Atfih ( ar, أطفيح ' , ''Tpeh or Tpēh'') is a town in

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, though Middle E ...

. It was part of the now defunct

Helwan Governorate Helwan Governorate was one of the governorates of Egypt. It was located in Lower Egypt. History The Helwan Governorate was split from the Cairo Governorate in April 2008. It was created through a presidential decree in order to ease the burde ...

from April 2008 to April 2011, after which it was reincorporated into the

Giza Governorate Giza Governorate ( ar, محافظة الجيزة ') is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is in the center of the country, situated on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Cairo. Its capital is the city of Giza. It includes a stretch of ...

. As of 2001, it has a population of 106,300 inhabitants.

Etymology

The name is derived from Ancient Egyptian ''Tp-jhw'', meaning ''the first of the cows'', referring to

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

. The name became ''Petpeh'' in

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

, from which the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

version ''Atfih'' () is derived. The city was also known in Greco-Roman

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

as Aphroditopolis.

Location

Atfih is located in the area of ancient Maten, Upper Egypt's northernmost nome.

History

Ancient history

Atfih was known as ''Per-nebet tep-ihu'' in antiquity and

Busiris (Aphroditopolis) Busiris (Greek: ) or Aphroditopolis was an ancient city of Middle Egypt, in the Aphroditopolite nome, on the west bank of the Nile, southwest of Aphroditopolis (the modern city of Atfih). Location Aphroditopolis is located 38 miles upstream from ...

to the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Some of the Ancient Egyptian monuments discovered in the town include an animal necropolis, Greco-Roman tombs, and sepulchers of cows in huge limestone tombs. About 17 km North was found the

Tomb of 'Ip The Tomb of 'Ip is an ancient Egyptian tomb chapel that was discovered in 1936 in El Saff, 17 km north of Atfih in Middle Egypt. The decoration of the tomb chapel was copied in the following years, but since then the location of the tomb is lost. T ...

, who lived around 2000 BC. in Atfih.

Hesateum

"Hesateum" (in analogy of the "Serapeaum" at Saqqara") was a necropolis of sacred cows of the goddess

Hesat Hesat is an ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a cow. She was said to provide humanity with milk (called "the beer of Hesat") and in particular to suckle the pharaoh and several ancient Egyptian bull gods. In the Pyramid Texts she is said ...

. Sixteen animal tombs of the ptolemaic Period have survived.

Modern history

On 1 March 2011, the town's core in Atfih has seen skirmishes between some

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

people happened because of an alleged affair between a young Coptic Christian and a Muslim girl. When some people tried to blame the girl's father on, a brawl started and ended by killing the girl's father and one of his relatives. An outrage arose on March 4 and Muslims of the town went to the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

of the two martyrs and set it on fire. Hence on March 8, the Christians demonstrated in front of

Maspiro television building Maspero ( ar, ماسبيرو ) is the name of the huge building on the bank of the Nile river in Cairo, Egypt. It is the headquarters of the Egyptian television, Egyptian Radio and Television Union (formerly the Arab Radio and Television ...

demanding that the church should be built in the same place and Christians should be returned to their homes in the town safely.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Essam Sharaf Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf ( ar, عصام عبد العزيز شرف, ; born 1952) is an Egyptian academic who was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 3 March 2011 to 7 December 2011. He served as Minister of Transportation from 2004 to 2005. Early li ...

visited them to calm the situation and the priest Mtawos Wahba has been released. The

Supreme Council of the Armed Forces The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF; ar, المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة, ', also Higher Council of the Armed Forces) is a statutory body of between 20 and 25 senior Egyptian military officers and is headed by Fi ...

pledged to rebuild the church. Some of religious, political and public figures have intervened to calm the situation, including the

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

Sheikh Mohamed Hassan, and the

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

Amr Khaled Amr Mohamed Helmi Khaled ( ar, عمرو محمد حلمي خالد; born: 5 September 1967) is an Egyptian Muslim activist and television preacher. ''The New York Times Magazine'', in reference to Khaled's popularity in English-speaking coun ...

References

{{Cities of Egypt Populated places in Giza Governorate Cities in ancient Egypt