Ptolemais Hermiou

• Name — Ptolemais Hermiou • Official Name — Al-Munsha'āh • Native Name — ⲡⲥⲟⲓ • Type — Town • Pushpin Map — Egypt • Pushpin Label Position — bottom • Pushpin Map Size — 300 • Pushpin Caption — Location in Egypt • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Egypt • Subdivision Type1 — Governorate • Subdivision Name1 — Sohag • Unit Pref — Metric • Area Total Km2 — 17.7 • Population As Of — 2023 • Population Total — 95,064 • Population Density Km2 — auto • Population Density Sq Mi — auto • Population Density Metro Km2 — auto • Population Density Metro Sq Mi — auto • Population Blank1 Title — Ethnicities • Population Density Blank1 Km2 — auto • Population Density Blank1 Sq Mi — auto • Time Zone — EET • Utc Offset — +2 • Time Zone Dst — EEST • Utc Offset Dst — +3 • Elevation M — 68 Ptolemais Hermiou, or Ptolemais in the Thebaid, was a city and metropolitan archbishopric in Greco-Roman Egypt and remains a Catholic titular see. Today, the city of El Mansha -Bsoi in the Sohag Governorate is located where the ancient city used to be.

Ptolemais Hermiou was established on the west bank of the Nile at the site of the Egyptian village of Psoï in the Thinis nome by the Ptolemaic ruler Ptolemy I Soter sometime after 312 BCE. Whether it was intended from the outset to replace Thebes as a political centre is disputed. The name Hermiou could refer to a person called Hermias that could have coordinated the foundation for Ptolemy. According to Strabo, it was the largest city in the Thebaid, equal to Memphis in size. Together with Naukratis and Alexandria, it was one of only three cities with proper Greek city status. Therefore, it also had its own constitution, an assembly with elected magistrates and judges. Greek settlers to the city were brought over from the Peloponnese and northern Greece. The city housed temples to Greek and Egyptian gods (Zeus, Dionysus, Isis) as well as a cult for the worship of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. There was also a theater and actor's guild present in the city.

The provincial capital and hence Metropolitan archdiocese of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda, which had faded, was nominally restored as a Latin Metropolitan titular archbishopric in the late 19th century as Ptolemais antea Syis, renamed simply Ptolemais in 1925, Ptolemais in Thebaide in 1933. It has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents of the highest rank: • Lorenzo Passerini (1892.07.11 – 1901.04.18), later Titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch (1901.04.18 – 1915.12.13) • Luigi Canali, Franciscans (O.F.M. Obs.) (1901.08.03 – 1905.04.22) • José Marcondes Homem de Melo (1906.12.06 – 1908.08.09) • Raffaele Virili (1915.01.14 – 1925.03.09) • Paolo Giobbe (1925.03.30 – 1958.12.15) (later Cardinal) • Pietro Parente (1959.10.23 – 1965.12.07) (later Cardinal)