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PANOPOLIS (Ancient city) EGYPT
Panopolis (Panupolis, Diodor. i. 18; Ptol. iv. 5. § 72; Panon tolis,
Strab. xvii. p. 813; Panos polis,, Steph. B. s. v.; sometimes simply Panos, Hierocl.
p. 731; It. Anton. p. 166: Eth. Panopolites), the Greek equivalent of the Aegyptian
appellative Chemmis or Chemmo (Herod. ii. 91, 145, seq.; Diodor. l. c.), was a
very ancient city of the Thebaid, lat. 26° 40' N. Panopolis was dedicated to Chem
or Pan, one of the first Octad of the Aegyptian divinities, or, according to a
later theory, to the Panes and Satyri generally of Upper Aegypt. (Plut. Is. et
Osir. c. 14.) Stephanus of Byzantium describes the Chem or Pan of this city as
an Ithyphallic god, the same whose representation occurs so frequently among the
sculptures of Thebes. His face was human, like that of Ammon; his head-dress,
like that of Ammon, consisted of lone straight feathers, and over the fingers
of his right hand, which is lifted up, is suspended a scourge; the body, like
that of Ammon also, including the left arm, is swathed in bandages. An inscription
on the Kosseir road is the ground for supposing that Chem and Pan were the same
deity; and that Chemmis and Panopolis were respectively the Aegyptian and Greek
names for the same city is inferrd from Diodorus (l. c.) Panopolis stood on the
right bank of the Nile, and was the capital of the Nomos Panopolites. According
to Strabo (l. c.) it was inhabited principally by stonemasons and linen-weavers;
and Agathias (iv. p. 133) says that it was the birthplace of the poet Nonnus A.D.
410. Although a principal site of Panic worship, Panopolis was celebrated for
its temple of Perseus. From Herodotus (vi. 53) we know that the Dorian chieftains
deduced their origin from Perseus through Aegypt. It is difficult to say which
of the native Aegyptian gods was represented by Perseus. From the root of the
word - Pertho, to burn - it is probable, however, that he is the same with the
fire-god Hephaistos or Phtah. The Panopolite temple of Perseus was rectangular,
and surrounded by a wall around which was a plantation of palm-trees. At the entrance
of the enclosure were two lofty gateways of stone, and upon these were placed
colossal statues in human form. Within the adytum was a statue of Perseus, and
there also was laid up his sandal, two cubits long. The priests of Panopolis asserted
that Perseus occasionally visited his temple, and that his epiphanies were always
the omens of an abundant harvest to Aegypt. The sandals of Perseus are described
by Hesiod (Sent. Here. 220), and their deposition in the shrine implied that,
having left his abode for a season, he was traversing the land to bless it with
especial fertility. The modern name of Panopolis is Akhmim, an evident corruption
of Chemmis. The ruins, in respect of its ancient splendour, are inconsiderable.
It is probable, indeed, that Panopolis, like Abydos and other of the older cities
of Upper Aegypt, declined in prosperity as Thebes rose to metropolitan importance.
(Champollion, l'Egypte, vol. i. p. 267; Pococke, Travels, p. 115; Minutoli, p.
243.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Chemmis; later Panopolis, Panopolis. A great city of the Thebais, or Upper Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile, celebrated for its manufacture of linen, its stone quarries, and its temples of Pan and Perseus.
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