It was located on the strip of land between the lake Burullus and the Mediterranean Sea, near the modern village al-Hanafi al-Kubra (Arabic: الحنفي الكبرى).

Agnou was important enough in the late Roman province of Aegyptus Primus to be one of the many suffragan of the Metropolitan (becoming Patriarchate) of capital Alexandria, yet was to fade.

They plundered and looted villages on their way, causing a major insurrection and shift of loyalty among the Egyptian population.

The locals demanded his execution but Amr spared him, leading to Agnou pledging alliance to the Muslims.

Some authors (Ibn Hawqal, al-Maqrizi) place it between al-Burullus and Rashid, which corresponds to older sources, while al-Yaqubi mistakenly places it between Rashid and Alexandria under the name Ikhnu (Arabic: اخنو).