A site almost 300 miles south of modern Cairo, called Khent Menu, or Apu by the Egyptians and Panopolis by the Greeks. Another name, Khemmis, was derived from the Greeks. Akhmin served as the capital of the ninth NOME and the cultic center for the worship of the god MIN (1). The goddess TAIT was also honored in the city. A necropolis dating to the Sixth Dynasty (2323–2150 B.C.E.) is on the site. Recent construction uncovered a statue of RAMESSES II (r. 1290–1224 B.C.E.) in Akhmin. A second statue depicted Ramesses II’s daughter, Queen MERYAMUN. A temple dating to Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty was also uncovered there. Egypt’s linen industry was fostered in Akhmin in late eras. The Greek scholar STRABO visited Akhmin in the Ptolemaic Period (304–30 B.C.E.).
