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RINOKOLOURA (Ancient city) EGYPT
or Rhinocolura (Rhinokoroura, Polyb. Ptol. Joseph.; Rhinokoloura,
Strab.: Eth. Pinokourairos, Rhinokourourites), a maritime city on the confines
of Egypt and Palestine, and consequently reckoned sometimes to one country, sometimes
to the other. Strabo, going south, reckons Gaza, Raphia, Rhinocolura (xvi. p.
759); Polybius, going north, reckons it to Egypt, calling Raphia the first city
of Coelesyria (v. 80). Ptolemy also reckons it to Egypt, and places it in the
district of Cassiotis (iv. 5. § 12), between Ostracine and Anthedon. The Itinerarium
Antonini (p. 151) places it xxii. M.P. south of Rafia, and the same distance north
of Ostracena. The following curious account of its origin and name is given by
Diodorus Siculus. Actisanes, king of Aethiopia, having conquered Egypt, with a
view to the suppression of crime in his newly-acquired dominion, collected together
all the suspected thieves in the country, and, after judicial conviction, cut
off their noses and sent them to colonise a city which he had built for them on
the extremity of the desert, called, from their mishap, Rhinocolura (quasi pinos
kolouroi==curti, al. p. keirasthai), situated on the confines of Egypt and Syria,
near the shore; and from its situation destitute of nearly all the necessaries
of life. The soil around it was salt, and the small supply of well water within
the walls was bitter. Necessity, the mother of invention, led the inhabitants
to adopt the following novel expedient for their sustenance. They collected a
quantity of reeds, and, splitting them very fine, they wove them into nets, which
they stretched for many stadia along the sea-shore, and so snared large quantities
of quails as they came in vast flights from the sea (i. 60). Strabo copies this
account of its origin (l. c.); Seneca ascribes the act to a Persian king, and
assigns the city to Syria (de Ira, iii. 20). Strabo (xvi. p. 781) mentions it
as having been the great emporium of Indian and Arabian merchandise, which was
discharged at Leuce Come, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, whence it was conveyed,
via Petra, to Rhinocolura, and thence dispersed to all quarters. In his day, however,
the tide of commerce flowed chiefly down the Nile to Alexandria. The name occurs
in Josephus, but unconnected with any important event. It is known to the ancient
ecclesiastical writers as the division between the possessions of the sons of
Noah. S. Jerome states that the River of Egypt flowed between this city and Pelusium
(Reland, Palaest. pp. 285, 286, 969--972); and in one passage the LXX. translate
the River of Egypt by Rhinocorura. (Isaiah, xxvii. 12.) It is remarkable that
this penal colony, founded for mutilated convicts, should have become fruitful
in saints; and its worthy and exemplary bishop Melas, in the time of the Arian
persecution, who was succeeded by his brother Solon, became the founder of a succession
of religious men, which, according to the testimony of Sozomen, continued to his
time. (Hist. Eccles. vii. 31.) Rhinocorura is now El-Arish, as the River of Egypt
is Wady-el-Arish. The village is situated on an eminence about half a mile from
the sea, and is for the most part enclosed within a wall of considerable thickness.
There are some Roman ruins, such as marble columns, &c., and a very fine well
of good water. (Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 174, October 7.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(ta Rhinokoloura) or Rhinocorura (ta Rhinokoroura). Now Kasr-el-Arish. The frontier town of Egypt and Palestine, lying in the midst of the desert, at the mouth of the brook (ElArish) which was the boundary between the countries, and which is called in Scripture the River of Egypt. The name of it hence signifies "Cutoff-Noses," and is said to have been given it because it was the place to which criminals thus mutilated were banished under the Aethiopian dynasty of kings of Egypt.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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