Al Minya: Encyclopedia - Al Minya

Al Minya

Al Minya (Arabic: محافظة المنيا ) is one of the governorates of Upper Egypt. The name originates from a tribesmen's (possibly Jordanians) old-fashioned Arabic dialect meaning of destiny/-nation. And it's dubbed by the locals as عروس الصعيد or the "Bride of Upper-Egypt". To represent its vitality for linking north of the nation with upper Egypt (southern part), also to race with Alexandria; being nicknamed the "Bride of the Mediterranean Sea" — or عروس البحر المتوسط. The name may as well refer to a famous ancient Egyptian tradition, possibly near one of the ancient sites, known as the bride of the Nile, of a sacrificial practice of sinking a female virgin into the River Nile as a gift-wife for the annual flood to come high and early. ^{[citation needed]}

Al Minya - Location and setting

Al Minya lies on the western bank of the Nile, in the centre of the country almost midway between Cairo and Luxor. Its capital is of the same name, with nearly 300,000 inhabitants. While the governorate's total population exceeds 2 million (~5.5% of Egypt's total). Thus, it stands as one of the most highly populated governarates of Upper Egypt. It contains nine cities; 3,375 villages; and 10,875 hamlets, within the following nine boroughs, from north to south:

• Al Edwa
• Maghagha
• Beni Mazar
• Mataiyeh
• Samallout
• Al Minya City (the capital, 245 km. south of Cairo).
• Abu Qerqas
• Mellaoui
• Der Mouas

Al Minya - Agriculture and industry

Al Minya Governorate is an important agricultural and industrial region. Among its principal crops are sugar-cane, cotton, beans, soya beans, garlic, onions, vegetables of various sorts, tomatoes, potatoes, watermelons, and grapes. Among the leading local industries are food processing (especially sugar and the drying and grinding of onions), spinning and weaving of cotton, perfumes, oils and fats, cement-making, quarrying (especially limestone), and brick-making.

Al Minya - History

Very little is known today about Al Minya Governorate compared to its great wealth of important archaeological sites. Its remarkable history which highlights Pharonic, Roman, Byzantine, Coptic and Islamic periods has not yet received the full attention of scholars.

Al Minya - The Pharonic Period

Akoris is located on the eastern bank of the River Nile, about 10 km. north of Al Minya. It has a history dating from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period.

The Al Shurruq village which lies on the eastern bank of the Nile, 20 km. south of the city of Al Minya, houses 390 rock-cut decorated tombs and chapels from the Middle Kingdom (2000—1580 B.C., especially the sixteenth dynasty). It also hosts the Temple of Hatshepsut and King Thotmes III. As well as other structures built by Senu-sret I (Sesostris I) and Senu-sret II (Sesostris II).

Tell Al Amarna lies on the eastern bank of the Nile, 67 km. south of Al Minya. A city originally built (called then Akhetaten) by Pharaoh Akhnaten and dedicated to the god Aton. There Akhnaten lived with his beautiful wife, Nefertiti, and daughters in isolation, devoting himself to the monotheistic religion that he preached, after he abandoned the old capital of Thebes. The remains of the palaces, temples and noble tombs still exist today despite of the attempts by Hur Muheb to disassemble them after Akhnaten's death.

Finally, in Mellaoui there is the temple of Ramesses II built in commemoration of the god Thoth. This place contains also the Mellaoui Museum with a superb collection of antiquities featuring items from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in particular.

Al Minya - The Roman Times

The village of Al Ashmunayn was the capital at that time and it was called Hermopolis Magna–center of the god Thoth. It lies on the western bank of the Nile Valley, about 58 km. south of Al Minya. It contains the ruins of a Greek basilica similar to the Acropolis in Greece. Milions of embalmed ibis and baboons were also discovered in the nearby Tounah Al Gebel (10 km. south). As well as the tomb and chapel of Petosiris, the high priest.

Antinoupolis was built in 130 A.D. by the Roman emperor Hadrian in memory of his favorite cup-bearer Antinous. Located on the eastern bank of the Nile, about 25 km. south of Al Minya. It also contains monuments dating from the reign of Ramsses III.

Al Minya - The Coptic Period

The Monstary of the Virgin stands on Gabal Al Tayr, Mountain of the Birds, some 40 km. north of Al Minya on the eastern bank of the Nile Valley. The church was built by Empress Helena mother of Constantine the Great, in 328, on the site where the Virgin, Christ and Joseph, the Carpenter stayed during their flight to Egypt (hence, the possibility of a Jordanian origin of the governorate's name).

Oxyrhynchus dates back to the Islamic Conquest of Egypt. Numerous Greek and Roman monuments indicate the existence of strong alliance back then between the Arabs and the local Copts by depicting an epic of a struggle against the Roman oppression.

Al Minya - The Islamic Period

Finally, Al Cheikh Abadeh contains important monuments dedicated to the renowned Muslim warrior Ibadah Ibn Al Samet, Ibadah son of the silent.

While Maghagha hosts the mosque of the noted Muslim, Zeiad ibn al Mogera.

Al Minya - Trivia

• Al Minya Governarate has a university.
• Al Minya Governarate signed a partnership with the twin city Hildes Heimin in (West) Germany on July 18, 1979.
• Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, the first lady of Egypt, was born near Al Minya City.

Al Minya - Source

• The Egyptian Tourist Authority, - ETA.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Al Minya", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki