Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "HERMOPOLIS MAGNA Ancient city EGYPT" .
HERMOPOLIS MAGNA (Ancient city) EGYPT
Hermopolis Magna (Hermou polis megale, Steph. B. s. v.; Ptol. iv. 5.60; Hermopolis,
Ammian, ii. 16; Hermupolis, It. Anton.; Mercurii Oppidum, Plin. v. 9.11: Eth.
Hermeopolites or Hermopolites), the modern Eshmoon, was situated on the left bank
of the Nile, about lat. 27° 4? N., and was the capital of the Hermopolite nome
in the Heptanomis. It is sometimes, indeed, as by Pliny, reckoned among the cities
of Upper and not of Middle Egypt. Hermopolis stood on the borders of these divisions
of Egypt, and, for many ages, the Thebaid or upper country extended much further
to the N. than in more recent periods. As the border town, Hermopolis was a place
of great resort and opulence, ranking second to Thebes alone. A little to S. of
the city was the castle of Hermopolis, at which point the river craft from the
upper country paid toll (Hermopolitane phulake, Strab. xvii.; Ptol. l. c.; the
Bahr Jusuf of the Arabians). The grottos of Beni-hassan, near Antinoopolis, upon
the opposite bank of the Nile, were the common cemetery of the Hermopolitans,
for, although the river divided the city from its necropolis, yet, from the wide
curve of the western hills at this point, it was easier to ferry the dead over
the water than to transport them by land to the hills. The principal deities worshipped
at Hermopolis were Typhon and Thoth. The former was represented by an hippopotamus,
on which sat a hawk fighting with a serpent (Plut. Is. et Osir). Thoth or Tauth,
the Greek Hermes, the inventor of the pen and of letters, the Ibisheaded god,
was, with his accompanying emblems, the Ibis and the Cynocephalus or ape, the
most conspicuous among the sculptures upon the great portico of the temple of
Hermopolis. His designation in inscriptions was The Lord of Eshmoon. This portico
was a work of the Pharaonic era; but the erections of the Ptolemies at Hermopolis
were upon a scale of great extent and magnificence, and, although raised by Grecian
monarchs, are essentially Egyptian in their conception and execution. The portico,
the only remnant of the temple, consists of a double row of pillars, six in each
row. The architraves are formed of five stones; each passes from tile centre of
one pillar to that of the next, according to a well-known usage with Aegyptian
builders. The intercolumnation of the centre pillars is wider than that of the
others; and the stone over the centre is twenty-five feet and six inches long.
These columns were painted yellow, red, and blue in alternate bands, and the brilliancy
of the colours is well represented in Minutoi's 14th plate. There is also a peculiarity
in the pillars of the Hermopolitan portico peculiar to themselves, or, at least,
discovered only again in the temple of Gournou. Instead of being formed of large
masses placed horizontally above each other, they are composed of irregular pieces,
so artfully adjusted that it is difficult to detect the lines of junction. The
bases of these columns represent the lower leaves of the lotus; next come a number
of concentric rings, like the hoops of a cask; and above these the pillars appear
like bunches of reeds held together by horizontal bonds. Including the capital,
each column is about 40 feet in height; the greatest circumference is about 28
1/2 feet, about five feet from the ground, for they diminish in thickness both
towards the base and towards the capital. The widest part of the intercolumnation
is 17 feet; the other pillars are 13 feet apart. Hermopolis comparatively escaped
the frequent wars which, in the decline both of the Pharaonic and Roman eras,
devastated the Heptanomis; but, on the other hand, its structures have suffered
severely from the ignorance and cupidity of its Mohammedan rulers, who have burned
its stones for lime or carried them away for building materials.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hermopolis Magna (Ashmunein) Egypt. On the borderline between Upper and Middle Egypt, 6 km W of
the left bank of the Nile, opposite Antinoopolis. Pliny referred to it as the
Town of Mercury (5.9.61). The site and ruins have been surrounded with three villages,
of which one, El-Ashmunein, has preserved the Egyptian name Shmunu meaning the
four couples personifying the pre-Creation elements of the Universe. These, according
to the Hermopolitan school of religion, were conquered, in a very remote period,
by Thoth, identified with Hermes. Thus the city dedicated to Thoth was called
Hermopolis. While it must have guarded its importance as a religious center during
the Ptolemaic period and still more in the 3d c. A.D. with the rise of Neoplatonism
in Alexandria when Thoth or Hermes was termed Trismagistus (thrice great), it
was certainly a very active center of Christianity. According to tradition, the
Holy Family reached the end of its journey here. There continued for some time
to be a bishop here, but by the end of the 13th c., as the city declined, the
seat of the bishop was moved elsewhere.
Most of its architectural remains were reused in the building of mosques.
The 29 monolithic columns of red granite with their fine Corinthian capitals are
almost all that is left of the basilica (A.D. 410-440) which covered an area of
1195 sq. m. The stylobate and the foundations of the basilica were built of reused
blocks of stone from different periods. Most important among them are the remains
of the Ptolemaic sanctuary. The inscription on the five blocks of its Doric architrave
informs us that the statues, the temple, and other objects within the sacred enclosure
and the portico, had been dedicated to Ptolemy III Euergetes and his wife, Berenike,
by cavalry troops who were settled in Hermopolis. Some of the Corinthian capitals,
now beneath the N side of the basilica, still retain their original color. Farther
to the W are the bases of the marble columns of the portico of the temple dedicated
to Alexander the Great and Philip Arrhidaeus. Underneath the foundation of the
temple were found two colossal sandstone statues of the baboon with the cartouches
bearing the name of Amenophis III. They are now erected in front of excavation
headquarters. Another temple, in the Egyptian style and dedicated to Nero, lies
a short distance to the E.
S. Shenouda, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2005 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
