Ras Kasaroun | |
Map: | Egypt |
Map Size: | 250 |
Location: | Egypt |
Coordinates: | 31.1595°N 33.0882°W |
Ras Kasaroun [1] or El-Kas, also known as Casius Mons in Latin, or Kasion Oros [2] to Greek geographers such as Herodotus (who considered it to mark the boundary between Egypt and Syria), is a small mountain and a former town near the marshy Lake Bardawil, the "Serbonian Bog" of Herodotus, where Zeus' ancient opponent Typhon was "said to be hidden".[3] Here, Greeks knew, Baal Sephon was worshipped.
The sandy mount stands out about the flat landscape, though it is a mere 100 metres above the sea.
Its name is given to the Catholic titular see of Casius.
Like the other Mount Casius in Syria, it was historically associated with a shrine to Zeus, one of whose epithets was Kasios.
The saying "Kasiotic knot", which in Medieval Greek meant "someone who are crooked in their ways", comes from the town's name.[4]