Anecdota Oxoniensia. Semitic series.

MONASTERY AND CHURCH OF SAINT MIrENNAS. 103

of Nakyusl, and whose pure body is buried in the church2 at
Maryut3, was restored in the caliphate of Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik
ibn Marwan, when Al-Walid ibn Rufaah was wall, at the expense of
all the Christians who lived in that quarter, in A.H. Io6 (A.D. 725).
This was after the conflict with the Arabs, when the Christians complained to the wall that their women and children were not secure
from molestation while going to and returning from the churches
in Misr, especially on the nights of the Forty Days' Fast. In consequence of these outrages a great number of the Arabs were killed.
There were in this quarter many chief men among the Christians;
so they were allowed to restore their churches, and they began to
rebuild Al-Hamra, and to renew what had been destroyed there. They
renewed the church [of Saint Mennas]4, and made for it beautiful
The Arabic Nakyus was called NIKdovs or NuKov by Greek authors, and Niciu
in the Itinerary of Antoninus. It is a town frequently mentioned by Coptic
writers. It is also called Ibshadi (cLl).in the Copto-Arabic lists of names,
and is the Coptic nTy&t-. The modern village of Ibshadi, which in 1885 had
I,059 inhabitants, is probably on the site of the ancient Nakyfis; it is in the district
of Manff, in the province of Al-Manfiflyah, and a little to the east of the Rosetta
branch of the Nile. See Yakutt, Geogr. JW'ir/. iv. p. ^.; Quatremere, Mem. i.
pp. 420-446; Amelineau, Glogr. pp. 277-283.
2 It is said that the grave of St. Mennas at Lake Mareotis remained for
some time unknown, until a princess was cured of leprosy by mould from it.
The emperor then erected a church over it, which was replaced by a larger
church built by Arcadius and Honorius. See Synaxarzum, loc. cit., and Amelineau,
Acles des MM. p. p. o.
3 This town, the Coptic iU&pL-IU'H C, and the classical Marea (MapEa),
on the shores of Lake Mareotis, was flourishing after the Arab conquest, but
seems to have fallen into decay before A. D. 1376, as its name does not appear in
the revenue-lists of that date. Some ruins on the borders of the lake, however,
still bear the name. Amdlineau, Ge'ogr. pp. 24I-3.
4 Al-Makrizl mentions as the chief act of Al-Walld ibn Rufa'ah, wall of Egypt,
that in A. H. I 7 he allowed the Copts to rebuild the church of St. Mennas in the
Hamra. According to Al-Makrlzl, Al-Walld died in A.H. 117=A.D. 735, after
governing Egypt for nine years and five months. See Khitat, i. p. r.r.