Asyut[Also spelled Assiout or Assiut.] ( ) is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city is located at . The city is home to one of the largest Coptic Christian communities in the country.
Name and etymology
The name of the city is derived from early Egyptian
(late Egyptian,
Səyáwt)
which became
Coptic language , meaning "
Guardian" of the northern approach of
Upper Egypt.
In
Graeco-Roman Egypt, it was called
Lycopolis or
Lykopolis (, "ἡ Λύκων πόλις"),
[Ptolemy iv. 5. § 63; Steph. B. s. v.; Strabo xvii. p. 813)] ('wolf city')
Lycon,
[(Plin. v. 9. s. 11)] or
Lyco.
[(Itin. Anton. p. 157)]
With the Islamic conquest, the Arabs retained the name "Syout," which appears in works such as Al-Masalik by Ibn Khordadbeh and Al-Mukhtar by Al-Qudā‘ī. Later, the name was modified to "Asyut," which is found in Kitāb al-Buldān by Al-Ya‘qūbī, who described it as “one of the principal cities of Upper Egypt, where crimson carpets resembling Armenian ones are produced,”
History
Bronze Age
Old Kingdom period
Ancient Asyut was the capital of the Thirteenth Nome of
Upper Egypt around 3100 BC. It was located on the western bank of the
Nile. The two most prominent gods of
Asyut were
Anubis and
Wepwawet, both funerary deities.
First Intermediate period
During the First Intermediate Period, the rulers of "
Zawty" (Khety I,
Tefibi, and Khety II) were supporters of the Herakleopolitan kings, of whose domain the Nome formed the southern limits. The conflict between this Nome and the southern Nomes under the rule of the Eleventh Dynasty ended with the victory of Thebes and the decline of Asyut's importance.
New Kingdom period
In the 19th Dynasty, a statue of the chief royal scribe Yuny of Asyut is known. Other ancient Egyptian monuments discovered in Asyut include; the Asyut
necropolis (west of the modern city), tombs which date to dynasties Nine, Ten and Twelve, and the
Ramesside Period tombs of
Siese and Amenhotep.
Classical Age
Lycopolis (
Lycopolites Nome) has no remarkable ruins, but in the excavated chambers of the adjacent rocks
mummies of wolves have been found, confirming the origin of its name, as well as a tradition preserved by
Diodorus Siculus,
[(ii. 88; comp. Aelian. Hist. An. x. 28)] to the effect that an
army, invading Egypt, was repelled beyond the city of
Elephantine by packs of wolves.
Osiris was worshipped under the symbol of a wolf at Lycopolis. According to a myth, he had come "from the shades" as a wolf to aid
Isis and
Horus in their combat with Typhon.
[(Champollion, Descript. de l'Egypte, vol. i. p. 276; Jollois, Egypte, vol. ii. ch. 13.)]
In Graeco-Roman times, there was a distinct dialect of Coptic language spoken in Asyut, known as "Lycopolitan", after the Greek name for the city. Lesser-used names for this dialect are "Sub-Akhmimic" and "Assiutic".
Middle Ages
In the Christian era, Asyut became the site of various monasteries and churches. On Gebel Asyut, for example, the ruins of two monasteries are partially preserved.
[Eichner, Ina (2020). Der Survey der spätantiken und mittelalterlichen christlichen Denkmäler in der Nekropole von Assiut/Lykopolis (Mittelägypten) The. The Asyut Project, vol. 14. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, .] A large
Asyut Treasure was discovered near the city in the early twentieth century and is now dispersed amongst a number of museums in the West. The
hoard is composed of some of the most elaborate jewellery to survive from late
Ancient history.
Asyut was at the end of the 40 Day Road that connected the city to Darfur through the Selima and Kharga Oasis. The history of the road, known by local herders as Darb al-Arba'in, goes back over 700 years. It was used as a pathway for great caravans of up to 12,000 camels at its peak in the 14th century.
Modern Asyut
Today, the city of Asyut has around 528,000 inhabitants.
It is the Egyptian city with one of the highest
Copt concentrations of approximately 50%.
