SEBENNYTUS
SEBENNYTUS (
Σεβέννυτος,
Ptol. 4.5.50;
Steph. B. sub voce ἡ Σεβεννυτικὴ πόλις,
Strab. xvii. p.802: Eth.
Σεβεννύτης), the chief town of the Sebennytic nome in the Egyptian Delta, situated on the Sebennytic arm of the Nile, nearly due E. of Sais, in lat. 31° N.
The modern hamlet of
Semenhoud, where some ruins have been discovered, occupies a portion of its site. Sebennytus was anciently a place of some importance, and standing on a peninsula, between a lake (
λίμνη Σεβεννυτική:
Burlos) and the Nile, was favourably seated for trade and intercourse with Lower Aegypt and Memphis.
The neglect of the canals, however, and the elevation of the alluvial soil have nearly obliterated its site. (Champollion,
l'Egypte, vol. ii. p. 191, seq.)
[
W.B.D]
