Esna

Esna إسنا
Esna Tourist bazaar at night
Esna Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 25°18′N 32°33′E / 25.300°N 32.550°E / 25.300; 32.550
Country	Egypt
Governorate	Luxor
Time zone	EST (UTC+2)

Esna (Egyptian Arabic: إسنا‎‎  IPA: [ˈʔesnæ]), known to the ancient Egyptians as Egyptian: Iunyt or Ta-senet; Coptic (Sahidic): ⲥⲛⲏ (Sne), which derives from Ta-senet;Greek: Λατόπολις (Latopolis or Letopolis) or πόλις Λάτων (Polis Laton) or Λάττων (Latton);Latin: Lato, is a city in Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the River Nile, some 55 km south of Luxor. The town was formerly part of the modern Qena Governorate, but as of 9/12/2009, has been incorporated into the new Luxor Governorate.

This city of Latopolis (πόλις Λάτων) in the Thebaid region of Upper Egypt should not be confused with the more northerly city of Letopolis (Λητοῦς Πόλις), ancient Khem, modern Ausim, in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt.

The name "Latopolis" is in honor of the Nile perch, Lates niloticus, the largest of the 52 species which inhabit the Nile, which was abundant in these stretches of the river in ancient times, and which appears in sculptures, among the symbols of the goddess Neith, associated by the ancient Greeks as Pallas-Athene, surrounded by the oval shield or ring indicative of royalty or divinity. Held sacred, the Lates niloticus was buried in a cemetery west of the town.

The tutelary deities of Latopolis seem to have been the triad – Khnum and Neith, and Heka their offspring. The temple of Esna, dedicated to this triad, was remarkable for the beauty of its site and the magnificence of its architecture. It was built of red sandstone, and its portico consisted of six rows of four columns each, with lotus-leaf capitals, all of which however differ from each other.