EL ASHMUNEIN (Hermopolis) El-Ashmunein is located about 6 miles - TopicsExpress

EL ASHMUNEIN (Hermopolis) El-Ashmunein is located about 6 miles north of Mallawi on the west bank of the Nile. Less than a mile from todays town are the remains of what was once the ancient settlement called Khemenu in Pharaonic times and Hermopolis Magna from the Greeks. They associated the local god Thot to their god Hermes; hence the name of the city. It was the capital of the XV Nome of the Upper Egypt, the Nome of the Hare, and it is part of the present governorate of Minya. Today there are mounds of crumbling ruins and it is necessary to visit its necropolis of Tuna el-Gabal, better preserved, to understand how the whole site originally was. The local deity was Thoth, god of knowledge and the inventor of writing, which was represented by an ibis or a baboon or an ibis-headed man. Where once stood the home of an archaeological mission we now find an outdoor museum which houses statues, stelae and blocks recovered during excavations. Among these findings we can see two huge statues, about 15 feet high, representing Thoth in the form of baboon that were erected by Amenhotep III, during the XVIII Dynasty. Erected on the foundations of a Ptolemaic temple, that was built by Ptolemy III Euergetes I, we find the remains of a Christian Basilica dating from the fifth century and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Strewn in the grass you can see the remains of the Temple of Thoth, which has never ceased to be built and expanded over the centuries. Among the many kings who have contributed to this construction we find Horemheb, eighteenth Dynasty, Ramses II, nineteenth Dynasty, Nectanebo I, thirtieth Dynasty, Alexander the Great, Macedonian Dynasty and Ptolemy I Soter of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. To the south-west of the temple of Thoth are the limestone remains of a sanctuary dedicated to Amon built by Ramses II. The last temple built in Hermopolis seems to be the one dedicated to Seshat, the wife-paredra of the god Thoth, by the emperor Domitian. For further informations visit my website: my-egypt.it/middle-egypt/el-ashmunein-hermopolis/