Coptic language in the context of "Meroitic alphabet"

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⭐ Core Definition: Coptic language

Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, romanized: Timetremənkʰēmi) is a dormant Afroasiatic language. It is a group of closely related Egyptian dialects, representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language, and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third century AD in Roman Egypt. Coptic was supplanted by Arabic as the primary spoken language of Egypt following the Arab conquest of Egypt and was slowly replaced over the centuries.

Coptic has no modern-day native speakers, and no fluent speakers apart from a number of priests, although it remains in daily use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and of the Coptic Catholic Church. It is written with the Coptic alphabet, a modified form of the Greek alphabet with seven additional letters borrowed from the Demotic Egyptian script.

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Coptic language in the context of Heracleion

Heracleion (Ancient Greek: Ἡράκλειον Hērákleion), also known as Thonis (Ancient Greek: Θῶνις Thônis; from the Ancient Egyptian: Tȝ-ḥn.t; Coptic: Ⲧϩⲱⲛⲓ Thōni) and sometimes called Thonis-Heracleion, was an ancient Egyptian port city located near the Canopic Mouth of the Nile, about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea. It became inundated; its remains are located in Abu Qir Bay, which in 2022 was 7 km (4.3 mi) off the coast and approximately 5.8 m (19 ft) underwater, and near Abukir. The sanctuary of Neith of Sais was located in Thonis. A stele found on the site indicates that late in its history the city was known by both its Egyptian and Greek names.

The legendary beginnings of Thonis go back to as early as the 12th century BC, and it is mentioned by ancient Greek historians. Its importance grew particularly during the waning days of the pharaohs.

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Coptic language in the context of Naucratis

Naucratis or Naukratis (Ancient Greek: Ναύκρατις, "Naval Command"; Egyptian: njwt-kꜣrṯ, nskꜣrṯ, pr-mryt, Coptic: Ⲡⲓⲉⲙⲣⲱ Piemro) was a city and trading-post in ancient Egypt, located on the Canopic (western-most) branch of the Nile river, south-east of the Mediterranean sea and the city of Alexandria. Naucratis was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek settlement in Egypt, serving as a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture.

The modern villages of Kom Gi'eif, el-Nibeira and el-Niqrash cover the archaeological site, which is of great importance. It is the source of numerous art objects in many of the world's museums, as well as pottery inscribed with some of the earliest known examples of Greek writing.

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Coptic language in the context of Islamization of Egypt

The Islamization of Egypt occurred after the seventh-century Muslim conquest, in which the Islamic Rashidun Caliphate seized control of Egypt from the Christian dominated Byzantine Empire. Egypt and other conquered territories in Africa gradually underwent a large-scale conversion from Christianity to Islam, motivated in part by a jizya tax for those who refused to convert. Islam became the faith of the majority of the population at some point between the 13th and 14th centuries, and Arabic became the main language, replacing Coptic and Greek, which had previously served as the vernacular and governmental languages, respectively.

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Coptic language in the context of Abusir

Abusir (Arabic: ابو صير  Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [æbuˈsˤiːɾ]; Egyptian pr wsjr; Coptic: ⲃⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲓ busiri, "the resting place of Osiris"; Ancient Greek: Βούσιρις) is the name given to an ancient Egyptian archaeological pyramid complex comprising the ruins of 4 kings' pyramids dating to the Old Kingdom period, and is part of the Pyramid Fields of the Memphis and its Necropolis UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The pyramid complex is named after the neighbouring village of Abusir, in the markaz (county) of Badrashin, Giza. The Abusir pyramid complex is located on the Western Desert plateau at the edge of the cultivated plain, with the Giza Pyramids to its north, and Saqqara to its south, and served as one of the main elite cemeteries for the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis. Several other villages in northern and southern Egypt are named Abusir or Busiri.

