The American-Egyptian mission from Yale University has stumbled upon what appears to be the remains of a substantial settlement. The city is a thousand years earlier than the major surviving ancient remains at the Umm Mawagir area in Kharga Oasis.

The Hibis temple is oriented along an east-west axis and consists of a pylon, open court, pillared hall and sanctuary. The temple would have originally also had a lake and boat quay along its eastern side. The lake would have allowed access to the temple for festival purposes. Today the first thing a visitor encounters at the temple is the outer or Roman gate that contains several Greek inscriptions. The most important one is the decree that was by the Roman governor, Tiberius Julius Alexander during the second year of the reign of Emperor Galba (69AD).

Howard Carter’s house is located on the west bank of Luxor just before you enter the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately, it was neglected for a long time and was not being used for anything except collecting dust. I decided that this was unacceptable and that the house of Howard Carter should be returned to its former glory.

Damietta is my hometown. I grew up in a small village about 10km south of the town of Damietta. This town is beautiful, very clean and near to a very famous seashore where all the Egyptian movie stars and singers used to visit on their vacations.