Qift ( ; Keft or Kebto; Egyptian Gebtu; Coptos / Koptos; Roman Justinianopolis) is a city in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated a little south of latitude 26° north, on the east bank of the Nile. In ancient times its proximity to the Red Sea made it an important trading emporium between India, Punt, Arabia Felix and the North. It was important for nearby gold and quartzite mines in the Eastern Desert, and as a starting point for expeditions to Punt (in modern Somalia) by way of the path through the Wadi Hammamat to the Red Sea port at Tjau (modern El Qoseir).
History
Pre-dynastic and Pharaonic Period
thumb|upright|left|Reconstruction of the [[Koptos colossi, pre-dynastic colossal statues of the God Min, Temple of Koptos, Naqada III, about 3300 BCE.]]
thumb|Limestone lintel of Hesy (Hesi), the King's acquaintance. Old Kingdom, 3rd to 4th Dynasties. From Koptos, Egypt. Petrie Museum, London
In ancient Egypt, Qift, known then as Gebtu, was an important center for administration, religion, and commerce, being the chief city of the fifth Upper Egyptian nome of Harawî (Two Hawks). From Qift and Qus, trading expeditions heading for the Red Sea and many mining expeditions into the Eastern Desert left the Nile Valley. Gebtu was at the starting-point of the two great caravan routes leading to the coast of the Red Sea, the one toward the port Tââou (Myoshormos or Myos Hormos), the other more southerly, toward the port of Shashirît (Berenice).
Under the native pharaohs, the whole trade of southern Egypt with the Red Sea passed over these two roads; under the Ptolemies as well as in Roman and Byzantine times, merchants followed the same roads for purposes of barter at the coasts of Zanzibar and in Southern Arabia, India, and the Far East.
Gebtu was the most important religious center in the area. Its principal male deity was Min, a sky-god whose symbol was a thunderbolt. He became a male fertility deity, and also was regarded as the male deity of the desert region to the east.
thumb|right|100px|Isis nursing her infant son – Louvre
His cult rose to prominence in the Middle Kingdom. At that time, he became associated with Horus as the deity, Min-Horus. Later, he was fused with Amen in the deity Min-Amen-ka-Mut-ef, as "Min-Amen-bull of his mother" (Hathor-Isis).
Isis (Hathor-Isis) and her infant, Horus, were the deities connected with Gebtu, named Coptos during the Greco-Roman period, probably from the reinterpretation of the Two Hawks of the Nome, Harawî, standard as Min and Horus.
Gebtu, once politically important, especially under the Eleventh Dynasty, was overshadowed by Thebes.
Greco-Roman and Byzantine Periods
The town was of importance in Hellenistic times, when it was the terminus of a caravan route to Berenice on the Red Sea. It was built up by Augustus, fell to the Blemmyes in the 3rd cent. AD, and was almost destroyed by Diocletian in AD 292.
It recuperated its prominence under the Antonines; it was the base camp of Legio III Cyrenaica, or at least one of its subunits. It rebelled, but soon was captured in 292 by Diocletian after a long siege and the original city got heavily damaged. It was then reconstructed as a Roman City with many fortifications and Roman camps. In the 6th century, Qift was renamed Justinianopolis, like several other cities, after the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. The present-day village of Qift is on the site.
The epic poet Christodorus was from the city.
Muslim Period
Under the caliphs and the sultans in the Islamic era Qift was a chief city of Upper Egypt and a Shi'ite waqf of the Ashraf Alids. In the 12th/13th century the geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote of Qift's commerce with India and its surrounding orchards. Several generations of qadi high-officials of the Ayubids derived their family nisba (surname), 'Al-Qifti', from the territory. The celebrated biographer al-Qifti, was born here in 1172, where he received an early education.
Archaeology
thumb|"One of the finest" reliefs Petrie found in Koptos was this ithyphallic representation of Min before Senureset I. Prudery toward erect representations got in the way of photography and exhibition of the city's artifacts in Victorian times and the late 20th century. Here, then-assistant [[Margaret Murray covered the member for Petrie's photograph. Some items were totally omitted from the initial record to protect sensibilities, which can lead to problems of provenance for archaeological phalloi. ]]
thumb|Storage jar with blue lotus flower decorations. Ibex or gazelle's head peeking out from vegetation. 18th Dynasty. From Koptos (Qift), Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
Remains of three temple groups surrounded by an enclosure wall were located during the excavations of W. M. Flinders Petrie in 1893–1894, and later, by Raymond Weill and Adolphe Joseph Reinach in 1910–1911. Qift was the focus of an American archaeological project from 1987 to 1992 and an Australian one between 2000 and 2003.
Northern temple
The undecorated northern temple of Min and Isis dates to the Ptolemaic period. Earlier structures on the site date back to the Middle Kingdom, with significant work during the New Kingdom reign of Tuthmosis III. The temple was rebuilt during the Ptolemaic Period. The later work has been attributed to an official named Sennuu-shepsi on behalf of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (ruling from 281 BC to 246 BC).
This northern temple has some later additions by Ptolemy IV Philopator ruling from 221–205 BC. Scenes on the facade of the temple show the deified king Ptolemy I Soter leaving a palace, while other items such as a triad and a stela date to the time of Ramesses II.