Rhinocolura

''Rhinocorura'' (, or , ''Rhinokoúroura'') or ''Rhinocolura'' (, ''Rhinokóloura'') was the name of a region and one or more associated towns and rivers lying between

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 ...

and Palestine. The name may refer explicitly to: * As ''Rhinocorura'', a desert location on the border between

and Palestine mentioned by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

(''Geographia'' XVI, 2, 31-32) and

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

(''Historic Library'' Vol 1, Chap. 60). This appears to be the original usage of the name, which means " cut-off noses" in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

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 ...

relates that it was founded by the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n king

Actisanes Actisanes () was a legendary king of Aethiopia who conquered Egypt. He founded the city of Rhinocolura on the confines of Egypt and Syria, and was succeeded by Mendes, an Egyptian. Diodorus Siculus says that Actisanes conquered Egypt in the reig ...

as a place of exile for those found guilty of robbery whom he punished by cutting off their noses.

's version of the story claims that it was settled by Ethiopians who had attempted to invade Egypt and were subsequently punished by having their noses cut off. It may be identical with the Egyptian border fortress

Tjaru Tjaru () was an ancient Egyptian fortress on the ''Way of Horus'' or ''Horus military road'', the major road leading out of Egypt into Canaan. It was known in Greek as Selē (), in Latin as Sile or Sele, and in Coptic as Selē or Slē (). It has ...

, to which officials, who had committed crimes, were banished after having their noses cut off. * As ''Rhinocorura'', the

Brook of Egypt The Brook of Egypt () is a wadi identified in the Hebrew Bible as forming the southernmost border of the Land of Israel. A number of scholars in the past identified it with Wadi al-Arish, an ephemeral river flowing into the Mediterranean sea nea ...

, when identified as the Pelusian branch of the Nile. In ancient times, the Pelusian was the easternmost branch of the Nile, which subsequently ran dry. It was located roughly where the present

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

lies. This usage of the term is found in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

translation of

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

27:12. Presumably the locality mentioned by Strabo and Diodorus lay in its vicinity and gave its name to the river. * As ''Rhinocolura'', the name of one or two (depending on interpretation) coastal towns mentioned by Pliny and

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

. Pliny writes, ambiguously, "and the two towns of Rhinocolura, inland Raphia,

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Mandatory Palestine * Gaza Sub ...

and inland Anthedon". (Pliny, ''Historia Naturalis'', V,14.) Josephus mentions a coastal Rhinocolura near Gaza, Anthedon and Raphia. (Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'', Book 13, 15:4; Book 24, 11:5). He also mentions Rhinocolura in connection with Pelusium (''Antiquities of the Jews'', Book 14, 14:2; ''The Jewish War'', Book 1, 14). The coastal Rhinocolura (or one of them, if there were two) is commonly identified with

El-Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ' ) is the capital and largest city of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediterranean coast northeast of Cairo and west of the Egypt–Gaza border. T ...

. It is uncertain if this is identical to the ''Rhinocorura'' of Strabo and Diodorus. Archaeologists have found no evidence of occupation prior to the Hellenistic period at El-Arish. * As ''Rhinocolura'' or ''Rhinocorura'', the

Wadi al-Arish Wadi al-Arish is a dry riverbed in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. The river, when it flowed, was 250 kilometers long and flowed intro the Mediterranean Sea near the town of Arish. Wadi al-Arish is considered by some, including geographer Ishtori H ...

. The drying up and disappearance of the Pelusian arm of the Nile led Biblical commentators to identify the ''Rhinocurara'' of the Septuagint (the "

") with the Wadi El-Arish, which provides water to El-Arish identified with the coastal Rhinocolura of Pliny and Josephus. *''Rhinocolura'' or ''Rhinocorura'' (), a

Catholic 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 ...

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 ...

and

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

Pelusium Pelusium (Ancient Egyptian: ; /, romanized: , or , romanized: ; ; ; ; ) was an important city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, to the southeast of the modern Port Said. It became a Roman provincial capital and Metropolitan arc ...

, representing the Sinai {{Authority control Geography of ancient Egypt Hebrew Bible rivers