Leontopolis, also known as Tell el-Yehudiye or Tell el-Yahudiya in Egyptian Arabic, was an ancient city in Egypt located in the 13th nome of Lower Egypt, on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. It is famous for its distinctive pottery called Tell el-Yahudiyeh Ware. During the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor (180–145 BC), a temple was built by the exiled Jewish priest Onias IV, modeled after the one in Jerusalem. This attracted a Hebrew colony, which thrived for over three centuries, bolstered by refugees fleeing the oppression of the Seleucid kings in Judea. However, during the Jewish War in the first century CE, the temple was closed as part of a general backlash against Judaism.
