Abu Mena
Encyclopedia
Abu Mena was a town, monastery
complex and Christian
pilgrimage
center in Late Antique
Egypt
, about 45 km southwest of Alexandria
. Its remains were designated a World Heritage Site
in 1979. There are very few standing remains, but the foundations of most major buildings, such as the great basilica
, are easily discernible.
Recent agricultural efforts in the area have led to a significant rise in the water table
, which has caused a number of the site's buildings to collapse or become unstable. The site was added to the list of World Heritage in Danger in 2001. Authorities were forced to place sand in the bases of buildings that are most endangered in the site.
was martyr
ed in the late 3rd or early 4th century (see Early Christianity
). Various 5th-century and later accounts give slightly differing versions of his burial and the subsequent founding of his church. The essential elements are that his body was taken from Alexandria on a camel
, which was led into the desert beyond Lake Mareotis. At some point, the camel refused to continue walking, despite all efforts to goad it. This was taken as a sign of divine will, and the body's attendants buried it on that spot.
Most versions of the story state that the location of the tomb was then forgotten until its miraculous rediscovery by a local shepherd. From the Ethiopian Synaxarium
(E.A.W. Budge
, trans.):
Word of the shepherd's healing powers spread rapidly. The synaxarium describes Constantine I
sending his sick daughter to the shepherd to be cured, and credits her with finding Menas' body, after which Constantine ordered the construction of a church at the site. (Some versions of the story replace Constantine with the late-5th century emperor Zeno
, but archaeologists
have dated the original foundation to the late 4th century). By the late 4th century, it was a significant pilgrimage site for Christians who sought healing and other miracles. Menas flasks are a particular type of small terracotta ampulla
e sold to pilgrims as containers for holy water
or holy oil which are found very widely around the Western Mediterranean, dating roughly from the century and a half before the Muslim conquest. They are cheaply-made but impressed with images of the saint that are of significance in the study of iconography
; it is presumed they were made around the city.
During the reign of Arcadius
, the local archbishop observed that crowds were overwhelming the small church. He wrote to the eastern emperor, who ordered a major expansion of the facilities, the first of three major church expansions which would eventually take place. By the end of the Late Antique period, Abu Mena had become the leading pilgrimage site in Egypt.
Abu Mena was destroyed by the Muslim conquest of the mid-7th century.
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The site was first excavated from 1905 to 1907. These efforts uncovered a large basilica church, an adjacent church which had probably housed the saint's remains
, and Roman baths.
A later, long-term series of excavations by the DAI
ended in 1998. The most recent excavations uncovered a large dormitory
for poor pilgrims, with separate wings for men and for women and children. A complex to the south of the great basilica was likely the residence of the hegoumenos, or abbot
. Excavations suggest that the great xenodocheion
, a reception area for pilgrims, may originally have been a cemetery
. A baptistery
, adjacent to the site of the original church, appears to have gone through at least three phases of development. Also uncovered was a complex of wine press
es, including underground storage rooms, which dates to the 6th and 7th centuries.
's World Heritage in Danger list in 2001 due to the threat of rising local water tables. The clay soil that surrounds the site becomes unstable when wet and has led to the collapse of cisterns and other structures about the ancient city.
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
complex and Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
center in Late Antique
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, about 45 km southwest of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. Its remains were designated a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
in 1979. There are very few standing remains, but the foundations of most major buildings, such as the great basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
, are easily discernible.
Recent agricultural efforts in the area have led to a significant rise in the water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
, which has caused a number of the site's buildings to collapse or become unstable. The site was added to the list of World Heritage in Danger in 2001. Authorities were forced to place sand in the bases of buildings that are most endangered in the site.
History
Menas of AlexandriaSaint Menas
Saint Menas , the Martyr and Wonder-worker, is one of the most well-known Egyptian saints in the East and the West, due to the many miracles that are attributed to his intercession and prayers...
was martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed in the late 3rd or early 4th century (see Early Christianity
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
). Various 5th-century and later accounts give slightly differing versions of his burial and the subsequent founding of his church. The essential elements are that his body was taken from Alexandria on a camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
, which was led into the desert beyond Lake Mareotis. At some point, the camel refused to continue walking, despite all efforts to goad it. This was taken as a sign of divine will, and the body's attendants buried it on that spot.
Synaxarium
Synaxarion, Synexarion, pl. Synaxaria —Latin: Synaxarium, Synexarium—the name given in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches to a compilation of hagiographies corresponding roughly to the martyrology of the Roman Church.There are two kinds of synaxaria:*Simple...
