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Oxyrhynchus

January 20, 2023

This article is about the Egyptian city. For the genus of legumes, see Oxyrhynchus (plant).

Oxyrhynchus (/ɒksɪˈrɪŋkəs/; Greek: Ὀξύρρυγχος, translit. Oxýrrhynchos, lit. "sharp-nosed"; ancient Egyptian Pr-Medjed; Coptic: ⲡⲉⲙϫⲉ or ⲡⲙ̅ϫⲏ, romanized: Pemdje;[1][2] Arabic: البهنسا, romanized: Al-Bahnasa) is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered. Since the late 19th century, the area around Oxyrhynchus has been excavated almost continually, yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. They also include a few vellum manuscripts, and more recent Arabic manuscripts on paper (for example, the medieval P. Oxy. VI 1006[3])

Oxyrhynchus
ⲡⲉⲙϫⲉ
ⲡⲙ̅ϫⲏ
البهنسا
Al-Bahnasa Martyr district, a cemetery of 5,000 prominent early Muslims during Early Muslim conquests
Oxyrhynchus
Coordinates: 28°31′52″N 30°38′49″E / 28.531°N 30.647°E / 28.531; 30.647Coordinates: 28°31′52″N 30°38′49″E / 28.531°N 30.647°E / 28.531; 30.647
Country Egypt
GovernorateMinya
Time zoneUTC+2 (EST)

History

 
The Medjed or Oxyrhynchus worshipped as a deity

Ancient Egyptian Era

Oxyrhynchus lies west of the main course of the Nile on the Bahr Yussef, a branch that terminates in Lake Moeris and the Faiyum oasis. In ancient Egyptian times, there was a city on the site called Per-Medjed,[4] named after the medjed, a species of elephantfish of the Nile worshipped there as the fish that ate the penis of Osiris. It was the capital of the 19th Upper Egyptian Nome.

Ptolemaic Era

 
Location of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.

After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, the city was reestablished as a Hellenistic town called Oxyrrhynchoupolis (Koinē Greek: Ὀξυρρύγχου Πόλις, lit. 'town of the sharp-snouted fish'). In the Hellenistic period, Oxyrhynchus was a prosperous regional capital, the third-largest city in Egypt. After Egypt was Christianized, it became famous for its many churches and monasteries.[4]

Roman Era

Oxyrhynchus remained a prominent, though gradually declining, town in the Roman and Byzantine periods. From 619 to 629, during the brief period of Sasanian Egypt, three Greek papyri from Oxyrhynchus include references to large sums of gold that were to be sent to the emperor.[5]

Arab Era

Further information on Muslim conquest of Bahnasa: 'Amr ibn al-'Aas, Dhiraar ibn al-Azwar, Military conquests of Umar's era, and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
 
map showing the path of the Islamic armies and their conquest of Egypt and Nubia during the reign of the second Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab.

During the era of Rashidun Caliphate, the town of Oxyrhinchus was invaded and conquered by Rashidun army under the leadership of Khalid ibn al-Walid.[6][7][8][9] At first, the Rashidun sent emissary of Al-Mughira to negotiate with the garrison commander of the city named Batlus, however, as the negotiation ended badly, the Rashidun forces then sent their troops to attack Bahnasa.[10]

At that point, the town's name was changed to Al-Bahnasa. The town subsequently contained a cemetery of 5,000 companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who had participated in the conquest of Oxyrhynchus.[6][7][8][9] After the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641, the canal system on which the town depended fell into disrepair, and Oxyrhynchus was abandoned. Today the town of el Bahnasa occupies part of the ancient site. The Arabs called the city as "Al-Baqi' of Egypt",[9] as Bahnasa were known for having 5,000 Sahaba buried in it.[8] The large numbers of fallen Muslim soldiers buried in this city due to major battles against the Roman army and their fortifications in this area.[6] It is recorded by various early Islam chroniclers, such as Al-Waqidi in his F̣utūh al-Bahnasā, and Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mu"izz in The Conquest of Bahnasa that the Muslim armies under Khalid ibn al-Walid entered Bahnasa in 639,[11] besieging the town for months before they can subdue the 50,000 Byzantine and Beja Sudanese garrison defenders.[12][13]

Before it was renamed as "al-Bahnasa", Oxyrynchus were renamed as "Al-Qays town", by Maqrizi or "town of Martyrs" in honor to one of the Muslim commander that participated in the conquest of Oxyrynchus.[14] Ali Pasha Mubarak mentioned it in the compromise plans that it was a city that had great fame and its flat was about 1000 acres and the golden curtains were working and the length of the curtains was 30 cubits and its territory included 120 villages other than the plantations and the hamlets. The northern is Kandous, the western is the mountain, the tribal is Touma, and the eastern is the sea. Each gate had three towers, and there were forty ribats, palaces, and many mosques, and at its western end there is a famous place known as the "Dome of Seven maidens".[15]

