Editing Akhmim

{{Redirect|Khemmis|the band|Khemmis (band)}}
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'''Akhmim''' ({{langx|ar|أخميم}}, {{IPA|ar|ʔæxˈmiːm|pron}}; Akhmimic {{Langx|cop|ⳉⲙⲓⲙ}}, {{IPA|cop|xmiːm|pronounced}}; Sahidic/Bohairic {{langx|cop|{{Script/Coptic|ϣⲙⲓⲛ}}}} {{IPA|cop|ʃmiːn|pronounced}}) is a city in the [[Sohag Governorate]] of [[Upper Egypt]]. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as '''Khemmis''' or '''Chemmis''' ({{langx|grc|Χέμμις}})<ref name = Gauthier177/> and '''Panopolis''' ({{langx|grc|Πανὸς πόλις<ref>{{cite web |title=Panopolis (Akhmim) |url=https://www.trismegistos.org/place/1589 |website=Trismegistos |access-date=27 March 2020}}</ref> and Πανόπολις<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D13%3Aentry%3Dchemmis-harpers Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Chemmis]</ref>}}), it is located on the east bank of the [[Nile]], {{convert|4|mi|0|order=flip}} to the northeast of [[Sohag]].

== History ==
[[File:Akhmim3.jpg|thumb|left|Statue of [[Meritamen]], a daughter of [[Ramesses II]], in the temple of Min]]
{{hiero|jp or jpw<ref name = Budge956/><ref name= Gauthier67>{{cite book |last1=Gauthier |first1=Henri |title=Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 1 |date=1925 |page=67 |url=https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1925_1/page/n39/}}</ref>|<hiero>i-p:niwt</hiero> '''or''' <hiero>i*p*w*niwt</hiero>|era=nk|align=left}}
{{hiero|ḫn(t) mnw<ref name = Gauthier177>{{cite book |last1=Gauthier |first1=Henri |title=Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 4 |date=1927 |page=177 |url=https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1927/page/n91}}</ref>|<hiero>W18-n:t-x:xm-Aa15:niwt</hiero>|era=nk|align=right}}
Akhmim was known in [[Ancient Egypt]] as '''Ipu''', '''Apu''' (according to [[Heinrich Brugsch|Brugsch]] the name is related to the nearby village of Kafr Abou)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brugsch |first1=Heinrich |title=Dictionnaire géographique de l'ancienne Egypte: contenant par ordre alphabétique la nomenclature comparée des noms propres géographiques qui se rencontrent sur les monuments et dans les papyrus. |date=1879 |publisher=J. C. Heinrichs |page=575 |url=https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/brugsch1879/0595/image}}</ref> or '''Khent-min'''. It was the capital of the ninth (Chemmite) [[nome (Egypt)|nome]] of [[Upper Egypt]].

The city is a suggested hometown for [[Yuya]], the official of [[Tuthmosis IV]] and [[Amenhotep III]].

The ithyphallic [[Min (god)|Min]] (whom the Greeks identified with [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]) was worshipped here as "the strong [[Horus]]." [[Herodotus]] mentions the temple dedicated to [[Perseus]] and asserts that Chemmis was remarkable for being the hero’s birthplace, wherein celebrations and games were held in his honour after the manner of the Greeks; at which prizes were given. As a matter of fact, some representations are known of [[Nubia]]ns and people of [[Land of Punt|Punt]] (southern coastal [[Sudan]] and the [[Eritrea]]n coast) climbing 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 [[Caene|Neapolis]]) 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 [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] and [[Christian era|Christian]] age, that are brought from [[Egypt]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Akhmim|volume=1|page=456|first=Francis Llewellyn |last=Griffith |author-link=Francis Llewellyn Griffith}}</ref>
[[File:AkhmimSeifeinOldInside.jpg|thumb|Church of Abu Seifein|left]]
In the [[Christian era|Christian]] [[Copt]]ic era, Akhmim was written in Sahidic {{langx|cop|{{Script/Coptic|ϣⲙⲓⲛ/ⲭⲙⲓⲛ/ⲭⲙⲓⲙ}}}} ''{{Transliteration|cop|Shmin/Kmin/Kmim}}'' but was probably pronounced locally something like '''Khmin''' or '''Khmim'''. [[Monastery|Monasteries]] abounded in this region from a very early date.

