OXYRYNCHUS
OXYRYNCHUS (
Ὀξύρυγχος,
Strab. xvii. p.812;
Ptol. 4.5.59;
Steph. B. sub voce Amm. Marc. 22.16; Oxyrinchum, It. Anton. p. 157. ed. Parthey: Eth.
Ὀξυρυγχίτης), was the chief town of the Nomos Oxyrynchites, in Lower Aegypt.
The appellation of the nome and its capital was derived from a fish of the sturgeon species (
Accipenser Sturio, Linnaeus;
Athen. 7.312), which was an object of religious worship, and had a temple dedicated
[p. 2.508]to it. (Aelian,
Ael. NA 10.46; Plut. I
s. et Osir. 100.7.)
The town stood nearly opposite Cynopolis, between the western bank of the Nile and the Joseph-canal, lat. 28° 6′ N.
At the village of
Bekneseh, which stands on part of the site of Oxyrynchus, there are some remains--broken columns and cornices--of the ancient city (Jomard,
Descript. de l'Egypte, vol. ii. ch. 16. p. 55 ; Champollion,
l'Egypte, vol. i. p. 303, seq.); and a single Corinthian column (Dénon,
l'Egypte, pl. 31), without leaves or volutes, partly buried in the sand, indicates a structure of a later period, probably of the age of Diocletian. Oxyrynchus became the site of an episcopal see, and Apollonius dated from thence an epistle to the Council of Seleuceia (Epiphan.
Haeres. lxxiii.) Roman coins were minted at Oxyrynchus in the age of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. (1.) Hadrian, with the reverse of Pallas, holding in her right hand a statuette of Victory, in her left a spear; or, (2.) Serapis holding a stag in his right hand. (3.) Antoninus, with a reverse, Pallas holding in her right hand an axe, in her left a statuette of Victory. (Eckhel, vol. iv. p. 112.)
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W.B.D]
