Mélanie Catherine Flossmann-Schütze

Tuna el-Gebel is situated about 300 km south of Cairo, in Middle Egypt, on the western side of
the Nile. It is the necropolis of Hermopolis Magna, ancient capital of the 15th nome and cult centre
of Thot, god of writing and sciences. The archaeological site of Tuna el-Gebel is particularly known for
its Greco-Roman necropolis and the ibiotapheion, one of the largest animal cemeteries of pharaonic
Egypt. In the course of almost a millennium, millions of ibises and baboons, representing the god
Thot, were buried in the vast catacombs. Since 1989, the objectives of the Tuna el-Gebel project at
the Institute for Egyptology and Coptology of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, working
in cooperation with the Faculty of Archaeology of Cairo University, have been to explore the
architectural development of the animal cemetery and related religious and administrative buildings.
Since 2002 the principal investigations have been concentrate on the site to the east of the
underground galleries. A processional way leads from the animal necropolis to the remains of
the ancient town, the Kom el-Loli, where priests and craftsmen of the religious association of the
animal cemetery had lived. The preliminary plan of the geophysical prospection of this area, conducted
by the University of Kiel, revealed that, to the north and south of this processional way, huge
mud-brick building complexes lay side by side under sand mounds. Five of these complexes, two
of the northern and three of the southern row, have been excavated in the past years (Figs 2, 3). All
these building complexes — only foundations, sometimes basements, and rarely ground floors have
been preserved consist of one to three tower houses surrounded by smaller annex houses as well as
numerous production facilities— like bakeries, siloses and animal stables. The earliest buildings
date to the reign of Ptolemy I, an important phase for the architectural and cultic development of
the animal cemetery. Several cult places, almost identical to the ritual places of the animal cemetery,
were discovered in some houses. A second construction phase of the tower houses dates to the reign
of Ptolemy VI. Some buildings were in use until Roman times. The square-plan tower houses of Tuna
el-Gebel had probably five floors and were constructed with undulating walls and vaulted ceilings.
Although most of the building complexes were either excavated or looted at the end of the 19th
century, plenty of ceramics, organic and botanic materials, artefacts of daily life and religious objects
were discovered in the course of the excavations (Arnold 2000). Domestic courtyards consisted of
production and kitchen areas equipped with siloses, ovens, mills and bread moulds.
a Bavarian State Department for Monuments and Sites (BLfD), Ref. ZII Archaeological Prospection,

Les rapports entre les religions et l’argent sont loin de se limiter aux discours que développent souvent les premières en matière de régulation éthique des activités lucratives et d’usage des richesses. Toute vie religieuse implique – à des échelles diverses, mais inévitablement – une dimension économique. Il faut des biens matériels pour les gestes du culte, l’offrande de sacrifices, la fabrication d’objets ou d’images, la construction et l’entretien de sanctuaires, la rétribution d’un clergé ou encore l’organisation de la solidarité communautaire. Quelles sont donc les pratiques des religions en matière d’économie ? Comment les communautés religieuses s’y prennent-elles pour créer, rassembler, gérer, utiliser et distribuer des richesses ? En quoi consiste l’impact concret de la vie religieuse sur la vie économique ? Comment les usages « religieux » de l’argent sont-ils justifiés ou critiqués à l’intérieur des différentes traditions ?
C’est à de telles questions que ce colloque répondra, en étudiant les religions qui ont marqué le monde méditerranéen depuis la plus haute Antiquité jusqu’à la fin du Moyen Âge : les divers polythéismes, le judaïsme, le christianisme, l’islam. La prise en compte d’une aire géographique cohérente permettra d’établir des comparaisons probantes entre des époques différentes et des confessions variées.