It is also home to the Assiut University, one of the largest
University in
Egypt, to the
Assiut Barrage, and to the
Lillian Trasher Orphanage.
The city is one of the only cities in the world that still makes silver appliqué-work shawls and is home to a large textile industry. The city also produces fine pottery, inlaid woodwork, and rugs.
Asyut is the terminus of the Ras Shukheir-Asyut oil pipeline, the terminus of the Cairo-Asyut gas pipeline and the beginning of the proposed Asyut-Qena gas pipeline, the last two being part of the Nile Valley Gas Company Pipeline Project.
Coptic Catholic Eparchy
On 10 August 1947, a Coptic Catholic eparchy (
Eastern Catholic Diocese) of Assiut (or Lycopolis) was established on southern Egyptian territory split off from the Coptic Catholic Eparchy of Luqsor, each
suffragan of Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria. Its episcopal see is the
cathedral of the Mother of Divine Love, in Assyut.
- Suffragan Eparchs (Bishops) of Assiut
(all Coptic Rite)
-
Alexandros Scandar (9 August 1947 – death 29 December 1964)
-
Youhanna Nueir, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (26 March 1965 – retired 20 March 1990); previously Auxiliary Eparch of Luqsor of the Copts (Egypt) (8 December 1955 – 26 March 1965) & Titular Bishop of Phatanus (8 December 1955 – 26 March 1965)
-
Kyrillos Kamal William Samaan, O.F.M. (16 May 1990 – 2022)
-
Daniel Lotfy (2022–present)
Geography
Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh). It is the driest city of Egypt.
Luxor, Minya, Qena and Asyut have the widest difference of temperatures between days and nights of any city in Egypt, with almost difference. The city of Asyut is sandwiched between two mountain ranges of about 600m height. There is also a lowering in elevation in mid
Egypt, from the
Mediterranean and the
Red Sea. This gives the city and nearby towns and villages the similar properties of a continental climate, meaning that the city has harsh and chilly
cold winter weather, and very hot but non-humid
. During summer the temperature can exceed . Yet, in winter Asyut gets below temperatures during the night and
frost can easily form, while
hail or
snow are rare because of the low average of the city's precipitation and general low
humidity.
The highest record temperature was , recorded on July 23, 1994, while the lowest record temperature was , recorded on January 16, 2008.
Culture
The Alexan Pasha Palace was constructed in 1910 as a riverside residence of a local aristocratic family. It remained in possession of the family until 1995 when it was sold to the state. There are plans to restore the mansion and turn it into a museum.
Transport
Asyut is linked to
Giza and northern cities by the road of Asyut western desert, eastern desert road and rural road, which also connects it to the railways.
Also the
Train station is linked to
Alexandria in the north and
Aswan in the south. In 1974,
Assiut Airport was opened, renewed and expanded with a new terminal in 2011.
Notable people
-
Plotinus, Neoplatonic philosopher 204 or 205 – 270 CE
-
Coluthus, 5th century Greek poet
-
Pope Shenouda III, Pope and Patriarch of the Egyptian Orthodox Church in Egypt and All Middle East
-
Thutmose Kamel Gabrial, an Egyptian military pilot who was killed in action during the 1948 Palestine War.
-
Gamal Abdel Nasser, second Egyptian president
-
Samir Ghanem, comedian, singer, and entertainer
-
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, Egyptian nationalist
-
Melitius of Lycopolis, founder of the Melitians.
-
al-Suyuti, Sunni Muslim theologian who died in 1505
-
Ali El-Araby, footballer
-
Umar Makram, revolutionary and noble
-
Regina Khayatt, feminist, educator, philanthropist, suffragist, and temperance worker
Twinnings
See also
-
List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities
-
Tulle bi telli
Notes
Bibliography
-
Loprieno, Antonio: Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Oxford University Press 1996.
-
Baines & Malek Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt, 2000.
-
Kahl, Jochem: "Ancient Asyut: The first Synthesis after Three Hundred Years of Research", The Asyut Project vol. I. Wiesbaden 2008.
External links
