The city is located in the eastern Nile delta (30°57′30″N 31°30′57″E﻿ / ﻿30.95833°N 31.51583°E﻿ / 30.95833; 31.51583) and was the capital of the 16th Lower Egyptian nome of Kha, until it was replaced by Thmuis in Greco-Roman Egypt. The two cities are only several hundred meters apart. During the 29th Dynasty, Mendes was also the capital of Ancient Egypt, lying on the Mendesian branch of the Nile (now silted up), about 35 km east of al-Mansurah.