Antinoöpolis ⲁⲛⲧⲓⲛⲱⲟⲩ الشيخ عبادة أنصنا | |
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![Antinoöpolis: 19th century AD view of the triumphal arch, from Description de l'Égypte. [1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAntino%25C3%25AB_(Antino%25C3%25B6polis)._Vue_de_l%2527arc_de_triomphe.jpg) Antinoöpolis: 19th century AD view of the triumphal arch, fromDescription de l'Égypte.[1] | |
  Antinoöpolis Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates:27°48′27″N30°52′48″E / 27.80750°N 30.88000°E /27.80750; 30.88000 | |
| Country |  Egypt |
| City | Minya |
| Town | Mallawi |
| Government | |
| • Type | Minya Governorate |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
Antinoöpolis (alsoAntinoopolis,Antinoë,Antinopolis;Ancient Greek:Ἀντινόου πόλις;Coptic:ⲁⲛⲧⲓⲛⲱⲟⲩAntinow;Arabic:انصنا,romanized: Ansinā, modernArabic:الشيخ عبادة, modernSheikh 'Ibada orSheik Abāda) was a city founded at an older Egyptian village by theRoman emperorHadrian to commemorate his deified youngbeloved,Antinoüs, on the east bank of theNile, not far from the site inUpper Egypt where Antinoüs drowned in 130 AD.[2] Antinoöpolis was a little to the south of theEgyptian village ofBesa (Βῆσσα), named after the god and oracle ofBes.[3] Antinoöpolis was built at the foot of the hill upon which Besa was seated. The city is located nearly oppositeHermopolis Magna and was connected toBerenice Troglodytica by theVia Hadriana.
During theNew Kingdom, the city,Hir-we, was the location ofRamesses II's great temple, dedicated to the gods ofKhmun andHeliopolis.
During theRoman Empire, the city of Antinoöpolis was erected in AD 130 by the emperor Hadrian on the site of Hir-we as the cult centre of the deified Antinoüs. All previous buildings, including a necropolis, were razed and replaced, with the exception of the Temple ofRamses II.[4][2] Hadrian also had political motives for the creation of Antinoöpolis, which was to be the first Hellenic city in the Middle Nile region, thus serving as a bastion of Greek culture within the Egyptian area. To encourage Egyptians to integrate with this imported Greek culture, he permitted Greeks and Egyptians in the city to marry and allowed the main deity of Hir-we,Bes, to continue to be worshipped in Antinoöpolis alongside the new primary deity, Osiris-Antinoüs.[4]: 150 He encouraged Greeks from elsewhere to settle in the new city, using various incentives to do so.[4]: 199 The city was designed on agridiron plan that was typical of Hellenic cities, and embellished with columns and many statues of Antinoüs, as well as a temple devoted to the deity.[4]: 200–2
The city of Antinoöpolis was the centre of the official cult of Antinoüs. The city exhibited theGraeco-Roman architecture ofHadrian's age in immediate contrast with theEgyptian style. Hadrian proclaimed that games would be held at the city in Spring 131 in commemoration of Antinoüs. Known as theAntinoeia, they would be held annually for several centuries, being noted as the most important in Egypt. Events included athletic competitions, chariot and equestrian races, and artistic and musical festivals, with prizes including citizenship, money, tokens, and free lifetime maintenance.[4]: 149, 205 Divine honours were paid in theAntinoeion to Antinoüs as a local deity, and games and chariot-races were annually exhibited in commemoration of his death and ofHadrian's sorrow. (Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v.Ἀντινόεια.) According to the GreekMenaea, it was at Antinoë thatSaint Julian underwent martyrdom during thePersecutions of Diocletian. Numerous otherChristian martyrs are known to have died here under the orders of the governorArianus.
Antinoöpolis continued to grow into the Byzantine era, being Christianized with the conversion of the Empire, but retaining an association with magic for centuries to come.[4]: 199–200, 205–6 As a cultural centre, it was the native city of the 4th-century mathematicianSerenus of Antinoöpolis. Antinoöpolis in the 6th century was still a "most illustrious' city in a surviving divorce decree of 569 AD.[5]
The city was abandoned around the 10th century. It continued to host a massiveGraeco-Roman temple until the 19th century, when it was destroyed to feed a cement works.[6] Over the centuries, stone from the Hadrianic city was removed for the construction of homes and mosques.[4]: 206 By the 18th century, the ruins of Antinopolis were still visible, being recorded by such European travellers as Jesuit missionaryClaude Sicard in 1715 andEdme-François Jomard the surveyor circa 1800.[4]: 198 However, in the 19th century, Antinopolis was almost completely destroyed by local industrial production, as the chalk and limestone was burned for powder while stone was used in the construction of a nearby dam and sugar factory.[4]: 207
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The city of Antinoöpolis was governed by its own senate andprytaneus or president. The senate was chosen from the members of the wards (φυλαί), of which we learn the name of one –Ἀθηναΐς – from inscriptions (Orelli, No. 4705); and its decrees, as well as those of theprytaneus, were not, as usual, subject to the revision of thenomarch, but to that of the prefect (ἐπιστράτηγος) of theThebaid. Antinoöpolis first belonged to theHeptanomis, but underDiocletian (286 AD) Antinoöpolis became the capital of thenome of theThebaid.