[[Pachomius the Great]] founded a [[Pachomian monasteries|monastery]] known as '''Tkahshmin''' in the area.<ref name="Cambridge">{{cite book |last=Brooks Hedstrom |first=Darlene L. |title=The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt: An Archaeological Reconstruction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2017-11-23 |isbn=978-1-316-67665-3 |doi=10.1017/9781316676653.007}}</ref> [[Shenouda the Archimandrite]] (348–466) was a [[monk]] at [[Athribis (Upper Egypt)|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.<ref name="EB1911"/> The bishopric of Panopolis, a [[suffragan]] of [[Antinoë]] in [[Thebaid|Thebais Prima]], is included in the [[Catholic Church]]'s list of [[titular see]]s.<ref>''Ánnuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 949</ref> Among the bishops of Panopolis, [[Le Quien]] mentions <ref>''Oriens christianus'', II, 601–4</ref> Arius, friend of [[Saint Pachomius]] who had built three convents in the city, Sabinus, and Menas. Excavations at Akhmim have disclosed numerous [[Christianity|Christian]] manuscripts, among them fragments of the ''[[Book of Henoch]]'', of the Gospel, and of the ''[[Apocalypse of Peter]]'', the ''[[Council of Ephesus|Acts of the Council of Ephesus]]'', as well as numerous other [[Christianity|Christian]] inscriptions.

In the 13th century AD, a very imposing temple still stood in Akhmim.<ref name="EB1911"/> 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]] was discovered in 1981.

Of Akhmim, in 1818 [[Jacques Collin de Plancy]] wrote in his book, the ''[[Dictionnaire Infernal]]'', that the city "formerly had the reputation of being the abode of the greatest magicians.  Paul Lucas speaks, in his second voyage, of the marvelous serpent of Akhmin, which Muslims honor as an angel, and which Christians believe to be the demon Asmodeus."<ref>{{cite book |last=de Plancy |first=Jacques Collin |date=1818 |title=Dictionnaire Infernal |trans-title=The Infernal Dictionary|language=French|page=13}}</ref>

==Climate==
[[Köppen-Geiger climate classification system]] classifies its climate as [[hot desert climate|hot desert]] (BWh).

{{Weather box
|metric first=yes
|single line=yes
|location=Akhmim

|Jan high C=22.1
|Feb high C=24
|Mar high C=27.9
|Apr high C=33
|May high C=36.1
|Jun high C=37.9
|Jul high C=37.2
|Aug high C=37.4
|Sep high C=34.2
|Oct high C=31.9
|Nov high C=28.4
|Dec high C=23.4

|Jan mean C=13.6
|Feb mean C=15.1
|Mar mean C=18.5
|Apr mean C=23.4
|May mean C=27
|Jun mean C=29.2
|Jul mean C=28.9
|Aug mean C=29.3
|Sep mean C=27.2
|Oct mean C=24.9
|Nov mean C=20.3
|Dec mean C=15.2

|Jan low C=5.2
|Feb low C=6.2
|Mar low C=9.2
|Apr low C=13.8
|May low C=18
|Jun low C=20.5
|Jul low C=20.7
|Aug low C=21.3
|Sep low C=20.2
|Oct low C=17.9
|Nov low C=12.3
|Dec low C=7.1

|Jan precipitation mm=0
|Feb precipitation mm=0
|Mar precipitation mm=0
|Apr precipitation mm=0
|May precipitation mm=0
|Jun precipitation mm=0
|Jul precipitation mm=0
|Aug precipitation mm=0
|Sep precipitation mm=0
|Oct precipitation mm=0
|Nov precipitation mm=0
|Dec precipitation mm=0

|source 1 = ''Climate-Data.org''<ref>{{cite web|title=Climate: Akhmim - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/54656/|publisher=Climate-Data.org|access-date=14 August 2013}}</ref>
}}

== Modern city ==
Akhmim is the largest town on the east side of the [[Nile]] in [[Sohag Governorate]]. In 1907, the population of the city was 23,795, of whom about one third were [[Copt]]s. Akhmim has several [[mosque]]s and two [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Coptic]] churches. The [[Monastery of the Martyrs]] is located about 6&nbsp;km northeast of the city. Akhmim 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]].

