Buried ancient city uncovered in Egypt may be linked to the Book of Exodus

It was a find of Biblical proportions.

The discovery of a 3,000-year-old sandstone block in Egypt could shed light on a hidden metropolis with ties to the Exodus described in the Old Testament

The artifact was unearthed at Tell Abu Seifi, a repository in northeastern Egypt near the Sinai Peninsula, per an August 15 announcement by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Fox News reported.

Archaeologists believe that this could be the site of Mesen, a long-lost city that stood along the Horus Military Road — a strategic route connecting Egypt with the Eastern Mediterranean.

Academics have associated this path with “way of the land of the Philistines” described in the Book Of Exodus.

Per the scripture, God warned the Israelites fleeing Egypt against taking this shorter and more direct route to Canaan as it would certainly lead to warfare and potentially drive them back to the land they’d just escaped.

The literal cornerstone of this new evidence was the aforementioned colossal sandstone beam, which was split into two pieces, according to Arkeonews.com.

Inscribed on three sides of it were the titles of Ramses II, one of the most influential rulers of Egypt’s New Kingdom Era (circa 1570 to circa 1069 BC), who was popularly linked to the story of Moses.

Another historical clue was an inscription on the sandstone that referred to the Egyptian deity “Horus” as the Lord of the City of Mesen.

And that was just the tip of the archaeological iceberg.

The recent excavations yielded the ruins of a fortified temple citadel with storage rooms that was enclosed with mud-brick walls and gates and connected to the fortifications via two stone-paved roads.

This find could help archaeologists reconstruct a sprawling network of temples, forts and administrative structures — part of a strategic corridor along which leaders transported armies and supplies during the New Kingdom era.

Coincidentally, the site served multiple masters in addition to the Egyptians, including the Persians, Ptolemies (Macedonian Greeks who ruled Egypt from 305 to 30 BC) and the Romans, who notably quarried parts of the ancient complex for use in lime production.

Ultimately, the inscribed sandstone doesn’t definitively prove that Tell Abu Seifi was once the lost city of Mesen.

But when coupled with these excavated remains, it “presents a strong archaeological and historical hypothesis linking the site to the ancient Egyptian city,” cultural officials said in a statement.

They pledged to continue “excavation and scientific study” with the hopes of putting Mesen on the map.