Chap. 11.] ACCOrNT OE COTOTEIES, ETC. 417 
ter\ After this comes Tentyris^, below which is Abydus^, the 
royal Cvbode of Memnon, and famous for a temple of Osiris^, 
which is situate in Libya^, at a distance from the river of 
seven miles and a half. Next to it comes Ptolemais^, then 
Panopolis^, and then another town of Yenus^, and, on the 
Libyan side, Lycon^, where the mountains form the boun- 
dary of the province of Thebais. On passing these, we come 
to the towns of Mercury Alabastron^\ the town of 
the place, tke ruins of which are called Aftyeh, on the east side of the 
Nile, and the capital of the nome of Aphroditopolites. In Upper Egypt 
or the Thebais there was the present Tachta, on the west side of the Nile, 
between Ptolemais and PanopoUs, capital of another nome of Aphrodito ■ 
poHtes, and that one the ruins of which are now called Deir, on the west 
bank of the Nile, higher up than the former, and, like it, some distance 
from the river. It was situate in the nome Hermonthites. 
^ Another Diospolis. Grreat Diospohs is mentioned in the preceding 
page. 2 Or Tentyra. The modern Dendera of the 
Arabs, called Dendori or Hidendori by the ancient Egyptians. 
3 In ancient times called This, and in Coptic Ebot, the ruins of which 
are now known as Arabat-el-Matfoon. It was the chief town of the 
Nomos Thinites, and was situate in lat. 26° 10' north and long. 32° 3' 
east. In the Thebaid it ranked next to Thebes itself. Here according 
to general beUef was the burial-place of Osiris. In the time of Strabo it 
had sunk into a mere village. Its ruins, though nearly buried in the 
sand, are very extensive. There is, however, some uncertainty as to the 
exact identity of This with Abydus. 
. The ruins of these places are stiU to be seen at Abydus. 
^ He calls the whole of the country on the western bank of the Nile 
by this name. ^ Called Absou or Absai by the Arabs, and Psoe by 
the ancient Egyptians. It has been suggested that it was the same place 
as This, more generally identified with Abydus. 
' Its site is now called Ekhmin or Akhmin by the Arabs, Khmim being- 
its ancient Egyptian name. It was the chief town of the nome of Pano- 
poHtes, and the deity Phthah was worshipped there under the form of 
Priapus. 
^ Another Aphroditopolis, the present Tachta, mentioned above, in 
Note ^ in the last page. PUny distinguishes it from that now called 
Deir, mentioned above. ^ Now known as Es-Siout. 
Or HermopoHs — the modern Esli-moon or Ash-mounion, on the 
eastern bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° 54/ north. It was the capital of 
the HermopoHte nome in the Heptanomis. It was a place of great 
opulence and densely populated. The deities Typhon and Thoth were 
principally worshipped at this place. The latter, the inventor of the 
pen and letters, nearly corresponded with the Hermes of the Glreeks (the 
Mercury of the Romans), from which the HeUenized name of the place. 
Its ruins are very extensive. 
t " This town -^fas no doubt connected with the alabaster quarries of 
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