El-Ashmunein

El Ashmunein is 44 km south of Minya in Middle Egypt.

Understand
Home to a big temple of the wisdom god Thoth, it was known in the Ancient Egyptian language as ḫmnw Khemenu, the "city of the Eight Gods", and in Greek as Hermopolis Magna, "the City of Hermes". It was a place of great resort and opulence, ranking second to Thebes alone.

A provincial capital since the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Hermopolis developed into a major city of Roman Egypt, and an early Christian center from the third century. It was abandoned after the Muslim conquest but was restored as both a Latin Catholic (meanwhile suppressed) and a Coptic Orthodox titular see.

Get in
The town is 44 km south of Minya and 8 km north of Mallawi. Both of these cities are served by railway services.