Qus
Qus was founded in 1083. There are two ruined gates at Qus that are all that remain of the Temple of Harwer (Horus the Elder). They are also all that remain of Apollinopolis Parva, the ancient name of Qus. This was a relatively unimportant area until the opening of an alternate route to the Red Sea during the 13th century. After that, Qus replaced Qift as the primary commercial center for trading with Africa, India, Arabia and Yemen. In fact, it became the second most important Islamic town in Egypt (after Cairo) during the medieval times.
Today, Qus is the site of a major US/German commercial project to convert the waste products of sugar cane refining (bagasse) into paper products.
See Also:
Our Feature Article on Temple Ruins in and near Qift and Qus
Last Updated: June 27th, 2011