== Notable people==
* [[Nakhtmin (scribe)|Nakhtmin]], 13th Dynasty priest
* [[Yuya]] and [[Tjuyu]], parents of Queen Tiye, Anen and possibly Pharaoh Ay
* [[Tiye]] ({{circa|1398}} BC{{snd}}1338 BC), [[Great Royal Wife]] of the Egyptian pharaoh [[Amenhotep III]]
* [[Anen]], Second Prophet of Amun and brother of Queen Tiye
* [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]], Pharaoh from 1323 to 1319 BC or 1327–1323 BC
* [[Nakhtmin]], general, appointed heir of Ay
* [[Sennedjem (18th Dynasty)|Sennedjem]], official under [[Tutankhamun]]
* [[Amenemope (author)|Amenemope]], author of ''Instructions of Amenemope''
* [[Nefrina]], woman who died in 275 BCE, her mummy is in the Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania
* [[Zosimos of Panopolis]], 3rd/4th century [[alchemist]]
* [[Tryphiodorus]], 3rd/4th century epic poet
* [[Cyrus of Panopolis]], ''(Flavius Taurus Seleucus Cyrus;'' fl. 426–441) East Roman official, philosopher, poet
* [[Pamprepius]] (440–484) philosopher, poet, rebel against Emperor Zeno
* [[Abib and Apollo]], 4th century martyrs
* [[Nonnus]], 5th century poet
* [[Veronica of Syria]], 8th century nun, martyr
* [[Dhul-Nun al-Misri]], 9th century Sufi saint
* [[Muhammed ibn Umail al-Tamimi]] (900–960) alchemist
* [[Bahram al-Armani]] Fatimid vizier (1135–1137) was exiled here
* [[Al-Nuwayri]] (1279–1333) Arab historian, encyclopedist
* [[Yousab El Abah]] (1735–1826), bishop of Akhmim, theologian, saint
* [[Maximos Sedfaoui]] (1863–1925), Apostolic Administrator of the Coptic Catholic Church 
* [[Markos II Khouzam]] (1888–1958), Patriarch of Alexandria (1947–1958)

==See also==
{{portal|Egypt}}
* [[List of cities and towns in Egypt]]
* [[Berlin Codex]]
* [[el-Hawawish]]
* [[el-Salamuni]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite CE1913 |first=Leclercq |last=Henri |wstitle=Akhmin |volume=1}}
* {{cite web|author=Falling Rain Genomics, Inc |title=Geographical information on Akhmim, Egypt |url=http://www.fallingrain.com/world/EG/24/Akhmim.html| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080327072729/http://www.fallingrain.com/world/EG/24/Akhmim.html| archive-date= 27 March 2008 |access-date=3 May 2008}}

== External links ==
* [http://st-takla.org/Saints/Saint-Akmim.html More about Akmim's Martyrs] - Saint Takla Haymanout Church, Egypt
* [https://data.copticscriptorium.org/search?places=Akhmim References to Akhmim in Coptic Literature] - Coptic Scriptorium database

{{coord|26|34|N|31|45|E|region:EG_type:city_source:enwiki-GNS|display=title}}
{{Egyptian cities}}
{{Sohag Governorate Markazes}}
{{Sa'id / Upper Egypt Main Cities}}
{{Monasteries in Egypt}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Egypt]]
[[Category:Populated places in Sohag Governorate]]
[[Category:Cities in Egypt]]
[[Category:Catholic titular sees in Africa]]