Qift

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)

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Map of Egypt

Qift is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km north of Luxor, situated under 26° north lat., on the east bank of the Nile.

Variants

• Egyptian Arabic: قفط [ʔeftˤ];
• Coptic: Ⲕⲉϥⲧ Keft or Kebto
• Egyptian Gebtu
• Ancient Greek: Κόπτος Coptos / Koptos;
• Roman Justinianopolis
• Coptos (Pliny.vi.26)
• Kouft
• Keft

History

In ancient times its proximity to the Red Sea made it an important trading emporium between India, Punt, Felix Arabia and the North. It was important for nearby gold and quartzite mines in the Eastern Desert, and as a starting point for expeditions to Punt (in modern Somalia).

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Voyages to India....Two miles distant from Alexandria is the town of Juliopolis.²⁴ The distance thence to Coptos, up the Nile, is three hundred and eight miles; the voyage is performed, when the Etesian winds are blowing, in twelve days. From Coptos the journey is made with the aid of camels, stations being arranged at intervals for the supply of fresh water.

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24 Pliny is the only writer that mentions this place among the towns of Lower Egypt. Some suppose it to have been Nicopolis, or the City of Victory, founded by Augustus B.C. 29, partly to commemorate the reduction of Egypt to a Roman province, and partly to punish the Alexandrians for their adhesion to the cause of Antony and Cleopatra. Mannert, however, looks upon it as having been merely that suburb of Alexandria which Strabo (B. xvii.) calls Eleusis.

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