Qift

Qift is a city in the Qena Governorate of Egypt, about 43 km north of Luxor on the east bank of the Nile. In ancient times it was known as Gebtu and later as Coptos, and its closeness to the Red Sea made it an important trading centre between India, Punt, Arabia Felix and the north. It served the gold and quartzite mines of the Eastern Desert and was a starting point for expeditions to Punt by the path through Wadi Hammamat. Gebtu was the chief city of the fifth Upper Egyptian nome and the most important religious centre of its area, where the god Min was the principal male deity. The city was captured by Diocletian in 292 after a long siege, renamed Justinianopolis in the 6th century, and was a chief city of Upper Egypt in the Islamic era until the Ottomans levelled much of the medieval town in the 16th century. Remains of three temple groups, excavated by Flinders Petrie in 1893 and 1894 and by later expeditions, survive on the site.