Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt. It is now found in the suburb of Ayn Shams at the north-east edge of Cairo.
The ancient Egyptian cult center Iunu , named "On" in the Hebrew bible, was renamed Heliopolis by the Greeks in recognition of the fact that the sun god Ra presided there. Iunu is mentioned in the Pyramid Text as the "House of Ra".
Heliopolis has been occupied since the Predynastic Period,with extensive building campaigns during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Today it is mostly destroyed; its temples and other buildings were used for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from textual sources.
