Nag Hammadi Explained

Nag Hammadi
Native Name: نجع حمادي
Settlement Type:City
Pushpin Map:Egypt
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:300
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Egypt
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Egypt
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Total Km2: 269.2
Population As Of:2023
Population Total:660690 [1]
Population Blank1 Title:Ethnicities
Timezone:EST
Utc Offset:+2
Utc Offset Dst:+3
Coordinates:26.05°N 47°W
Population Urban:61737
Population Rural:598953
Total Type:Total

Nag Hammadi (; Arabic: نجع حمادى) is a city and markaz in Upper Egypt.It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. The city had a population of close to 61,737 .

History

The town of Nag Hammadi was found on the site of older villages Ansan and al-Luaqi [2] in the 19th century and was named after its founder, Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi, a member of the Hammadi family in Sohag, Egypt. Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi was a major landholder in Sohag, and known for his strong opposition to the British rule in Egypt beginning in 1882.

In the city of Nag Hammadi, there is the palace of Prince Youssef Kamal, a member of the royal family (the family of Muhammad Ali Pasha), which overlooks the Nile River and is now an archaeological site.[3]

Nag Hammadi is about west of ancient Chenoboskion (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Χηνοβόσκιον)The "Nag Hammadi library", an important collection of 2nd-century Gnostic texts, was found at Jabal al-Ṭārif near Nag Hammadi in 1945.[4]

The city was the site of the Nag Hammadi Massacre in January 2010, in which eight Coptic Christians were shot dead by three men.[5] In total, nineteen Coptic Christians were attacked.[5] [6]

Economy

Sugar and aluminium are produced in Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi Sugar factory was built in 1895-1897 by French contractors Cail and Fives.[7] It is still in operation in 2018. Egyptalum is one of the largest aluminium producer in the Middle East. Wood particleboard is manufactured from sugar cane bagasse.

See also

References

26.05°N 47°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: عدد السكان التقديري. 27 October 2023.
  2. Web site: 1818 . Carte geographique de l'Egypte et des pays environnans by Pierre Jacotin . PAThs – Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature.
  3. Web site: 3 October 2019 . Nag Hammadi palace re-opens . 27 October 2023 . Ahram Online.
  4. Book: James M. Robinson . 1988 . The Nag Hammadi Library . Harper San Francisco . San Francisco. . "The Nag Hammadi Library consists of twelve books, plus eight leaves removed from a thirteenth book in late antiquity and tucked inside the front cover of the sixth. These eight leaves comprise a complete text, an independent treatise taken out of a book of collected essays". (p. 10).Web site: nag-hammadi.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070408060536/http://www.nag-hammadi.com/. 2007-04-08.
  5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8478397.stm "Egypt's anxious Copts 'await next catastrophe
  6. News: Egypt church attack kills Copts . BBC News . 2010-01-07.
  7. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railway_and_metal_framework_construction_of_the_boiler_house_sugar_factory_at_Nag%CA%BF_Hammadi,_Egypt,_erected_by_Fives-Lille_in_1895%E2%80%931897_(undated_photo,_probably_1900%E2%80%931950).jpg Undated photo