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Armant (Erment)



Cleopatra’s temple at Erment

Armant or Erment was a site south of Thebes, called Iun-Mut, “The Pillar of Mut,” or Iun-Montu, “the Pillar of Montu,” in Egyptian; Hermonthis in Greek; also Armant in some lists. Erment was once the capital of the fourth nome of Upper Egypt but was replaced by Thebes as early as the Middle Kingdom(2040–1640 B.C.E.).

The god Montu had a cult  center  at  Erment,  associated  with  the  sacred  bull Buchis. Remains  of  an  Eleventh  Dynasty  (2040–1991 B.C.E.) palace were discovered on the place. A temple from the Eighteenth Dynasty, built by Queen-Pharaoh Hatshepsut (r. 1473–1458 B.C.E.) and reconstructed by TuthmosisIII (r.1479–1425  B.C.E.),  was  also  observed  in  Erment.  The Bucheum, the bull necropolis, is also on the site.

A better temple at Erment dates to the Middle Kingdom with later add-on. Nectanebo II (r.  363–343 B.C.E.) started a similar shrine that was completed by the Ptolemies (304–30 B.C.E.). Cleopatra VII (r. 51–30 B.C.E.) and Ptolemy XV Caesarion (r. 44–30 B.C.E.) constructed a Mammisi, or birth house there, with a dedicated lake.