El-Bahnasa is one of the cities of El Menia Governorate on the Western Bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt. It is located about 160 km away from Cairo on the road between Maghagha and Beni Mazar. In Ancient Egypt, its name was 'Pr-Medjed' which was driven from the name of a fish that was thought to have swallowed the penis of Osiris. In Greek times, it acquired the name 'Oxyrhynchus'. The city encloses one of the largest archeological sites in Minia where more than 100,000 papyrus fragments (now housed at the Sackler Library, Oxford) were found.
Beyond the city limits and during many centuries, the people of Oxyrhynchus dumped garbage that contained various materials among which were papyri dealing with a vast collection of social, political and administrative issues.
Multiple important ...
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