Damanhour (Arabic: دمنهور‎ Damanhūr, Egyptian: Dmỉ-n-Ḥr.w, Coptic: Ⲧⲙⲉⲛϩⲱⲣ, Greek: Ἑρμοῦ πόλις μικρά Hermopolis Mikra) is a city in Lower Egypt, and the capital of the Beheira Governorate. It is located 160 km (99 mi) northwest of Cairo, and 70 km (43 mi) E.S.E. of Alexandria, in the middle of the western Nile Delta.

In Ancient Egypt, the city was the capital of Lower Egypt's 7th Nome of A-ment. It stood on the banks of a canal which connected the lake Mareotis with the Canopic or most westerly arm of the Nile. (Champollion, L'Egypte, vol. ii. p. 249). The city was dedicated to the Ancient Egyptian god Horus. In Greek and Roman times, it was called Hermopolis Mikra or Hermopolis Parva, which would also give it an association with Hermes, the Egyptian Thoth. As Hermopolis, the city attracted the notice of numerous ancient geographers, including Stephanus of Byzantium s. v., Strabo (xvii. p. 802), Ptolemy (iv. 5. § 46), and the author of the Antonine Itinerary (p. 154). It is a Roman Catholic titular see.

Oberto Airaudi was born in Balangero, near Turin, Italy on May 29, 1950. He is a philosopher, healer, writer, and painter.

In 1975 he and a group of fellow friends and researchers founded the spiritual, human, and social experience of the Federation of Damanhur, for which he serves as the spiritual guide and the inspiration behind the construction of the Temples of Humankind. The path that he proposes "leads to the awakening of the inner teacher through study, research, experimentation and the complete expression of individual potential."^{[citation needed]}

Based on the tradition of Damanhurian citizens adopting animal names, Airaudi also goes by the name of "Falcon".