Cusae

Cusae or Kusai is the Greek name of a city in Upper Egypt, known to the Egyptians as Qis or Kis. Today, the city is known as el-Qusiya and is located on the west bank of the Nile, in the Asyut Governorate.

The city marked the southern border of the part of Egypt controlled by the Hyksos. It was a cult centre for Hathor, and also contained a necropolis used during the Middle Kingdom to hold the tombs of local aristocrats.

During the 5th century, the city was the camp of Legio II Flavia Constantia.

Bishopric

The bishopric of Cusae was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Antinoë, capital of the Roman province of Thebaid I. Achilles (or Achilleus) was ordained bishop of the see by Meletius of Lycopolis. Another, Elias, was of the 4th or 5th centuries.[1] Theonas took part in the Second Council of Constantinople (553). Later bishops took the non-Chalcedonian side, the first of them being Gregorius, who assisted Pope John II (III) of Alexandria on his deathbed.[2][3][4][5]

No longer a residential bishopric, Cusae is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[6]

References

  1. ↑ S. Timm, Das christlich-koptische Ägypten, Wiesbaden 1982-1992, 2181 e 2189 n. 4.
  2. ↑ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 595-598
  3. ↑ Raymond Janin, v. Cusae in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. XIII, Paris 1956, col. 1117
  4. ↑ Klaas A. Worp, A Checklist of Bishops in Byzantine Egypt (A.D. 325 - c. 750), in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 100 (1994) 283-318
  5. ↑ Sophrone Pétridès, "Cusae" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1908)
  6. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 878

Coordinates: 27°26′40″N 30°49′00″E / 27.44444°N 30.81667°E