Prosopitis (), later known as Gazirat Ibyar () and Gazirat Banu Nasr () was an island located in the western Nile Delta, situated between the Saitic and Sebennytic Nile estuaries in

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 ...

. The name originated from the city of Prosopis (), the exact location of which is not clear, but it is sometimes identified with Nikiou. The island was also a

nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...

and was inhabited by the Hermotybians (), a warrior caste who were known to specialise solely in warfare, according to Herodotus. Atarbechis (, ), also known as Aphrodites () was the main town on the island, where a temple dedicated to the goddess

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

was located.

History

The island was the site of one of the last

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

wars against the Persians, which ended in failure. In an attempt to support an Egyptian uprising against the Persians, the Athenians besieged

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

but were ultimately defeated by the Persian land forces in 454 BC. The Athenians had been on the island since

453 BC __NOTOC__ Year 453 BC was a year of the Roman calendar, pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quinctilius and Trigeminus (or, less frequently, year 301 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 453 BC ...

and were born there under the rule of the Persian general

Megabyzus Megabyzus (, a folk-etymological alteration of Old Persian Bagabuxša, meaning "God saved") was an Achaemenid Persian general, son of Zopyrus, satrap of Babylonia, and grandson of Megabyzus I, one of the seven conspirators who had put Darius ...

. The Persians' victory was made possible by the diversion of a canal, which resulted in a mainland connection to the island.

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

, ''

History of the Peloponnesian War The ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' () is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Classical Athens, Athens). The account, ...

'' 1, 109; see also

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, b ...

, ''

Bibliotheca historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' (, ) is a work of Universal history (genre), universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, and describe the h ...

'' 11, 77. After the

Arab conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...

the Prosopites nome became known as kurah of al-Gazira, which was later reorganised into Gazirat Banu Nasr, with a capital in Ibyar.

References

Lower Egypt Geography of ancient Egypt Nile Delta Regions of Egypt