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| 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.