
Nag Hammadi ( ; ) is a city and
markaz in
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 ...
.
It is located on the west bank of the
Nile
The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
in the
Qena Governorate, about north-west of
Luxor
Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...
. 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 () in the 19th century and was named after its founder, Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi, a member of the Hammadi family in
Sohag,
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 ...
. 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.
Nag Hammadi is about west of ancient
Chenoboskion ()
The "
Nag Hammadi library
The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the Chenoboskion Manuscripts and the Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945.
Thirteen leather-bound papyrus c ...
", an important collection of 2nd-century
Gnostic texts, was found at
Jabal al-Ṭārif near Nag Hammadi in 1945.
[. "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).
]
The city was the site of the
Nag Hammadi Massacre in January 2010, in which eight
Coptic Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
were shot dead by three men.
["Egypt's anxious Copts 'await next catastrophe](_blank)
(25 January 2010) BBC News In total, nineteen Coptic Christians were attacked.
Economy
Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
and
aluminium
Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
are produced in Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi Sugar factory was built in 1895–1897 by French contractors Cail and Fives.
Undated photo
Wikimedia 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
Bagasse ( ) is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building ...
.
See also
* List of cities and towns in Egypt
0-9
* 10th of Ramadan
* 15th of May (city), 15th of May
* 6th of October (city), 6th of October
A
* Abu El Matamir
* Abu Hummus
* Abu Tesht
* Abu Tig
* Akhmim
* Al Khankah
* Alexandria
* Arish
* Ashmoun
* Aswan
* Awsim
* Ain Sokhna
B
* ...
* Nag Hammadi library
The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the Chenoboskion Manuscripts and the Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945.
Thirteen leather-bound papyrus c ...
References
{{coord, 26, 03, N, 32, 15, E, display=title
Populated places in Qena Governorate
cs:Rukopisy z Nag Hammádí