TAMIA´THIS (Ταμίαθις, Steph. B. s. v.), was a considerable town in Lower Aegypt, situated at the mouth of the Phatnitic arm of the Nile. It is less celebrated in history than its representative, the modern Damiator Damietta, which, since the era of the Crusades, has always been, until the rise of Alexandriain the present century, one of the most populous and commercial places in the Delta. Many antique columns and blocks from the ancient town are built into the walls of the mosques in the modern one. The present Damietta, indeed, does not occupy the site of Tamiathis, since, according to Abulfeda, the original town of that name was destroyed, on account of its exposed situation, and rebuilt higher up the Nile, about 5 miles further from the sea. The date of this change of position is fixed by Abulfeda in the year of the Hegira 648 (A.D. 1251).
[W.B.D]