✦ The Ancient Atlas

Tanis (San el-Hagar)

City / RuinsEgypt

Ancient royal capital of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties (c. 1069-715 BCE) in the northeastern Nile Delta. Tanis served as the northern capital after Pi-Ramesses was abandoned, and many monuments at Tanis were transported wholesale from the earlier site, including obelisks, colossal statues, and inscribed blocks of Ramses II. The site contains what may be the largest stone statue ever carved in ancient Egypt: a granite colossus of Ramses II weighing approximately 1,000 tons in its original whole form. UnchartedX has documented the engineering implications of moving such a monolith from Aswan to the Delta, a distance of over 1,000 km.

30.9789°, 31.8800°

Look Closer — this site carries open questions: stones heavier than the period's tools could lift; tool marks suggesting advanced machining; stones fitted without mortar, almost no gap.
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Walkthrough videos (1)

Ancient Tanis, Ramses II, and the Largest Stone Statue Ever MadeAncient Tanis, Ramses II, and the Largest Stone Statue Ever MadeUnchartedX

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