DOI Artikel:
Edwards, Amelia Ann Blanford: Ahnas and Beni Hasan
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12667#0017
AHNAS AND BENI HASAN.
The mounds of Alums, alias llenassieh, alias Almas el Medinot, alias
Henassieh el Medinet, have long been identified by Egyptologists with
t Li n qq Ha-Khenensu, the Hininsi of Assyrian inscriptions, the
" Heracleopolis " of Greek historians and geographers, and the " Hanes "
of the Bible. These mounds are situate some twelve miles inland from
Beni-Suef, and seventy-three miles south of Cairo. They represent
all that is left of the capital city of the 20th, or Heracleopolite Nome,
which was the seat of government of the obscure IXth and Xth Egyptian
Dynasties. That Ha-Khenensu was in its foundation a city of prehistoric
antiquity may be gathered from the place it occupies in the mythological
records of Egypt; for, according to a text quoted byBrugsch (Diet. Geo-
graphique, vol. i. p. G04) it was there that Ea, second king of the First
Dynasty of the Gods, began his reign upon earth.
Twelve years ago, in that remarkable paper which has been aptly
called his archaeological will, Mariette—then in fast-failing health, and
foreseeing the near end of his own brilliant career—drew the attention
of the French Academy to the importance of various sites in Egypt
which up to that time had been either quite neglected, or but
imperfectly explored. Among these, Ahnas occupied a prominent
place. " C'est a Ahnas el Medinet," he said, " representee aujourd'hui
par des ruines assez etendues qui n'ont ete jusqu'ioi l'objet d'aucune
investigation serieuse, que nous devrons essayer de faire revivro
des souvenirs des IXe et Xe Dynasties " (Institut de France ; Academie
des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,1 Seance Publique Annuelle, 21st
Novembre, 1879). Three years later, Professor R. Stuart Poole again
urged the claims of this site to systematic investigation. " Temple
and town, and the unknown necropolis that must lie in the Libyan waste,
should be excavated," he wrote, " for the materials of a lost book of
b
The mounds of Alums, alias llenassieh, alias Almas el Medinot, alias
Henassieh el Medinet, have long been identified by Egyptologists with
t Li n qq Ha-Khenensu, the Hininsi of Assyrian inscriptions, the
" Heracleopolis " of Greek historians and geographers, and the " Hanes "
of the Bible. These mounds are situate some twelve miles inland from
Beni-Suef, and seventy-three miles south of Cairo. They represent
all that is left of the capital city of the 20th, or Heracleopolite Nome,
which was the seat of government of the obscure IXth and Xth Egyptian
Dynasties. That Ha-Khenensu was in its foundation a city of prehistoric
antiquity may be gathered from the place it occupies in the mythological
records of Egypt; for, according to a text quoted byBrugsch (Diet. Geo-
graphique, vol. i. p. G04) it was there that Ea, second king of the First
Dynasty of the Gods, began his reign upon earth.
Twelve years ago, in that remarkable paper which has been aptly
called his archaeological will, Mariette—then in fast-failing health, and
foreseeing the near end of his own brilliant career—drew the attention
of the French Academy to the importance of various sites in Egypt
which up to that time had been either quite neglected, or but
imperfectly explored. Among these, Ahnas occupied a prominent
place. " C'est a Ahnas el Medinet," he said, " representee aujourd'hui
par des ruines assez etendues qui n'ont ete jusqu'ioi l'objet d'aucune
investigation serieuse, que nous devrons essayer de faire revivro
des souvenirs des IXe et Xe Dynasties " (Institut de France ; Academie
des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,1 Seance Publique Annuelle, 21st
Novembre, 1879). Three years later, Professor R. Stuart Poole again
urged the claims of this site to systematic investigation. " Temple
and town, and the unknown necropolis that must lie in the Libyan waste,
should be excavated," he wrote, " for the materials of a lost book of
b