Western Area of delta
the H19 leaves Imbabah (Rte 22) and beyond (7kni) Kom al-Ah.mar a road to the W leads to Ausim (Ar. Awsim) (3km), site of the ancient
city of Khem, Gk Letopolis, capital of the 2nd nome of Lower Egypt. Here Khenty-lrty, a form of Horus, was worshipped. The Temple of
Horus has been completely destroyed but seems to have been 26-30 Dyn. in date. Various blocks of Nectanebo I were found here (in EM).
Literary texts indicate that it_was occupied from at least Old Kingdom times. Beyond this the H19 divides (to the Eis Qanatir; see above). Tum to the Wand follow the road for 8km and then N for 23km. To the E of the road on the bank of the Nile is Merimde Bani Salamah, a prehistoric site. At (8km) al-Khatatbah the H9 terminates and is met by the H6 which runs SW to the Hll, the Desert road to Alexandria (Rte 41).Follow the track on the W side of the Rayyah al-Bihayrah and the Cairo-Alexandria railway N to (9km) Kom Abu Billo (Ar. Billaw), site
of the town of Tarrana, Gk Terenuthis, which name in turn is connected with the scorpion goddess, Renenutet (Gk Termuthis), in
one aspect a deity of grain and the harvest. The Temple of Hathor built by the first two Ptolemies was discovered by Griffith in 1887-88;
the town was, however, occupied from a much earlier period and burials in the cemetery date from the Old Kingdom to the Byzantine
Period.
Eastern Area At Shubra al-Khaymah the She. Bur Sa9d crosses the lsma9liyyah Canal where it meets the She. al-Mueahadah from the W. Beyond this point it becomes the H3 and runs NE to the W of the Isma91iyyah Canal, passing Bahtim and (Skm) Musfurud with the Church of the Virgin on a site said to have been visited by the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt. An immense miilid, one of the largest Christian celebrations in the Delta, is held between 7-22 August to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin. Past Muspirud the H3 passes (Skm) Siryaqtis and (7km) Abu Za9>al where a road runs NW (to Shibin al-Qanatir) to the N of which (4km) is the site of Tell al-Yahudiyyah (Mound of the Jews), ancient Naytahut, Gk Leontopolis (one of two Delta cities of this name), situated within the 13th nome of Lower Egypt, that of Heliopolis.
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