Abū Qīr or Bū Qīr is a small village and port on the peninsula of the same name, on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. It is 23 km east of Alexandria on the railway connecting Alexandria to Rashīd (Rosetta). Al-Idrīsī, who refers to this village in Nuzhat al-mushtāq, says that it is thirty miles from both Alexandria and Rashīd (1/344).

The history of Abū Qīr goes back to the third century CE, and its name is derived from that of a Christian saint called Saint Cyrus or Hagios Kyros (Ramzī, 2 (2)/317). Amélineau says that Saints Barbara and Juliana were lai…