Canopus, Egypt
Encyclopedia
Canopus was an Ancient Egypt
ian coastal town, located in the Nile Delta
. Its site is in the eastern outskirts of modern-day Alexandria
, around 25 kilometres from the centre of that city.
Canopus stood in the seventh nome
(Menelaites, later Canopites after it), on the western bank at the mouth of the westernmost branch of the River Nile
– known as the Canopic or Heracleotic branch or -mouth. It was the principal port in Egypt for Greek trade before the foundation of Alexandria.
Its old Egyptian name was Pikuat; the Greeks called it Kanobos, or Kanopos
, after a mythological commander of a Greek fleet
supposedly buried there.
have revealed extensive traces of the city with its quays, and granite monuments with the name of Ramesses II
, but they may have been brought in for the adornment of the place at a later date.
The exact date of the foundation of Canopus is unknown, but Herodotus refers to it as an ancient port. Homeric myth claims that it was founded by Menelaus
, and named after Canopus, the pilot of his ship, who died there after being bitten by a serpent.
Homer describes how Menelaus built a monument to his memory on the shore, around which the town later grew up.
The real origin of the name Canopus is said to be Ancient Egyptian Kah Nub = "golden floor", referring likely to the profits made by merchants trading through the port. There is unlikely to be any connection with "canopy".
A temple to Osiris
was built by Pharaoh
Ptolemy The Good (the third ruler of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty
), but, according to Herodotus
, very near to Canopus was an older shrine, a temple of Heracles
that served as an asylum for fugitive slaves (the Decree shows that Heracles here stands for Amun
). Osiris was worshipped at Canopus under a peculiar form: that of a vase with a human head. Through an old misunderstanding, the name "canopic jar
s" was applied by early Egyptologists to the vases with human and animal heads in which the internal organs were placed by the Egyptians after embalming.
' ninth regnal year (239 BC
), a great assembly of priests at Canopus passed an honorific decree (the "Decree of Canopus
") that, inter alia, conferred various new titles on the king and his consort, Berenice. Two examples of this decree are known, inscribed in Egyptian
(in both hieroglyphic
and Demotic (Egyptian)
) and in classical Greek
, and they were second only to the more famous Rosetta Stone
in providing the key to deciphering the ancient Egyptian language. The bilingual decrees for the Three-Stela Series are: Ptolemy III, Ptolemy IV, Ptolemy V, the Decree of Canopus
(also named the "Şân Stele"
), the famous "Stele of Rosetta" (Decree of Memphis), the Rosetta Stone
, (grandfather, son and grandson). (At Ptolemaic Decrees
topic can be found the listing of the 3-Stone Series. It includes 6 separate, and "named" stelae (plural of stela/stele), and some partials.)
's Satire VI
referred to the "debauchery" that prevailed there.
The emperor Hadrian
built a villa
at Tivoli
, 18 miles away from Rome, where he replicated for his enjoyment architectural patterns from all parts of the Roman empire
. One of these (and the most excavated and studied today) was borrowed from Canopus.
s, which are caught in nets hung along the shore.
Off Aboukir on 1 August, 1798, the French Mediterranean fleet was destroyed within the roads by British Admiral Horatio Nelson on 25 July, 1799. Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed there a Turkish army 18,000 strong; and on 8 March, 1801, the French garrison of 1800 men was defeated by 20,000 English and Ottoman Turks commanded by Abercromby.
, among others St. Athanasia
with her three daughters, and St. Cyrus and John
. There was here a monastery called Metanoia, founded by monks from Tabennisi, where many a patriarch of Alexandria
took shelter during the religious quarrels of the fifth century. Two miles east of Canopus was the famous Pharaonic temple of Manouthin, afterwards destroyed by monks, and a church on the same spot dedicated to the Four Evangelists
. St. Cyril of Alexandria
solemnly transported the relics of the holy martyrs Cyrus and John into the church, which became an important place of pilgrimage
. It was here that St. Sophronius of Jerusalem was healed of an ophthalmy that had been declared incurable by the physicians (610-619), whereupon he wrote the panegyric
of the two saints with a compilation of seventy miracles worked in their sanctuary (Migne
, Patrologia Graeca
, LXXXVII, 3379-676)
Canopus formed, with Menelaus and Schedia, a suffragan see
subject to Alexandria in the Roman province
of Aegyptus Prima; it is usually called Schedia in the Notitiae episcopatuum
. Two titulars are mentioned by Lequien (II, 415), one in 325, the other in 362.
