Thmuis (Greek: Θμοῦις; ) was a city in Lower Egypt, located on the canal east of the Nile, between its Tanitic and Mendesian branches. Its ruins are near the modern city of Timayy al-Imdid.

History

During the Ptolemaic period, Thmuis succeeded Djedet as the capital of Lower Egypt's 16th nome of Kha (Herodotus (II, 166)). The two cities are only several hundred meters apart. Ptolemy also states that the city was the capital of the Mendesian nome. From the Ptolemaic-Roman period are preserved the foundations of a temple. Thmuis was an episcopal see in the Roman province of Augustamnica Prima, suffragan of Pelusium. Today it is part of the Coptic Holy Metropolitanate of Beheira (Thmuis & Hermopolis Parva), Mariout (Mariotis), Marsa Matruh (Antiphrae & Paractorium), Libya (Livis) and Pentapolis (Cyrenaica). In the fourth century it was still an important Roman city, having its own administration and being exempt from the jurisdiction of the Prefect of Alexandria. It was in existence at the time of the Muslim invasion of Egypt in 642 AD, and was later called Al-Mourad or "Al-Mouradeh"; it must have disappeared after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. Its ruins are at Tell El-Timai, about five miles north-west of Sinbellawein, a station on the railway from Zagazig to Mansourah in the central Delta.

Bishopric

Le Quien (Oriens christianus, II, 537) names nine bishops of Thmuis, the last three being Monophysites of the Middle Ages. The others are:

Sources