Heliopolis (Greek: Ἡλίου πόλις or Ἡλίουπόλις), was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome. Its name also refers to an unrelated modern suburb of Cairo, also known as مصر الجديدة, Masr al-gidīdah (literally "New Egypt"). The ancient city stood five miles east of the Nile north of the apex of the Delta at عين شمس ˁAyn Šams near the Cairene suburb of al-Maṭariyyah; the modern city of Heliopolis is some distance away. In ancient times it was the principal seat of sun-worship, thus its name, which means town of the sun in Greek. Heliopolis (Greek Ἡλίου πόλις) was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome. ... It has been suggested that Hieroglyph (French Wiki article) be merged into this article or section. ... Map of Lower and Upper Egypt Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. ... The nomes of Ancient Egypt A nome (Greek: district) is a subnational administrative division of Ancient Egypt. ... Modern Heliopolis (properly known as مصر الجديدة, Miá¹£r al-ǧidÄ«dah – literally New Egypt) is a district of Cairo, Egypt (not to be confused with the ancient Egyptian city of the same name. ... For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ... The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ... NASA satellite photograph of the Nile Delta (shown in false colour) The Nile Delta (Arabic:دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. ... Ain Shams or Ein Shams (شمس ˁAyn Å ams) is a suburb of Cairo, Egypt. ... A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun. ...

The city's Egyptian name (shown in hieroglyphs, right,^[1] transliterated ỉwnw), is often transcribed as Iunu (literally "[place of] pillars"), and was often written in Greek as Ὂν On, and in biblical Hebrew as אן ˀÔn and און ˀĀwen. It has been suggested that Hieroglyph (French Wiki article) be merged into this article or section. ... In the field of Egyptology, transliteration is the process of converting (or mapping) texts written in the Egyptian language to alphabetic symbols representing uniliteral hieroglyphs or their hieratic and demotic counterparts. ... Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hearing. ... This article describes the Biblical dialects of Hebrew. ...

Ancient Heliopolis

Heliopolis has been occupied since the Predynastic Period, with extensive building campaigns during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Today, unfortunately, it is mostly destroyed, its temples and other buildings having been used for the construction of mediæval Cairo; most information about it comes from textual sources. The Predynastic period of Egypt is the period that culminates in the rise of the Old Kingdom and the first of the thirty dynasties based on royal residences, by which Egyptologists divide the history of Pharaonic civilization, using a schedule laid out first by Manethos Aegyptaica. ... The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – this was the first of three so-called Kingdom periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile... The Middle Kingdom is: a old name for China a period in the History of Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom of Egypt This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ...

According to Diodorus Siculus Heliopolis was built by Actis, one of the sons of Helios and Rhode, who named the city after his father.^[2] While all Greek cities were destroyed during the flood, the Egyptian cities including Heliopolis survived. The chief deity of Heliopolis was the god Atum, who was worshipped in the primary temple, which was known by the names Per-Aat (pr-ˁ3t; "Great House") and Per-Atum (pr-ỉtmw; "Temple [lit. "House"] of Atum"). The city was also the original source of the worship of the Ennead pantheon, although in later times, as Horus gained in prominence, worship focused on the synchrentistic solar deity Ra-harakhty (literally Ra, (who is) Horus of the Two Horizons). During the Amarna Period, king Akhenaten introduced monotheistic or perhaps monolatric worship of Aten, the deified solar disc, built here a temple named Wetjes Aten (wṯs ỉtn "Elevating the Sun-disc"). Blocks from this temple were later used to build the city walls of mediaeval Cairo and can be seen in some of the city gates. The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of the god Ra, had its centre here, and possessed a formal burial ground north of the city. Diodorus Siculus (c. ... In Greek mythology, Actis was one of the Heliadae, a son of Rhodus and Helios. ... For other uses, see Helios (disambiguation). ... In Greek mythology, Rhode was the oldest Oceanid, a daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. ... This article is about great floods. ... History Atum (alternatively spelt Tem, Temu, Tum, and Atem) is an early deity in Egyptian mythology, whose cult centred on the Ennead of Heliopolis. ... Per is the hieroglyph for house, the floor-plan of a walled building with an open doorway. ... The Ennead (a word derived from Greek, meaning the nine) is a grouping of nine deities, most often used in the context of Egyptian mythology. ... For other uses, see Horus (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Trundholm sun chariot pulled by a horse is believed to be a sculpture illustrating an important part of Nordic Bronze Age mythology. ... Horus is an ancient god of Egyptian mythology, whose cult survived so long that he evolved dramatically over time and gained many names. ... For other uses, see Ra (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Horus (disambiguation). ... Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna) is the name given to an extensive archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty (c. ... For other uses, see Pharaoh (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Akhenaten (disambiguation). ... For the Celtic Frost album, see Monotheist (album) In theology, monotheism (from Greek one and god) is the belief in the existence of one deity, or in the oneness of God. ... In religion and philosophy, henotheism is a term coined by Max Müller, meaning belief in, and possible worship of, multiple gods, one of which is supreme. ... [1] Aten (or Aton) was the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of Ra. ... For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ... In Egyptian mythology, Mnewer was a black bull in Heliopolis, worshipped as a symbol of fertility and as an oracle. ...

