TABENNESE, location of the first monastery of Saint PACHOMIUS,
and though he and his successors soon lived in the second house
established at PBOW, it still gives its name to the type of
monasticism that he inaugurated. His monks were called
Tabennesiotes, and the superior general was called either
"archimandrite of Pbow" or "archimandrite of the Tabennesiotes."
The etymology of this Egyptian place-name was established by W.
E. Crum (Vol. 2, no. 163, n. 8). The name means "sanctuary of
Isis," and this interpretation has been adopted by all
Egyptologists (see, for example, Cerny, p. 353). The name
survives elsewhere among Egyptian place-names under the form
Tafnis. Since the site disappeared very early, carried away by
the floods of the Nile, to which it was very close, no ancient
evidence remains. The first to investigate the Tabennese of
Saint Pachomius on the spot appears to have been M. JULLIEN, who
thought he would find its remains in the neighboring town of
Dishna, a name that he ingeniously made the equ