Herakleopolis Magna

Herakleopolis

Heracleopolis or Herakleopolis Magna (Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλεόπολις) is the Greek name of the capital of the Twentieth nome (administrative division) of ancient Egypt, and located approximately 15 km west of the modern city of Beni Suef. It was called Henen-nesut, Nen-nesu, or Hwt-nen-nesu in ancient Egyptian, meaning 'house of the royal child.' During the period of Roman occupation, it was known as Ehnasya, the etymology of which can be seen in the later names of Hnas (Ϩⲛⲏⲥ) in Coptic, and Ahnas in medieval Arabic writings. Today it is known as Ihnasiya Umm al-Kimam ("mother of the shards") and Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah.

First Intermediate Period (2181-2055 BC)

Herakleopolis first came to prominence and reached its apogee of power during the First Intermediate Period, between 2181-2055 BC. Eventually after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt. Herakleopolis became the principle city of Lower Egypt and was able to exercise its control over much of the region. Herakleopolis exerted such great control over Lower Egypt during this time that Egyptologists and Egyptian Archaeologists sometimes refer to the period between the 9th and 10th Dynasties (2160-2025 BC) as the Herakleopolitan Period. During this period, Herakleopolis often found itself in conflict with the de facto capital of Upper Egypt, ancient Thebes.

Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC)

Between the latter part of the First Intermediate Period and the early Middle Kingdom, the city became religious center of the cult of Heryshef, and the Temple of Heryshef was constructed.

Third Intermediate Period (1069-747 BC)

By the time of the Third Intermediate Period (1069-747 BC), Herakleopolis again rose in importance. There were many renovations and new constructions of the temple and mortuary centers that existed in the city, and it again became an important religious and political center.

Ptolemic Egypt (322-30 BC)

By the Ptolemaic period of Egypt (332-30 BC), Herakleopolis was still an important religious and cultural center in Egypt. The Greek rulers of this period, in an attempt to find connections and comparisons between their own gods and the gods of the land that they were now ruling, decided to associate the local god Heryshef with their god Heracles, thus the name often used by modern scholars for Herakleopolis.

Roman Egypt (30-390 BC)

The site of Herakleopolis was occupied even into Roman times. Near the Necropolis of Sedmet el-Gebel, houses dating to this period were found, which in and of itself implies a continued occupation of the area.

Sir Flinders Petrie and Edourd Naville

The first person to undertake an extensive excavation at Herakleopolis was the Swiss Egyptologist Edourd Naville. After excavating what he believed to be the entirety of the Temple of Heryshef, Naville came to the conclusion that he had found all that Herakleopolis had to offer.

His friend Sir Flinders Petrie, on the other hand, “...in 1879 suspected that the region already cleared was only a part of the temple,” and thus Herakleopolis (or Ehnasya as he called it, a name harking back to the site's period of Roman occupation) had much left to be unearthed.

Petrie discovered a great deal that Naville had not believed existed. He completed the excavation of the temple of Heryshef, and attempted to find other remains in an area around the temple. In so doing, he succeeded in discovering such previously unknown features as house remains from the Roman period of occupation. He also identified another temple that he attributed to the 19th Dynasty , as well as the aforementioned additions to the Temple of Heryshef associated with Ramses the Great. Other than archaeological features, the artifacts found by Petrie during his excavation are numerous, and span the entire chronological range of settlement. Relating specifically to artifacts found at the end of the First Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, Petrie uncovered numerous pot sherds he associated with the 11th Dynasty. From the later Roman periods, Petrie found numerous objects associated with many of the mortuary sites that he unearthed, including iron tools, pottery, and icons.

Recent Excavations

While other excavations are few and naturally overshadowed by that of Flinders Petrie and his famous expedition, there have been several more recent excavations that also increased knowledge of the site. During the 1980's, a Spanish team conducted excavations and uncovered such artifacts as a libation alter and a pair of decorated eyes presumably from a statue, all attributed with a temple dated to the Third Intermediate Period.

A Spanish team also conducted excavations as late as 2008, under the direction of Carmen Perez Die of the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain. Their efforts revealed a previously unknown tomb with several false doors dating to the First Intermediate Period, as well as funeral offerings, all of which had not been vandalized.

Preceded by Memphis

Capital of Egypt 2185 BC - 2060 BC

Succeeded by Thebes