Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

368 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. vm.
married a king's daughter. Ur, abandoning his arts,
became bishop of the Faium and erected the church,
of which the Virgin Mary laid the foundations,
and St. Michael designed the choir and the other
details.
There are said to be several other ancient
churches in the Faium, such as those at the con-
vent of Kalmun 1 : but their description has yet to
be written. It only remains to indicate a few other
sites of Christian buildings in Egypt and to close
this sadly imperfect chapter. At Bibbah, about
seventy miles south of Cairo, is a monastery to
which the Copts have attached the name of an
imaginary Muslim saint, Al Bibbawi, as their talisman.
The quarries of Suadi, opposite Miniah,
contain some remains of early Christian times.
Isbaidah, below Antinoe,
ancient grottoes, in one of which a church has
been cut with an eastern apse. A few miles further
south the famous catacombs of Tal al Amarna
show frescoes, niches, and other traces of Christian
is remarkable for some
occupation. Dair al Kussair, on the same bank of
the river a little higher up, is said to date from the
time of Constantine. The Libyan mountains near
Siut are full of caves and tombs, once the dwelling-
places of Christian hermits. There is a Coptic
church at Tahtah, above Suhag. Akhmim was rich
in ancient churches, and the Convent of the Martyrs,
mentioned by Al Makrizi, probably still exists. The
same writer records a monastery of Musah, south
of Siut, and a church at Darankah dedicated to the
1 Al Makrizi says this is the only place where the famous Persea
grows.
p. 6 1.
See Rev. S. C. Malan's Notes on the Coptic Calendar,