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AKHMIM

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 456 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AKHMIM , or EIt11m1Im1, a See also:

town of Upper See also:Egypt, on the right See also:bank of the See also:Nile, 67 m. by See also:river S. of See also:Assiut, and 4 M. above Suhag, on the opposite See also:side of the river, whence there is railway communication with See also:Cairo and See also:Assuan. It is the largest town on the See also:east side of the Nile in Upper Egypt, having a See also:population in 1907 of 23,795, of whom about a third were See also:Copts. Akhmim has several mosques and two Coptic churches, maintains a weekly See also:market, and manufactures See also:cotton goods, notably the See also:blue shirts and check shawls with See also:silk fringes worn by the poorer classes of Egypt. Outside the walls are the scanty ruins of two See also:ancient temples. In See also:Abulfeda's days (13th See also:century A.D.) a very imposing See also:temple still stood here. Akhmim was the See also:Egyptian Apu or Khen-See also:min, in Coptic Shmin, known to the Greeks as Chemmis or Panopolis, See also:capital of the 9th or Chemmite See also:nome of Upper Egypt. The ithyphallic Min (See also:Pan) was here worshipped as " the strong Horns." See also:Herodotus mentions the temple dedicated to " See also:Perseus " and asserts that Chemmis was remark-able for the celebration of See also:games in See also:honour of that See also:hero, after the manner of the Greeks, at which prizes were given; as a See also:matter of fact some representations are known of Nubians and See also:people of Puoni (Somalic See also:coast) clambering up poles before the See also:god Min. Min was especially a god of the See also:desert routes on the east of Egypt, and the trading tribes are likely to have gathered to his festivals for business and See also:pleasure, at See also:Coptos (which was really near to Neapolis, See also:Kena) even more than at Akhmim. Herodotus perhaps confused Coptos with Chemmis. See also:Strabo mentions See also:linen-See also:weaving as an ancient See also:industry of Panopolis, and it is not altogether a coincidence that the See also:cemetery of Akhmim is one of the See also:chief See also:sources of the beautiful textiles of See also:Roman and Coptic See also:age that are brought from Egypt. Monasteries abounded in this neighbourhood from a very See also:early date; Shenout (Sinuthius), the fiery apostle and See also:prophet of the Coptic See also:national See also:church, was a See also:monk of Atrepe (now Suhag), and led the populace to the destruction of the See also:pagan edifices. He died in 451; some years earlier See also:Nestorius, the ex-See also:patriarch, had succumbed perhaps to his persecution and to old age, in the neighbourhood of Akhmim.

See also:

Nonnus, the See also:Greek poet, was See also:born at Panopolis at the end of the 4th century. (F. LI..

End of Article: AKHMIM

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