Akhmim
Akhmim (
Arabic اخميم, from
Egyptian Khent-min, through
Coptic Khmin) is a city in the
Upper Egyptian
Sohag Governorate. The Greek names of the city were
Khemmis,
Chemmis and
Panopolis. It is located the east bank of the
Nile, 4 miles to the northeast of
Sohag.
History
Akhmim was known in
Ancient Egypt as
Ipu,
Apu or
Khent-min. It was the capital of the ninth (Chemmite)
nome of
Upper Egypt. The city is a suggested hometown for
Yuya, the official of
Tuthmosis IV and
Amenhotep III. The ithyphallic
Min (whom the Greeks identified with
Pan) was worshipped here as "the strong
Horus."
Herodotus mentions the temple dedicated to
Perseus and asserts that Chemmis was remarkable for the celebration of games in honor of that
hero, after the manner of the Greeks, at which prizes were given; as a matter of fact some representations are known of
Nubians and people of
Punt (southern coastal
Sudan and the
Eritrean coast) clambering up poles before the god Min. Min was especially a god of the desert routes on the east of
Egypt, and the trading tribes are likely to have gathered to his festivals for business and pleasure at
Coptos (which was really near
Neapolis,
Qina) even more than at Akhmim. Herodotus perhaps confused
Coptos with Chemmis.
Strabo mentions linen-weaving and stone-cutting as ancient industries of Panopolis, and it is not altogether a coincidence that the cemetery of Akhmim is one of the chief sources of the beautiful textiles of
Roman and
Christian age, that are brought from
Egypt. In the
Christian Coptic era, Akhmim was known as
Khmin or
Shmin.
Monasteries abounded in this region from a very early date.
Shenouda the Archimandrite (348 - 466) was a
monk at
Athribis near Akhmim. Some years earlier
Nestorius, the exiled ex-patriarch of
Constantinople, had died at an old age in the neighborhood of Akhmim.
Nonnus, the Greek
poet, was born at Panopolis at the end of the 4th century. Panopolis is a
Catholic titular see, suffragan of
Antinoe in
Thebais Prima. Among the bishops of Panopolis,
Le Quien mentions
(1) Arius, friend of
Saint Pachomius who had built three convents in the city, Sabinus, and Menas. Excavations at Akhmim have disclosed numerous
Christian manuscripts, among them fragments of the
Book of Henoch, of the Gospel, and of the Apocalypse according to Peter, the Acts of the Council of Ephesus'', as well as numerous other
Christian inscriptions.Akhmim once had a reputation as being home of the greatest
magicians in Egypt. A supernatural being that was said to dwell there, the Serpent of Akhmim, was supposedly regarded as an
angel by
Muslims and as an incarnation of the demon
Asmodeus by
Christians.In the 13th century AD, a very imposing temple still stood in Akhmim. Today, little of its past glory remains. Nothing is left of the town, the temples were almost completely dismantled, and their material reused in the later
Middle Ages. The extensive cemeteries of ancient Akhmim are yet to be fully explored. The destroyed corner of a Greco-Roman period temple with colossal statues of
Ramesses II and
Meritamen were discovered in 1981.
Modern city
Akhmim is the largest town on the east side of the
Nile in
Upper Egypt, having a population in 1907 of 23,795, of whom about a third were
Copts. Akhmim has several
mosques and two
Coptic churches, maintains a weekly market, and manufactures
cotton goods, notably the blue shirts and check shawls with
silk fringes worn by the poorer classes of
Egypt. Outside the walls are the scanty ruins of two ancient temples. On the west bank of the
Nile opposite of Akhmim, there is railway communication with
Cairo and
Aswan.
See also
References
-
[Oriens christianus, II, 601-4]
External links
{{EB1911|Akhmim}}
{{1911}}{{coord|26|34|N|31|45|E|region:EG_type:city_source:enwiki-GNS|display=title}}{{Egyptian Cities}}
أخميمAkhmimAchmimPanópolisAkhmîmAchmimAchmimAkhmimАхмимAkhmimAhmim
(...as imported from WP)
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