owth of
trade with Arabia and India thereafter raised Coptos to great
commercial prosperity; but in A.D. 292 its share in the rebellion
against Diocletian led to an almost total devastation. It again appears,
however, as a place of importance, and as the seat of a considerable
Christian community, though the stream of traffic turned aside to the
neighbouring K[=u]s. During part of the 7th century it was called
Justinianopolis in honour of the emperor Justinian.

The local god of Coptos, as of Khemmis (Akhm[=i]m, q.v.), was the
ithyphallic Min; but in late times Isis was of equal importance in the
city. Min was especially the god of the desert routes. Petrie's
excavations on the site of the temple brought to light remains of all
periods, the most remarkable objects being three very primitive
limestone statues of the god with figures of an elephant, swords of
sword-fish, sea-shells, &c., engraved upon them: there were also found
some very peculiar terra-cottas of the Old Kingdom, and the decree of an
Antef belonging to the latter part of the Middle Kingdom, deposing the
monarch for siding with the king's enemy.

COPTS, the early native Christians of Egypt and their successors of the
Monophysite sect, now racially the purest representatives of the ancient
Egyptians. The name is a Europeanized form, dating perhaps from the 14th
century, of the Arabic Kibt (or Kubt), which, in turn, is derived from
the Greek [Greek: Aiguptioi], "Egyptians" (the Copts in the Coptic
language likewise style themselves [grahic], "people of Egypt,"
"Egyptians").

The limited application of the name is explained by the circumstances of
the time when Mahomet sent forth his challenge to the world and 'Amr
conquered Egypt (A.D. 627-641). At that time the population of Egypt was
wholly Christian (except for a sprinkling of Jews, &c.), divided into
two fiercely hostile sects, the Monophysites and the Melkites. The
division was in great measure racial. The Melkites, adherents of the
orthodox or court religion sanctioned by the council of Chalcedon, were
mainly of foreign extraction, from the various Hellenistic races which
peopled the Eastern Roman empire, while the bulk of the population, the
true Egyptians, were Monophysite. Amongst the latter political
aspirations, apart from religion, may be said not to have existed. It
has generally been held that the Copts invited and aided the Moslems to
seize the country in order that at all costs they