Among the most notable tombs were allegedly belong to the Muslim martyrs were the tombs of the children of Aqil bin Ali bin Abi Talib (brother of Ali, fourth Rashidun Caliph), Ziyad bin Abi Sufyan bin Abdul Muttalib (son of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb), Aban ibn Uthman bin Affan, Muhammad ibn Abi Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr al-Siddiq (grandson of Abu Bakar), and Hassan al-Salih ibn Zayn al-Abidin bin al-Hussein (great grandson of Ali).[16]

Ibn Taghribirdi, a Mamluk era historian, also writing the history of Bahnasa conquest in his book, Al Duhur fi madaa al 'Ayaam wa al shuhur[17]

The Muslims army settled in the town for three years as their base after the conquest, while launching occasional raids on the black and the coasts. Al-Qa`qa` bin Amr, Hashem, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari and Uqba ibn Nafi Al-Fihri, the future conqueror of Maghreb, and went with two thousand of Persians convert who now fight under the caliphate, and raided the border of Barqa.[13][12]

Modern era

Today, there is the mosque of Al-Hassan bin Saleh bin Ali Zain Al-Abidin bin Al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib which allegedly built in honor for the venerated Muslim that also participated in the conquest of Bahnasa.[18] and it is the only mosque in Egypt that has two qiblas.[18]

Aside from Al-Hassan mosque, there are other structures erected by locals which still stand to 20th century in honor of the Muslim conqueror personalities which regarded as heroes by the locals, such as Sidi Fath al-Bab tomb, and the Sidi Ali al-Jamam mosque.[18] according to the local imam, Dr. Abdel Halim Mahmoud, the locals of Bahnasa were very proud that their town contained so many landmarks of early Muslim heroes, which including 600 person that participated in the battles of Islam since the time of Muhammad.[18]

Salama Zahran, director of al-Bahnasa district excavation research team, says that The region was in the ranks of second-class cities after Alexandria, the capital of Egypt at that time, which is indicated by the domes on the land of Bahnasa, which are attributed to the martyrs of the companions such as Muhammad bin Uqbah bin Amer Al-Juhani, and Ubadah bin Al-Samit.[18]

There was also a particular mosque called dome of seven maidens, which allegedly was built to honor seven Oxyrhynchus coptic girls who defected and helped the Muslim armies under 'Amr ibn al-As and now venerated for their effort in the conquest of the city.[18] As the town of al-Bahnasa now contained thousands historical structures in memoir of the conquests, including the 5,000 graves of companions of the prophet and Tabi'un martyrs of the battle of Bahnasa, the town are regarded by locals as "al-Baqi' of Egypt",[8][18] which became the point of interest for many foreign tourists particularly from the Muslim majority country.[8]

Archaeological excavation

Main article: Oxyrhynchus Papyri

In 1882, Egypt, while still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, came under effective British rule, and British archaeologists began the systematic exploration of the country. Because Oxyrhynchus was not considered an Ancient Egyptian site of any importance, it was neglected until 1896, when two young excavators, Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt, both fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford, began to excavate it. "My first impressions on examining the site were not very favourable," wrote Grenfell. "The rubbish mounds were nothing but rubbish mounds."[19] However, they very soon realized what they had found. The unique combination of climate and circumstance had left at Oxyrhynchus an unequalled archive of the ancient world. "The flow of papyri soon became a torrent," Grenfell recalled. "Merely turning up the soil with one's boot would frequently disclose a layer."[20]

The classical author who has most benefited from the finds at Oxyrhynchus is the Athenian playwright Menander (342–291 BC), whose comedies were very popular in Hellenistic times and whose works are frequently found in papyrus fragments. Menander's plays found in fragments at Oxyrhynchus include Misoumenos, Dis Exapaton, Epitrepontes, Karchedonios, Dyskolos and Kolax. The works found at Oxyrhynchus have greatly raised Menander's status among classicists and scholars of Greek theatre.[citation needed]

There is an on-line table of contents briefly listing the type of contents of each papyrus or fragment.[21]

 
Another Oxyrhynchus papyrus, dated 75–125 AD. It describes one of the oldest diagrams of Euclid's Elements.[22]

Since the 1930s, work on the papyri has continued. For many years it was under the supervision of Professor Peter Parsons of Oxford. Eighty large volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have been published,[23][24]

