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HELIOPOLIS
Ancient Egyptian city famed as a center for worship of the sun god Re. Heliopolis (“city of the sun”) was located in the Nile River delta region of Lower Egypt, a few miles northeast of modern Cairo. Heliopolis became important from about 2400 BC, with the emergence of Atum-Re as the cult deity. Many pharaohs embellished the city’s temples and put up various public monuments, especially in the New Kingdom period (1570–1150 BC).
Since the temples contained the royal archives, the priests became the official historians of Egypt. Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century BC, said the priests at Heliopolis were famous for their knowledge of Egyptian history. There were also training schools for priests and a medical school in the city.
Other Egyptian sun worship centers existed at various times, but Heliopolis maintained its popularity for some 2,000 years. Though the city was of little importance politically, it was of primary religious influence. Among Egyptian religious buildings, the temple of Re at Heliopolis was second in size only to the temple of Amon at Thebes.
In the OT, Heliopolis is called On. When Joseph was a member of the Egyptian official class, he married Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On (Gn 41:45, 50; 46:20). The prophet Ezekiel warned of coming destruction in Egypt by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, citing Heliopolis (On) as one of the cities to be destroyed (Ez 30:17). In Amos 1:5, the rsv (mg) has an alternative rendering, “On,” for “Valley of Aven,” and the same reading in Ezekiel 30:17 for the NLT “Heliopolis.” The prophet Jeremiah also predicted the destruction of the obelisks (sacred pillars) of Heliopolis (Jer 43:13, KJB “Beth-shemesh”). Isaiah 19:18 is probably also a reference to Heliopolis (see NLT).
The city lost its prominence in the fourth and third centuries BC, partly because of the library founded at Alexandria early in the third century BC. Alexandria replaced Heliopolis as the leading intellectual center in Egypt.
Little remains today from the ancient city of the sun, but an obelisk erected by Sesostris I (1971–1928 BC) can still be seen at the site of Heliopolis. Several obelisks from Heliopolis, erected by Thutmose III (1490–1436 BC), have been moved to various parts of the world in modern times.