Heracleopolis or Herakleopolis Magna (Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

: Ἡρακλεόπολις) is the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 name of the capital of the Twentieth nome

Nome (Egypt)

A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic period. Fascinated with Egypt, Greeks created many historical records about the country...

 (administrative division) of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

. It was called Henen-nesut, Nen-nesu, or Hwt-nen-nesu in ancient Egyptian

Egyptian language

Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...

, meaning 'house of the royal child.' Later, it was called Hnas in Coptic

Coptic language

Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...

, and Ahnas in medieval Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 writings. Today it is known as Ihnasiya Umm al-Kimam ("mother of the shards") and Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah.

It was the capital of Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....

 of the ninth

Ninth dynasty of Egypt

The ninth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties VII, VIII, X and XI under the group title First Intermediate Period...

 and tenth dynasties

Tenth dynasty of Egypt

The tenth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties VII, VIII, IX and XI under the group title First Intermediate Period...

, which ruled during the First Intermediate Period. After the re-unification of Egypt, Henen-nesut faded in importance. Today the ruins are a tourist attraction.

In ancient times the city was the cult

Cult (religious practice)

In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings , its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. Cult in this primary sense is...

 center of Heryshaf

Heryshaf

In Egyptian mythology, Heryshaf, or Hershef, , transcribed in Greek as Harsaphes was an ancient ram-god whose cult was centered in Herakleopolis Magna . He was identified with Ra and Osiris in Egyptian mythology, and to Heracles in Greek mythology...

, whom the Greeks identified with Herakles. (See interpretatio graeca

Interpretatio graeca

Interpretatio graeca is a Latin term for the common tendency of ancient Greek writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon. Herodotus, for example, refers to the ancient Egyptian gods Amon, Osiris and Ptah as "Zeus", "Dionysus" and "Hephaestus", respectively.-Roman...

.)

Legend held that there was a vast labyrinth

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...

 at Herakleopolis. A British archaeological team in the 1940s is rumoured to have discovered the labyrinth

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...

 but were unable to complete the excavation due to illness amongst team members and the disappearance of one of the team leaders. The exact location of the labyrinth still remains a mystery.