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Coptic language in the context of Memphis, Egypt

Memphis (Arabic: مَنْف, romanizedManf, pronounced [mænf]; Bohairic Coptic: ⲙⲉⲙϥⲓ; Greek: Μέμφις), or Men-nefer, was the ancient capital of Inebu-hedj, the first nome of Lower Egypt that was known as mḥw ("North"). Its ruins are located in the vicinity of the present-day village of Mit Rahina (Arabic: ميت رهينة), in Badrashin markaz (county), Giza Governorate, Egypt.

Along with the pyramid fields that stretch across a desert plateau for more than 30 kilometres (19 mi) on its west, including the famous Pyramids of Giza, Memphis and its necropolis have been listed as a World Heritage Site. The site is open to the public as an open-air museum.

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Coptic language in the context of Abu Rawash

30°01′55″N 31°04′30″E / 30.03194°N 31.07500°E / 30.03194; 31.07500

Abu Rawash (also spelled Abu Roach, Abu Roash; Arabic: ابو رواش  Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈæbu ɾæˈwæːʃ], Coptic: ⲁⲃⲣⲱⲟⲩϣⲓ abrowshi, Coptic pronunciation: [ɑbˈroːwʃi], "flesh of sensual pleasures"), 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Giza, is the site of Egypt's most northerly pyramid, also known as the lost pyramid – the mostly ruined Pyramid of Djedefre, the son and successor of Khufu. Originally, it was thought that this pyramid had never been completed, but the current archaeological consensus is that not only was it completed, but that it was built about the same size as the Pyramid of Menkaure – the third largest of the Giza pyramids. It's believed that the destruction of the pyramid started at the end of the New Kingdom at the latest, and was particularly intense during the Roman and early Christian eras when a Coptic monastery was built in nearby Wadi Karin. It has been proven, moreover, that at the end of the nineteenth century, stone was still being hauled away at the rate of three hundred camel loads a day.

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Coptic language in the context of Kingdom of Kush

The Kingdom of Kush (/kʊʃ, kʌʃ/; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 kꜣš, Assyrian: Kûsi, in LXX Χους or Αἰθιοπία; Coptic: ⲉϭⲱϣ Ecōš; Hebrew: כּוּשׁ Kūš), also known as the Kushite Empire, or simply Kush, was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt.

The region of Nubia was an early cradle of civilization, producing several complex societies that engaged in trade and industry. The city-state of Kerma emerged as the dominant political force between 2450 and 1450 BC, controlling the Nile Valley between the first and fourth cataracts, an area as large as Egypt. The Egyptians were the first to identify Kerma as "Kush" probably from the indigenous ethnonym "Kasu", over the next several centuries the two civilizations engaged in intermittent warfare, trade, and cultural exchange.

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Coptic language in the context of Late antique literature

Late antique literature is literature that was composed during the period of late antiquity, a period of time that spans from the third to seventh centuries AD. This literature was written in many languages including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Pahlavi, Arabic, and more.

Despite twentieth-century prejudices about the era as one of a period of decline, literature in late antiquity was highly productive and innovative and brought about new genres of texts, new avenues for literary productions, new textual functions, and new reading practices. The most important force causing change in literature during this time was the political and cultural rise of Christianity, which remade older genres in the classical canon and interweaved them with a new canon of scriptural texts and liturgy. Furthermore, the end of Late antiquity saw the last major representatives of Greek and Latin poetry, whereas poetry in other languages (like Syriac poetry) began to flourish.

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Coptic language in the context of Abukir

31°19′N 30°04′E / 31.317°N 30.067°E / 31.317; 30.067

Abu Qir (Arabic: ابو قير, Abu Qīr, [æbuˈ] or [æbo ʔiːɾ], Coptic: ⲁⲡⲁⲕⲩⲣⲓ Apakyri), formerly also spelled Abukir or Aboukir, is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near the ruins of ancient Canopus and 23 kilometers (14 mi) northeast of Alexandria by rail. It is located on Abu Qir Peninsula, with Abu Qir Bay to the east.

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