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Location of Esna on the map of Egypt.

The Egyptian city of Esna (Arabic: إسنا), known to the ancient Egyptians as Egyptian: Iunyt or Ta-senet; Greek: Λατόπολις (Latopolis)^[1] or πόλις Λάτων (Polis Laton)^[2] or Λάττων (Laton)^[3][4]; Latin: Lato, is located on the west bank of the River Nile, some 55 km south of Luxor, in the modern Qena Governorate.

Esna, Egypt: Tourist bazaar at night

The name "Latopolis" is in honor of the Nile perch, Lates niloticus, the largest of the 52 species which inhabit the Nile^[5], which was abundant in these stretches of the river in ancient times, and which appears in sculptures, among the symbols of the goddess Neith, associated by the ancient Greeks as Pallas-Athene, surrounded by the oval shield or ring indicative of royalty or divinity^[6]. Held sacred, the Lates niloticus was buried in a cemetery west of the town.

The tutelary deities of Latopolis seem to have been the triad – Khnum and Neith, and Hak their offspring. The temple of Esna, dedicated to this triad, was remarkable for the beauty of its site and the magnificence of its architecture. It was built of red sandstone, and its portico consisted of six rows of four columns each, with lotus-leaf capitals, all of which however differ from each other.^[7]

Another temple of the same period has been identified at Kom Mer, about 12 Km to the south, but cannot be excavated because a modern village is built over it.

There was a smaller temple, dedicated to the triad of Latopolis, about two miles and a half north of the city, at a village now called el-Dayr. Here, too, is a small Zodiac of the age of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-221 BC). This latter building has been destroyed in the 19th century, as it stood in the way of a new canal. The temple of Esna has been cleared of the soil and rubbish which filled its area when Denon visited it, and served as a cotton warehouse in the mid-19th century.^[8]

Temple of Khnum

With the exception of the jamb of a gateway – now converted into a door-sill – of the reign of Thutmose II (Eighteenth Dynasty), the remains of Latopolis belong to the Ptolemaic or Roman eras. Ptolemy III Euergetes, the restorer of so many temples in Upper Egypt, was a benefactor to Latopolis, and he is painted upon the walls of its temple followed by a tame lion, and in the act of striking down the chiefs of his enemies. The name of Ptolemy V Epiphanes is found also inscribed upon a doorway. Yet, although from their scale these ruins are imposing, their sculptures and hieroglyphics attest the decline of Egyptian art. The west wall has reliefs of Ptolemy VI Philometor and Ptolemy VIII Physcon. The pronaos, which alone exists, resembles in style that of Apollonopolis Magna (Edfu), and was begun not earlier than the reign of Claudius (41-54 AD), and completed in that of Vespasian, whose name and titles are carved on the dedicatory inscription over the entrance. On the ceiling of the pronaos is the larger Latopolitan Zodiac. The name of the emperor Geta, the last that is read in hieroglyphics, although partially erased by his brother and murderer Caracalla (212), is still legible on the walls of Latopolis. Before raising their own edifice, the Romans seem to have destroyed even the basements of the earlier Egyptian temple. The ceremonial way, which probably linked the quay to the temple, has disappeared. The quay has cartouches of Marcus Aurelius.

The cemetery west of the town, where the Lates niloticus was buried, also contains human burials dating of the Middle Kingdom to the Late Period.

Twilight over the temple

Two barrage bridges straddle the Nile at this point: one built by the British in 1906, and the "Electricity Bridge" built in the 1990s. Navigation – particularly, Nile cruisers ferrying tourists from Luxor to Aswan, 155 km further upstream – can be held up for hours while vessels negotiate their way through the lock system.

The two main points of interest in Esna are its lively tourist-oriented souk, which fills a couple of streets leading inland from the corniche. The other is the temple of Esna. The temple, which has only been partially excavated, is about 200 meters from the river and some 9 meters below street level.

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).

• Gallery of temple reliefs

Coordinates: 25°18′N, 32°33′E