Cynopolis

Cynopolis (Greek for "city of the dog")[1] was the Hellenistic toponym for two cities in Ancient Egypt. Both Cynopolis superior and Cynopolis inferior were bishoprics in Christian times.[2]

Cynopolis superior

Cynopolis, the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian town of Hardai[3] in the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt, it was home to the cult of Anubis, [4] a canine-shaped deity.

According to Claudius Ptolemy, the town was situated on an island in the river.[5] The modern settlement identified with Cynopolis is El Kays.[6] The nome of Cynopolis extended to both banks of the Nile.[7]

A burial ground for dogs is found on the opposite Nile bank near Hamatha. Rivalries between neighbouring cities are reported: according to Plutarch (De Iside, 72), when an inhabitant of Cynopolis ate an Oxyrhynchos fish, the people of Oxyrhynchos started attacking dogs in revenge, which resulted in a little civil war.[8]

Cynopolis was destroyed by the vice-roy of Nubia Pinehesy during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses XI, and the survivors were enslaved.[3]

Titular see

The diocese, which probably faded under Islam, was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric under the name Cynopolis in Aegypto, distinguishing it from its homonym below.

It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank :

Cynopolis inferior

There was a second Cynopolis, referred to as Cynopolis Inferior or Cynum,[9] which was located in the Busirite nome in Lower Egypt (the Nile delta),[10][11] modern Meniet ebn Kasib, [12] (El-Queis, or Cheikh-Fadl). or Banâ, Benâ.

It was a suffragan bishopric of Oxyrhynchus, the Metropolitan Archbishopric and provincial capital of the Late Roman province of Arcadia Aegypti.

Titular see

The diocese, which probably faded under Islam, was nominally restored in 1922 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric under the name Cynopolis, which was changed in 1933 to Cynopolis in Arcadia, distinguishing it from its homonym above.

It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :

References

Bibliography

  • Bingham, Joseph (2005). The Antiquities of the Christian Church Part 1. Kessinger Publishing. 
  • Černý, J. (1975). "Egypt: from the death of Rameses III to the end of the Twenty-First Dynasty". In I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond & E. Sollberger. The Middle East and the Aegean Region, c. 1380–1000 BC. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 2, Part 2 (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 606–657. ISBN 978-0-521-08691-2. 
  • Hardouin, Jean; Pihan Delaforest, Ange Augustin Thomas, eds. (1828). Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII By the Elder Pliny. N. E. Lemaire. 
  • Helck, Wolfgang (1974). Die altägyptischen Gaue. L. Reichert. 
  • Lane, Edward William (2000). Description of Egypt: Notes and Views in Egypt and Nubia. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-525-3.  The text was written in the 1830s.
  • Müller, Karl Otfried (1877). Strabonis Geographicorum tabulae XV by Strabo, Editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot. 
  • Room, Adrian (2006). Placenames Of The World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites. McFarland & Company. 
  • Sayce, Archibald Henry; Maspero, Gaston; McClure, M. L.; King, L. W.; Hall, H. R. (1904). History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria. Grolier Society. 
  • Wiltsch, Johann Elieser Theodor (1846). Handbuch der kirchlichen Geographie Statistik von den Zeiten der Apostel bis zu dem Anfange des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Schultze. 

External links

Coordinates: 28°29′00″N 30°47′00″E / 28.4833°N 30.7833°E / 28.4833; 30.7833


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