El-Minya Attractions
El-Minya (west bank of the Nile, chief town of a governorate (pop. 150,000) and a considerable commercial town, situated between the Nile and the Ibrahimiya Canal, with a museum. This is a good base from which to visit Beni Hasan, Hermopolis Magna and Tefl el Amarna. Opposite the town, on the east bank of the Nile is the Kom el-Kefara, with tombs of the Middle Kingdom. 4.5mi/7km farther south, at the village of Zawiye el-Mayyetin, is the modern cemetery of El-Minya, with many small domed tombs and chapels. Faithful to ancient traditions, the people of the town still ferry their dead across the river to be buried and take them annual gifts of fruit and palm branches. Still farther south is a great mound of rubble, the Kom el-Ahmar ("Red Hill"), on the far side of which are the rock tombs, now half buried, of the princes and dignitaries of the ancient city of Hebenu, mainly dating from the end of the Old Kingdom. At the village of Nueirat, father to the south, are more rock tombs of the Old Kingdom.
Deirut, Egypt
(Near El-Minya)
Deirut or Deirut el-Mahatta (west bank of the Nile), a district capital situated at the point where the Bahr Yusuf branches off the lbrahimiya Canal (dam with sluice-gates). 2mi/3km north is Deirutel-Sherif, to the west of which, on the edge of the desert, is the village of Bawit, with the ruins of the Coptic Monastery of Apa Apollo.
Maghagha, Egypt
(Near El-Minya)
Maghagha (west bank of the Nile), a district capital, with a sugar factory. On the east bank of the Nile, in which there are many islands at this point, is the village of Oarara, the ancient Phylace Hipponos, near which are Coptic cemeteries (eighth C.). Some 1.5mi/2.5km north of this, at the village of Awladel-Sheikh, is a cemetery of the Early Historical period (c. 3000 B.C.). 12-15miles/20-24km east of the Nile, near the wide Wadi el-Sheikh, are prehistoric flint factories discovered by H. W. Seton-Karr in 1896.
