes to the local god Pnepherôs, the
crocodile god. The city seems to have been still active
during the Roman period. A large wooden press has been
transferred to the garden court of the Graeco-Roman
Museum in Alexandria, where are also the reconstructed
pylons and the altar of the main temple of Theadelphia.
This temple was built on the plan of the Egyptian sanctuaries: three successive courtyards preceded the portico
of the principal chapel. The Greek inscription carved
over the doorway at the entrance of the temple dates it
to the year 34 of the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes. The
pylons and the stone portico were dedicated to the god
Pnepherôs on behalf of the Ptolemaic family by a certain Agathodoros, a citizen of Alexandria.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Breccia,
Alexandria ad Aegyptum
(1922) 153-54, 284-86
I.
S. SHENOUDA