Since the days of Grenfell and Hunt, the focus of attention at Oxyrhynchus has shifted. Modern archaeologists are interested in learning about the social, economic, and political life of the ancient world. This shift in emphasis had made Oxyrhynchus, if anything, even more important, for the very ordinariness of most of its preserved documents makes them most valuable for modern scholars of social history. Many works on Egyptian and Roman social and economic history and on the history of Christianity rely heavily on documents from Oxyrhynchus.[citation needed]

A joint project with Brigham Young University using multi-spectral imaging technology has been extremely successful in recovering previously illegible writing. With multi-spectral imaging, many pictures of the illegible papyrus are taken using different filters, finely tuned to capture certain wavelengths of light. Thus, researchers can find the optimum spectral portion for distinguishing ink from paper in order to display otherwise completely illegible papyri. The amount of text potentially to be deciphered by this technique is huge. A selection of the images obtained during the project and more information on the latest discoveries has been provided on the project's website.[25]

On June 21, 2005, the Times Literary Supplement published the text and translation of a newly reconstructed poem by Sappho,[26] together with discussion by Martin L. West.[27] Part of this poem was first published in 1922 from an Oxyrhynchus papyrus, no. 1787 (fragment 1).[28] Most of the rest of the poem has now been found on a papyrus kept at Cologne University.[29]

In May 2020, an Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission headed by Esther Pons and Maite Mascort revealed a unique cemetery consisting of one room built with glazed limestone dating back to the 26th Dynasty (so-called the El-Sawi era). Archaeologists also uncovered bronze coins, clay seals, Roman tombstones and small crosses.[30][31][32]

Archaeological structures of Muslim conquest

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities expressed their interest in a project to restore the tombs of the Al-Bahnasa, an ancient city, in which many papyri dating back to the Greco-Roman era were found, as well as a number of tombs for the companions of Muhammad.[6] In 2021, Egypt's head of Islamic, Coptic, Jewish antiquities sector followed up on the progress of the restoration.[16]

In March 2020, archeological researchers from the Antiquities Inspection of Al-Bahnasa District located archaeological evidence of the encampment of Khalid ibn al-Walid and 10,000 soldiers under him, including 70 veterans of the Battle of Badr.[7] The excavators said the Muslim armies' encampments were located in the current location of the village of Beni Hilal, Minya District, west of Bahnasa.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b E. A. Wallis Budge (1920). An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words, king list and geological list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, coptic and semitic alphabets, etc. Vol II=. John Murray. p. 987
  2. ^ a b Gauthier, Henri (1925). Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol .2. p. 83.
  3. ^ "Oxyrhynchus Online Image Database". Oxyrhynchus Online Project Metadata. Retrieved 27 March 2017. Document Location: The Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt. Material: Paper. Image: Unavailable.
  4. ^ a b "Where is Oxyrhynchus?". Oxyrhynchus Online. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
  5. ^ EGYPT iv. Relations in the Sasanian period at Encyclopædia Iranica
  6. ^ a b c d "The city of Bahnasa .. Why is the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities interested in restoring it?". Egypt Forward. Egypt Forward. 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d Omar, Samir; Muslim, Mahmoud (2020). "باحث أثري يكشف سر إقامة 10 آلاف صحابي ومعركة خالد بن الوليد في البهنسا" [An archaeological researcher reveals the secret of the residence of 10 thousand companions and the battle of Khalid ibn al-Walid in Bahnasa]. Mahmoud Muslim. El-Wattan News. El-Wattan. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e Harits, Deffa Cahyana (2019). "Bahnasa; Objek Wisata yang Menyimpan Jejak Sejarah Islam". KMA mesir. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Shahine, Gihan. "For love of the Prophet's companions". Ahram online. Ahram online. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  10. ^ Abdel Aziz Munir 2012.
  11. ^ Blumell, Lincoln H. (2012). Epilogue. The Demise of Christian Oxyrhynchus. Brill. pp. 295–300. ISBN 9789004180987. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  12. ^ a b Waqidi, Muhammad ibn Umar (1934). F̣utūh al-Bahnasā al-Gharāʻ. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Haḏā Kitāb" Qiṣṣat al-Bahnasā wa-mā fihā min al-ʿaǧā'ib wa-l-ġarā'ib (digitized Austrian National Library ed.). Maṭbaʿat al-Wahabīya. 1873. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  14. ^ Al Shinnawy, Mohammed (2019). "مدينة الشهداء خارج حساب محافظ المنيا" [The city of martyrs is outside the account of the governor of Minya]. Shada al-'Arab. Shada al-'Arab. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  15. ^ Abdul Ghafur, Hassan (2020). ""البهنسا" البقيع الثانى بالمنيا.. هنا يرقد أبطال غزوة بدر.. دفن بأرضها نحو 5000 صحابى.. وبها مقام سيدى على التكرورى.. السياحة ترصد ميزانية لأعمال ترميم وصيانة آثارها وأبرزها قباب الصحابة وسط مدافن البسطاء (صور)". al-Yaum al-Sab'a. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  16. ^ a b Karima, Hanya. "Egypt's head of Islamic, Coptic, Jewish antiquities sector follows up on progress of project of restoring archeological village of Al-Bahnasa in Minya". Egypt Today. Egypt Today. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  17. ^ Ali, Mohammed (2015). أقاليم مصر الفرعونية. ktab INC. p. 215. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Abu Al-Saud, Mahmoud (2020). ""البهنسا".. طقوس فرضتها شمس "البقيع الثاني" ورمال ارتوت بدماء الصحابة". al Madain. al Madain. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  19. ^ Quoted in A.M. Luijendijk, "Sacred Scriptures as Trash: Biblical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus" Vigiliae Christianae, 2010.
  20. ^ Grenfell, Bernard (1898). "Oxyrhynchus and Its Papyri". In Griffith, F.L. (ed.). Archaeological Report: 1896-1897. Egypt Exploration Fund. pp. 1–12, (7). Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  21. ^ Search by table of contents; "Oxyrhynchus Online Image Database". Imaging Papyri Project. Retrieved 25 May 2007. A listing of what each fragment contains.
  22. ^ Bill Casselman. "One of the oldest extant diagrams from Euclid". Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  23. ^ . Egypt Exploration Society. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  24. ^ (PDF). The Egypt Exploration Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  25. ^ "Multispectral imaging". Oxyrhynchos online. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
  26. ^ Martin West (24 June 2005). . Times Online. Archived from the original on 28 June 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
  27. ^ Discussion by Martin West September 29, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-03-25. Retrieved 2006-03-23.see the third pair of images on this page
  29. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2006-03-23.Image of papyrus fragment
  30. ^ "StackPath". dailynewsegypt.com. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  31. ^ "Unique cemetery dating back to el-Sawi era discovered in Egypt amid coronavirus crisis". Zee News. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  32. ^ Mahmoud, Rasha (2020-05-26). "Egypt makes major archaeological discovery amid coronavirus crisis". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2020-09-09.

