Al-Qusiyya
| Qus in hieroglyphics | ||||||
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Qjs Qus |
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| Greek | Κοῦσαι (Koûsai) |
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| Sahidic Coptic | Ⲕⲱⲥ (Kôs) |
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Al-Qusiyya (also Qus , Cusae ;القوصية al-Qūsiyya , DMG al-Qūṣīya ) is one of eleven cities in the Egyptian governorate of Asyut and the administrative center of the district of the same name. It is located on the west side of the Nile between the sites Dairut and Manfalut , north of Asyut and has approx. 68,000 inhabitants.
Even if it has not been archaeologically proven to this day , it is assumed that today's city rises on the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Qus, which is evident from the similarity of the name.
history
Pharaonic time
Coordinates: 27 ° 26 ′ 40 ″ N , 30 ° 49 ′ 0 ″ E
The city of Qus has been documented from inscriptions since the Old Kingdom . It is the capital of the 14th Upper Egyptian Gaus . It is the cult center of the goddess Hathor , mistress of Qus.
There is no archaeological evidence of this city. But two of their cemeteries are known: Meir , approx. 12 km west of today's city, and Qusair al-Amarna on the east side of the Nile. While the latter cemetery was only used in the Old Kingdom and only by a few officials, the Meir necropolis was used at least in the Old Kingdom ( 6th Dynasty ), in the Middle Kingdom ( 12th Dynasty ) and in Greco-Roman times .
King Kamose reported that by the end of the second meantime, the trade routes of the Hyksos reached as far as Qu in order in this region materials from the quarries to Retjenu to be transported.
Greco-Roman time
In the fourth and fifth centuries AD, the Roman Legion II Flavia Constantia was stationed here.
Christian time
Cusae is the southernmost point on the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt , where they found shelter for about 6 months.
Today there is the ( monastery ) ad-Dair al-Muharraq about 15 km west of the city, an important religious center and pilgrimage site.
literature
- Hans Bonnet: Kusae. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. 3rd unchanged edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 411f.
- Ursula Kaplony-Heckel : The war campaign of the Ka-mose against the Hyksos . In: Otto Kaiser : Texts from the environment of the Old Testament (TUAT); Vol. 1, Delivery 6; Historical-chronological texts III - . Mohn, Gütersloh 1985, ISBN 3-579-00065-9 , pp. 525-534.