Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 6 November 2025
mina, togo (1906–1949), coptologist
Gawdat Gabra Keywords: Abu Mina; Coptic funerary stelae; Coptic Museum; Egyptology; Coptic studies; Julius of Aqfahṣ; Murqus Simaykah; Nag Hammadi Codices; Nubian studies; Saint Epima.
Togo Mina was born in asyuṭ in Upper Egypt. He studied Egyptology at Cairo University and obtained a diploma of Egyptology in 1929. Then he studied at the École Pratique, École du Louvre, and Institut Catholique in France between 1930 and 1934. His dissertation on the martyrdom of saint epima was published in Cairo (Mina 1937a). In 1934, Mina was appointed assistant to murqus simaykah at the coptic museum. After the death of Simaykah in 1944, Mina became the museum’s director. He excavated in abu mina and in Thebes.
Despite Togo Mina’s early death, he made important contributions to both Coptic and Nubian studies. One of his earliest publications is on Saint Julius of aqfahṣ and his works (Mina 1937b). In 1939, Mina published an article on Coptic funerary stelae (Mina 1939). His subsequent publication on Coptic and Greek inscriptions from Nubia provides significant source material for the study of Christianity, coptic language, greek language, and epigraphy in nubia (Mina 1942).
It was Togo Mina who started the process of acquiring the Nag Hammadi Codices (see nag hammadi library) for the Coptic Museum (Mina 1948; Gabra 2008: 186; Martyros 2022: 367–368).