Further reading

  • . (2007). Gardners Books.ISBN 978-1-4304-5596-7
  • Abdel Aziz Munir, Amr (2012). Abdel Aziz Munir, Amr (ed.). قصة البهنسا: حكاية غزوة [The Story of Bahnasa.. A Story of a Battle] (paperback) (in Arabic). Egyptian General Authority for Cultural Palaces; Department of History at the Faculty of Arts. ISBN 9789777180177. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  • Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar Wāqidī (1934). F̣utūh al-Bahnasā al-Gharāʻ (in Arabic). the University of Michigan. Retrieved 11 February 2022.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oxyrhynchus.
  • Official website of the Archaeological Mission in Oxyrhynchus
  • Oxyrhynchus Online
  • PBS NOVA scienceNOW feature on papyrus imaging (streaming video)
  • Oxyrhynchus and the Gospel of Thomas
  • Article on new discoveries in the papyri from The Independent on Sunday, April 17, 2005
  • Joint Egyptian/Spanish archaeological mission in Oxyrhynchus
  • H. Blumell, Lincoln (2012). "Epilogue. The Demise of Christian Oxyrhynchus". Lettered Christians (Biblical Studies). Brill. pp. 295–300. doi:10.1163/9789004180987_008. ISBN 9789004180987. Retrieved 17 January 2022. Futuh al-Bahnasa al Gharra, 'the conquest of Bahnasa, the blessed', by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mu'izz

Oxyrhynchus papyri volumes

  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. I, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. II, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. III, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive.
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. IV, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. V, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. VI, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. VII, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. VIII, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. IX, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection. Reprinted by Cornell University Library Digital Collections
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. X, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XI, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XII, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XIII, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XIV, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
  • The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol. XV, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive

