Dalāṣ - Dalāṣ

Street in Dalāṣ, east of the Great Mosque
Dalāṣ · ‏دلاص‎
Neiloupolis
GovernorateBeni Suef
Residents
14.199 (2006)
height
29 m
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location
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Dalāṣ

Dalas, Arabic:دلاص‎, Dalāṣ, is a village in Middle Egypt in the GovernorateBeni Suef. To the north of the Great Mosque are the remains of a minaret from Fatimid times, which is the oldest minaret in the governorate.

background

Site plan of Dalāṣ

location

The village is located 13 kilometers northeast of Beni Suef on the western bank of the Nile west of the Ibrāhīmīya Canal. In 2006 about 14,200 people lived here.

history

Even if there is no evidence of a early settlement finds, the place has been populated since the Ptolemaic period (332–30 BC), even if it was by no means one of the most important cities in Central Egypt. As place names are the ancient Egyptian, but not secured designation TꜢ-ỉꜢ.t-rḏ,[1] the secured Greek names Neiloupolis / Tilothis (Νείλου πόλις / Τιλωθις), the Coptic name Tilodj (Ⲧⲓⲗⲟ ϫ, Ⲇⲏⲗⲁ ϫ) and a variant of today's Arabic name,دلوج‎, Dalūǧ, handed down. The place was named after a sanctuary for a Nile god Hapi named.

There is evidence from Roman-Byzantine times. The place has been around since at least AD 250 Bishopric. The theologian and historian Eusebius of Caesarea (260 / 64–339 / 340) reported in his Church historythat the elderly Chairēmōn / Charenion, Bishop of Neiloupolis, around 250 for security reasons together with his wife during the persecution of Christians under the emperor Decius (Reigns 249 to 251) had to flee to the Arabian Mountains, from which he never came back.[2] Also hermits and monks lived here in earlier times, among them also for a time Anthony the Great (presumably 251-356). From the Vita of Pachomios the Great (292 / 298–346) one learns that after his death there were monks from his monastery in Tabennisi near today's Nagʿ Ḥammādī inquired about Antony the Great here.[3]

The Egyptian historian John of Nikiou reported in his timeline, that the Arab generalʿAmr ibn el-ʿĀs (around 580‒664) after the conquest of the Faiyūm Had requested ships from Dalāṣ.[4] From the Arab period, from the middle of the 9th century, there is only one uncertain evidence of a bishop named Severus.[5] However, Dalāṣ was still mentioned in the lists of the bishops' seats.

The minaret, classified as a monument since 1996, was included in the Fatimid period (969-1171). It may be at the same time as those in Luxor, Esna and Aswanthat during the campaign of Badr el-Gamālī (died 1094) around 1076 to secure the southern border of Egypt.

The Coptic writer Abū el-Makārim (* before 1160; † after 1190) reported the following about the village:

“Dalāṣ was founded by Dalāṣ for a man who separated himself from dealing with the world; and it [the village] comprised three hundred blacksmiths who forged the pieces of Dalā. [Here is] the Church of St. Kolluthus, the [silverless] doctor,[6] who was also a priest and was burned alive in the fire. "[7]

Émile Amélineau performed in his Geography from that in 1885 1,665 inhabitants, plus 872 Bedouins, lived in this village and there was a school.[8]

getting there

Great mosque in Dalāṣ
Fatimid minaret in Dalāṣ

The village of Dalāṣ can be reached from Beni Suef above Nāṣir and 1 ez-timeun(29 ° 10 '43 "N.31 ° 9 ′ 17 ″ E), ‏الزيتون, In a north-north easterly direction. You can bypass ez-Zeitūn in the west and branch off at 1 29 ° 10 ′ 50 ″ N.31 ° 9 ′ 5 ″ E west towards Dalāṣ.

Since the streets in Dalāṣ are very narrow, it is advisable to travel by motor rickshaw ("Tuqtuq"). Taxis or Tuqtuqs can be found in Beni Suef and Nāṣir. From Nāṣir it costs around LE 20 (as of 2018).

mobility

Due to the narrowness of the streets, it is best to walk or take a motor rickshaw through the village.

