Atfih ( ' , ''Tpeh or Tpēh'') is a town in

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis, Egypt, Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, ...

. It was part of the now defunct Helwan Governorate from April 2008 to April 2011, after which it was reincorporated into the Giza Governorate. As of 2001, it has a population of 106,300 inhabitants.

Etymology

The name is derived from

Ancient Egyptian Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

''Tp-jhw'', meaning ''the first of the cows'', referring to

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

. The name became ''Petpeh'' in Coptic, from which the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

version ''Atfih'' () is derived. The city was also known in Greco-Roman

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

as Aphroditopolis.

Location

Atfih is located in the area of ancient Maten, Upper Egypt's northernmost nome.

History

Ancient history

Atfih was known as ''Per-nebet tep-ihu'' in antiquity and Busiris (Aphroditopolis) to the Romans. Some of the

monuments discovered in the town include an animal necropolis, Greco-Roman tombs, and sepulchers of cows in huge limestone tombs. About 17 km North was found the Tomb of 'Ip, who lived around 2000 BC. in Atfih.

Hesateum

"Hesateum" (in analogy of the "Serapeaum" at Saqqara") was a necropolis of sacred cows of the goddess Hesat. Sixteen animal tombs of the Ptolemaic Period have survived.

Modern history

On 1 March 2011, the town's core in Atfih has seen skirmishes between some

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

people happened because of an alleged affair between a young Coptic Christian and a Muslim girl. When some people tried to blame the girl's father on, a brawl started and ended by killing the girl's father and one of his relatives. An outrage arose on March 4 and Muslims of the town went to the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of the two martyrs and set it on fire. Hence on March 8, the Christians demonstrated in front of Maspiro television building demanding that the church should be built in the same place and Christians should be returned to their homes in the town safely.

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Essam Sharaf visited them to calm the situation and the priest Mtawos Wahba has been released. The

Supreme Council of the Armed Forces The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF; , ', also Higher Council of the Armed Forces) is a Statutory authority, statutory body of between 20 and 25 Senior officer, senior Officer (armed forces), officers of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and ...

pledged to rebuild the church. Some of religious, political and public figures have intervened to calm the situation, including the

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

Sheikh Mohamed Hassan, and the

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

Amr Khaled Amr Mohamed Helmi Khaled (; born: 5 September 1967) is an Egyptian Muslim activist and television preacher. ''The New York Times Magazine'', in reference to Khaled's popularity in English-speaking countries, described him in 2006 issue as "t ...

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Giza Governorate Cities in ancient Egypt Towns in Egypt