Arsinoe
Arsinoe is an ancient city mentioned in the Bible, located in the region of Sinai in modern-day Egypt. Known today as Kibrit.
Biblical History
Arsinoe was a Hellenistic city on the Sinai coast of Egypt, at the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez, named in honor of Arsinoe II, the deified queen and sister-wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (3rd century BC). While the name Arsinoe does not appear in the canonical Old or New Testament text, the city is referenced in certain deuterocanonical and apocryphal traditions, and it features in the geographical and commercial world within which biblical events unfolded. The site sat at a strategic maritime and overland crossing point between Egypt and the Sinai, making it significant in the trade and travel networks of the Hellenistic and Roman periods that form the backdrop to intertestamental history and New Testament missions. The region around Arsinoe was part of the land through which the Exodus route passed, and its broader district encompassed the traditional land of Goshen, connecting it to foundational narratives of Israelite origins in Egypt.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Arsinoe is identified with the modern site near Kibrit and Suez at the northern end of the Gulf of Suez in Egypt. The ancient city was founded or refounded during the Ptolemaic period and served as a port and waystation. The site has yielded Ptolemaic and Roman-period remains, including evidence of trade activity tied to Red Sea commerce. The area was strategically vital for Egyptian control of Sinai routes. Modern industrial development around Suez has significantly impacted the archaeological landscape. Excavation at the ancient site has been limited, though the broader Gulf of Suez region has been studied in connection with Ptolemaic port infrastructure and Red Sea trade networks attested in papyrological sources.
Verse Appearances (0)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]