DIO´SPOLIS PARVA
DIO´SPOLIS PARVA There were two cities in Egypt bearing the appellation of the Lesser Town of Ammon-Zeus.
1.
In the Thebaid, lat. 26° 3′ N. (
Διόσπολις ἡ μικρά, Strab. xviii. p.814;
Ptol. 4.5.67; Diospolis, It. Antonin. p. 159; Jovis Oppidum,
Plin. Nat. 5.9. s. 10.), the chief town of the Nomos Diospolites. The Lesser Diopolis was seated on the left bank of the Nile, opposite to Chenoboscium, and nearly midway between Abydus and Ten. tyra. Pococke (
Travels, vol. i. p. 140), D'Anville (
Mémoire sur l'Egypte, p. 186), and Champollion (
l'Egypte, vol. 1.238) identify this town with the modern village of
How or
Hû. Immediately below Diospolis began the canal or ancient branch of the Nile,--the
Bahr-Jusuf, or River of Joseph, which flows between the Nile and the Libyan hills to the entrance of the Arsinoite Nome (
el-Fyoum).
2.
The modern
Lydda (
Strab. xviii. p.802) was seated in the marshes of the Delta, east of the Phatnitic arm of the Nile.
It was an inconsiderable place, and is mentioned only by Strabo. [
W.B.D]
