HERMONTHIS

(Greek), Egyptian Per-month, modern Armant ancient town in Upper Egypt, near Thebes on the west bank of the Nile. It was the seat of a sun cult and was a crowning place of kings. The war god Mentu was worshiped there in hawk-headed human form and also in his epiphany, the bull Buchis. Hermonthis was the original home of the rulers of Thebes who reunited Egypt after the First Intermediate Period (c. 2130-1939 BC). Excavations (1929-38) uncovered the Bucheum (the necropolis of the mummified Buchis bulls), cemeteries of various periods from the predynastic downward, and part of the town area, including the temple of Mentu.