It was once a port city on an estuary of the Nile, but is now inland of the Mediterranean Sea.

First called Smabehdet or Behdet, the Ancient Egyptian city from 2400 BC or earlier.

[3] About 1200 BC, during the New Kingdom of Egypt, it was named Paiuenamun, meaning "The Island of the [god] Amun".

[4] Tell el-Balamun in hieroglyphics is [7] The archaeological site, more than a kilometre in diameter, is a series of mounds up to 18 metres (59 ft).

[5] What survives within the site are a fortress, other mud structures, and trenches that show the walls of the temples.