Manqabad also spelled Mankabad ( ar, منقباد, from ) is a town in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

, near the city of

Asyut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut'' ( ar, أسيوط ' , from ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at ...

. A military station was located in the town which was referred to as "beyond civilization", being the last vestige of the

Nile River Valley The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...

before the southern desert. In the 1940s, the station had 3000 officers and soldiers, including a number of whom like Gamal Abdel Nasser,

Khaled Mohieddin Khaled Mohieddine ( arz, خالد محيى الدين, ; August 17, 1922 – May 6, 2018) was an Egyptian revolutionary, politician, and military officer. As a member of the Free Officers Movement, he participated in the toppling of King Farouk ...

and

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

who would become members of the Free Officers Movement. In 1965, an ancient

Copt Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are Co ...

ic site was accidentally found at Manqabad and major excavations were undertaken there in 1976, 1984, and 1995. Several churches and chapels dating from the 7th to 8th centuries were excavated.

Surname

Manqabad is also the town of origin of the Manqabadi (sometimes spelled "Mankabady" or "Mankbadi") family, which was formerly one of the oldest Upper Egyptian nobilities.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control Populated places in Asyut Governorate Coptic history Villages in Egypt