Ruins of the Temple of Hermopolis, one of the Antiquities of Upper Egypt.

The site of the ruins of the ancient city of Hermopolis (Magna) are situated to the northwest of the modern city of Mallawi in the governorate of el-Minia in Middle Egypt. The chief god of the region was Thoth, the god of the moon, but also scribes and administration, whom the Greeks identified with Hermes. Hence, the name Hermopolis, meaning “the City of Hermes”. During the Greco-Roman Period, Hermopolis was the metropolis of the nome of Hermapolites, which belonged to the larger administrative unit of the Upper Egyptian region of Thebais