Cynopolis ( for "city of the dog") was the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

for two cities in

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 ...

. Both Cynopolis superior and Cynopolis inferior were

bishoprics 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 associated ...

in Christian times.

Cynopolis superior

Cynopolis was the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian town of Saka (or Hardai?); () in the seventeenth nome of

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 ...

, was home to the cult of

Anubis Anubis (; ), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine hea ...

, a canine-shaped

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

. According to

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine, Islamic, and ...

, the town was situated on an island in the river. The modern settlement of El Kays now stands on the site. The nome of Cynopolis extended to both banks 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 ...

. A burial ground for dogs was discovered on the opposite bank of the Nile, near Hamatha. The neighbouring cities were rivals according to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, who wrote (''De Iside'', 72) that when a Cynopolis resident ate an Oxyrhynchos fish, the people of Oxyrhynchos started attacking dogs in revenge, which resulted in a minor civil war. Cynopolis was destroyed by the viceroy of Nubia Pinehesy during the reign of Ramses XI: the survivors were enslaved. The diocese, which became obscure under Islam, was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic

titular bishopric 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 archbish ...

. It was named Cynopolis in Aegypto. The see has been vacant for several decades, having had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank: * Giacomo Eich, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales (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'', which was located in the Busirite nome in

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

(the Nile delta), now modern Meniet ebn Kasib. It 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 ...

bishopric of

Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus ( ; , ; ; ), also known by its modern name Al-Bahnasa (), is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an important archaeological site. Since the late 19th century, t ...

, the Metropolitan Archbishopric and provincial capital of the Late

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 ...

Arcadia Aegypti Arcadia or Arcadia Aegypti was a Late Roman province in northern Egypt. It was named for one of the reigning ''Augusti'' Augusti, of the Roman Empire, Arcadius () of the Theodosian dynasty when it was created in the late 4th century. Its capital ...

. The diocese was nominally restored in 1922 as a Latin Catholic

under the name Cynopolis. In 1933 the name of the see was changed to Cynopolis in Arcadia. The see has been vacant for several decades. The incumbents from 1922 to 1968 were: * Robert Dobson (1922.08.22 – 1942.01.06) * Angel Maria Ocampo Berrio,

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

(S.J.) (1942.06.23 – 1947.07.19) as

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

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 A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

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

Bibliography

* * * * * The text was written in the 1830s. * * * *

External links

GigaCatholic - Cynopolis in Aegypto

{{coord, 28.4833, N, 30.7833, E, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites in Egypt Former populated places in Egypt