, a daughter of
Ramesses II, in the temple of Min Akhmim was known in
Ancient Egypt as
Ipu,
Apu (according to
Brugsch the name is related to the nearby village of Kafr Abou) or
Khent-min. It was the capital of the ninth (Chemmite)
nome of
Upper Egypt. The city is a suggested hometown for
Yuya, the official of
Tuthmosis IV and
Amenhotep III. The ithyphallic god
Min (whom the Greeks identified with
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
Nubians and people of
Punt (southern coastal
Sudan and the
Eritrean 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 at his festivals for business and pleasure at
Coptos (which was really near
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 the
Roman and
Christian ages, that are brought from
Egypt. In the
Christian Coptic era, Akhmim was written in Sahidic '
but was probably pronounced locally something like Khmin
or Khmim'''.
Monasteries abounded in this region from a very early date.
Pachomius the Great founded a
monastery known as
Tkahshmin in the area.
Shenouda the Archimandrite (348–466) was a
monk at
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. Among the bishops of Panopolis,
Le Quien mentions Arius, a friend of
Saint Pachomius who had built three convents in the city, Sabinus, and Menas. Excavations at Akhmim have disclosed numerous
Christian manuscripts, among them fragments of the
Book of Henoch, of the Gospel, and of the
Apocalypse of Peter, the
Acts of the Council of Ephesus, as well as numerous other
Christian inscriptions. In the 13th century AD, a very imposing temple still stood in Akhmim. ==Climate==