Karanis- Travel Tips

What to See, How to Plan & Tours

Reviews of Karanis

• Sooma

  5

  Reviewed: 2025-02-28

  Beautiful monuments that indicate greatness and nobility

• Vasanth Baskar

  5

  Reviewed: 2024-08-29

  Nice outlook

• Marta Manzano

  1

  Reviewed: 2024-07-21

  Unusual archaeological site, not well cared for and NOT recommended. We carry out the visit on our own. The guide there only spoke Arabic, so he couldn't communicate with us. As a negative point, when we left the archaeological site some police insisted on "escorting" us all the way to the hotel (almost 1 hour), with the aim of asking us for money. They also asked the hotel for money (by the way, the same police officers wanted to house us in another hotel, with which they had already established prices for their "tips"). These events cause the tourist who is not local and does not speak Arabic to flee the place. This issue should be reviewed by the authorities to avoid giving the image they give. IMPORTANT --If you are lovers of archeology or want to visit the place, if you are tourists who do not speak Arabic, look for a driver and guide to take you and bring you back.

• Jeremy Walton

  4

  Reviewed: 2023-10-03

  Low key but authentic and atmospheric site

• AHMED BADAWI

  4

  Reviewed: 2022-06-20

  Karanis was an agricultural village in the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt, located in the northeast corner of the Faiyum in what is now Kom Oshim. It was about 60 hectares in area, with a peak population of 4000 people, though it could have been as much as three times larger. Karanis was one of several towns in the Arsinoite nome founded by Ptolemy II Philadephus in the third century BC and lasting until the sixth century AD. Though Karanis declined in the late Ptolmaic period, the town expanded north in the first century BC when Augustus, having conquered Egypt and recognised the Faiyum's agricultural potential, dispatched workers to clean up the canals and restore the dikes that had fallen into disrepair, restoring the area's productivity. South Temple : The beginnings of the south temple may be dated back to the first century BC, and it remained in use until the late third or fourth century AD. Under Nero, the temple was devoted to the crocodile gods Pnepheros and Petesouchos. It is constructed in the Egyptian style and is composed of limestone blocks. It is possible that it was erected on the site of an earlier temple. The north and south sides of the south temple contain residences and storerooms for the temple's priests, in addition to shrine rooms and storage rooms. The dining area in the temple's south east corner might be used for local weddings and banquets. North Temple : The north temple was constructed in the early Roman period and is made of Egyptian-style limestone. With the exception of Greco-Roman style engaged columns on the temple's outer corners and in each internal entryway, it is mostly undecorated. Though there is no definite inscription detailing the temple's purpose, it is most likely dedicated to a crocodile god, as evidenced by the presence of a crocodile mummy alter and a soft white limestone image of a hawk-headed crocodile, which most likely depicts the god Soknopaios. An alter bearing the head of Serapis, Zeus, or a mix of the two can also be seen in the temple.