Hypothesis on the presence of an earlier building on the current site of the Funerary Temple of Wenamun (Umm el Ubayda) in the Siwa Archaeological Area.

In recent years, a survey conducted by Professor Kuhlmann has confirmed a previous hypothesis about the existence of a dromos between the two temple sites, Aghurmi and Umm El Ubayda. This confirmation creates a temporal problem because the processional dromos always connects two temples, but in this case, the current temple of Umm Ubaydah is at least two centuries later than the oracle of Ammon.

Therefore, it seems evident that an earlier building was present on the site of the Wenamun temple, which constituted the final station of the processional way.

This hypothesis is now confirmed by some Greek inscriptions found in the 2009 excavations by Kuhlmann in the lower part of the base of one of the columns of the later building. The inscriptions clearly predate the construction of the Umm Ubayda temple, which dates back to the reign of Nectanebo II. From a paleographic point of view, they seem to belong to the first half of the 5th century BC, thus confirming the hypothesis of the presence of an earlier building.

The inscriptions are interesting because, in addition to the names of the visitors/devotees, they also mention their places of origin: Sparta and Cyrenaica. Both are also known from historical traditions as places with close ties to the Ammoneion (temple of Ammon).

The appellation "Lakedaimonion" (Lacedaemon/Sparta) appears twice, while from Cyrenaica, we find the toponyms "Barke" and "Chersonasion." The latter could refer to a "Little Chersonesos" as opposed to the "Great Chersonesos" in the Gulf of Bomba, or it could be a variant of the "Chernasos" known from Cyrenaica.

In summary, these Greek graffiti provide valuable information about visitors from Sparta and Cyrenaica who left votive inscriptions at the site of the Umm Ubayda temple in Siwa, probably in the 5th century BC, before the construction of the current temple dating back to the time of Nectanebo II in the 4th century BC.