Heracleopolis Magna (, Megálē Herakléous pólis) and Heracleopolis (, Herakleópolis) and Herakleoupolis (), is the Roman name of the capital of the 20th nome of ancient Upper Egypt, known in Ancient Egyptian as . The site is located approximately west of the modern city of Beni Suef, in the Beni Suef Governorate of Egypt. Name In Ancient Egypt, Heracleopolis Magna was called , meaning Child of the King (appearing as hnn nswt or hwt nn nswt; also transcribed Henen-Nesut or Hut-Nen-Nesut). This later developed into (), which was borrowed into early Ahnās. The site is now known as Ihnasiyyah Umm al-Kimam "Ihnasiyyah, Mother of the Shards" and as Ihnasiyyah al-Madinah "The City of Ihnasiyyah". The Greek name meant "City of Heracles", with the epithet "great" being added to distinguish it from other towns with that name. The Greek form became more common during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, who came to power after the death of Alexander the Great. The Roman Empire used a Latinised form of the Greek name. Some Egyptologists and Biblical scholars connect the biblical city of Hanes ( Ḥānês) mentioned in with Heracleopolis Magna. History Early Dynastic Period The date of the earliest settlements on the site of Herakleopolis is not known, but an entry on the Palermo Stone reporting king Den's visit to the sacred lake of Heryshef at Nenj-neswt, the ancient name of the city, suggests that it was already in existence by the mid First Dynasty, c. 2970 BC. First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BC) Herakleopolis first came to prominence and reached its apogee of power during the First Intermediate Period, between 2181 and 2055 BC. Eventually after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt. Herakleopolis became the principal city of Lower Egypt and was able to exercise its control over much of the region. Herakleopolis exerted such great control over Lower Egypt during this time that Egyptologists and Egyptian archaeologists sometimes refer to the period between the 9th and 10th Dynasties (2160–2025 BC) as the Herakleopolitan Period. During this period, Herakleopolis often found itself in conflict with the de facto capital of Upper Egypt, ancient Thebes. Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 BC) Between the latter part of the First Intermediate Period and the early Middle Kingdom, the city became the religious center of the cult of Heryshaf, and the Temple of Heryshaf was constructed. Heracleopolis Magna and its dynasty was