Medinet Madi (Narmouthis)
The only well-preserved Middle Kingdom temple in Egypt, approached by an avenue of lions and sphinxes in the southern Fayoum desert.
A Middle Kingdom temple
Medinet Madi lies in the desert on the south-western edge of the Fayoum. It was a town founded in the Middle Kingdom, when the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty undertook great works to reclaim land in the Fayoum, and it became the Greco-Roman town of Narmouthis. Its main monument is a small temple built by Amenemhat III and completed by Amenemhat IV in the nineteenth century BC, dedicated to the harvest and serpent goddess Renenutet, the crocodile god Sobek and Horus. It is the only temple of the Middle Kingdom to survive in a substantially preserved state in Egypt, with its reliefs and inscriptions.
Ptolemaic additions
In the Ptolemaic period, the temple was enlarged with a new entrance, a courtyard and a processional way lined with statues of lions and sphinxes, leading to a monumental gateway. Further temples, including a double temple of Sobek, were added nearby, and the town around it flourished in the Greco-Roman period. Greek hymns to Isis-Thermouthis, identified with Renenutet, were carved at the temple entrance by the poet Isidorus.
Discoveries
The site was excavated from the 1930s by Italian missions, first under Achille Vogliano and later under Edda Bresciani of the University of Pisa. In 1929–1930, a remarkable group of Manichaean codices in Coptic, written on papyrus, came to light from Medinet Madi — among the most important sources for the religion founded by the prophet Mani. A visitor centre and paths have been built to make the remote site accessible.
Exhibo editorial
Medinet Madi is a reward for those who make the effort: a long drive into the desert, sand dunes, silence — and then an avenue of stone lions and sphinxes leading to a temple four thousand years old, one of the few survivors of Egypt's Middle Kingdom.
Walk the avenue slowly, look at the delicate relief of the goddess Renenutet inside, and find the Greek hymns to Isis carved at the entrance by a poet two thousand years ago. Few places in the Fayoum feel as remote or as atmospheric; go with a driver who knows the road.
How to find it
Medinet Madi lies about 30 km south-west of Fayoum city, beyond the village of Abu Gandir, reached by car along a desert road; ask a local driver. From the visitor centre, follow the path to the avenue of lions and sphinxes, which leads directly to the temple.
