Abydos is one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, and also of the eighth nome in Upper Egypt. It is located about 11 kilometres west of the Nile at latitude 26° 10' N, near the modern Egyptian towns of El Araba El Madfuna and El Balyana. In the ancient Egyptian language, the city was called Abedju (Arabic Abdu عبد-و).
The English name Abydos comes from the Greek Ἄβυδος, a name borrowed by Greek geographers from the unrelated city of Abydos on the Hellespont. Abydos name in hieroglyphs
Façade of the Temple of Seti I in Abydos, built c. 1300 BCE
Possible illustration of the conflict between Abydos and Hierakonpolis, on the Gebel el-Arak Knife, Louvre Museum, 3300–3200 BCE.
King Khasekhemwy "fort" in Abydos. c. 2700 BCE
King Khasekhemwy "fort" in Abydos.
Coptic 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 native speakers today, although it remains in daily use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and of the Coptic Catholic Church. Innovations in grammar and phonology and the influx of Greek loanwords distinguish Coptic from earlier periods of the Egyptian language. It is written with the Coptic alphabet, a modified form of the Greek alphabet with several additional letters borrowed from the Demotic Egyptian script.
Fifth–sixth century Coptic liturgic inscription from Upper Egypt.
Papyrus Bodmer VI ("Dialect P") possesses the richest of all Coptic alphabets, with 35 unique graphemes.
Sandstone stela, inscribed with Coptic text. The names Phoibammon and Abraham appear. From Egypt, find spot unknown, date known. The British Museum, London
Coptic and Arabic inscriptions in an Old Cairo church