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian coastal town, located in the Nile Delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
. Its site is in the eastern outskirts of modern-day Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, around 25 kilometres from the centre of that city.
Canopus stood in the seventh nome
Nome
Nome may refer to:A country subdivision:* Nome an administrative division within ancient Egypt.* Nome , the administrative division immediately below the peripheries of Greece Places:* Nome, Norway* Nome, Alaska, US...
(Menelaites, later Canopites after it), on the western bank at the mouth of the westernmost branch of the River Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
– known as the Canopic or Heracleotic branch or -mouth. It was the principal port in Egypt for Greek trade before the foundation of Alexandria.
Its old Egyptian name was Pikuat; the Greeks called it Kanobos, or Kanopos
, after a mythological commander of a Greek fleet
Canopus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Canopus was the pilot of the ship of King Menelaus of Sparta during the Trojan War. He is described as a young handsome man, who was loved by Theonoe, the Egyptian prophetess, but never answered her feelings. According to legend, while visiting the coasts of Egypt, he was...
supposedly buried there.
Pre-hellenistic history
Early Egyptological excavations some 2 or 3 km from the area known today as Abu QirAbu Qir
Abū Qīr is a village on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, northeast of Alexandria by rail, containing a castle used as a state prison by Muhammad Ali of Egypt....
have revealed extensive traces of the city with its quays, and granite monuments with the name of Ramesses II
Ramesses II
Ramesses II , referred to as Ramesses the Great, was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire...
, but they may have been brought in for the adornment of the place at a later date.
The exact date of the foundation of Canopus is unknown, but Herodotus refers to it as an ancient port. Homeric myth claims that it was founded by Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
, and named after Canopus, the pilot of his ship, who died there after being bitten by a serpent.
Homer describes how Menelaus built a monument to his memory on the shore, around which the town later grew up.
The real origin of the name Canopus is said to be Ancient Egyptian Kah Nub = "golden floor", referring likely to the profits made by merchants trading through the port. There is unlikely to be any connection with "canopy".
A temple to Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
was built by Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
Ptolemy The Good (the third ruler of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
), but, according to Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, very near to Canopus was an older shrine, a temple of Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
that served as an asylum for fugitive slaves (the Decree shows that Heracles here stands for Amun
Amun
Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
). Osiris was worshipped at Canopus under a peculiar form: that of a vase with a human head. Through an old misunderstanding, the name "canopic jar
Canopic jar
Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the viscera of their owner for the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from limestone or were made of pottery...
s" was applied by early Egyptologists to the vases with human and animal heads in which the internal organs were placed by the Egyptians after embalming.
Hellenistic Canopus
In Ptolemy III EuergetesPtolemy III Euergetes
-Family:Euergetes was the eldest son of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his first wife, Arsinoe I, and came to power in 246 BC upon the death of his father.He married Berenice of Cyrene in the year corresponding to 244/243 BC; and their children were:...
' ninth regnal year (239 BC
239 BC
Year 239 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Turrinus and Falto...
), a great assembly of priests at Canopus passed an honorific decree (the "Decree of Canopus
Decree of Canopus
The Decree of Canopus is a bilingual inscription in two languages, and in three scripts. It was written in three writing systems: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic, and Greek, on an ancient Egyptian memorial stone stele, the Stone of Canopus...
") that, inter alia, conferred various new titles on the king and his consort, Berenice. Two examples of this decree are known, inscribed in Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
(in both hieroglyphic
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
and Demotic (Egyptian)
Demotic (Egyptian)
Demotic refers to either the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, or the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to distinguish it from hieratic and...
) and in classical Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and they were second only to the more famous Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
in providing the key to deciphering the ancient Egyptian language. The bilingual decrees for the Three-Stela Series are: Ptolemy III, Ptolemy IV, Ptolemy V, the Decree of Canopus
Decree of Canopus
The Decree of Canopus is a bilingual inscription in two languages, and in three scripts. It was written in three writing systems: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic, and Greek, on an ancient Egyptian memorial stone stele, the Stone of Canopus...
