ESNA, or ESNEH  , a town of Upper Egypt on the W. bank of the Nile, 454 M . S.S.E. of Cairo by rail, the railway station being on the opposite side of the river . Pop . (1897) 16,000, mostly Copts . Esna, one of the healthiest towns in Egypt, is noted for its manufactures of pottery and its large grain and live stock markets . It formerly had a large trade with the Sudan . A caravan road to the south goes through the oasis of Kurkur . The trade, almost stopped by the Mandist Wars, is now largely diverted by railway and steamboat routes . There is, however, considerable traffic with the oasis of Kharga, which lies almost due west of the town . Nearly in the centre of the town is the Ptolemaic and Roman temple of the ram-headed Khnum, almost buried in rubbish and houses . The interior of the pronaos is accessible to tourists, and contains the latest known hieroglyphic inscription, dating from the reign of Decius (A.D . 249–251) .

With Khnum are associated the goddesses Sati and

Neith . In the neighbourhood are remains of Coptic buildings, including a subterranean church (discovered 1895) in the desert half a mile beyond the limits of cultivation . The name Esna is from the Coptic Sne . By the Greeks the place was called Latopolis, from the worship here of the latus fish . In the persecutions under Diocletian A.D . 303, the Christians of Esna, a numerous body, suffered severely . In later times the town frequently served as a place of refuge for political exiles . The so-called Esna barrage across the Nile (built 1906–1908) is 30 M. higher up stream at Edfu .