Bawit

{{Infobox settlement   | name = Bāwīṭ | native_name = {{ubl|{{langx|ar|باويط}}|{{langx|cop|ⲡⲁⲩⲏⲧ}}}} | settlement_type = Village | image_skyline = | imagesize = | image_caption = | image_flag = Governadorat_d%27Asyut.png | flag_size = 100 px | image_seal = | seal_size = | image_shield = | shield_size = | nickname = | motto =  | image_map = | mapsize = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Egypt | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_mapsize = 250 | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Egypt | coordinates = {{coord|27|33.0|N|30|43.15|E|region:EG|display=inline}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Egypt}} | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_type2 = | subdivision_type3 = Dairut | subdivision_name1 = | subdivision_name2 = | subdivision_name3 = | established_title =  | established_date = 4th-century | government_footnotes = | government_type = Asyut Governorate | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 =  | leader_name1 = | unit_pref = Imperial  | area_footnotes = | area_magnitude = | area_total_km2 = 0.5 | area_land_km2 =  | elevation_footnotes =  | elevation_m = | elevation_ft =  | population_total = 9516 | population_as_of = 2006 | population_footnotes = | population_density_km2 = | population_density_sq_mi = | population_metro = | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_sq_mi = | population_blank1_title = Social metro village | population_blank1 = 12,000 | population_blank2_title = Religion | population_blank2= Sunni Islam with Some Shia adherents live in social village | population_density_blank1_km2 = | population_density_blank1_sq_mi =  | population_note = | postal_code_type =  | postal_code = | area_code = | website = | footnotes = | | timezone = EET | utc_offset = +2 | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | blank_name = | blank_info = | blank1_name = | blank1_info = }} thumb|right|Fragment of a mural from Bawit [[File:Christ and the Abbot Menas Louvre E11565 n02.jpg|thumb|right|Detail of Christ from the Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena]] '''Bawit''' ({{langx|ar|باويط}} ''Bāwīṭ''; Coptic: ⲡⲁⲩⲏⲧ ''Pavēt''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trismegistos.org/place/10454|title=Trismegistos|website=Trismegistos|access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref>) is an archaeological site located {{convert|80|km}} north of Asyut, near the village of Dashlout, in Egypt. It covers an area of {{convert|40|ha}}, and houses a cemetery and the ruins of the Hermopolite monastery of Apa Apollo founded by Apollo in the late fourth century. The structures on this site are relatively well preserved, and demonstrate different aspects of a monastic complex of Middle Egypt.

==History== The Apa Apollo monastery (Coptic: ⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ ⲛⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲡⲟⲗⲗⲱ) is a Coptic monastery founded c. 385/390 and had about 500 monks.<ref name="Badawy1978">{{cite book|last=Badawy|first=Alexander|title=Coptic art and archaeology: the art of the Christian Egyptians from the late antique to the Middle Ages|url=https://archive.org/details/copticartarchaeo00alex|url-access=registration|accessdate=26 March 2012|year=1978|publisher=MIT Press|page=500|isbn=9780262020251 }}</ref> The sixth and seventh centuries were a period of prosperity for this monastery, which then hosted a community of women, under the patronage of Rachel.<ref name="MikhailMoussa2009">{{cite book|last1=Mikhail|first1=Magad S. A.|last2=Moussa|first2=Mark|title=Christianity and monasticism in Wadi al-Natrun: essays from the 2002 international symposium of the Saint Mark Foundation and the Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eBv2vuo7lYC&pg=PA226|accessdate=26 March 2012|date=30 April 2009|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-416-260-2|page=226}}</ref> A fresco found at the monastery depicting Rachel dates to the sixth century.<ref name="MelvilleMüller2012">{{cite book|last1=Melville|first1=Gert|last2=Müller|first2=Anne|title=Female 'vita Religiosa' Between Late Antiquity and the High Middle Ages: Structures, Developments and Spatial Contexts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGq7_HWU8nEC&pg=PA41|accessdate=26 March 2012|date=January 2012|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-90124-8|page=41}}</ref> After the Islamic invasion, the monastery declined, and was abandoned around the tenth century.

==Excavation== In early 1901, a survey of the site and surrounding areas was made by Jean Clédat, who was based at the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo. Continuing into 1902, Clédat was assisted by Émile Gaston Chassinat and Charles Palanque.<ref name="LibraryGottheil1925">{{cite book|author1=New York Public Library|author2=Richard James Horatio Gottheil|title=Ancient Egypt: sources of information in the New York public library|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkC2AAAAIAAJ|accessdate=26 March 2012|year=1925|publisher=The New York public library|page=5}}</ref> Clédat found hermitages he called "chapels" that contained Coptic art. His colleagues discovered two churches, today simply called North and South Church, with stone and wood carvings that were removed to the Coptic Museum in Cairo and the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Numerous sculptures and paintings were unearthed during the excavations.<ref name="GabraVivian2002">{{cite book|last1=Gabra|first1=Gawdat|last2=Vivian|first2=Tim|title=Coptic Monasteries: Egypt's Monastic Art and Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csmfAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=26 March 2012|year=2002|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-424-691-3|pages=116–18}}</ref> The papyrologist Jean Maspero (1885–1915) resumed excavations in 1913, discovering a common room with several entrances. In 1976, then 1984 and 1985, the Supreme Council of Antiquities resumed excavations and added to the collections of the Coptic Museum. Since then, excavations have continued under various organizations.

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading== *Jean Clédat, 1901, "Notes archéologiques et philologiques", ''Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire'' (BIFAO), no 1, p. 87-91 *Jean Clédat, 1902, "Recherches sur le kôm de Baouît", ''Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres'' (CRAIBL), no 30, p. 525-546 *Jean Clédat, 1904, "Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouît", ''Mémoires de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire'' (MIFAO), no XII, 1 et 2 *Jean Clédat, 1904, "Nouvelles recherches à Baouît (Haute-Égypte). Campagnes 1903-1904", ''CRAIBL'', no 32, p. 517-527 *Charles Palanque, 1906, "Rapport sur les recherches effectuées à Baouît en 1903", ''BIFAO'', no 5, p. 1-21 *Émile Chassinat, 1911, "Fouilles à Baouît", ''MIFAO'', no XIII *Jean Maspero, 1913, "Rapport de M. Jean Maspero sur les fouilles entreprises à Bâouit", ''CRAIBL'', p. 287-301 *Jean Clédat, 1916, "Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouît", ''MIFAO'', no XXXIX *Gustave Schlumberger, 1919, "Les fouilles de Jean Maspero à Baouît en 1913", ''CRAIBL'', p. 243-248 *Jean Maspero, 1931 and 1943, "Fouilles exécutées à Baouît, (notes mises en ordre et éditées par Étienne Drioton)", ''MIFAO'', no LIX, 1 and 2 *Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya, 1995, "Le monastère de Baouît. État des publications", ''Divitiae Aegypti: Koptologische und verwandte Studien zu Ehren von Martin Krause'', Wiesbaden, p. 279-288 *Dominique Bénazeth and Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya, 1999, "Jean Clédat, Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouît" ''MIFAO'', no 111 *Dominique Bénazeth and Thomasz Herbich, 2008, "Le kôm de Baouît: étapes d’une cartographie", ''BIFAO'', no 108

Category:Archaeological sites in Egypt Category:1901 archaeological discoveries Category:Christian monasteries established in the 4th century