Terenuthis

Tarrana (Arabic: الطرانة Aṭ-Ṭarrānah, Coptic: ⲧⲉⲣⲉⲛⲟⲩⲑⲓ Terenouthi), known in classical antiquity as Terenouthis (Ancient Greek: Τερενοῦθις), is a town that is currently referred to as Monufia Governorate of Egypt. This site is located in the western Nile Delta, circa 70 km north-west of Cairo, between the southern prehistoric site of Merimde Beni-salame and the northern town of Kom el-Hisn. The modern name for the necropolitain ancient city of Ternouthis (El-Tarrana) is Kom Abou Billou. Tarrana was once a popular commercial center, and housed a diverse demographic that erupted during the Graeco-Roman Period (332 BC -395 AD) and the establishment of the Ptolemaic Period.

==Names== Tarrana was known to the ancient Egyptians as Mefket, meaning "turquoise" in Egyptian, itself an epithet of the goddess Hathor who was object of local veneration as "Hathor, Mistress of Turquoises". It was during the Graeco-Roman period that the town became known as Terenuthis, from the Egyptian *Ta-Renenût ("the domain of the goddess Renenutet") which in turn became the Coptic Terenouti, as well as Tarrana or Tarana, the modern town. The toponym Kom Abu Billo (or Kom Abu Bello) refers to a small modern village lying on Terenuthis’ necropolis, in the northwestern part of the whole site; it probably takes the name from the ancient temple of Apollo that once stood here.