Clysma

Clysma
Κλῦσμα (in Greek)
Shown within Egypt
Location Suez, Suez Governorate, Egypt
Coordinates 29°57′16.6″N 32°34′26.3″E / 29.954611°N 32.573972°E / 29.954611; 32.573972Coordinates: 29°57′16.6″N 32°34′26.3″E / 29.954611°N 32.573972°E / 29.954611; 32.573972
Type Settlement

Clysma (Greek: Κλῦσμα, Κλειυσμα) was an ancient city in Egypt. It was located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.

History

Clysma was founded or rebuilt by Emperor Trajan in the second century AD to protect travellers and merchants as it lay at the junction of roads from Sinai, Palestine, and Egypt.[1] This was done in conjunction with the construction of the Amnis Traianus, a canal that linked the Nile and the Red Sea and had its outlet near Clysma.[2] It has been suggested that the port was used for the exportation of textiles and grain produced in the Arsinoite nome as they were better adapted to transportation via the Amnis Traianus to Clysma than overland to the southern ports of Berenice and Myos Hormos.[3]

Clysma is first recorded in Ptolemy's Geographia and by Lucian in Alexander Pseudomantis.[4] In 179,[4] soldiers of the Ala Veterana Gallica were stationed at the city.[5] Clysma is also recorded in the works of Hierocles and in the Panarion of Saint Epiphanius of Salamis.[6] As well as this, church historians Eusebius in Onomastikon and Philostorgius in Historia Ecclesiastica make reference to the city.[7]

The destruction of the Nile emporium of Koptos, from where goods were transported overland to Berenice and Myos Hormos, by Emperor Diocletian in the late third century temporarily disrupted trade at the southern ports and led to an increase of trade at Clysma which reached its peak in the fourth and fifth centuries.[8] A commercius, an official with responsibility for foreign trade, was active at Clysma during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus.[9] In response to an appeal for aid, in c. 525, Emperor Justin I had Clysma provide twenty vessels to the king of Ethiopia in his war with the king of Himyar.[9] The Plague of Justinian likely first entered the Roman Empire through the port of Clysma, and thus spread to Pelusium, where it was first reported in mid-July 541.[10] A church of Saint Athanasius was constructed at Clysma on the orders of Emperor Justinian I.[11]

After the Muslim conquest of Egypt, Clysma was known in Arabic as al-Ḳulzum, and the Red Sea was known as the Baḥr al-Ḳulzum (sea of Clysma).[12]

Ecclesiastical history

The diocese of Clysma was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Leontopolis.[13] Jacob was bishop of Clysma before 347, Titus/Paul was bishop in 347, and Poimen was bishop from 458-459.[14] Stephen, Bishop of Clysma, attended the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.[11] Clysma was nominally revived as a titular see, and has had the following incumbents:

  • Pio Gallizia, B. (1741.01.25 – 1745.03.23)
  • Paul-Jules-Narcisse Rémond (1921.04.09 – 1930.05.20)
  • Albert-Pierre Falière, M.E.P. (1930.06.25 – 1955.01.01)
  • Teofilo Camomot Bastida (1955.03.23 – 1958.06.10)
  • Joannes Antonius Eduardus van Dodewaard (1958.07.01 – 1960.06.27)
  • Wladyslaw Jedruszuk (1962.11.19 – 1991.06.05)

Clysma is depicted as a quarry occupied by Romans in the first DLC (the Hidden Ones) of the 2017 video game Assassin's Creed Origins.

References

  1. ↑ Mayerson (1996), p. 120
  2. ↑ Mayerson (1996), pp. 120-121
  3. ↑ Young (2003), p. 68
  4. 1 2 Mayerson (1996), p. 119
  5. ↑ DuBois (2015), p. 430
  6. ↑ Cohen (2006), p. 327
  7. ↑ Mayerson (1996), p. 122
  8. ↑ Young (2003), p. 77
  9. 1 2 Mayerson (1996), p. 123
  10. ↑ Tsiamis, Poulakou-Rebelakou & Petridou (2009), p. 215
  11. 1 2 Mayerson (1996), p. 124
  12. ↑ Honigmann & Ebied (2012)
  13. ↑ "Clysma (Titular See)". Catholic-Hierarchy.
  14. ↑ Worp (1994), p. 300

Bibliography

  • Cohen, Getzel M. (2006). The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa. University of California Press.
  • DuBois, Michael S. (2015). Auxillae: A Compendium of Non-Legionary Units of the Roman Empire.
  • Honigmann, E.; Ebied, R. Y. (2012). "al-Ḳulzum". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition.
  • Mayerson, Philip (1996). "The Port of Clysma (Suez) in Transition from Roman to Arab Rule". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. The University of Chicago Press. 55 (2): 119–126. JSTOR 546035.
  • Tsiamis, Costas; Poulakou-Rebelakou, Effie; Petridou, Eleni (2009). "The Red Sea and the Port of Clysma. A Possible Gate of Justinian's Plague" (PDF). Gesnerus. 66 (2): 209–217.
  • Young, Gary K. (2003). Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy 31 BC - AD 305. Routledge.
  • Worp, K.A. (1994). "A Checklist of Bishops in Byzantine Egypt (A.D. 325- C. 750)" (PDF). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 100: 283–318.
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