Cusae (; ) was a city in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

. Its

Ancient Egypt 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 ...

ian name was ''qjs'' (variant ''qsy''), conventionally rendered Qis or Kis, with many further transliterations such as Qosia. Today, the town is known as

El Quseyya El Quseyya (, ''Kos'') is a city in Egypt. In ancient times it was known as Cusae or Qesy. The city is in Asyut Governorate Asyūṭ () is one of the 27 governorates of Egypt. It stretches across a section of the Nile River. The capital of ...

, and is located on the west bank of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

in the

Asyut Governorate Asyūṭ () is one of the 27 governorates of Egypt. It stretches across a section of the Nile River. The capital of the governorate is the city of Asyut. Etymology The name of Asyut is derived from early Egyptian ''Zawty'' (''Z3JW.TJ''), late E ...

History

Cusae was the capital of the 14th Nome of Upper Egypt.

Middle Kingdom

It was a cult centre for

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 ...

, and also contained a

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

Meir Meir () is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer. Alfred J. Kolatch, ''T ...

, which was used during the Middle Kingdom to hold the tombs of local aristocrats.

New Kingdom

At the beginning of the reign of the Theban

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

Kamose Kamose was the last king of the Thebes, Egypt, Theban Seventeenth dynasty of Egypt, Seventeenth Dynasty at the end of the Second Intermediate Period. Kamose is usually ascribed a reign of three years (his highest attested regnal year), although s ...

, Cusae marked the boundary between the northern

Hyksos The Hyksos (; Egyptian language, Egyptian ''wikt:ḥqꜣ, ḥqꜣ(w)-wikt:ḫꜣst, ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''heqau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands"), in modern Egyptology, are the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt ( ...

realm (the

15th Dynasty The Fifteenth Dynasty was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt. The 15th, Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt, 16th, and Seventeenth Dynasty o ...

) and the southern Theban kingdom (the 17th Dynasty).

Roman Period

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

Bishopric

The

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of Cusae was a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

of Antinoë, capital of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

of Thebaid I. Achilles (or Achilleus) was ordained bishop of the see by

Meletius of Lycopolis Melitius or Meletius (died 327) was bishop of Lycopolis in Egypt. He is known mainly as the founder and namesake of the Melitians (c. 305), one of several schismatic sects in early church history which were concerned about the ease with which la ...

. Another, Elias, was of the 4th or 5th centuries. Theonas took part in the

Second Council of Constantinople The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and re ...

(553). Later bishops took the non-

Chalcedonian Chalcedonian Christianity is the branches of Christianity that accept and uphold theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, held in AD 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christological Definitio ...

side, the first of them being Gregorius, who assisted

Pope John II (III) of Alexandria Pope John II (III) of Alexandria, was the 30th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. He is counted as John III by the Eastern Orthodox Church, which acknowledges John Talaia as ''John I'', but as John II by the Copts who rejec ...

on his deathbed. No longer a residential bishopric, Cusae is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 878

References