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Leontopolis

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Leontopolis
Iuput II ruled over Leontopolis from 754 to 720/715 BCE
Iuput II ruled over Leontopolis from 754 to 720/715 BCE
30°41′N 31°21′E / 30.683°N 31.350°E
Location Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt

Leontopolis was an ancient Egyptian city located in the Nile Delta, Lower Egypt. It served as a provincial capital and Metropolitan Archbishopric. The archaeological site and settlement are known today as Kafr Al Muqdam.

Name

Known most popularly in the modern era and to scholarship by its traditional Greek name Leontopolis Λεόντων πόλις[1] (literally, "city of lions"), or Leonto Λεοντώ, ("lion"),[2] the demographic makeup of the city varied culturally and linguistically over its long history, and the Greek name was progressively used more and more over the native Egyptian Taremu ("Land of Fish").[3] After the annexation of Ptolemaic Egypt as a Roman province, the city retained the Greek name, and was referred to in Latin sources as the oppidum Leontos,[4] though the Egyptian name still lingered among primary speakers of Coptic Egyptian into the post-classical period. Today, the site itself is referred to in Arabic as Tell el-Muqdam ("mound of the city").

History

The city is located in the central part of the Nile Delta region. It was the capital of the 11th nome of Lower Egypt (the Leontopolite nome) and was probably the centre of pharaonic power under the 23rd dynasty. In his conquest-stela found at the fourth Nile Cataract at Jebel Barkal, Piye writes about his conquest over Iuput II, who ruled over Leontopolis.[5] Strabo is the earliest writer who mentions either the nome,[6] or its chief town: and it was probably of comparatively recent origin or importance.

The Greek name of this city means "City of Lions", given on account of the presence of temples to the lioness goddesses Bast and Sekhmet, and their son, Maahes, the lion prince. Live lions were kept at the temples during the time of the Greek occupation.

It became the capital of the Roman province of Augustamnica Secunda.

Ecclesiastical history

As provincial capital it also was a Metropolitan archbishopric, known as Leontopolis in Augustamnica, which was to fade.

and

Catholic Titular see

The diocese was restored nominally in the 18th century, as titular bishopric, erroneously called Leontopolis in Bithynia, and as such had the following incumbents of fitting episcopal (lowest) rank:

  • Elias Daniel von Sommerfeld (1714.01.26 – 1742.07.26)
  • Joaquim de Nossa Senhora de Nazareth Oliveira e Abreu, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1815.09.04 – 1819.08.23)
  • Alexander Dobrzański (1819.12.17 – 1831?)
  • Ludwig Forwerk (1854.07.11 – 1875.01.08)

It was promoted circa 1880 to titular archbishopric of Metropolitan rank; it was renamed in 1925 Leontopolis, in 1933 Leontopolis in Augustamnica.[8] It has had the following incumbents, of fitting (Metropolitan? archiepiscopal) rank:

Greek Orthodox Titular See

  • Dionysios (Hatzivasiliou) 1997-2012
  • Gabriel of Leontopolis 2012 - Present

Identification

Most scholars today agree that Leontopolis is located at Tell al Muqdam, at latitude 30° 45′ North.

Researchers were long divided as to the real site of Leontopolis. According to D'Anville (1697–1782), its ruins were covered by a mound called Tel-Essabè (Tel es-sab`), or the "Lion's Hill".[11] Jomard (1777–1862), on the other hand, maintained that some tumuli near the village of El-Mengaleh in the Delta, represent the ancient Leontopolis, and this supposition agrees better with the account of the town given by Xenophon of Ephesus.[12] W. Smith (1813–1893) locates the city at latitude 30° 6′ North, which is considerably further south than the actual site.

See also

Printed sources
External links

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

A titular archiepiscopal see of Augustamnica Secunda. Strabo (XVII, 1,19, 20) places it near Mendete and Diospolis, and says (XVII, 1, 40) that the inhabitants worshipped a lion, whence the name of the town. In reality, the name comes from Horus, who according to Egyptian mythology changed himself into a lion (Naville, "Textes relatifs au mythe d'Horus", XVIII, 2). Ptolemy (IV, 5, 22) also mentions the nome and the metropolis of Leontopolis. The geographers Hierocles, George of Cyprus, and others call that locality Leonto, reserving the name of Leontopolis for a town in the province of gypta Prima; similarly in the signatures of bishops collected by Le Quien (Oriens Christianus, II, 553) Leonto is always found. Leonto is the modern Tell Mokdam on the right bank of the Nile (Damietta branch), near the railway from Cairo to Damietta which follows the left bank of the river. At Tell Mokdam may be seen the remains of a temple of Osorkon II. The other Leontopolis was situated near Heliopolis or Mataryeh. Here in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, the Jewish high priest Onias built a temple to Jahveh, afterwards closedd by Vespasian. Callinice in Syria was called Leontopolis, also a town in Isauria (Le Quien, "Oriens Christianus", II, 1021) not yet recognized.

References

  1. Back to citation Ptol. iv. 5. § 51, Strabo xvii. pp. 802, 812
  2. Back to citation Hieronym. ad Jovian. ii. 6
  3. Back to citation GDG VI, 26; LÄ VI, 351
  4. Back to citation Plin. v. 20. s. 17
  5. Back to citation TUAT 1, 1985, 557ff.
  6. Back to citation Strabo XVII, 1,19, 20
  7. Back to citation Le Quien (Oriens Christianus, II, 553)
  8. Back to citation Leontopolis in Augustamnica, Catholic Hierarchy.org.
  9. Back to citation Revue des Ordinations Épiscopales, Issue 1936, Number 84
  10. Back to citation Revue des Ordinations Épiscopales, Issue 1950, Number 61.
  11. Back to citation Comp. Champollion, l'Egypte, vol. ii. p. 110, seq
  12. Back to citation Ephesiaca, iv. p. 280, ed. Bipont
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