Ashmunein

El-Ashmunein is an archeological site, near the city of Mallawi in El Menia Governorate. During the Old Kingdom, it was named 'Khmunw' and in the Greek times its name was 'Hermopolis Magna'. The city was the sanctuary of god Thuth (or Djehuty), the god of wisdom, writing and announcing who is sometimes represented by a heron and others by a baboon. In the city of Khmun, the Ogdoad of Eight Gods (a group of eight primeval deities comprising four frog-gods and four snake-goddesses) formed the creation myth. Here, only the ruins of a mud-brick temple have survived from the Old Kingdom Period. Besides the remains of the city, there are an open museum, a Greek-styled Coptic basilica, the remains of the Temple of Djehuty as well as other remains of the Roman Agora.