As the capital of Egypt for a period of time, grain was stored in Heliopolis for the winter months, when many people would descend on the town to be fed, leading to it gaining the title place of bread. The Book of the Dead goes further and describes how Heliopolis was the place of multiplying bread, recounting a myth in which Horus feeds the masses there with only 7 loaves.^{[citation needed]} The Book of the Dead comd A Section of Plate 3 from the Papyrus of Ani. ...

Greco-Roman Heliopolis

Heliopolis was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, being noted by most major geographers of the period, including: Ptolemy, iv. 5. § 54; Herodotus, ii. 3, 7, 59; Strabo, xvii. p. 805; Diodorus, i. 84, v. 57; Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 1; Aelian, H. A. vi. 58, xii. 7; Plutarch, Solon. 26, Is. et Osir. 33; Diogenes Laertius, xviii. 8. § 6; Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 3, C. Apion. i. 26; Cicero, Nat. Deor. iii. 21; Pliny the Elder, v. 9. § 11; Tacitus, Ann. vi. 28; Pomponius Mela, iii. 8. The city also merits attention by the Byzantine geographer Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Ἡλίουπόλις. The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... This article is about the geographer, mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy. ... Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: HÄ“rodotos Halikarnāsseus) was a Greek historian from Ionia who lived in the 5th century BC (ca. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the province of Enna). ... Alexander the Great Lucius Flavius Arrianus Xenophon (c. ... The name Aelian may refer to one of two people: Aelianus Tacticus, a Greek military writer of the 2nd century, who lived in Rome Claudius Aelianus, a Roman teacher and historian of the 3rd century, who wrote in Greek This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laërtii. ... A fanciful representation of Flavius Josephus, in an engraving in William Whistons translation of his works Josephus (37 – sometime after 100 CE),[1] who became known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus,[2] was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and... For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation). ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... For other uses, see Tacitus (disambiguation). ... Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. ... Byzantine redirects here. ... Stephanus Byzantinus (Stephanus of Byzantium), the author of a geographical dictionary entitled Εθνικα (Ethnica), of which, apart from some fragments, we possess only the meagre epitome of one Hermolaus. ...

Alexander the Great, on his march from Pelusium to Memphis, halted at this city (Arrian, iii. 1); and, according to Macrobius (Saturn. i. 23), Baalbek, or the Syrian Heliopolis, was a priest-colony from its Egyptian namesake. For the film of the same name, see Alexander the Great (1956 film). ... Pelusium is a city in the eastern extremes of Egypts Nile Delta, 30 km to the southeast of Port Said. ... For other uses, see Memphis. ... Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, Roman grammarian and philosopher, flourished during the reigns of Honorius and Arcadius (395-423). ... Temple of Bacchus Details inside Temple of Bacchus Baalbek (Arabic: ) is a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude 3,850 ft (1,170 m), situated east of the Litani River. ...

The temple of Ra was said to have been, to a special degree, a depository for royal records, and Herodotus states that the priests of Heliopolis were the best informed in matters of history of all the Egyptians. Heliopolis flourished as a seat of learning during the Greek period; the schools of philosophy and astronomy are claimed to have been frequented by Orpheus, Homer,^[3] Pythagoras, Plato, Solon, and other Greek philosophers. From Ichonuphys, who was lecturing there in 308 BC, and who numbered Eudoxus among his pupils, the Greek mathematician learned the true length of the year and month, upon which he formed his octaeterid, or period of eight years or ninety-nine months. Ptolemy II had Manethon, the chief priest of Heliopolis, collect his history of the ancient kings of Egypt from its archives. The later Ptolemies probably took little interest in their "father" Ra, and Alexandria had eclipsed the learning of Heliopolis; thus with the withdrawal of royal favour Heliopolis quickly dwindled, and the students of native lore deserted it for other temples supported by a wealthy population of pious citizens. By the 1st century BC, however, Strabo found them deserted, and the town itself almost uninhabited, although priests were still there. For other uses, see Orpheus (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; between 580 and 572 BC–between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian (Greek) philosopher[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Solon (disambiguation). ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 313 BC 312 BC 311 BC 310 BC 309 BC 308 BC 307 BC 306 BC 305... Eudoxus was the name of two ancient Greeks: Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. ... Head of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC), with Arsinoë II. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC), was of a delicate constitution, no Macedonian warrior-chief of the old style. ... Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Greats generals, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexanders death in 323 BC. In 305 BC he declared himself King Ptolemy I, later known as Soter (saviour). ... This article is about the city in Egypt. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 1st century BC started on January 1, 100 BC and ended on December 31, 1 BC. An alternative name for this century is the last century BC. The AD/BC notation does not use a year zero. ...

