Thinis

Not to be confused with Tanis.

Thinis
Tjenu
Lost city
Thinis is located in Egypt
Thinis
Thinis
Approximate location (at Girga) in modern Egypt
Coordinates: 26°20′N 31°54′E / 26.333°N 31.900°E / 26.333; 31.900
CountryAncient Egypt
NomeNome VIII of Upper Egypt
earliest evidencec. 4000 BCE
Government
 • TypeNomarch (Old Kingdom)
Mayor (New Kingdom)

Thinis (Greek: Θίνις Thinis, Θίς This[a] ; Egyptian: Tjenu; Coptic: Ⲧⲓⲛ;[1] Arabic: طين [2]) was the capital city of pre-unification Upper Egypt. Thinis remains undiscovered but is well attested by ancient writers, including the classical historian Manetho, who cites it as the centre of the Thinite Confederacy, a tribal confederation whose leader, Menes (or Narmer), united Egypt and was its first pharaoh. Thinis began a steep decline in importance when the capital was relocated to Memphis, which was thought to be the first true and stable capital after the unification of Egypt by Menes. Thinis's location on the border of the competing Heracleopolitan and Theban dynasties of the First Intermediate Period and its proximity to certain oases of possible military importance ensured Thinis some continued significance in the Old and New Kingdoms. This was a brief respite and Thinis eventually lost its position as a regional administrative centre by the Roman period.

Due to its ancient heritage, Thinis remained a significant religious centre, housing the tomb and mummy of the regional deity. In ancient Egyptian religious cosmology, as seen (for example) in the Book of the Dead, Thinis played a role as a mythical place in heaven.[3]

Although the precise location of Thinis is unknown, mainstream Egyptological consensus places it in the vicinity of ancient Abydos and modern Girga.[4][5][6]


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  1. ^ Gauthier, Henri (1929). Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 6. pp. 59, 77.
  2. ^ Hawas, Zahi (2002). مخطوط معجم اللغة المصرية القديمة احمد كمال كمال. الجزء االثاني عشر (in Arabic). Cairo: Al-maǧlis al-aʿlá li-l-aṯār, high council of antiquities. p. 496. ISBN 9773053474.
  3. ^ Massey 1907: 637
  4. ^ Gardiner 1964: 430 n.1
  5. ^ Ryholt 1997: 163 n. 594
  6. ^ Strudwick 2005: 509