DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10361#0033
BENI HASAN.
(Egypt) upon this mountain, provided with all kinds
of implements (?) and with bread and beer and every
green herb of the south : I have made its valleys into
land-marks, its heights into pools of water, peopling
it with my progeny throughout: south to Thaau,
north to Menat-Khufu. I have gone forth to the sea
(Eed Sea). I hunted fowls, I hunted gazelles. I
have come out to this mountain as a man of ninety
years, [with] seventy children, the issue of one wife.
I did everything that was right (?) to the King Neb-
taui-Ra (Mentuhotep IV.) living eternally."
This quaint record gives us a hint of the
importance of the town of Menat-Khufu,
and as to its situation indicates that it was a
boundary of the eastern desert, thus proving
that the Nile did not run between it and the
hills. It must therefore be looked for on
the east bunk, or perhaps actually upon the
desert edge. Unfortunately, however, our
present knowledge is insufficient to enable
us to identify the site with any precision.
Champollion suggested that it might be the
Coptic TJLtoortE, TJUiurtH, the Arabic
Minyeh,1 and his identification has been
followed by Brugsch2 and Diimichen3;
while the learned editor of Baedeker's Upper
Egypt considers that the ancient city was
situated immediately east of Minyeh, on the
opposite bank of the river.4 Long before
this, however, Jomard, a member of the
scientific staff of Napoleon's expedition,
published it as his opinion5 that some
mounds which formerly stood a short
distance to the south of Abu Qerqas, and
were known by the name of El-'Anbaga,°
1 Notices Manuscrites, T. ii., pp. 432-433.
* (Seogr. Ins., T. i., p. 224, and Diet. Gcogr., pp. 255,
256, 1173.
3 Gescliichte JEgyjytens, pp. 191-192.
4 Ober-jEgypten, p. 3.
5 Jomard, Description des Antiquitt's de VHeptanomidc,
in the Description de I'Egypt, T. iv., p. 349-350.
6 Jomard, Description des Antiquitcs de VHeptanomide,
in the Description de I'Egypt, T. iv., pp. 349-350 :—
" Le nom A'el-'Anbage. Is*^1 (ou el-'Anbagi/r Ls^*") est
donne a des mines inconnu.es et d'une etendue fort con-
19
marked the site of the town of which the
tombs of Beni Hasan form the Necropolis.
In all probability Menat-Khufu was this
town, and Maspero7 has adopted Jomard's
suggestion. His statement cannot, however,
be verified, for the mounds have all dis-
appeared.
To the north of Menat-Khufu and upon Hebnu.
the same side of the river was
Hebnu, a town which, according to the
inscriptions, was an important religious
centre, with a temple dedicated to Horus.8
The worship of Horns at this locality is
mentioned in inscriptions of various periods9
from the time of King Pepy of the Vlth
Dynasty, and the importance of the city was
such that it was the religious centre of the
whole Oryx nome from the earliest times.
In a tomb at Zauyet el-Maiyitin, in the
eastern cliff about four miles south of Minyeh,
sidcrable, situces dans la plaine de la rive gauche du Nil,
en face des grottes scpulcrales de Beny-Hasan, entre le
village de Koum el-Zohayr ct celui de Menchat-Pa'bes.
La longueur totalc de cet espace depuis Koum-Beny-
Daoud, au nord, jusqu'a l'extremite sud, n'a pas moins
do cinq mille metres. Trois buttes elevces se remarquent
dans cet intervalle; lo terrain qui les separc, quoiquc
moins exhausse, domine encore sur la plaine, et il est
rccouvert lui-meme de decombres et do debris. . . .
Aujourd'hui la grando route passe par le milieu de ces
ruines, qu'on traverse pendant plus d'une heure, sans
roncontrer un soul village. ... La plus etendue des
buttes de ruines est celle du Sud : on y trouve beaucoup
de pierres taillees, et des briquos cuites, d'uno grandc
dimension. J'ai vu un mur, enfoui bien avant sous les
decombres, large d'un metre et demi; il est bati tres-
solidement, et forme avee ces grandes briques. A mesure
qu'une collinc s'abaisse et que l'inondation atteint
jusqu'au sol (ce qui arrive par rexhaussement croissant
du fond du Nil), on y introduit la charrue, on ensemonce,
et les ruines disparaissent."
1 Proe. 8.B.A., vol. xiii., p. 504.
S ^ fflh "cT I J © " IIorus within Hebnu " is often
mentioned at Beni Hasan. Vide Beni Hasan, Part I.,
PI. vii., et seq.
9 Vide Lepsius' Dcnkmider, Abtb. ii., Bl. 111. Pap.
Bui., No. 3, PI. iv., line 23. Hrugsch, Diet. Gt'ogr.,
p. 490, &c.
