Egyptian Monuments: Asyut

Asyut

History

The governorate of Asyut includes the Ancient Egyptian tombs of Meir, and the town of Durunka, which is a pilgrimage site for many Copts who come to visit a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Modern Asyut

Today, the city of Asyut has almost 400,000 inhabitants. It is the Egyptian city with the highest Coptic Christian concentration. It is also home to the University of Asyut, one of the largest universities in Egypt, Assiut Barrage, and to the Lillian Trasher Orphanage.

The Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared in Asyut. This apparition is recognized as official by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

One of the largest settlements of Upper Egypt. It lies on the west bank of the Nile River, almost midway between Cairo and Aswan. The irrigated Nile River valley is about 12 miles (20 km) wide at this point.

Known as Syut in ancient Egypt, the city was a centre of worship of the jackal-headed god Wepwawet. In the Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1600? bc), it was capital of the 17th nome (province) of Upper Egypt. While never able to challenge the power of Thebes, it was commercially prominent as a terminus of caravan routes traversing the Eastern and Western deserts. In Hellenistic times it was known as Lycopolis (“Wolf City”), an allusion to the worship of the jackal-headed god. It was the birthplace of the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus (c. ad 205–269/270). Asyut’s quality textiles and the fine fruits and grain grown nearby were exported southward to Dārfūr and elsewhere in the Sudan. Returning caravans brought slaves, ivory, and dyestuffs.

Around 3100 BC ancient Asyut was the capital of the Thirteenth Nome of Upper Egypt (Lycopolites Nome), seated on the western bank of the Nile. The two most prominent gods of pre-Christian Asyut were Anubis and Wepwawet, both funerary deities.

During the First Intermediate Period, the rulers of "Zawty"; Khety I, Itefibi, 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.

The shield of a king named Recamai, who reigned in Upper Egypt (probably during the "shepherd dynasty" in the "Lower Country"), has been discovered in Asyut. Lycopolis has no remarkable ruins, but in the excavated chambers of the adjacent rocks are found mummies of wolves, confirming the origin of its name, as well as a tradition preserved by Diodorus Siculus, to the effect that an Aethiopian army, invading Egypt, was repelled beyond the city of Elephantine by herds of wolves. Osiris was worshipped under the symbol of a wolf at Lycopolis. He having, according to a myth, come "from the shades" under that form, to aid Isis and Horus in their combat with Typhon. 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 Ramessid tombs of Siese and Amenhotep.

In Graeco-Roman times, there was a distinct dialect of Coptic spoken in Asyut, known as "Lycopolitan", after the Greek name for the city. Lesser-used names for this dialect are "Sub-Akhmimic" and "Assiutic".

Important sites in the governorate of Asyut include:

Deir el-Gabrawi

Durunka

Meir

Sources:

Wikipedia - Asyut

Britannica Online Encyclopedia - Asyut (Egypt)

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