Asyut

About Asyut

Asyut is a city in Egypt. Located in Upper Egypt, it is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at 27°11′00″N 31°10′00″E, while the ancient city is located at 27°10′00″N 31°08′00″E. Asyut is home to one of the largest Coptic Christian communities in the country.

The name of the city is derived from early Egyptian zꜣwtj (late Egyptian, Səyáwt) which became Coptic ⲥⲓⲟⲟⲩⲧ [ˈsjowt], meaning "Guardian" of the northern approach of Upper Egypt. In Graeco-Roman Egypt, it was called Lycopolis or Lykopolis (Greek: Λυκόπολις, "ἡ Λύκων πόλις"), ('wolf city') Lycon, or Lyco.

After the Islamic conquest of Egypt, the Arabs retained the name "Syout," which appears in works such as Al-Masalik by Ibn Khordadbeh and Al-Mukhtar by Al-Qudā‘ī. Later, the name was modified to "Asyut," which is found in Kitāb al-Buldān by Al-Ya‘qūbī, who described it as “one of the principal cities of Upper Egypt, where crimson carpets resembling Armenian ones are produced,” and in Nuzhat al-Mushtāq as well as Mu‘jam al-Buldān by Yāqūt al-Hamawī...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.