Heryshaf

Temple at Heracleopolis Magna

The site goes back to the Early Dynastic Period or the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The precise founding date of Herakleopolis is not known, but an entry on the Palermo Stone reporting king Den's visit to the sacred lake of Heryshef at Nenj-neswt, suggests that the town had already been founded by the 1st Dynasty. The site was called nn-nswt in Demotic which was pronounced ǝhnes in Coptic, Heracleopolis (Magna) during the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire and Ihnasiyya in Egyptian Arabic.

No remains of the Old Kingdom temple survive. Flinders Petrie found remains of a temple at the site dating to the Twelfth Dynasty. The Twelfth Dynasty temple was rebuilt during the Eighteenth Dynasty and later refurbished during the Nineteenth Dynasty. During the reign of Ramesses II, a pronaos was added to the temple. The sixteen palm columns used were taken from existing temples, possibly those of Djedkare Isesi or Sahure. Yasuoka speculates that Ramesses II's fourth son, Prince Khaemweset, may have been the official who directed this project.