D 2
(Egypt) upon this mountain, provided with all kinds
of implements (?) and with bread and beer and every
green herb of the south : I have made its valleys into
land-marks, its heights into pools of water, peopling
it with my progeny throughout: south to Thaau,
north to Menat-Khufu. I have gone forth to the sea
(Eed Sea). I hunted fowls, I hunted gazelles. I
have come out to this mountain as a man of ninety
years, [with] seventy children, the issue of one wife.
I did everything that was right (?) to the King Neb-
taui-Ra (Mentuhotep IV.) living eternally."
This quaint record gives us a hint of the
importance of the town of Menat-Khufu,
and as to its situation indicates that it was a
boundary of the eastern desert, thus proving
that the Nile did not run between it and the
hills. It must therefore be looked for on
the east bunk, or perhaps actually upon the
desert edge. Unfortunately, however, our
present knowledge is insufficient to enable
us to identify the site with any precision.
Champollion suggested that it might be the
Coptic TJLtoortE, TJUiurtH, the Arabic
Minyeh,1 and his identification has been
followed by Brugsch2 and Diimichen3;
while the learned editor of Baedeker's Upper
Egypt considers that the ancient city was
situated immediately east of Minyeh, on the
opposite bank of the river.4 Long before
this, however, Jomard, a member of the
scientific staff of Napoleon's expedition,
published it as his opinion5 that some
mounds which formerly stood a short
distance to the south of Abu Qerqas, and
were known by the name of El-'Anbaga,°
1 Notices Manuscrites, T. ii., pp. 432-433.
* (Seogr. Ins., T. i., p. 224, and Diet. Gcogr., pp. 255,
256, 1173.
3 Gescliichte JEgyjytens, pp. 191-192.
4 Ober-jEgypten, p. 3.
5 Jomard, Description des Antiquitt's de VHeptanomidc,
in the Description de I'Egypt, T. iv., p. 349-350.
6 Jomard, Description des Antiquitcs de VHeptanomide,
in the Description de I'Egypt, T. iv., pp. 349-350 :—
" Le nom A'el-'Anbage. Is*^1 (ou el-'Anbagi/r Ls^*") est
donne a des mines inconnu.es et d'une etendue fort con-
19
marked the site of the town of which the
tombs of Beni Hasan form the Necropolis.
In all probability Menat-Khufu was this
town, and Maspero7 has adopted Jomard's
suggestion. His statement cannot, however,
be verified, for the mounds have all dis-
appeared.
To the north of Menat-Khufu and upon Hebnu.
the same side of the river was
Hebnu, a town which, according to the
inscriptions, was an important religious
centre, with a temple dedicated to Horus.8
The worship of Horns at this locality is
mentioned in inscriptions of various periods9
from the time of King Pepy of the Vlth
Dynasty, and the importance of the city was
such that it was the religious centre of the
whole Oryx nome from the earliest times.
In a tomb at Zauyet el-Maiyitin, in the
eastern cliff about four miles south of Minyeh,
sidcrable, situces dans la plaine de la rive gauche du Nil,
en face des grottes scpulcrales de Beny-Hasan, entre le
village de Koum el-Zohayr ct celui de Menchat-Pa'bes.
La longueur totalc de cet espace depuis Koum-Beny-
Daoud, au nord, jusqu'a l'extremite sud, n'a pas moins
do cinq mille metres. Trois buttes elevces se remarquent
dans cet intervalle; lo terrain qui les separc, quoiquc
moins exhausse, domine encore sur la plaine, et il est
rccouvert lui-meme de decombres et do debris. . . .
Aujourd'hui la grando route passe par le milieu de ces
ruines, qu'on traverse pendant plus d'une heure, sans
roncontrer un soul village. ... La plus etendue des
buttes de ruines est celle du Sud : on y trouve beaucoup
de pierres taillees, et des briquos cuites, d'uno grandc
dimension. J'ai vu un mur, enfoui bien avant sous les
decombres, large d'un metre et demi; il est bati tres-
solidement, et forme avee ces grandes briques. A mesure
qu'une collinc s'abaisse et que l'inondation atteint
jusqu'au sol (ce qui arrive par rexhaussement croissant
du fond du Nil), on y introduit la charrue, on ensemonce,
et les ruines disparaissent."
1 Proe. 8.B.A., vol. xiii., p. 504.
S ^ fflh "cT I J © " IIorus within Hebnu " is often
mentioned at Beni Hasan. Vide Beni Hasan, Part I.,
PI. vii., et seq.
9 Vide Lepsius' Dcnkmider, Abtb. ii., Bl. 111. Pap.
Bui., No. 3, PI. iv., line 23. Hrugsch, Diet. Gt'ogr.,
p. 490, &c.
D 2