SAMI GABRA (1893-1979) An Egyptian archaeologist. After studying at the American College at Asyut, he decided to embark on a legal career and obtained bachelor and doctoral degrees from Bordeaux University. He then taught law at the old Egyptian University. In 1926 he obtained the diploma of archaeology from Liverpool University, and in 1929, a …
ASYUT A city on the west bank of the Nile in middle Egypt. The Greeks called the city lÚkwn pÒlij, Lúkon pólis (Lycopolis, “wolf city”) because of the citizens’ reverence for Wepwawet, the wolf god. Asyut, the city’s modern Arabic name, is derived from the Coptic cioout. Lycopolis, home of a Christian community since at …
PILGRIMAGES There are more than sixty centers of Coptic pilgrimage in Egypt, of which the main ones are those of the Virgin Mary at Musturud, Saint Menas at Maryut, Saint George (Mar Jirjis) of Mit Damsis, Sitt Dimyanah near Bilqas, and Anba Shinudah at Dayr al-Abyad, near Suhaj. For the Copts, pilgrimage is a religious …
MONASTERIES OF THE MIDDLE SA‘ID The Greek geographers and the Arab historians of the Middle Ages identified this province of Egypt as beginning south of al-Bahnasa (OXYRHYNCHUS) and ending at AKHMIM (Panopolis). Left Bank To the south of al-Bahnasa, going up the Nile, lies the site of Dayr al-Ju‘, followed by Dayr Abu Bifam, where …
JOHN XIX Pope of Alexandria and 113th patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (1928-1942). He was born at DAYR TASA in the province of Asyut in 1855. It was there that he received his education. He entered DAYR AL-BARAMUS monastery in the Western Desert and was chosen by Pope CYRIL V to be his …
DAYR TASA Today the name of a Coptic village on the right bank of the Nile on the edge of the desert, south of ABNUB and opposite ABU TIJ. The cemetery and ancient church have been preserved. No ancient author mentions it. S. CLARKE in 1912 noted the church and its titular, the archangel Michael, …