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AsyutAlso spelled Assiout or Assiut. ( ) is 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.
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,” and in Nuzhat al-Mushtāq as well as Mu‘jam al-Buldān by Yāqūt al-Hamawī, who wrote: “A city in western Egypt on the Nile, it is a large and noble city,” and cited Al-Hasan ibn Ibrahim al-Miṣrī: “It produces Armenian and triangular Debequi fabrics and all kinds of sugar, found in every Islamic and pre-Islamic town; its quince orchards surpass every other place in quantity, and opium is also produced there.” Ibn ‘Abd al-Haqq mentioned it as Asyut, while noting its district (kūra) under the name Syout, and it is also referred to as Asyut in Subh al-A‘shā and in Qawānīn Ibn Mammātī. ‘Alī Pasha Mubārak recorded both names, Syout and Asyut, noting that according to the French, the city in their time was mostly built of mudbrick with some fired brick, had solid mosques, grand baths, and six olive oil presses. Its market contained numerous shops, and along the Nile-side gardens there were sycamores and palm trees. Most of its trade at that time consisted of linen garments, natron, pottery vessels, and opium. Similarly, Muḥammad Amīn al-Khānjī mentioned some of the city’s commercial buildings.
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. Lycopolis 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.) 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.
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".
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.
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. Aysut is next to the Aysut Dam across the Nile river in the neighboring port of Al-Hamra. The dam was built in 1902 and a hydroelectric plant was added in the 1980s.
The highest record temperature was , recorded on July 23, 1994, while the lowest record temperature was , recorded on January 16, 2008.
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