Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 28, 2026

Hurbayt

Horbit is a town in Sharqia Governorate of Egypt.

Last revised
Jun 28, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
410 w
Citations
12
Source
horbit
هربيط
DalaM
horbit
Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 30°44′4.79″N 31°37′14.87″E / 30.7346639°N 31.6207972°E / 30.7346639; 31.6207972
Country Egypt
GovernorateSharqia
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Horbit (Arabic: هربيط) is a town in Sharqia Governorate of Egypt.

It's an ancient town referred to in a stele of the 7th century BC,1 and described by Herodotus,2 Strabo,3 and Pliny.4

It served as the capital of the nome of Pharbaethites/Lapt in Lower Egypt.51

Etymology

The town's Arabic name comes from Coptic Pharbait (Coptic: ⲫⲁⲣⲃⲁⲓⲧ), which in turn is derived from Ancient Egyptian: Pr-Ḥrw-mr.ty, lit.'house of the two eyed Horus'.6 It was also known as Sheten (Ancient Egyptian: Štꜣn).7

In Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt it was known as Pharbaithos (Ancient Greek: Φάρβαιθος) or Pharbaethus. This name is reproduced under the form Karbeuthos in George of Cyprus.8

Ecclesiastical history

The original diocese was a suffragan of Leontopolis, in Augustamnica Secunda, Egypt.

There is a record of Bishop Arbetion at Nicæa in 325,9 and Bishop Theodorus in 1086,10 but it is possible that the latter was bishop of another Pharbætus situated further to the west, and which according to Vansleb was equally a Coptic see. John of Nikiu11 relates that under the Emperor Phocas (602–10) the clerics of the province killed the Greek governor Theophilus.

It remains a Roman Catholic titular see under the name Pharbaetus.

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Eugène Revillout, "Acte de fondation d'une chapelle à Hor-Merti dans la ville de Pharbaetus", Revue Égyptologique, 2:1:32 (1881) full text
  2. II, 166.
  3. XVII, i, 20.
  4. Natural History V, 9, 11.
  5. Karl Baedeker, Egypt: handbook for travellers : part first, lower Egypt..., 1885 (2nd edition), p. 33. full text
  6. Peust, Carsten. "Die Toponyme vorarabischen Ursprungs im modernen Ägypten" (PDF). pp. 48–49.
  7. Johnson, Janet H., ed. (2001). The Demotic dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: The Oriental Institute. p. 233.
  8. "Descriptio orbis romani", ed. Gelzer, 706.
  9. Gelzer, "Patrum nicænorum nomina", LX.
  10. Renaudot, "Historia patriarcharum alexandrinorum", 458.
  11. Chronicle, CV.
Sources

Sources

Attribution
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pharbætus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
    • Heinrich Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis romani, 114–16;
    • ROUGÉ, Géographie ancienne de la Basse Egypte (Paris, 1891), 66–74;
    • Émile Amélineau, La Géographie de l'Egypte à l' époque copte (Paris, 1893), 330.