January 20, 2023
oxyrhynchus, this, article, about, egyptian, city, genus, legumes, plant, greek, Ὀξύρρυγχος, translit, oxýrrhynchos, sharp, nosed, ancient, egyptian, medjed, coptic, ⲡⲉⲙϫⲉ, ⲡⲙ, ϫⲏ, romanized, pemdje, arabic, البهنسا, romanized, bahnasa, city, middle, egypt, lo. This article is about the Egyptian city For the genus of legumes see Oxyrhynchus plant Oxyrhynchus ɒ k s ɪ ˈ r ɪ ŋ k e s Greek Ὀ3yrrygxos translit Oxyrrhynchos lit sharp nosed ancient Egyptian Pr Medjed Coptic ⲡⲉⲙϫⲉ or ⲡⲙ ϫⲏ romanized Pemdje 1 2 Arabic البهنسا romanized Al Bahnasa is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate It is also an archaeological site considered one of the most important ever discovered Since the late 19th century the area around Oxyrhynchus has been excavated almost continually yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt They also include a few vellum manuscripts and more recent Arabic manuscripts on paper for example the medieval P Oxy VI 1006 3 Oxyrhynchus ⲡⲉⲙϫⲉ ⲡⲙ ϫⲏالبهنساAl Bahnasa Martyr district a cemetery of 5 000 prominent early Muslims during Early Muslim conquestsOxyrhynchusCoordinates 28 31 52 N 30 38 49 E 28 531 N 30 647 E 28 531 30 647 Coordinates 28 31 52 N 30 38 49 E 28 531 N 30 647 E 28 531 30 647Country EgyptGovernorateMinyaTime zoneUTC 2 EST Contents 1 History 1 1 Ancient Egyptian Era 1 2 Ptolemaic Era 1 3 Roman Era 1 4 Arab Era 1 5 Modern era 2 Archaeological excavation 2 1 Archaeological structures of Muslim conquest 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links 6 1 Oxyrhynchus papyri volumesHistory Edit The Medjed or Oxyrhynchus worshipped as a deity Ancient Egyptian Era Edit pr mꜥḏ 1 Egyptian hieroglyphspr mḏꜣ 2 Egyptian hieroglyphsOxyrhynchus lies west of the main course of the Nile on the Bahr Yussef a branch that terminates in Lake Moeris and the Faiyum oasis In ancient Egyptian times there was a city on the site called Per Medjed 4 named after the medjed a species of elephantfish of the Nile worshipped there as the fish that ate the penis of Osiris It was the capital of the 19th Upper Egyptian Nome Ptolemaic Era Edit Location of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC the city was reestablished as a Hellenistic town called Oxyrrhynchoupolis Koine Greek Ὀ3yrrygxoy Polis lit town of the sharp snouted fish In the Hellenistic period Oxyrhynchus was a prosperous regional capital the third largest city in Egypt After Egypt was Christianized it became famous for its many churches and monasteries 4 Roman Era Edit Oxyrhynchus remained a prominent though gradually declining town in the Roman and Byzantine periods From 619 to 629 during the brief period of Sasanian Egypt three Greek papyri from Oxyrhynchus include references to large sums of gold that were to be sent to the emperor 5 Arab Era Edit Further information on Muslim conquest of Bahnasa Amr ibn al Aas Dhiraar ibn al Azwar Military conquests of Umar s era and Zubayr ibn al Awwam map showing the path of the Islamic armies and their conquest of Egypt and Nubia during the reign of the second Caliph Omar Ibn Al Khattab During the era of Rashidun Caliphate the town of Oxyrhinchus was invaded and conquered by Rashidun army under the leadership of Khalid ibn al Walid 6 7 8 9 At first the Rashidun sent emissary of Al Mughira to negotiate with the garrison commander of the city named Batlus however as the negotiation ended badly the Rashidun forces then sent their troops to attack Bahnasa 10 At that point the town s name was changed to Al Bahnasa The town subsequently contained a cemetery of 5 000 companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who had participated in the conquest of Oxyrhynchus 6 7 8 9 After the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 the canal system on which the town depended fell into disrepair and Oxyrhynchus was abandoned Today the town of el Bahnasa occupies part of the ancient site The Arabs called the city as Al Baqi of Egypt 9 as Bahnasa were known for having 5 000 Sahaba buried in it 8 The large numbers of fallen Muslim soldiers buried in this city due to major battles against the Roman army and their fortifications in this area 6 It is recorded by various early Islam chroniclers such as Al Waqidi in his F utuh al Bahnasa and Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Mu izz in The Conquest of Bahnasa that the Muslim armies under Khalid ibn al Walid entered Bahnasa in 639 11 besieging the town for months before they can subdue the 50 000 Byzantine and Beja Sudanese garrison defenders 12 13 Before it was renamed as al Bahnasa Oxyrynchus were renamed as Al Qays town by Maqrizi or town of Martyrs in honor to one of the Muslim commander that participated in the conquest of Oxyrynchus 14 Ali Pasha Mubarak mentioned it in the compromise plans that it was a city that had great fame and its flat was about 1000 acres and the golden curtains were working and the length of the curtains was 30 cubits and its territory included 120 villages other than the plantations and the hamlets The northern is Kandous the