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The Ancient Egyptian city of Tjeny, also known as This or Thinis (both Greek variations), is a piece of the Archaic Egypt puzzle yet to be properly fitted. It is a legendary city, said to be the home of the first kings of Egypt, those of the 1st and 2nd Dynasties. Needless to say, it would have held great importance in the political world of that period, but in our archaeological world it holds an elusive place. That is due in part to the simple fact the ancient city has yet to be discovered, but we'll get into that in a minute.
Let's start off with viewing what historical evidence there is that supports the idea that Thinis existed. We have the tomb of Harkhuf, governor of Aswan during the Old Kingdom. Within his tomb located at Qubbet el-Hawa, there is a tale of how Harkhuf reached the land of Yam three times. Twice 'by the Elephantine route', but the third trip went along another route:
"Then his majesty sent me a third time to Yam. I went up from This upon the Oasis road..."
The Oasis road led from the Thinite nome to Kharga Oasis and from there it passed along the Darb el-Arbain (forty-day trail) to Selima. This retelling could be important when trying to locate the physical location of Thinis and it reflects that the city was already established enough to be part of the Oasis road during the Old Kingdom period.
Another nice piece of historical evidence would be the following excerpt from The Instruction addressed to King Merikare written by his father, the 1st Intermediate King, Khety III:
"I attacked This straight to its southern border at Taut,
I engulfed it like a flood...
Lo, a shameful deed occurred in my time;
The nome of This was ravaged;
Though it happened through my doing,
I learned it after it was done."
I found this excerpt to be interesting, especially the line "Lo, a shameful deed occurred in my time". For me it brought to mind the mention that Thinis was supposed to be the home of the first kings of Egypt. The line of ancestry being as important as it was to the Kings of Egypt, what more shameful deed could be done than ravaging the ancient city of your forebearers? Course, it could just mean that it was a bloody shame the city came under fire, but that's the fun of all this right?
In addition to these, we also have other, later accounts. There is a reference to Thinis in Spell 102 of the Book of the Dead ("....the shens-cake which is in Thinis is that of which the dogs partake"), a mention of a "rebellion of Thinis" recorded on a stele from Mentuhotep II's fourteenth regnal year and during the first regnal year of Ramses II reign, one Nebwenenef of Thinis and Dendera was appointed as the High Priest of Amun - an event that was duly recorded in Ramses' tomb-chapel in Western Thebes1.
When Pliny enumerates the nomes of Egypt a "Thinites" nome is included in their number. And one musn't forget Manetho's mention of Thinis being the home to the kings of the 1st and 2nd Dynasties. There was also an inscribed statue fragment which mentions Thinis said to have been found at the site of el-Birba.
For myself, I would say this is definitely enough evidence to support the fact that Thinis once existed, but where? The likeliest candidate is modern day Girga, located north-northeast of Abydos in Upper Egypt (although Birba, located nearby to Girga, is in the running as well - and Thinis has been associated directly with Abydos on more than one occasion). The best guess, from what I've read and been able to ascertain, is that the ancient city probably resides underneath the current city. For those of us interested in the Early Dynastic Period and the possible importance of Thinis, the issue of excavation is a frustrating one. Hopefully, sometime in the near future, there can be a breakthrough regarding this.
The only other question that remains is when did Thinis exist, more specifically, did it exist during the Early Dynastic Period? We have, from the above, information reflecting the city was prominent enough to be on the Oasis Road during the Old Kingdom. Unfortunately, the source that contained that information neglected to mention during what specific dynasty this occurred - though there is reference to the reign of Merenre (6th Dynasty). As a rough guestimate, using the reign of Merenre, that would be approximately 374 years after the end of the 2nd Dynasty. 374 years seems to be plenty of time for a city to develop and work its way into prominence. The question with this scenario is a matter of timing.
To offset this, Toby A.H. Wilkinson mentions in his Early Dynastic Egypt the exploration of cemetaries at Naga ed-Dier by George Andrew Reisner. The location of this site is on the east bank of the Nile, directly opposite of the modern town of Girga. As mentioned above, Girga is one of the contenders for the location of the ancient city of Thinis. These particular cementaries contain burials from the Predynastic period to modern times and Wilkinson makes a point in mentioning that the Early Dynastic Period is "particularly well-represented". With this information the most important question posed is, was Girga Thinis? If indeed it was, the cemetaries at Naga ed-Dier could have been used by the residents of the city and would indeed provide evidence that Thinis was an active area during the Early Dynastic Period.
There are so many tantilizing questions without answers! Several of these could probably be satisfied if only the original location of Thinis could be fixed and explored and so yet again it's a waiting game. I don't know about anyone else, but I will be keeping an ear to the ground in the hopes that something new develops on this particular front.
Notes:
1. In "Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II" authored by K.A. Kitchen (pg 46) the inscription is given as "The (prospective) High Priest of Amun Nebwenenef was ushered into the presence of His Majesty. Now, he was (then) High Priest of Anhur and of Hathor Lady of Dendera, and local Primate of all Gods in the south from north of Thebes to Thinis in the north (near Abydos)."
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