(also named the "Şân Stele"
Decree of Canopus
The Decree of Canopus is a bilingual inscription in two languages, and in three scripts. It was written in three writing systems: Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic, and Greek, on an ancient Egyptian memorial stone stele, the Stone of Canopus...
), the famous "Stele of Rosetta" (Decree of Memphis), the Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
, (grandfather, son and grandson). (At Ptolemaic Decrees
Ptolemaic Decrees
The Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC, issued these series of decrees over the course of their reign. The Rosetta Stone is a well-known example of one of the decrees....
topic can be found the listing of the 3-Stone Series. It includes 6 separate, and "named" stelae (plural of stela/stele), and some partials.)
Roman Canopus
In Roman times, the town was notorious for its dissoluteness. JuvenalJuvenal
The Satires are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD.Juvenal is credited with sixteen known poems divided among five books; all are in the Roman genre of satire, which, at its most basic in the time of the author, comprised a...
's Satire VI
Satire VI
Satire VI is the most famous of the sixteen Satires by the Roman author Juvenal written in the late 1st or early 2nd century. In English translation, this satire is often titled something in the vein of Against Women due to the most obvious reading of its content...
referred to the "debauchery" that prevailed there.
The emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
built a villa
Hadrian's Villa
The Hadrian's Villa is a large Roman archaeological complex at Tivoli, Italy.- History :The villa was constructed at Tibur as a retreat from Rome for Roman Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD...
at Tivoli
Tivoli
The name Tivoli originally indicates the town of Tivoli in the Lazio region of central Italy, founded a few centuries before Rome. Because of the fame of the gardens of the Villa d'Este there , the name has also been applied to other entities:-Gardens, theatres and venues:* Jardin de Tivoli,...
, 18 miles away from Rome, where he replicated for his enjoyment architectural patterns from all parts of the Roman empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. One of these (and the most excavated and studied today) was borrowed from Canopus.
Modern Aboukir
The modern Arabic name is Aboukir, "Father Cyrus", in honour of the first of the two celebrated martyrs. It is a village (around 1900 with 1000 inhabitants), at the end of a little peninsula north-east of Alexandria. It has a trade in quailQuail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
s, which are caught in nets hung along the shore.
Off Aboukir on 1 August, 1798, the French Mediterranean fleet was destroyed within the roads by British Admiral Horatio Nelson on 25 July, 1799. Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed there a Turkish army 18,000 strong; and on 8 March, 1801, the French garrison of 1800 men was defeated by 20,000 English and Ottoman Turks commanded by Abercromby.
Ecclesiastical history
Egypt had many martyrs in the persecution of DiocletianDiocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
, among others St. Athanasia
Athanasia
Athanasia is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family....
with her three daughters, and St. Cyrus and John
Cyrus and John
Saints Cyrus and John are venerated as martyrs. They are especially venerated by the Coptic Church and surnamed Wonderworking Unmercenaries because they healed the sick free of charge....
. There was here a monastery called Metanoia, founded by monks from Tabennisi, where many a patriarch of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...
took shelter during the religious quarrels of the fifth century. Two miles east of Canopus was the famous Pharaonic temple of Manouthin, afterwards destroyed by monks, and a church on the same spot dedicated to the Four Evangelists
Four Evangelists
In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...
. St. Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...
solemnly transported the relics of the holy martyrs Cyrus and John into the church, which became an important place of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
. It was here that St. Sophronius of Jerusalem was healed of an ophthalmy that had been declared incurable by the physicians (610-619), whereupon he wrote the panegyric
Panegyric
A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
of the two saints with a compilation of seventy miracles worked in their sanctuary (Migne
Migné
Migné is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
, Patrologia Graeca
Patrologia Graeca
The Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the ancient Koine or medieval variants of the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J. P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique...
, LXXXVII, 3379-676)
Canopus formed, with Menelaus and Schedia, a suffragan see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
subject to Alexandria in the Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of Aegyptus Prima; it is usually called Schedia in the Notitiae episcopatuum
Notitiae Episcopatuum
The Notitiae Episcopatuum are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church....
. Two titulars are mentioned by Lequien (II, 415), one in 325, the other in 362.