Samannud Explained

Samannud
Other Name:Sebennytos
Native Name:Arabic: سمنود
Settlement Type:City
Pushpin Map:Egypt Nile Delta#Egypt
Pushpin Label:Samannud
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:thumb
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Egypt
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Egypt
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Gharbia
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Total Km2:147
Population As Of:2019 (estimated)
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Total:410,388
Population Blank1 Title:Ethnicities
Timezone:EST
Utc Offset:+2
Coordinates:30.9667°N 31.25°W

Samannud (Arabic: سمنود) is a city (markaz) located in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt. Known in classical antiquity as Sebennytos (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σεβέννυτος), Samannud is a historic city that has been inhabited since the Ancient Egyptian period. As of 2019, the population of the markaz of Samannud was estimated to be 410,388, with 83,417 people living in urban areas and 326,971 in rural areas.[1]

Etymology

The place known in سمنود pronounced as /sæmænˈnuːd/, was historically called Sebennytos or Sebennytus.

The name Samannud ultimately derives from the Ancient Egyptian name ṯb-(n)-nṯr, meaning "city of the sacred calf".[5] The name was probably pronounced *pronounced as //ˌcabˈnaːcar// in Old Egyptian and *pronounced as //ˌcəbˈnuːtə// or *pronounced as //ˌcəbənˈnuːtə// in Late Egyptian.[6]

Ancient history

Samannud (Sebennytos) was an ancient city of Lower Egypt, located on the now-silted up Sebennytic branch of the Nile in the Delta. Sebennytos was the capital of Lower Egypt's twelfth nome—the Sebennyte nome (district). Sebennytos was also the seat of the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt (380–343 BCE).[7] [8] [9] [10]

Sebennytos is perhaps best known as the hometown of Manetho, a historian and chronicler from the Ptolemaic era, c. 3rd century BC. Sebennytos was also the hometown of Nectanebo II; he was its last ruler.[11]

A temple dedicated to the local god Anhur, or Anhur-Shu, and his lioness goddess mate Mehit, once existed at this location but is now reduced to ruins. A fragment from the location where kings would have made offerings to Anhur and his wife, is on display at the Walters Art Museum.[12]

Modern history

Samannud violently resisted the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 639, and remained rebellious for some time thereafter; the city revolted four times in the first half of the eighth century. Three Coptic Patriarchs came from Samannud: John III, Cosmas II, and John V. The 12th-century Coptic philologist Yuhanna al-Samannudi also came from Samannud, and served as its bishop.[13]

Samannud's bishopric remained active through the late thirteenth century, indicating the presence of a large Christian population at the time.[14]

In 1843, John Gardner Wilkinson described it as a place of some size, with the usual bazaars of the large towns of Egypt, and famous for its pottery, which was sent to Cairo.[15]

The 1885 Census of Egypt recorded Samannud as a city in its own district in Gharbia Governorate; at that time, the population of the city was 11,550 (5,686 men and 5,864 women).[16]

In religious traditions

In a Coptic tradition, Sebennytos was part of the route of the Holy Family during the flight into Egypt narrated in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1323).[17]

See also

References

30.9667°N 46°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Samannūd (Markaz, Egypt) . Citypopulation.de . 20 June 2020.
  2. Web site: أسماء بعض البلاد المصرية بالقبطية - كتاب لغتنا القبطية المصرية | St-Takla.org. st-takla.org.
  3. [Ptolemy]
  4. [Strabo]
  5. Book: Sterling . Gregory E. . Historiography and Self-Definition: Josephos, Luke-Acts, and Apologetic Historiography . 1992 . . 9004095012 . 118 . 22 June 2020.
  6. Loprieno, Antonio (1995) Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,, p. 34
  7. Book: Gray. Leon. The New Cultural Atlas of Egypt. 2010. Marshall Cavendish. 9780761478775. 143.
  8. Book: Peck. Harry Thurston. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898). 1898. Harper and Brothers.
  9. Book: Smith, William. William Smith (lexicographer). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 1858. 29 March 2020.
  10. Book: Cooper, William Ricketts. An Archaic Dictionary: Biographical, Historical, and Mythological: From the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Etruscan Monuments and Papyri. 1876. S. Bagster and Sons. 496.
  11. Bill Manley, The Seventy Great Mysteries of Ancient Egypt" Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2003. p.101
  12. Book: Watterson, Barbara. Gods of Ancient Egypt. 2003. History Press. 978-0-7524-9502-6. 41.
  13. Book: Sidarus . Adel . Gabra . Gawdat . Takla . Hany N. . Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta . 2017 . . 978-1617977800 . 139–140 . 22 June 2020 . Yuhanna al-Samannudi, the Founder of National Coptic Philology in the Middle Ages.
  14. Book: Tsuji . Asuka . Gabra . Gawdat . Takla . Hany N. . Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta . 2017 . . 978-1617977800 . 190 . 24 June 2020 . The Veneration of Anba Hadid and the Nile Delta in the Thirteenth Century.
  15. Book: Wilkinson, John Gardner. John Gardner Wilkinson. Modern Egypt and Thebes: Being a Description of Egypt, Including the Information Required for Travellers in that Country. 1843. John Murray. 432.
  16. Book: Egypt min. of finance, census dept . Recensement général de l'Égypte . 1885 . 288 . 21 June 2020.
  17. Web site: The Holy Family at Meniet Samanoud. Tour Egypt. 6 November 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160912231331/http://www.touregypt.net/holyfamily.htm. 12 September 2016.