western is the mountain the tribal is Touma and the eastern is the sea Each gate had three towers and there were forty ribats palaces and many mosques and at its western end there is a famous place known as the Dome of Seven maidens 15 Among the most notable tombs were allegedly belong to the Muslim martyrs were the tombs of the children of Aqil bin Ali bin Abi Talib brother of Ali fourth Rashidun Caliph Ziyad bin Abi Sufyan bin Abdul Muttalib son of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb Aban ibn Uthman bin Affan Muhammad ibn Abi Abd al Rahman bin Abi Bakr al Siddiq grandson of Abu Bakar and Hassan al Salih ibn Zayn al Abidin bin al Hussein great grandson of Ali 16 Ibn Taghribirdi a Mamluk era historian also writing the history of Bahnasa conquest in his book Al Duhur fi madaa al Ayaam wa al shuhur 17 The Muslims army settled in the town for three years as their base after the conquest while launching occasional raids on the black and the coasts Al Qa qa bin Amr Hashem Abu Ayyub al Ansari and Uqba ibn Nafi Al Fihri the future conqueror of Maghreb and went with two thousand of Persians convert who now fight under the caliphate and raided the border of Barqa 13 12 Modern era Edit Today there is the mosque of Al Hassan bin Saleh bin Ali Zain Al Abidin bin Al Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib which allegedly built in honor for the venerated Muslim that also participated in the conquest of Bahnasa 18 and it is the only mosque in Egypt that has two qiblas 18 Aside from Al Hassan mosque there are other structures erected by locals which still stand to 20th century in honor of the Muslim conqueror personalities which regarded as heroes by the locals such as Sidi Fath al Bab tomb and the Sidi Ali al Jamam mosque 18 according to the local imam Dr Abdel Halim Mahmoud the locals of Bahnasa were very proud that their town contained so many landmarks of early Muslim heroes which including 600 person that participated in the battles of Islam since the time of Muhammad 18 Salama Zahran director of al Bahnasa district excavation research team says that The region was in the ranks of second class cities after Alexandria the capital of Egypt at that time which is indicated by the domes on the land of Bahnasa which are attributed to the martyrs of the companions such as Muhammad bin Uqbah bin Amer Al Juhani and Ubadah bin Al Samit 18 There was also a particular mosque called dome of seven maidens which allegedly was built to honor seven Oxyrhynchus coptic girls who defected and helped the Muslim armies under Amr ibn al As and now venerated for their effort in the conquest of the city 18 As the town of al Bahnasa now contained thousands historical structures in memoir of the conquests including the 5 000 graves of companions of the prophet and Tabi un martyrs of the battle of Bahnasa the town are regarded by locals as al Baqi of Egypt 8 18 which became the point of interest for many foreign tourists particularly from the Muslim majority country 8 Archaeological excavation EditMain article Oxyrhynchus Papyri In 1882 Egypt while still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire came under effective British rule and British archaeologists began the systematic exploration of the country Because Oxyrhynchus was not considered an Ancient Egyptian site of any importance it was neglected until 1896 when two young excavators Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt both fellows of The Queen s College Oxford began to excavate it My first impressions on examining the site were not very favourable wrote Grenfell The rubbish mounds were nothing but rubbish mounds 19 However they very soon realized what they had found The unique combination of climate and circumstance had left at Oxyrhynchus an unequalled archive of the ancient world The flow of papyri soon became a torrent Grenfell recalled Merely turning up the soil with one s boot would frequently disclose a layer 20 The classical author who has most benefited from the finds at Oxyrhynchus is the Athenian playwright Menander 342 291 BC whose comedies were very popular in Hellenistic times and whose works are frequently found in papyrus fragments Menander s plays found in fragments at Oxyrhynchus include Misoumenos Dis Exapaton Epitrepontes Karchedonios Dyskolos and Kolax The works found at Oxyrhynchus have greatly raised Menander s status among classicists and scholars of Greek theatre citation needed There is an on line table of contents briefly listing the type of contents of each papyrus or fragment 21 Another Oxyrhynchus papyrus dated 75 125 AD It describes one of the oldest diagrams of Euclid s Elements 22 Since the 1930s work on the papyri has continued For many years it was under the supervision of Professor Peter Parsons of Oxford Eighty large volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have been published 23 24 Since the days of Grenfell and Hunt the focus of attention at Oxyrhynchus has shifted Modern archaeologists are interested in learning about the social economic and political