Nag Hammadi

Nag Hammadi (/ˌnɑːɡ həˈmɑːdi/ NAHG hə-MAH-dee; Arabic: نجع حمادى‎ Najʿ Ḥammādī) is a city in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north-west of Luxor. It had a population of close to 43,000 as of 2007.

This article is about the Egyptian settlement. For the cache of Gnostic texts discovered nearby, see Nag Hammadi library.
Nag Hammadi
Nag Hammadi
Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 26°03′N 32°15′E
Country Egypt
GovernorateQena
Population
 (2007)
 • Total42,820
Time zoneUTC+2 (EST)
Plaque of a local sugar refinery, 1901

History

The town of Nag Hammadi is named after its founder, Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi, a member of the Hammadi family in Sohag, Egypt. Mahmoud Pasha Hammadi was a major landholder in Sohag, and known for his strong opposition to the British rule in Egypt beginning in 1882.

Nag Hammadi is about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of ancient Chenoboskion (Ancient Greek: Χηνοβόσκιον) The "Nag Hammadi Library", an important collection of 2nd-century Gnostic texts, was found at Jabal al-Ṭārif near Nag Hammadi in 1945.[1]

The city was the site of the Nag Hammadi Massacre in January 2010, in which eight Coptic Christians were shot dead by three men.[2] In total, nineteen Coptic Christians were attacked.[2][3]

Economy

Sugar and aluminium are produced in Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi Sugar factory was built in 1895-1897 by French contractors Cail and Fives. It is still in operation in 2018. Egyptalum is the largest aluminium producer in the Middle East. Wood particleboard is manufactured from sugar cane bagasse.

See also

References
  1. James M. Robinson (1988). The Nag Hammadi Library. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.. "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). "nag-hammadi.com". Archived from the original on 2007-04-08.
  2. "Egypt's anxious Copts 'await next catastrophe'" (25 January 2010) BBC News
  3. "Egypt church attack kills Copts". BBC News. 2010-01-07.

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