Tourist Attractions

  • 1  Great mosque (‏الجامع الكبير‎, al-Ǧāmiʿ al-Kabīr). The modern mosque is in the center of the village.(29 ° 11 '12 "N.31 ° 8 ′ 1 ″ E)
  • 2  Fatimid minaret (‏المئذنة الفاطمية‎, al-Miʾdhana al-fāṭimīya). Immediately to the northeast of the Great Mosque is the Fatimid minaret, which was once built, classified as a monument in 1996 and restored in 2000. It is the oldest minaret in the governorate Beni Suef. It was probably once part of a mosque. The adobe building, which begins about one meter below today's street level, is still 14 meters high and measures 6.5 meters at its base. The octagonal tower section follows the square substructure. Four of the side surfaces are decorated with ornaments. To reinforce the masonry, every 15 to 17 brick layers, approximately every 1.2 meters, wooden beams were inserted. There is a 2.1 meter high door on the southeast side. There are no contemporary reports of the construction of the minaret.(29 ° 11 ′ 13 ″ N.31 ° 8 ′ 1 ″ E)
  • 3  Mayor's manor (‏دوار العمدة‎, Dawwār al-ʿUmda). To the east of the village center is the former mayor's house, which was built between 1885 and 1890. The facade has a protruding wooden portico with a covered balcony above it. Side stairs lead to the portico. In a similar way, the side parts of the building are designed as a pillared hall with a loggia. The balustrade of the balconies is almost as high as a man, consists of openwork woodwork and has hinged windows with decorative grilles. The ceilings of the columned halls, the balcony and the loggias were painted decoratively. In the right, western part of the building, the mayor had four prison cells built in the basement area.(29 ° 11 '11 "N.31 ° 8 ′ 10 ″ E)
  • 4  Mosque at the mayor's manor. On the left, to the east of the manor house, the mayor made a plot of land available for the construction of a mosque, which was also built around 1885. The mosque was later replaced by a new square building. The ceiling of the interior is supported by four pillars, in the middle of which there is a square light dome with a pyramid-shaped roof and a chandelier. The mihrab, the prayer niche, was painted in color. To the right of it is a wooden minbar, the pulpit.(29 ° 11 '11 "N.31 ° 8 ′ 11 ″ E)

shop

kitchen

Restaurants can be found in Beni Suef.

accommodation

Accommodation can be found in Beni Suef.

trips

The tour of the village can be completed with a visit to Nāṣir and or Beni Suef connect. The villages are also nearby Qiman el-ʿArūs and Abū Ṣīr el-Malaq.

literature

  • Kees, Hermann: Nilupolis. In:Wissowa, Georg (Ed.): Paulys Realencyclopedia of Classical Antiquity; Row [1]: A - Q; Vol. 17.1: Nereids - Numantia. Stuttgart [and others]: Slaughterer, 1936, Col. 590.
  • Gomaà, Farouk; Müller-Wollermann, Renate; Schenkel, Wolfgang: Middle Egypt between Samalūṭ and the Gabal Abū Ṣīr: Contributions to the historical topography of the Pharaonic period. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1991, Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East: TAVO / Beihefte / B; 69, ISBN 978-3-88226-467-8 , P. 96.
  • Timm, Stefan: Dalāṣ. In:Christian Coptic Egypt in Arab times; Vol. 2: D - F. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1984, Supplements to the Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East: Series B, Geisteswissenschaften; 41.2, ISBN 978-3-88226-209-4 , Pp. 498-502.
  • Stewart, Randall: Dalaṣ. In:Atiya, Aziz Suryal (Ed.): The Coptic Encyclopedia; Vol. 3: Cros - Ethi. new York: Macmillan, 1991, ISBN 978-0-02-897026-4 , Pp. 685-686.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑Yoyotte, Jean: [Map]. In:Revue d'Egyptology (RdE), ISSN0035-1849, Vol.12 (1961), P. 97. Yoyotte has given no evidence for equation. — Tilothis - Neilopolis (El-Dallas), Trismegistos database.
  2. ↑Church history, 6th book, 42nd chapter, 3rd paragraph, see e.g. B. Eusebius ; Cloß, [Karl] August [transl.]: Church history. Stuttgart: Brodhag, 1839, P. 234.
  3. ↑Lefort, L [ouis] Th [éophile] (Ed.): S. Pachomii vitae: Sahidice scripta [e]. Paris [and others]: Typographer. Reipublicae [and others], 1933, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 99-100, ISBN 978-90-429-0134-6 , Pp. 174, 177.
  4. ↑Charles, R [obert] H.: The chronicle of John, bishop of Nikiu. London: Williams & Norgate, 1916, P. 181 (Chapter 113).
  5. ↑Timm, Christian Coptic Egypt, loc. cit., p. 500.
  6. ↑Meinardus, Otto F.A.: The "silverless" doctors of the Copts. In:Kemet: the black country; Egypt; a magazine for friends of Egypt, ISSN0943-5972, Vol.8,2 (1999), Pp. 48-50.
  7. ↑[Abū al-Makārim]; Evetts, B [asil] T [homas] A [lfred] (ed., Transl.); Butler, Alfred J [oshua]: The churches and monasteries of Egypt and some neighboring countries attributed to Abû Sâliḥ, the Armenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895, P. 254 f. Various reprints, e.g. B. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-9715986-7-6 . Fol. 91.a, 91.b.
  8. ↑Amélineau, É [mile]: La geographie de l’Égypte à l’époque copte. Paris: Impr. National, 1893, Pp. 136-138.
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