life of the ancient world This shift in emphasis had made Oxyrhynchus if anything even more important for the very ordinariness of most of its preserved documents makes them most valuable for modern scholars of social history Many works on Egyptian and Roman social and economic history and on the history of Christianity rely heavily on documents from Oxyrhynchus citation needed A joint project with Brigham Young University using multi spectral imaging technology has been extremely successful in recovering previously illegible writing With multi spectral imaging many pictures of the illegible papyrus are taken using different filters finely tuned to capture certain wavelengths of light Thus researchers can find the optimum spectral portion for distinguishing ink from paper in order to display otherwise completely illegible papyri The amount of text potentially to be deciphered by this technique is huge A selection of the images obtained during the project and more information on the latest discoveries has been provided on the project s website 25 On June 21 2005 the Times Literary Supplement published the text and translation of a newly reconstructed poem by Sappho 26 together with discussion by Martin L West 27 Part of this poem was first published in 1922 from an Oxyrhynchus papyrus no 1787 fragment 1 28 Most of the rest of the poem has now been found on a papyrus kept at Cologne University 29 In May 2020 an Egyptian Spanish archaeological mission headed by Esther Pons and Maite Mascort revealed a unique cemetery consisting of one room built with glazed limestone dating back to the 26th Dynasty so called the El Sawi era Archaeologists also uncovered bronze coins clay seals Roman tombstones and small crosses 30 31 32 Archaeological structures of Muslim conquest Edit The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities expressed their interest in a project to restore the tombs of the Al Bahnasa an ancient city in which many papyri dating back to the Greco Roman era were found as well as a number of tombs for the companions of Muhammad 6 In 2021 Egypt s head of Islamic Coptic Jewish antiquities sector followed up on the progress of the restoration 16 In March 2020 archeological researchers from the Antiquities Inspection of Al Bahnasa District located archaeological evidence of the encampment of Khalid ibn al Walid and 10 000 soldiers under him including 70 veterans of the Battle of Badr 7 The excavators said the Muslim armies encampments were located in the current location of the village of Beni Hilal Minya District west of Bahnasa 7 See also EditHellanicus of Lesbos Heracles Papyrus Oxyrhynchus Gospels Oxyrhynchus hymn Villa of the Papyri The Trackers of OxyrhynchusReferences Edit a b E A Wallis Budge 1920 An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary with an index of English words king list and geological list with indexes list of hieroglyphic characters coptic and semitic alphabets etc Vol II John Murray p 987 a b Gauthier Henri 1925 Dictionnaire des Noms Geographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hieroglyphiques Vol 2 p 83 Oxyrhynchus Online Image Database Oxyrhynchus Online Project Metadata Retrieved 27 March 2017 Document Location The Egyptian Museum Cairo Egypt Material Paper Image Unavailable a b Where is Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus Online Retrieved 1 June 2007 EGYPT iv Relations in the Sasanian period at Encyclopaedia Iranica a b c d The city of Bahnasa Why is the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities interested in restoring it Egypt Forward Egypt Forward 2020 Retrieved 15 November 2021 a b c d Omar Samir Muslim Mahmoud 2020 باحث أثري يكشف سر إقامة 10 آلاف صحابي ومعركة خالد بن الوليد في البهنسا An archaeological researcher reveals the secret of the residence of 10 thousand companions and the battle of Khalid ibn al Walid in Bahnasa Mahmoud Muslim El Wattan News El Wattan Retrieved 15 November 2021 a b c d e Harits Deffa Cahyana 2019 Bahnasa Objek Wisata yang Menyimpan Jejak Sejarah Islam KMA mesir Retrieved 15 November 2021 a b c Shahine Gihan For love of the Prophet s companions Ahram online Ahram online Retrieved 15 November 2021 Abdel Aziz Munir 2012 Blumell Lincoln H 2012 Epilogue The Demise of Christian Oxyrhynchus Brill pp 295 300 ISBN 9789004180987 Retrieved 15 November 2021 a b Waqidi Muhammad ibn Umar 1934 F utuh al Bahnasa al Gharaʻ Retrieved 15 November 2021 a b Haḏa Kitab Qiṣṣat al Bahnasa wa ma fiha min al ʿaǧa ib wa l ġara ib digitized Austrian National Library ed Maṭbaʿat al Wahabiya 1873 Retrieved 15 November 2021 Al Shinnawy Mohammed 2019 مدينة الشهداء خارج حساب محافظ المنيا The city of martyrs is outside the account of the governor of Minya Shada al Arab Shada al Arab Retrieved 15 November 2021 Abdul Ghafur Hassan 2020 البهنسا البقيع الثانى بالمنيا هنا يرقد أبطال غزوة بدر دفن بأرضها نحو 5000 صحابى وبها مقام سيدى على التكرورى السياحة ترصد ميزانية لأعمال ترميم وصيانة آثارها وأبرزها قباب الصحابة وسط مدافن البسطاء صور al Yaum al Sab a Retrieved 29 December 2021 a b