Damiata (titular see)
Encyclopedia
Damiata is a Catholic and Melkite Greek titular see
Titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....

 in Egypt. It corresponds to Damietta
Damietta
Damietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...

, in the Roman province of Augustamnica Prima
Augustamnica
Augustamnica or Avgoustamnikai was a Roman province of Egypt created during the 5th century and was part of the Diocese of Oriens first and then of the Diocese of Egypt, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 640s...

.

Damietta is also, probably since the fifth century, a see for the Monophysite Copts; moreover, one of the non-Catholic Greek metropolitans subject to the Patriarch of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...

 bears the title of Pelusium and Damietta. The site of ancient Damietta has also been placed by some historians at Esbeh el-Bordj, six miles from the modern town.

History

Damietta, first mentioned by Stephanus Byzantius, was situated at the mouth of the Phatnitic branch of the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

, on the right bank; its prosperity seems to have coincided with the decline of its religious metropolis Pelusium
Pelusium
Pelusium was a city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, 30 km to the southeast of the modern Port Said. Alternative names include Sena and Per-Amun , Pelousion , Sin , Seyân , and Tell el-Farama...

. Only four bishops are known, from 431 to 879.

In June, 1249, it was recaptured by St. Louis, who transformed into a church the magnificent mosque El-Fatah and established there a Latin bishop, Gilles; but having been taken prisoner with his army, April, 1250, he was obliged to surrender Damietta as ransom. In 1251 the Sultan, hearing that Louis was preparing a new crusade, ordered the town and its citadel to be destroyed, except the mosque El-Fatah.

External links

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