Anecdota Oxoniensia. Semitic series.

210 CHURCHES AND MONA STERIES OF EGYPT.

Hajar al-Ldhitzn.
Hajar al-Lahunl. Here is the monastery of Saint Isaac2; and
the church named after the Lady, the Pure Virgin Mary. This church
is spacious and beautifully planned, skilfully built and designed, and
resembles the church in the monastery of Al-Kalamun. In the
Fol.73b [monastery of Saint Isaac] there is also a small church, named after
the glorious martyr Saint Isaac. Round this monastery there is
a triple wall of stone. It is much visited, and stands on the mountain
to the north of Al-Lahun, at the place called Barniyudah, in the
mountain-range in the south of the Fayyum.
Churches of Al-Bahnasa and the neighbozuhood.
~ At Al-Bahnasa there are several churches, namely, the church of
Saint Ammon3; the church of Mark; the church of Saint John4; the
The following passage is quoted in substance by Quatremere, Ziezm. i. p. 413.
The village of Al-Lahun still exists, and in 1885 had a population of 2,4I6. It
stands at the entrance to the Fayyum, where the ancient lock of the canal of
Al-Manhi was; and it is included in the district of Tubhar. See Amelineau,
Ge'ogr. p. 232.
2 Saint Isaac of Difrl (tcpe), in the province of Al-Gharbtyah, was put to
death in the persecution of Diocletian, by order of Arianus, governor of the
Thebaid, after horrible tortures. His martyrdom is commemorated on Bashans 6
=May i. See Synaxarzum at that day; Budge, Martyrdom of Isaac of Tzphre,
with Coptic text and translation.
3 Abamun, Abamun, or more correctly Aba Amun or Apa Ammon, is the
name of two martyrs, of the time of Diocletian, whose deaths are commemorated
respectively on Abib 13 and 27=July 7 and 2I. See Synaxarzum at those days;
Amelineau, Actes des MM. p. 103. Quatremere borrows from this passage, Mem. i.
p. 255. Al-Makrizi says that there were once 360 churches at Al-Bahnasa, of
which the church of Mary alone remained in his time. We shall return to AlBahnasa on fol. 74 b.
4 Since Abt Yuhannus is not further identified, and there are several saints
named John in the Coptic calendar, it is impossible to say which of them is