Tuphium was a place which existed in the time 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...

. This place is now lying in ruins.

From W. M. Flinders Petrie

Quote from Flinders Petrie:

"Hemen

Hemen

In Egyptian mythology, Hemen was a falcon–god.-Places of worship:Often worshipped as a divine entity unified with Horus,as Horus-Hemen lord of Asphynis or Horakhte-Hemen of Hefat W. M. Flinders Petrie refers to Hemen as a god of Tuphium...

 was the name of the god of Tuphium (Lanz., Dict, 544), 13 miles south of Luqsor

Luxor

Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896 , with an area of approximately . As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple...

. Erment, opposite to it, was the place of Aunu of the south, Aunu Menti. The next place in the south is Aunti (Gebeleyn

Gebelein

Gebelein is a town in Egypt. It is located on the Nile, about 40 km south of Thebes, in Qena Governorate.The modern geographic area is known as Naga el-Gherira.-Archaeology:...

), and beyond that Aunyt-seni (Esneh)."

An account of travels (M. Champillon)

"On the 7th of March we visited the ruins of the ancient Tuphium, now Taoud situated on the right bank of the river but in the vicinity of the Arabic chain and very near to Hermonthis

Hermonthis

The modern town of Armant , is located about 12 miles south of Thebes, in Egypt. It was an important Middle Kingdom town, which was enlarged during the Eighteenth Dynasty. It is located today in the Qena Governorate, on the west bank of the Nile...

 which is on the opposite bank. Here there are two or three little apartments of a temple,inhabited by fellah

Fellah

Fellah , also alternatively known as Fallah is a peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa...

s and their cattle. In the largest there are still some bas-reliefs, which informed me that the triad

Triad

Triad is a term used to describe many branches of Chinese criminal organizations based in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, Taiwan, China, and also in countries with significant Chinese populations, such as Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom...

 worshipped in the temple consisted of Mandou, the goddess Ritho, and their son Harphré, the same as in the temple of Hermonthis, the capital of the 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...

(district) to which Tuphium belonged."

Image

• NYPL Digital Gallery 23/09/2011