Xois sat upon an island formed by the
Sebennytic and
Phatnitic branches of the
Nile. It belonged to the
Sebennytic Nome, and later was the capital of its own
nome, the Xoite nome. The
Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt consisted, according to
Manetho, of 76 Xoite kings. This dynasty immediately preceded that of the
Hyksos during the
Second Intermediate Period. It seems possible, therefore, that Xois, from its strong position among the marshes of the Nile Delta formed by the intersecting branches of the river, could have held out during the occupation of the Delta by the Hyksos, or at least compromised with the invaders by paying them
tribute. This hypothesis, however, is not shared by most Egyptologists today, who believe that the Fourteenth Dynasty was based in
Avaris in the eastern Delta. By some geographers, Xois is supposed to be the Papremis of
Herodotus (ii. 59, iii. 12).
Jean-François Champollion (''l'Egypte sous les Pharaons'', vol. ii. p. 214) identified Xois's remains at modern-day Sakha (Sakkra), which is the
Arabic version of the Coptic
Sḫeow and
Egyptian sḫw (Niebuhr,
Travels, vol. i. p. 75). The road from
Tamiathis to
Memphis passed through Xois. Through the
Roman and
Byzantine era, Xois was the center of a Christian
diocese. It remains a vacant
titular bishopric. The diocese remained active through at least the year 700. In the 900s,
Ibn Hawqal described Sakha as a large city. At the time of
Yaqut al-Hamawi in the 1200s, Sakha was the capital of the province of
Gharbia. By the time of
Ibn Duqmaq, it was no longer the provincial capital, but it remained a large city that lent its name to a major sub-district of the province.
Christian tradition holds that Sakha was one of the places that the family of
Jesus visited during their
Flight into Egypt. In 1984, a stone said to bear the footprint of Jesus was found, which had been buried in medieval times. The stone was authorized by
Coptic Pope Shenouda III and several
miracles have been attributed to it. ==See also==