Hu, Huw or Hiw (, ) is the modern name of an

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian town on the Nile, which in more ancient times was the capital of the 7th Nome of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

. The nome was referred to as ''Sesheshet'' (Sistrum). The main city was referred to as Hu(t)-sekhem (), which became abbreviated as Hu. This led to the Arabic name Huw. In Ptolemaic times the city was called Diospolis Mikra () in comparison with

Thebes, Egypt Thebes (, , ''Thēbai''), known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an ancient Egyptian city located along the Nile about south of the Mediterranean. Its ruins lie within the modern Egyptian city of Luxor. Thebes was the main city of the fo ...

, known as Diospolis Megale, "greater city of Zeus". It also was called Diospolis Superior (Upper Zeus-City), in comparison with Diospolis Inferior (Lower Zeus-City) in the Nile Delta.

Ancient history

Huw was the centre of the cult surrounding

Bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

, a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...

. The sistrum, a sacred instrument associated with her, often shaped to resemble her, and for which the 7th nome was named, remained sacred throughout the history of

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

and is seen in its art and hieroglyphs. The goddess Bat remained the main deity worshiped there until at least the time of the twelfth dynasty as she is mentioned on a shrine belonging to

Senusret I Senusret I (Egyptian language, Middle Egyptian: wikt:z-n-wsrt, z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt, Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 ...

. By the time of the New Kingdom during the

eighteenth dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

, the characteristics of Bat were subsumed into those of a similar goddess,

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

, who then became the main deity worshiped at Huw.The Horizon: Studies in Egyptology in Honour of M.A. Nur El-Din edited by Basem El-Sharkaway, retrieved fro
google books
/ref> Previously they may have been the same deity.

Modern history

In 1326,

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

passed through Huw, where he visited a

sharif Sharīf or Sherif (, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the fami ...

named Abu Muhammad Abdallah al-Hasani. When he learned of Ibn Battuta's intention to go on the

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

by way of Aydhab, the sharif predicted that he would not succeed and would only reach Mecca by way of the road through

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

; he told Ibn Battuta to return to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

instead. Ibn Battuta went on to Aydhab anyway, but upon arriving, he found that local Beja tribespeople, in revolt against the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

governor, had driven out the town's garrison and sunk ships in the harbor, preventing anyone from setting sail to

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

. Ibn Battuta was left with no choice but to return to Cairo. The 1885 Census of Egypt recorded Huw as a

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

under the district of Dishna in

Qena Governorate Qena () is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is in Upper Egypt, the southern part of the country. It covers a stretch of the Nile valley. Its capital is the city of Qena. Overview The rate of poverty is more than 60% in this governorate but ...

; at that time, the population of the town was 3,958 (2,011 men and 1,947 women).

References

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Egypt Geography of Egypt Populated places in Qena Governorate Towns in Egypt

Ancient history

Modern history

See also

References