Karima Hanya Egypt s head of Islamic Coptic Jewish antiquities sector follows up on progress of project of restoring archeological village of Al Bahnasa in Minya Egypt Today Egypt Today Retrieved 15 November 2021 Ali Mohammed 2015 أقاليم مصر الفرعونية ktab INC p 215 Retrieved 15 November 2021 a b c d e f g Abu Al Saud Mahmoud 2020 البهنسا طقوس فرضتها شمس البقيع الثاني ورمال ارتوت بدماء الصحابة al Madain al Madain Retrieved 15 November 2021 Quoted in A M Luijendijk Sacred Scriptures as Trash Biblical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus Vigiliae Christianae 2010 Grenfell Bernard 1898 Oxyrhynchus and Its Papyri In Griffith F L ed Archaeological Report 1896 1897 Egypt Exploration Fund pp 1 12 7 Retrieved October 1 2016 Search by table of contents Oxyrhynchus Online Image Database Imaging Papyri Project Retrieved 25 May 2007 A listing of what each fragment contains Bill Casselman One of the oldest extant diagrams from Euclid Department of Mathematics University of British Columbia Retrieved 30 May 2007 Publications Full List Egypt Exploration Society Archived from the original on 28 January 2008 Retrieved 30 March 2008 Publications PDF The Egypt Exploration Society Archived from the original PDF on 2 August 2016 Retrieved 2 August 2016 Multispectral imaging Oxyrhynchos online Retrieved 1 June 2007 Martin West 24 June 2005 A New Sappho Poem Times Online Archived from the original on 28 June 2007 Retrieved 1 June 2007 Discussion by Martin West Archived September 29 2006 at the Wayback Machine P Oxy XV 1787 Archived from the original on 2007 03 25 Retrieved 2006 03 23 see the third pair of images on this page P Koln Inv Nr 21351 2 Archived from the original on 2007 03 17 Retrieved 2006 03 23 Image of papyrus fragment StackPath dailynewsegypt com Retrieved 2020 09 09 Unique cemetery dating back to el Sawi era discovered in Egypt amid coronavirus crisis Zee News 2020 05 28 Retrieved 2020 09 09 Mahmoud Rasha 2020 05 26 Egypt makes major archaeological discovery amid coronavirus crisis Al Monitor Retrieved 2020 09 09 Further reading EditThe Oxyrhynchus Logia and the Apocryphal Gospels 2007 Gardners Books ISBN 978 1 4304 5596 7 Abdel Aziz Munir Amr 2012 Abdel Aziz Munir Amr ed قصة البهنسا حكاية غزوة The Story of Bahnasa A Story of a Battle paperback in Arabic Egyptian General Authority for Cultural Palaces Department of History at the Faculty of Arts ISBN 9789777180177 Retrieved 27 January 2022 Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar Waqidi 1934 F utuh al Bahnasa al Gharaʻ in Arabic the University of Michigan Retrieved 11 February 2022 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oxyrhynchus Official website of the Archaeological Mission in Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus Online PBS NOVA scienceNOW feature on papyrus imaging streaming video Report on the recent Egyptian Spanish archaeological mission to the site Oxford University Classics Department Oxyrhynchus Project Oxyrhynchus and the Gospel of Thomas Article on new discoveries in the papyri from The Independent on Sunday April 17 2005 University of Michigan Collection Joint Egyptian Spanish archaeological mission in Oxyrhynchus H Blumell Lincoln 2012 Epilogue The Demise of Christian Oxyrhynchus Lettered Christians Biblical Studies Brill pp 295 300 doi 10 1163 9789004180987 008 ISBN 9789004180987 Retrieved 17 January 2022 Futuh al Bahnasa al Gharra the conquest of Bahnasa the blessed by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Mu izzOxyrhynchus papyri volumes Edit The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol I edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol II edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol III edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol IV edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol V edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol VI edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol VII edited with translations and notes by Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol VIII edited with translations and notes by Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol IX edited with translations and notes by Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol X edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection Reprinted by Cornell University Library Digital Collections The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol X edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol XI edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol XII edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol XIII edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol XIV edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive The Oxyrhynchus papyri vol XV edited with translations and notes by Bernard P Grenfell and Arthur S Hunt at the Internet Archive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Oxyrhynchus amp oldid 1132228321, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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