El-Ashmonin is an ancient Egyptian city that flourished throughout pharaonic history, as well as the Greek and Roman periods, and still has some Pharaonic, Also El-Ashmonin is Ptolemaic and Roman ruins. The tomb of the prince of the province during the reign of the pharaohs, Thoth Hattab, was found in Ashmunin, which is considered one of the most beautiful tombs of the ancient Egyptians.
El-Ashmonin is an archaeological city in the Minya desert that contains many ancient temples dating back to the Pharaonic and Roman eras, including the Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Seti and Nero, located 8 kilometers from the Malawi center of the Minya governorate.
The name Ashmunin is a corruption of the ancient Egyptian name Khamun, or the city of the sacred eight, which was the capital of the fifteenth region of ancient Upper Egypt and the seat of worship of the “god Thoth”, the god of wisdom represented in the form of a baboon or an ibis.
He added: “The city of Ashmunin was a center for the worship of the god Jahuti, the god of wisdom and knowledge in ancient Egypt, where it received the attention of ancient Egyptian history and the Greek and Roman eras.”
It is a name agreed upon by some archaeologists, as it is a corruption of the ancient Egyptian name “Khamun” or the city of the sacred eight, as it was the capital of the fifteenth region in ancient Upper Egypt and continued to be the seat of the worship of Thoth, the god of wisdom, and because the Greeks compared their god Hermes to the Egyptian god Thoth, so the name was changed and they called the city “Hermopolis Magna”.
The city is located in the heart of Central Egypt in the vast valley bordered by the Nile to the east, and the Sea of Joseph to the west, where it is located about 8 km west of Malawi city and 3 km north of Malawi city.
Remains found from the ruins of a temple built by King Amenhotep III for the god Djehoti, from which there is only a huge statue of the god Djehoti in the form of a monkey, and some similar statues. It is considered one of the largest monkey statues found in Egypt.
The remains of a basilica-style church with granite columns dating back to the reign of King Ptolemy II, and was first built to be a market in the Roman era and turned into a church in the Coptic era.
Remains of statues from the reign of King Ramses II and his son, King Merneptah. The area also preserves the ruins of a temple from the reign of King Nakhteph of the Thirtieth Dynasty, and another built by Philip Aridaios, half-brother of Alexander the Great.
A Greek market is surrounded by a group of red granite columns with Corinthian capitals. A stone plaque on the site dates the market to 350 BC during the reign of Ptolemy II and his wife Arsinoe.
The tomb of the Pharaohs' “prince of the province,” Thoth Hattab, is one of the most beautiful tombs of the ancient Egyptians.
A temple of Thoth from the 18th Dynasty, a temple for King Merneptah and Seti II, and a temple for Emperor Nero of Rome.
This city is still one of the most prominent and historically prosperous cities in Minya Governorate, and many Egyptians and tourists continue to visit it until now.
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