Asyut

Asyut is one of the largest cities in Middle Egypt, situated on the western bank of the Nile some 375 km south of Cairo. Known in antiquity as Lycopolis, it served as the capital of the 13th Upper Egyptian nome and a cultic center of the jackal-headed deity Wepwawet. During the medieval period the city was a key staging post on the Darb el-Arba'in caravan route connecting sub-Saharan Africa to the Nile Valley. Today it functions primarily as a regional administrative hub and is home to one of Egypt's most significant Coptic Christian communities.