Ashmun al-Rumman ( ', ') is a village in the

markaz Markaz may refer to: Organisations * The Markaz, formerly the Levantine Cultural Center, a religious cultural center in West Los Angeles, California * Markazu Saqafathi Sunniyya, a university in Kerala, India * Markaz Knowledge City, a city ...

Dekernes Dekernes ( ) is a town in the center of the Dakahlia Governorate of Egypt. It is situated about 20 km east of Mansoura, the capital of Dakahlia. Etymology The town's name is pre-Arabic, but the exact etymology is unknown. Czapkiewicz sug ...

Dakahlia Governorate Dakahlia ( ', ) is an Egyptian governorate lying northeast of Cairo, Egypt. Its area is approximately 3,500 km2. Although the capital of the governorate is Mansoura, it got its name from the ancient town of Daqahlah (, from ) which is locat ...

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 ...

. Known in

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

as Zmoumis () and in the Islamic Middle Ages as Ushmum-Tannah, Ashmun al-Rumman was formerly a major city, serving as a provincial capital.

Name

Ashmun al-Rumman was known anciently as ''Zmoumis'' (). The Coptic name of the city is ''Shmoun Erman'' (ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ ⲉⲣⲙⲁⲛ). In the Middle Ages, before acquiring its current epithet, the city was called Ushmum-Tannah ( '). The first author to use the present name was

Abu'l-Fida Ismāʿīl bin ʿAlī bin Maḥmūd bin Muḥammad bin ʿUmar bin Shāhanshāh bin Ayyūb bin Shādī bin Marwān (), better known as Abū al-Fidāʾ or Abulfeda (; November 127327 October 1331), was a Mamluk Sultanate, Mamluk-era Kurds, Kurdish ...

, who wrote it as ''Ushmūm ar-Rummān'', or "Ushmum of the

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

s". The name was commonly pronounced ''Ushmūn'' in everyday speech during this period.

History

Ancient Zmoumis was located in the

Mendesian nome Mendes (, '' gen''.: ), the Greek name of the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet, also known in ancient Egypt as Per-Banebdjedet ("The Domain of the Ram Lord of Djedet") and Anpet, is known today as Tell El-Ruba (). The city is located in the east ...

, in the

toparchy ''Toparchēs'' (, "place-ruler"), anglicized as toparch, is a Greek term for a governor or ruler of a district and was later applied to the territory where the toparch exercised his authority. In Byzantine times, the term came to be applied to inde ...

of Phernouphites. In the second half of the 2nd century CE, Zmoumis was a coastal settlement, with a number of residents engaged in fishing as well as a harbor (''limnē''). At the time of

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

, Ashmun al-Rumman was the capital of the province of Dakahlia. At the time of Ibn Ji'an, it was the capital of both Dakahlia and al-Murtahiyah. At the time of the

Rauk el-Naçiri A rauk is a column-like landform in Sweden, often equivalent to a stack. Rauks often occur in groups called ''raukfält'' 'rauk fields'. The limestone rauks of Gotland in the Baltic Sea are among the best known examples. Sweden Rauks are commo ...

, it was part of a region called the ''ˁamal Ushmūm-Ṭannāḥ'', stretching from the areas of

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Damietta Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Cath ...

, and comprising the districts of

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

and Borollos alongside the provinces of Dakahlia and al-Murtahiya. Ashmun al-Rumman was known for its production of

pomegranates The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have originat ...

, hence the name. The

1885 Census of Egypt Events January * January 3–January 4, 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing dynasty, Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 1 ...

recorded Ashmun al-Rumman (as ''Achmoun-el-Romman'') 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 ...

in the district of

; at that time, the population of the town was 1,881 (942 men and 939 women). In 1902, Ashmun al-Rumman was again described as a nahiyah in the district of Dekernes. It was home to 2,429 people (1,220 men and 1,209 women), including 2,331 Muslims and 98 Christians (including 81 Copts). The village's cultivated area covered an area of 776

feddan A feddan () is a unit of area used in Egypt, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Oman. In Classical Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen', implying the area of ground that could be tilled by oxen in a certain time. In Egypt, the feddan is the only n ...

s, and it was irrigated by two canals: the Bahr el Saghir to the north and the Ezz el Dine to the east. Major crops were

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

, bersim,

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, as well as

dates Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activit ...

. There were 3 Muslim

kuttab A kuttab ( ''kuttāb'', plural: ''kataatiib'', ) or maktab () is a type of elementary school in the Muslim world. Though the ''kuttab'' was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar, and Islamic studies, such as memorizing ...

s as well as a Coptic school, two

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s, a steam-powered flour mill, a small

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

s making

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

and

cloth, and

dye Juan de Guillebon, better known by his stage name DyE, is a French musician. He is known for the music video of the single "Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical ele ...

workshops.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Dakahlia Governorate Villages in Egypt