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Tirsa

By Randall Stewart

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tirsa, a town in Egypt located in the vicinity of al-Minya. On 9 Kiyahk the synaxarion commemorates Saint pamin, who is said to have hailed from "Minyat al-Khasib, from the area of al-Ashmunayn, near Tirsa." Inasmuch as Tirsa is given as a reference point for Minyat al-Khasib, it is reasonable to assume that in Pamin's day, or at least at the time the Synaxarion was composed, Tirsa was the more significant of the two towns. Minyat al-Khasib is the modern al-Minya, but there is no dwelling named Tirsa in the surrounding area and there are no other attestations of the town in ancient, medieval, or modern literature.

Bibliography

Timm, S. Das christlich-koptische Ägypten in arabischer Zeit, pt. 5. Wiesbaden, 1988. RANDALL STEWART