Pharbaetus


Pharbaethus or Pharbaetus, also known as Sheten or Šetennu, was an ancient town in the Nile Delta. It served as the capital of the nome of Pharbaethites/Lapt in Lower Egypt.
Pharbaetus is referred to in a stele of the 7th century BC, and described by Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny.
The Greco-Roman name of Pharbaetus comes from the Egyptian p 'the' + Hor abot, a popular name for Hor-mer. This name is reproduced under the form Karbeuthos in George of Cyprus.

Ecclesiastical history

The original diocese was a suffragan of Leontopolis, in Augustamnica Secunda, Egypt.
There is a record of Bishop Arbetion at Nicæa in 325, and Bishop Theodorus in 1086, but it is possible that the latter was bishop of another Pharbætus situated further to the west, and which according to Vansleb was equally a Coptic see. John of Nikiu relates that under the Emperor Phocas the clerics of the province killed the Greek governor Theophilus.
It remains a Roman Catholic titular see under the name Pharbaetus.