TANIS IS AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE AND ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CITY ON THE TANITIC BRANCH OF THE NILE RIVER DELTA NEAR THE MODERN-DAY TOWN OF ṢĀN AL-ḤAJAR AL-QIBLIYYAH.
Tanis was built as the capital of the 14th nome of Lower Egypt, with the earliest Tanite buildings dating from the 21st Dynasty, the first Dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period, lasting from 1069 BC to 945 BC.
Many of the materials used to construct the city were repurposed masonry and stone from nearby population centres such as the former capital of Pi-Ramesses (Per Ramessu). Pi-Ramesses was built by the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) at Qantir, near the old site of Avaris. The city was abandoned when the Pelusiac branch of the Nile began to silt up in 1060 BC and its harbour consequently becoming unusable.
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