In Roman times Heliopolis belonged to the Augustamnica province. Its population probably contained a considerable Arabic element. (Plin. vi. 34.) In Roman times obelisks were taken from its temples to adorn the northern cities of the Delta, and even across the Mediterranean to Rome, including the famed Cleopatra's Needle that now resides on the Thames embankment, London (this obelisk was part of a pair, the other being located in Central Park, New York) . Finally the growth of Fustat and Cairo, only 6 miles to the southwest, caused the ruins to be ransacked for building materials. The site was known to the Arabs as ˁAyn Šams ("the well of the sun"), more recently as ˁArab al-Ḥiṣn. It has now been brought for the most part under cultivation, but the ancient city walls of crude brick are to be seen in the fields on all sides, and the position of the great temple is marked by an obelisk still standing (the earliest known, being one of a pair set up by Senusret I, the second king of the Twelfth Dynasty) and a few granite blocks bearing the name of Ramesses II. Augustamnica or Avgoustamnikai was a Roman province of Egypt created during the 5th century and extending over the eastern part of the Nile delta. ... The Luxor obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris Obelisk outside Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... Close up of Cleopatras Needle (London) Cleopatras Needle in Paris at the Place de la Concorde. ... Fostat (also spelled Fustat; Arabic: ) was the first capital city of Egypt under Arab rule. ... For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ... Kheperkare The Ka of Re is created Nomen Senusret Man of Wosret Horus name Ankh mesut Living of births Nebty name Ankh mesut Living of births Golden Horus Ankh mesut Living of births Consort(s) Neferu III Issue Ameny, Amenemhat-ankh, Itakayt, Sebat, Neferusobek, Neferuptah Father Amenemhat I Mother Neferitatenen... Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Twelfth Dynasty. ... Usermaatre-setepenre The Justice of Re is Powerful, Chosen of Re Nomen Ramesses (meryamun) Born of Re, (Beloved of Amun) Horus name [2] Kanakht Merymaa Golden Horus [2] Userrenput-aanehktu[1] Consort(s) Henutmire, Isetnofret, Nefertari Maathorneferure Issue Bintanath, Khaemweset, Merneptah, Amun-her-khepsef, Meritamen see also: List of children...

Endnotes

1. ^ Hieroglyphs can be found in (Collier and Manley p. 29)
2. ^ The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus, Book V, ch.III.
3. ^ The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus, Book I, ch VI.

References

• Allen, James Paul. 2001. "Heliopolis". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 2 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 88–89
• Redford, Donald Bruce. 1992. "Heliopolis". In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 3 of 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. 122–123
• Bilolo, Mubabinge. 1986. Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques d'Héliopolis et d'Hermopolis. Essai de thématisation et de systématisation, (Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 2), Kinshasa–Munich 1987; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2004.
• Collier, Mark and Manley, Bill. How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyps: Revised Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).

The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, published in 1854, was the last a series of classical dictionaries edited by the english scholar William Smith (1813–1893), which included as sister works the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. ... Sir William Smith (1813 - 1893), English lexicographer, was born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents. ...

See also

• Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb), a suburb in modern Cairo, Egypt
• Heliopolis style , the architectural style of the modern Heliopolis Cairo suburb

Modern Heliopolis (properly known as مصر الجديدة, Miṣr al-ǧidīdah – literally New Egypt) is a district of Cairo, Egypt (not to be confused with the ancient Egyptian city of the same name. ... Heliopolis style is an architectural style specific to an Egyptian district in eastern Cairo. ...

External links

• Site of ancient Heliopolis at Windows Live Local

v • d • e Ancient Egypt-related topics

Architecture · Art · Chronology · Cuisine · Dynasties · Geography · History · Mathematics · Medicine · Religion · Pharaohs · People · Language · Sites · Technology · Writing Khafres Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Giza, built about 2550 BC during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom,[1] are enduring symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was a civilization in Northeastern Africa concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River... Image File history File links Egypt. ... For at least ten thousand years, the Nile valley has been the site of one of the most influential civilizations in the world which developed a vast array of structures known as Ancient Egyptian architecture. ... This article has been tagged since January 2007. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... An Egyptian couple harvesting from a painting in the tomb from the early Ramessid period. ... This page lists articles on dynasties of Ancient Egypt. ... Archaeological evidence indicates that a distinct culture was developing in the Nile valley from before 5000 BC. What is now called the Pharaonic Period is dated from around 3100 BC, when Egypt became a unified state, until its survival as an independent state ceased in 332 BC, with its conquest... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other uses, see Pharaoh (disambiguation). ... Map of Ancient Egypt List of Ancient Egyptian sites, throughout all of Egypt and Nubia Sites are listed with their classical name whenever possible, else their modern name and last if no other available their ancient name. ... Ancient Egyptian technology is a set of artifacts and customs that lasted for thousands of years. ... The writing systems of ancient Egypt include: Egyptian hieroglyphs Cursive hieroglphs Hieratic Demotic the Coptic alphabet Other texts discovered in Egypt and dating to the period before Islam include those written in: the Greek alphabet the Latin alphabet the Cuneiform script the Old Persian cuneiform script Tifinagh the South Arabian... Egyptology · Egyptologists · Ancient Egypt portal The Great Sphinx of Giza against Khafres Pyramid at the Giza pyramid complex. ... Egyptologist is the designation given to an archaeologist or historian who specialises in Egyptology, the scientific study of Ancient Egypt and its antiquities. ...

Coordinates: 30°07′46.3″N, 31°17′20″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...