Settlements > Ptolemais Hermiou

Ptolemais Hermiou

Background

Ptolemais Hermiou was established on the west bank of the Nile at the site of the Egyptian village of Psoï ( in the Thinis nome by the Ptolemaic ruler Ptolemy I Soter sometime after 312 BCE to be the capital of Upper Egypt.

According to Strabo, it was the largest city in the Thebaid, equal to Memphis in size. It also had its own constitution, an assembly with elected magistrates and judges not unlike a traditional Greek polis. Greek settlers to the city were brought over from the Peloponnese and northern Greece. The city housed temples to Greek and Egyptian gods (Zeus, Dionysus, Isis) as well as a cult for the worship of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. There was also a theater and actor's guild present in the city.

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