Antinoë was the seat of a Christian bishop by the 4th century, originally asuffragan of themetropolitan see ofPtolemais in Thebaide, but it became a metropolitan see itself in the 5th century, having as suffragansHerrmopolis Parva,Cusae,Lycopolis,Hypselis,Apollonopolis Parva,Antaeopolis,Panopolis andTheodosiopolis.[7][8][9] No longer a Latin residential bishopric, Antinoë is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[10]
The earliest finds at the site date to theNew Kingdom, whenBes andHathor were important deities.[3] A grotto, once inhabited byChristiananchorites, probably marks the seat of the shrine and oracle, andGrecian tombs with inscriptions point to thenecropolis of Antinoöpolis. The ruins of Antinoöpolis attest, by the area which they fill, the ancient grandeur of the city. The direction of the principal streets may still be traced. The streets were built on a grid plan with roads intersecting at right angles, like the majority of Roman cities at this time, and Jomard, a member of Napoleon'sCommission d’Egypte found that the streets were divided into quarters and blocks, with each building being conveniently numbered.[11] One at least of them, which ran from north to south, had on either side of it a corridor supported by columns for the convenience of foot-passengers. The walls of the theatre near the southern gate, and those of the hippodrome without the walls to the east, are still extant. At the north-western extremity of the city was a portico, of which four columns remain, inscribed to Good Fortune, and bearing the date of the 14th and last year of the reign ofAlexander Severus, 235 AD.
As far as can be ascertained from the space covered with mounds of masonry, Antinoöpolis was about a mile and a half in length, and nearly half a mile broad. The remains of the city, having a three and a half mile circumference, suggests Roman and Hellenistic foundations and was surrounded by a brick wall on three sides, leaving the fourth side open to the Nile.[11] Near theHippodrome are a well and tanks appertaining to an ancient road, which leads from the eastern gate to a valley behind the town, ascends the mountains, and, passing through the desert by the Wádee Tarfa, joins the roads to the quarries of theMons Porphyrites.[12] At the beginning of the 19th century, whenNapoleonic surveys were made, a theatre, many temples, a triumphal arch, two streets with double colonnades (illustrated inDescription de l'Egypte), a circus, and a hippodrome nearby, were still to be seen.
A small collection of textiles excavated 1913–1914 by John de Monins Johnson[13] are held in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[14]
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Albert Gayet (1856–1916) was known as the "archaeologist of Antinoöpolis" and, without his extensive research and documentation of the site, very little would be known about this Greco-Roman city. Though there is much data of Antinoöpolis recorded from the NapoleonicCommission, Gayet's report sheds a greater light on the ancient city. As Christianity began to spread through the Roman Empire, Antinoöpolis became a place of worship. Centuries after the city of Antinoüs was established by the Roman emperor, Christianity became the way of life. The city was home to many nuns and monks and Christian sanctuaries were built. Many came to venerate saints, such as Claudius andColluthus, and monasteries were abundant.[15] Gayet's findings confirm the wide spread of Christianity. Gayet's excavations have revealed mummies, grave goods, and thousands of fabrics at the site of Antinoöpolis. Gayet uncovered a large cemetery, the burial place of numerousCoptic Christians. Mummification was prohibited by law in the fourth century A.D., and so the remains of deceased Christians were dressed in tunics and swaddled with other textiles before being buried.[16] Gayet's findings give researchers a better understanding of early Christian burial practices and his preservation of artistic textiles found at the site show the evolving Coptic style. The transformation of style was the canonical art of ancient Egypt infused with Classical and then Christian art.[17]
Today, Antinoöpolis is the site of El Sheikh Ibada, a small village. Many of the original buildings have been broken down for materials to build newer structures, such as sugar factories for El-Rodah, but visitors can still see the remains of the Roman Circus and ruins of a few temples.[3] Some excavations were undertaken by theUniversity of Rome, 1965–68, withSergio Donadoni.Papyri from the site were edited and translated byJ. W. B. Barns and H. Zilliacus.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
The City Antinoöpolis:
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