Menouthis
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Menouthis was a sacred city in ancient Egypt, devoted to the Egyptian goddess Isis and god Serapis. The city was probably submerged under the sea as a result of catastrophic natural causes, including earthquakes or a flooding of the Nile.[1] Land in the bay area was subject to rising sea levels, earthquakes, and tsunamis, parts of it apparently becoming submerged after a process of soil liquefaction sometime at the end of the 2nd century BC.[2]
Name
The city's name most probably comes from Isis's epithet mwt-nTr, "Mother of God" (Horus).[3]
Religious significance
In Roman Egypt, Menouthis was widely known as an oracular and healing cult centre of the Ancient Egyptian goddess IsisScript error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and it drew devotees from a wide region.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The temple of Isis in the city contained religious statues and was decorated with hieroglyphs.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". In 391 AD the city's Serapeum was demolished during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, and in the following year the temple of Isis was closed and partially dismantled, with Christian Tabennesiote monks taking over the temple's country estates.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". In 413 AD, at a site opposite the temple,Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Pope Theophilus of Alexandria built a Christian shrine dedicated to the Four Evangelists. The shrine became home to the bones of the saints Cyrus and John, which were moved there from Alexandria by Cyril of Alexandria.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
During the 5th century the Isis temple continued to be used for clandestine sacrifices and incubation rites.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Coptic tradition says that the temple remained in use alongside the Christian shrine and the worship of Egyptian gods and their statues continued in the city.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". However, as time went by the traditional healing function of the temple was transferred to the Christian shrine.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The temple was demolished in 484 AD and the statues of the classical gods in the city were removed or destroyed in 488–89 AD.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". By the end of the 5th century the Christian shrine had replaced the temple as a healing centre.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". At the height of its popularity in the 6th and 7th centuries the shrine was one of the two principal pilgrimage centres of Christian Egypt.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
In popular culture
"Menouthis" is also the name of a song by E. S. Posthumus, inspired by the ancient city.
See also
References
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Further reading
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