Photis

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PHOTIS

PHOTIS , village marked on the Madaba Map between Orda and Elusa on the Gaza-Elusa road. It has been identified both with the Aphtha of Josephus (Jos., Wars 4: 155) and with the Aphta of Johannes Rufus (Plerophoria, 48; in Patrologia orientalis, vol. 8, p. 100), the more likely identification. The ancient site of Photis has been established at Khirbat Fuṭays, east of Gaza, with the remains of a settlement and a church; close by is the Monastery of Silvanus. In the Wadi Fuṭays are the remains of Byzantine silos. The moshav Pattish was founded on the site in 1950.

bibliography:

M. Avi-Yonah, Madaba Mosaic Map (1954), 73; Avi-Yonah, Geog, 169. add. bibliography: Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. IudaeaPalaestina. Maps and Gazetteer. (1994), 203.

[Michael Avi-Yonah /

Shimon Gibson]