Cynopolis
Cynopolis (Greek for "city of the dog")[1] was the Hellenistic name for two cities in Ancient Egypt. Both Cynopolis superior and Cynopolis inferior were bishoprics in Christian times.[2]
Cynopolis superior
Cynopolis, the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian town Hardai[3] in the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt, it was home to the cult of Anubis, [4] a canine-shaped god.
According to Claudius Ptolemy, the town was situated on an island in the river.[5] The modern settlement identified with Cynopolis is El Kays.[6] The nome of Cynopolis extended to both banks of the Nile.[7]
A burial ground for dogs is found on the opposite Nile bank near Hamatha. Rivalries between neighbouring cities are reported: according to Plutarch (De Iside, 72), when an inhabitant of Cynopolis ate an Oxyrhynchos fish, the people of Oxyrhynchos started attacking dogs in revenge, which resulted in a little civil war.[8]
Cynopolis was destroyed by the vice-roy of Nubia Pinehesy during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses XI, and the survivors were enslaved.[9]
Titular see
The diocese, which probably faded under Islam, was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric under the name Cynopolis in Aegypto, distinguishing it from its homonym below.
It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
- Giacomo Eich, Salesians (O.S.F.S.) (1942.04.21 – 1947.02.04)
- Joseph Gerald Holland, Society of African Missions (S.M.A.) (1953.05.07 – 1970.12.07)
Cynopolis inferior
There was a second Cynopolis, referred to as Cynopolis Inferior or Cynum,[10] which was located in the Busirite nome in Lower Egypt (the Nile delta),[11][12] modern Meniet ebn Kasib, [13] (El-Queis, or Cheikh-Fadl). or Banâ, Benâ.
It was a suffragan bishopric of Oxyrhynchus, the Metropolitan Archbishopric and provincial capital of the Late Roman province of Arcadia Aegypti.
Titular see
The diocese, which probably faded under Islam, was nominally restored in 1922 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric under the name Cynopolis, which was changed in 1933 to Cynopolis in Arcadia, distinguishing it from its homonym above.
It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
- Robert Dobson (1922.08.22 – 1942.01.06)
- Angel Maria Ocampo Berrio, Jesuits (S.J.) (1942.06.23 – 1947.07.19) as Coadjutor Bishop of Socorro y San Gil (Colombia) (1942.06.23 – 1947.07.19), succeeding as bishop (1947.07.19 – 1950.12.06), later Bishop of Tunja (Colombia) (1950.12.06 – 1964.06.20), promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Tunja (1964.06.20 – 1970.02.20), on emeritate Titular Archbishop of Castulo (1970.02.20 – 1973.03.10)
- Joseph Zhang Run-bo (張潤波) (1947.11.20 – 1949.08.10)
- Jean-Marcel Rodié (1956.02.15 – 1968.04.10)
References
- ↑ Room, op.cit., p.102
- ↑ Wiltsch, op.cit., pp.184f.
- ↑ Edwards et al.,op.cit., p.631
- ↑ Helck, op.cit., p.113
- ↑ Lane, op.cit., p.31
- ↑ Lane, op.cit., p.27
- ↑ Lane, op.cit., p.248
- ↑ Sayce et al., op.cit., p.77
- ↑ Edwards, op.cit., p.631
- ↑ Wiltsch, op.cit., p.184
- ↑ Bingham, op.cit., p.356
- ↑ Müller, op.cit., p.786
- ↑ Hardouin, op.cit., p.464
Bibliography
- Adrian Room, Placenames Of The World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites, McFarland & Company 2006
- I. E. S. Edwards et al. The Cambridge ancient history, Cambridge University Press
- Michael Rice, Swifter Than the Arrow: The Golden Hunting Hounds of Ancient Egypt, I.B.Tauris 2000
- Wolfgang Helck, Die altägyptischen Gaue, L. Reichert 1974
- Edward William Lane, Description of Egypt: Notes and Views in Egypt and Nubia, American Univ. in Cairo Press 2000, ISBN 977-424-525-3. The text was written in the 1830s.
- Archibald Henry Sayce, Gaston Maspero, M. L. McClure, L. W. King, H. R. Hall, History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, The Grolier Society 1904
- Joseph Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church Part 1, Kessinger Publishing 2005
- Jean Hardouin, Ange Augustin Thomas Pihan Delaforest eds., Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII By the Elder Pliny, N.E. Lemaire 1828
- Karl Otfried Müller, Strabonis Geographicorum tabulae XV by Strabo, Editore Ambrosio Firmin
Didot 1877
- Johann Elieser Theodor Wiltsch, Handbuch der kirchlichen Geographie Statistik von den Zeiten der Apostel bis zu dem Anfange des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts
Sources and External links
Coordinates: 28°29′00″N 30°47′00″E / 28.4833°N 30.7833°E