Taposiris Magna

Taposiris Magna was an ancient Egyptian city founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus between 280 and 270 BC on the coast about 30 miles west of Alexandria, near the modern town of Borg El Arab. Its name means great tomb of Osiris, and Plutarch identified it with an Egyptian temple of Osiris in the city; Procopius recorded that it was said to be the burial place of Osiris. It stood on a navigable arm of the ancient Lake Mareotis and may have served as a harbour for trade between Egypt and Libya. On the Taenia ridge between the sea and the lake stand a temple of Osiris, long thought a possible last resting place of Cleopatra, and a tower that was once used as a model for reconstructing the Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria but is now judged a funerary monument. The site was occupied from the second century BC to the seventh century AD and was excavated from the twentieth century under Evaristo Breccia.