DAYR ABU SARABAM (near Minya)

The most explicit of the ancient authors regarding this monastery is without doubt al- MAQRIZI (1853, Vol. 2, p. 518), for he described “in the district of Dayrut a church near the town, as well as a monastery named after the monk Serapion, who lived in the time of Shenute and was elected bishop.” It may be a case of this monastery, since a confusion of spelling is possible in Arabic between Sarabam and Serapion. The name does not appear to be attested elsewhere in relation to Dayrut and Dayrut al-Sharif.

Yaqut, in the thirteenth century, also called the village Darwat Sarabam (1870-1873, Vol. 2, p. 570). ABU SALIH (1895, p. 222) also called it Darwat al-Sarabam, but he does not mention any monastery.

QUATRÈMERE (1812, p. 13) contented himself with citing al-Maqrizi. G. MASPERO (1919, p. 197) referred to E. F. Jomard’s description (1821). The monastery was described by the latter (Vol. 4, p. 187) as a small deserted monastery now serving as a cemetery, to the northeast and very close to Dayrut al-Sharif (Clarke, 1912, p. 208, no. 12). In the maps of the Survey of Egypt (1907) the monastery is called Abu Suryan Monastery and situated less than a mile to the east of Dayrut.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Amélineau, E. La Géographie de l’Egypte à l’époque copte. Paris, 1893.
• Clarke, S. The Christian Antiquities in the Nile Valley. London, 1912.
• Jomard, E. F. Description de l’Egypte, Vol. 4. Paris, 1821.
• Maspero, G. “Notes au jour le jour.” Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 13 (1891):298-315, 407-37, 496-525; 14 (1892):170-204; 305-27; 20 (1898):123-44.
• Maspero, G., and G. Wiet. Matériaux pour servir à la géographie d’Egypte, p. 87. Mémoires de l’Institut français d’Archéologie orientale 36. Cairo, 1919.
• Quatremère, E. Observations sur quelques points de la géographie de l’Egypte. Paris, 1812.
• Survey of Egypt. Cairo, 1907. Contains maps of Egypt.
• Yaqut ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Hamawi. Kitab Mu‘jam al-Buldan, 10 vols. Cairo, 1956-1957.
• . Jacut’s Geographisches Wörterbuch, 6 vols., ed. F. Wüstenfeld. Leipzig, 1866-1873. Repr. Tehran, 1965; Beirut, 4 vols., 1955-1957.

RENÉ-GEORGES COQUIN

MAURICE MARTIN, S.J