Oxyrhynchus

E115706

Oxyrhynchus was an important ancient Egyptian city, especially noted today for the vast cache of Greek and Latin papyri discovered there that has greatly enriched knowledge of classical literature and early Christianity.

All labels observed (2)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf ancient city
archaeological site
former populated place
administrativeStatusInRomanPeriod nome capital
ancientEgyptianName Pr-Medjed
ancientName Oxyrhynchos
linked to: Coptos

Oxyrhynchus (Greek: Ὀξύρρυγχος)
linked to: Oxyrhynchus
containsWork apocryphal Christian gospels
early copies of New Testament texts
fragments of Menander
fragments of Pindar
linked to: Pindar's odes

fragments of Sappho
linked to: Sappho

fragments of Sophocles
country Egypt
declinePeriod early Islamic period
discoveredBy Arthur Surridge Hunt
Bernard Pyne Grenfell
distanceFromCairo about 160 km south-southwest
excavatedBy Egypt Exploration Fund
Egypt Exploration Society
flourishedDuring Byzantine period
Ptolemaic period
linked to: Ptolemaic Kingdom

Roman period
hasCoordinate approximately 28.5°N 30.8°E
knownFor Oxyrhynchus Papyri
documentary papyri
early Christian texts
large cache of Greek papyri
large cache of Latin papyri
texts of classical Greek literature
locatedIn Al Minya Governorate
Middle Egypt
linked to: central Egypt
locatedNear Faiyum Oasis
locatedOn Bahr Yussef
majorExcavationsBegan 1896
modernSettlementName El-Bahnasa
namedAfter oxyrhynchus fish
sharp-nosed fish sacred to the god Set
papyriLanguage Arabic
Coptic
Greek
Latin
partOf Roman province of Egypt
religionInAntiquity Greek polytheism
ancient Egyptian religion
religionInLateAntiquity Christianity
significance important for study of early Christianity
major source for documentary evidence of daily life in Greco-Roman Egypt
major source for reconstruction of lost classical texts

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Byzantine Egypt majorCity Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus ancientName Oxyrhynchus (Greek: Ὀξύρρυγχος)
linked to: Oxyrhynchus