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Heliopolis (; , ''Hēlioúpolis'', "City of the Sun" or "City of Helios"; Egyptian: ''ỉwnw'') was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt. It is now found in the suburb of Ayn Shams ((アラビア語:عين شمس), "Well of the Sun") at the north-east edge of Cairo. The ancient Egyptian cult center Iunu, named "On" in the Hebrew bible, was renamed Heliopolis by the Greeks in recognition of the fact that the sun god Ra (Helios in Greek) presided there. Iunu is mentioned in the Pyramid Text as the "House of Ra".〔 Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte - Hans Bonnet 〕 Heliopolis has been occupied since the Predynastic Period,〔Dobrowolska & Dobrowolski. ''Heliopolis: Rebirth of the City of the Sun.'' (ISBN 9774160088, ISBN 978-977-416-008-0), 2006, p.15〕 with extensive building campaigns during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Today it is mostly destroyed; its temples and other buildings were used for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from textual sources. The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla in Al-Matariyyah, Cairo. It was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position.〔(''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 1911 edition. )〕 The high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons (240,000 lbs). ==Location== Beneath a maze of busy narrow streets of north-east Cairo, about fifteen to twenty metres down, lie vast hidden remains of ancient Heliopolis. The modern inhabitants are mostly middle and lower-class Egyptians. The site of ancient Heliopolis lies predominantly in the northern Cairo suburb of Al-Matariyyah,〔 and also covers the districts of Ain Shams and Tel Al-Hisn east of the Nile. It also straddles the Cairo Metro line west of the edge of the 20th century modern Heliopolis,〔 a suburb in the district ' ((アラビア語:مصر الجديدة) "New Egypt"). The site of Heliopolis has now been brought for the most part under cultivation and suburbanization, but some ancient city walls of crude brick can be seen in the fields, a few granite blocks bearing the name of Ramesses II remain, and the position of the great Temple of Re-Atum is marked by the Al-Masalla obelisk. Archaeologists made recent tomb discoveries underneath.〔(Descubrimientos - Egipto - Junio / Diciembre 2004; "Pharonic tomb uncovered in Cairo, suburbs of Matariya" ); August 26, 2004. accessed 2011-01-28〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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