Akhmim

Akhmim: an ancient town laid out on the east bank of the Nile. Ibn Jubayr describes it as having two mosques, remains and workshops built in the Coptic manner, and churches full of the Coptic Christians who were under covenant. ²

To the east of the town is a site that Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari calls "Barbaa Akhmim", which he counts the most famous of the temples of Upper Egypt. He saw it filled with coloured pictures on the walls, ceilings and corners, inside and outside the building, whose drawings had not faded. ¹

Its coordinates are taken from GeoNames at the level of the site. Ibn Jubayr's description needs checking against the scanned edition.

Akhmim is a town in Upper Egypt on the east bank of the Nile. Its name reflects the Coptic Shmin and the Greek Khemmis, and Byzantine texts call the place Panopolis. It was the chief town of a pagarchy (kura) and, from the reforms of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir, of a province. In the 12th/18th century it lost its position as chief city and was incorporated into the province of Girga. In the Middle Ages the town was surrounded by rich cultivation, with date palms and sugar cane. al-Ya'qubi mentions it as a centre for making leather mats, and Ibn Jubayr complained of the strictness of its officials. The mystic Dhu l-Nun was born there at the end of the 2nd/8th century. An ancient temple, famed for its traditional association with Hermes Trismegistus, was destroyed in the 8th/14th century and its materials were used to build a madrasa. The town was sacked at the beginning of the 12th/18th century during the struggle between the Mamluk chiefs, when its governor Hasan Akhmini was put to death; the principal mosque was restored in 1114–16/1702–4, as an inscription records. ³