Akhmim
The Upper Egyptian town where a Christian grave yielded a Greek copy of the opening chapters of 1 Enoch in the 1880s.
- Ancient names
- Ipu / Khent-Min; Greek Panopolis
- Location
- East bank of the Nile, Sohag Governorate
- Modern country
- Egypt
- God
- Min
- Famous find
- Akhmim Codex (Codex Panopolitanus), found 1886–87 in a grave
- Contents of codex
- Greek 1 Enoch 1–32; Gospel of Peter; Apocalypse of Peter
What is Akhmim known for?
Akhmim, the Greek Panopolis, is a town on the east bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt. In antiquity it was a center of the god Min, whom the Greeks equated with Pan, and later a major center of textile production and of Coptic Christianity. The alchemist Zosimos came from Panopolis.
In the winter of 1886–87 a French archaeological mission found a small parchment book in a Christian grave at Akhmim, probably from the 6th century or later. This Akhmim Codex, or Codex Panopolitanus, contains fragments of the Gospel of Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter, and a Greek text of the first 32 chapters of 1 Enoch, the Book of the Watchers.
Before this find, 1 Enoch was known in full only in Ge'ez from Ethiopia. The Akhmim text confirmed that a Greek version circulated in antiquity, years before the Aramaic fragments came to light at Qumran.
A grave at Akhmim held a Greek manuscript of the Book of the Watchers from 1 Enoch.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit hole1 Enoch
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Akhmim'Reference
- Wikipedia, 'Akhmim' (source of the Codex Panopolitanus)Reference
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