(E.A.W. Budge
E. A. Wallis Budge
Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East.-Earlier life:...
, trans.):
And God wished to reveal the [place of the] body of Saint Mînâs. And there was in that desert a certain shepherd, and one day a sheep which was suffering from the disease of the scab went to that place, and dipped himself in the water of the little spring which was near the place, and he rolled about in it and was healed straightway. And when the shepherd saw this thing, and understood the miracle, he marvelled exceedingly and was astonished. And afterwards he used to take some of the dust from that shrine, and mix it with water, and rub it on the sheep, and if they were ill with the scab, they were straightway healed thereby. And this he used to do at all times, and he healed all the sick who came to him by this means.
Word of the shepherd's healing powers spread rapidly. The synaxarium describes Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
sending his sick daughter to the shepherd to be cured, and credits her with finding Menas' body, after which Constantine ordered the construction of a church at the site. (Some versions of the story replace Constantine with the late-5th century emperor Zeno
Zeno (emperor)
Zeno , originally named Tarasis, was Byzantine Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
, but archaeologists
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
have dated the original foundation to the late 4th century). By the late 4th century, it was a significant pilgrimage site for Christians who sought healing and other miracles. Menas flasks are a particular type of small terracotta ampulla
Ampulla
An ampulla was, in Ancient Rome, a "small nearly globular flask or bottle, with two handles" . The word is used of these in archaeology, and of later flasks, often handle-less and much flatter, for holy water or holy oil in the Middle Ages....
e sold to pilgrims as containers for holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
or holy oil which are found very widely around the Western Mediterranean, dating roughly from the century and a half before the Muslim conquest. They are cheaply-made but impressed with images of the saint that are of significance in the study of iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
; it is presumed they were made around the city.
During the reign of Arcadius
Arcadius
Arcadius was the Byzantine Emperor from 395 to his death. He was the eldest son of Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the Western Emperor Honorius...
, the local archbishop observed that crowds were overwhelming the small church. He wrote to the eastern emperor, who ordered a major expansion of the facilities, the first of three major church expansions which would eventually take place. By the end of the Late Antique period, Abu Mena had become the leading pilgrimage site in Egypt.
Abu Mena was destroyed by the Muslim conquest of the mid-7th century.
Archaeological excavations
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
, and Roman baths.
A later, long-term series of excavations by the DAI
German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute is an institution of research within the field of archaeology , and a "scientific corporation", with parentage of the federal Foreign Office of Germany-Origin:...
ended in 1998. The most recent excavations uncovered a large dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
for poor pilgrims, with separate wings for men and for women and children. A complex to the south of the great basilica was likely the residence of the hegoumenos, or abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
. Excavations suggest that the great xenodocheion
Xenodocheion
A Xenodocheion or Xenodochion is a building for the reception of strangers, especially in a monastery....
, a reception area for pilgrims, may originally have been a cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. A baptistery
Baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...
, adjacent to the site of the original church, appears to have gone through at least three phases of development. Also uncovered was a complex of wine press
Wine press
A wine press is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts controlled pressure in order to free the juice from the fruit...
es, including underground storage rooms, which dates to the 6th and 7th centuries.
Threats
The site of Abu Mena was added to UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's World Heritage in Danger list in 2001 due to the threat of rising local water tables. The clay soil that surrounds the site becomes unstable when wet and has led to the collapse of cisterns and other structures about the ancient city.
See also
- Church of Saint Menas (Cairo)Church of Saint Menas (Cairo)The Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Menas is a Coptic Orthodox church near Coptic Cairo and is one of the oldest Coptic churches in Egypt, dating back to the 6th century AD.-Geographic Significance:St...
- Saint FanaSaint FanaSaint Fana was an Egyptian Christian hermit. A monastery in the diocese of Mallawi, Upper Egypt, is named after him.Saint Fana was born to a Christian family in Memphis...
- Saint Mina Monastery in MariutMonastery of Saint MinaThe Monastery of Saint Mina is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in the Western Desert near Alexandria. The modern monastery is built close to the ruins of Abu Mena, the original pilgrimage site, which was destroyed by the Arabs during the Muslim conquest of Egypt of the mid-7th...
, the modern pilgrimage site, which borders the original Abu Mena site to the north - Saint MenasSaint MenasSaint Menas , the Martyr and Wonder-worker, is one of the most well-known Egyptian saints in the East and the West, due to the many miracles that are attributed to his intercession and prayers...
Further reading
External links
- Abu Mena at UNESCO World Heritage Centre; includes links to 360˚ panoramic photos of the site