Agnou was important enough in the late
Roman province of
Aegyptus Primus to be one of the many
suffragan of the Metropolitan (becoming Patriarchate) of capital Alexandria, yet was to fade.
Al-Maqrizi describes Agnou as a fortified coastal city and says that during the
Arab conquest of Egypt the ruler of the city named Talma () had a dispute with
Amr ibn al-As concerning the payment of
jizya, which led to him rebelling and joining the
Byzantine forces marching from
Alexandria to
Nikiou, after they
recaptured the city in
646. They plundered and looted villages on their way, causing a major insurrection and shift of loyalty among the Egyptian population. The Byzantines were ultimately defeated and Talma himself was captured by the Arabs. The locals demanded his execution but Amr spared him, leading to Agnou pledging alliance to the Muslims.
George of Cyprus mentions Agnou as the third mouth of the Nile. The Muslim records about Agnou's location are contradictory. Some authors (
Ibn Hawqal, al-Maqrizi) place it between al-Burullus and
Rashid, which corresponds to older sources, while
al-Yaqubi mistakenly places it between Rashid and Alexandria under the name Ikhnu (). The names Iknhu and Ignu are interchangeable as seen in the name of the corresponding Medieval Egyptian kura. == Titular see ==