(TENTYRA)
Seat of a titular suffragan see of Ptolemais in Thebaid Secunda. The city was the capital of the nome of that name, according to Amelineau, the real name being Nikentori or Nitentori, which signifies willow wood or willow earth. Others give the derivation from the goddess Hathor, or Aphrodite, who was specially worshiped there. The crocodile is recognized as the deity of the city and was also venerated as such in the other Egyptian cities, which caused many quarrels, notably with Ombos. Little is known of Christianity in that place, as only the names of two ancient bishops are given: Pachymius, companion of Melece at the beginning of the fourth century; and Serapion, or Aprion, contemporary and friend of the monk St. Pachomius, who had in his diocese his celebrated convent of Tabennisi. It is today Denderah, a town of 6000 inhabitants in the district of Qeneh. The temple of Hathor is still to be seen, built on the foundation of another, yet more ancient, which was in existence during the reign of Cheops under the fourth dynasty, and in which was found the celebrated zodiac now in Paris; there are also the temples of Mammisi and of Isis, of the Roman or Ptolomaic epoch.
LE QUIEN, Oriens christ., II, 607; SMITH, Dict. of Gr. and Roman. Geog., s.v.; AMELINEAU, La geographie de l'Egypte a' l'epoque copte (Paris, 1893), 140-2.
APA citation. (1912). Tentyris. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14512b.htm
MLA citation. "Tentyris." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14512b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to the Christian Community of the Tentyris Region.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.