Deir
El-Medineh is a village where the workmen of the royal tombs
of the nearby Valleys of
the Kings and Queens
resided with their families. About 70 ancient houses are surrounded
by an enclosure.
Most of the houses date to the Ramesside
period. The village is accessible by two doorways in the north
and the west. It is divided in the middle by a north-south main
street intersected by smaller alleys. Most of the houses are
identical in design and consist of rooms and a stairway leading
up to the spacious roofs.
Coptic
hermits in their era used the village as a monastery and turned
a nearby Pharaonic temple to a church.
The tombs:
To the north of the village are the tombs of some of the workmen
who resided in the village. The tombs are relatively small
but are beautifully decorated. The most beautiful tombs are
those of Sennedjem, Inherkhau and Pashedu.
Deir El-Medineh temples:
Nearby are several ruined chapels. One chapel is built by
the Ptolemies
and is dedicated to Hathor
and Maat.
The temple was built in the 3rd century BC and it was tranferred
into a monastery in early Christian
era in Egypt.
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