A glimpse into the history of the city of Qus 

City location: 

Today the city of Qus is considered a major center of Qena Governorate.  It is located next to the city of Qift on the eastern bank of the Nile, about 645 km south of Cairo, and 38 km north of Luxor Governorate.  Opposite Qus on the western side of the Nile is the city of Naqada. 

In the Medieval Times, Qus was the capital of Upper Egypt and was the hub for pilgrims on their way to the Red Sea and it was the primary commercial center for trading with Africa, India, and Arabia. Illiteracy among the population of Qus over the age of fifteen is close to 0%.  

Villages affiliated to Qus: 

Al-Alaiqat, Hajazah Qibli, Matira Island, Al-Masid, Abbassa, Al-Ma’arri, Al-Kalalsa, Al-Aqab, Al-Sha’arani, Al-Halla, Al-Kharanqa, Al-Maqrabeya, Al-Hamr, Al-Ja’afara, Al-Harajiyah, Al-Karatia, Al-Maqarin, Khaza, Al-Jamaliya, Makhzan, Al-Mafrajia, Shanhour, Kom Sukhin. 

What historians wrote about Qus: 

The name Qus is one of many borrowings in Egyptian Arabic from Coptic (Qous).  In Graeco-Roman times, it was called Apollonopolis Parva or Apollinopolis Mikra (Greek: Ἀπόλλωνος ἡ μικρά; Ἀπόλλων μικρός), or Apollonos minoris.  

During the rule of the Roman Empire, it was renamed Diocletianopolis after the Roman Emperor Diocletian which probably corresponds to the Maximianopolis of the later Empire. 

Abu al-Makarim, wrote that the city of Qus, which is interpreted as the shroud, was a place to shroud kings. 

The bishopric in Qus: 

Information about the Bishops of Qus before the seventh century is extremely limited.  Only five names of its bishops between the 5th and 7th centuries are known.  There is no information about any bishops for Qus for the following 450 years as opposed to Qift city which is situated north of Qus that had a continuum of bishops. 

The importance of Qus: 

Qus is the oldest tourist spot in Egypt. It is also one of the largest and oldest cities in Upper Egypt. Some claim that King Menes (the founder of the First Dynasty and the pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt), Moses the Prophet, Queen Nefertari (the wife of Pharaoh Ramses II), and king Ahmose who expelled the Hyksos from Egypt were born and raised in Qus. 

Many famous people visited Qus including Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta, Khalil Mutran and Hafez Ibrahim. A group of well-known writers i.e., Al-Rafi’i, Al-Manfaluti and Abbas Al-Akkad wrote about it. 

Qus is a pharaonic word meaning “the city of knowledge,” as it was the base for priests, writers, and philosophers during the Pharaonic period.  In Medieval Egypt, it was the seat of the governor of Upper Egypt, and it was the site of a mint to manufacture currency. 

The importance of Qus can be ascribed to the following: 

First: Qus as a forum for Scientists: 

Qus had deservedly been called the city of science and scholars in which many philosophers, poets, orators, and rhetoricians dreamt to live or just visit to attend its famous schools.  Many Moroccans and people from various parts of the world had come to Qus to learn.  Qus served as a hub for many famous scholars and was the seat of the chief judge of Egypt. This rich history attracted famous travellers like Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta as well as world historians like Herodotus, and world orientalists such as Jean-Claude Garsin, Emre, Sonnini, Girard, Vivan, Marino, Sanudo, Pegolotti and many others. 

Second: Qus Mint: 

The Caliph (Khalifa) Al-Amer B’Allah had a special interest in gold mines, so he encouraged people to extract gold as much as they could. People extracted enormous quantities of gold at his request so that in the year 523 AH, the Caliph Al-Amer B’Allah built a mint in Qus near the gold mines.  Thus, Qus became the fifth city for minting, along with Cairo, Alexandria, Fustat, and Ashkelon. Al-Adfawi wrote that in the year 672 AH, during the era of Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars, coins were found buried in the city of Qus, which dated one thousand three hundred years back to the early Roman era.   

Third: Geographical and political location: 

Due to its distinguished geographical location, Qus was a fortress during the reign of Sultan Qalawun. It played a significant role in defeating the King of Nubia (Samanon), who rebelled against Sultan Qalawun. 

Qus was also the seat of the governor of Upper Egypt, which was a very prestigious position in the country. In the Mamluk era, the governor of Qus had the lead in the official processions over the governor of Gharbia (the most important governor of northern Egypt).  The governor of Qus enjoyed the privileges of the sultan being the deputy of the Sultanate.  Being a governor of Qus was the highest ever promotion that a prince can be granted. 

In his famous Safranama (a Persian word meaning the Book of Travels), the Persian traveller (Khusraw) passing Aswan to the Oriental countries wrote about Qus in the era of the Fatimid Caliphate.  Khusraw described with admiration its great stone buildings and wall.