Asyut Attractions
The lively provincial capital of Asyut, the largest town in Upper Egypt, is one of the centers of Coptic Christianity, and also has an excellent Islamic university associated with the El-Azhar University in Cairo, a technical college and a number of secondary schools. Situated on the left bank of the Nile, with a small older quarter and extensive modern districts, it has few features of tourist interest.
The town is noted for its craft products pottery, marquetry work, ivory carvings, leather articles, woven fabrics, colored woolen blankets, tulle shawls with gold and silver embroidery. Here as elsewhere, however, locally made articles of considerable artistic quality are gradually been driven out by industrial products in European style. Asyut has a busy river port handling soda, cotton and grain, and is a market center for the agricultural produce of the very fertile surrounding area.
History
Asyut (ancient Egyptian Syut) was a place of considerable importance in antiquity thanks to its situation in a large and fertile plain extending between the Libyan and the Arabian mountains a distance of some 12.5mi/20km at the end of the "road of the forty days", an important caravan route which led to the oases in the Libyan Desert and on to the Darfur Oasis in what is now Sudan. Politically, however, it achieved prominence only occasionally, as during the First Intermediate Period, when it played a considerable part in the conflicts between Thebes and Heracleopolis. Asyut was the capital of the 13th nome of Upper Egypt, the Sycamore nome, and the principal center of the cult of the war god Wepwawet, who was represented as a desert wolf: hence the town's Greek name of Lycopolis, "city of the wolf". Asyut was the birthplace of Plotinus (A.D. 205-270), the greatest of the Neo Platonic philosophers, whose system was influenced to some degree by the priestly doctrines of his native town. At the beginning of the fourth C. Christianity became dominant in the town, and pious believers moved into the caves of the necropolis to live a life of penitence. Among them was John of Lycopolis (end of fourth C.), who gained the reputation of a saint and a prophet: thus when the Emperor Theodosius sent an envoy to ask about the outcome of his conflict with his rival, Eugenius he correctly foretold the Emperor's victory. During the medieval period the town enjoyed considerable prosperity thanks to its extensive trading connections and to its slave market, the largest in Egypt. Soon after the murder of President Sadat in October 1981 there were bloody conflicts in Asyut between Muslim radicals and the police.
The town is noted for its craft products pottery, marquetry work, ivory carvings, leather articles, woven fabrics, colored woolen blankets, tulle shawls with gold and silver embroidery. Here as elsewhere, however, locally made articles of considerable artistic quality are gradually been driven out by industrial products in European style. Asyut has a busy river port handling soda, cotton and grain, and is a market center for the agricultural produce of the very fertile surrounding area.
History
Asyut (ancient Egyptian Syut) was a place of considerable importance in antiquity thanks to its situation in a large and fertile plain extending between the Libyan and the Arabian mountains a distance of some 12.5mi/20km at the end of the "road of the forty days", an important caravan route which led to the oases in the Libyan Desert and on to the Darfur Oasis in what is now Sudan. Politically, however, it achieved prominence only occasionally, as during the First Intermediate Period, when it played a considerable part in the conflicts between Thebes and Heracleopolis. Asyut was the capital of the 13th nome of Upper Egypt, the Sycamore nome, and the principal center of the cult of the war god Wepwawet, who was represented as a desert wolf: hence the town's Greek name of Lycopolis, "city of the wolf". Asyut was the birthplace of Plotinus (A.D. 205-270), the greatest of the Neo Platonic philosophers, whose system was influenced to some degree by the priestly doctrines of his native town. At the beginning of the fourth C. Christianity became dominant in the town, and pious believers moved into the caves of the necropolis to live a life of penitence. Among them was John of Lycopolis (end of fourth C.), who gained the reputation of a saint and a prophet: thus when the Emperor Theodosius sent an envoy to ask about the outcome of his conflict with his rival, Eugenius he correctly foretold the Emperor's victory. During the medieval period the town enjoyed considerable prosperity thanks to its extensive trading connections and to its slave market, the largest in Egypt. Soon after the murder of President Sadat in October 1981 there were bloody conflicts in Asyut between Muslim radicals and the police.
Arab Cemetery
To the north of the ancient necropolis a larger Arab cemetery extends far into the plain with hundreds of domed tombs set amid palms.
Coptic Rock Chapel
Continuing up the hill, passing a smal Coptic rock chapel and rounding a spur of the hill, we reach a point from which there is a wide view of the extensive rang of hills along the eastern edge of th Western (Libyan) Desert.
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Rock Tombs
The Asyut Rock Tombs, from where there are fine views, are reached via a steep footpath. The largest tomb is the Tomb of Hapidjefa who ruled in the 12th Dynasty.
Asyut Dam
To the north of Asyut, at the village of El-Walidiya on the west bank of the Nile, rises the imposing Asyut Dam. Built by a British firm to the design of British engineers in 1898-1902, at the same time as the first Aswan Dam, it serves to regulate the flow of water in the lbrahimiya Canal, which starts here, and to irrigate more than 1,000,000 acres of land in the provinces of Asyut, El-Minya and Beni Suef. The dam, 40ft/12.5m high and 911yds/833m long, consists of 13 sections, the first of which (at the west end) has three arches and a lock to permit the passage of ships, while the others have nine arches each. The sluices, 111 in all, can be closed by iron gates.
Coptic Monastery of Dei Rifa
Some 4mi/6km south of the rock tombs we come to the Coptic Monastery of Dei Rifa (El-Deir), near which are several rock tombs of the Middle and New Kingdoms belonging to princes and dignitaries of Shes-hotep (Greek Hypselis) capital of the Hypselite nome, in which the ram headed Khnum was revered. The town lay some 4.5mi/7km southeast of Asyu at the village of Shotb, whose name preserves the ancient Egyptian name of the town.
Old Town
To the east of the railroad station is a shady promenade on the banks of the Nile. This leads north to the bridge over the sluice gates on the lbrahimiya Canal and continues to the Asyut Dam. The little Old Town, with its busy bazaar, lies west of the railroad.
Tomb of Kheti
The middle tomb is the Tomb of Kheti, Prince of th nome under the 10th Dynasty. On the right hand wall of the vestibule are the dead man and his wife Tefye with a long text, partly destroyed, referring to Kin Merikare (10th Dynasty). On the south wall of the main chamber, in which only one pillar is left standing, are depicted several ranks of armed warriors. In there wall is a niche for a statue of the dead man. From this tomb an underground passage leads into the third tomb in the row, which belonged to Tefyeb, a Prince of the nome.
