Qift (Egyptian Arabic: قفط [ʔeftˤ]; Coptic: Ⲕⲉϥⲧ Keft or Kebto; Egyptian Gebtu; Ancient Greek: Κόπτος Coptos / Koptos; Roman Justinianopolis) is a city in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km (27 mi) north of Luxor, situated a little south of latitude 26° north, on the east bank of the Nile.

In ancient times its proximity to the Red Sea made it an important trading emporium between India, Punt, Arabia Felix and the North.

In ancient Egypt, Qift, known then as Gebtu, was an important center for administration, religion, and commerce, being the chief city of the fifth Upper Egyptian nome of Harawî (Two Hawks).

Under the caliphs and the sultans in the Islamic era Qift was a chief city of Upper Egypt and a Shi'ite waqf of the Ashraf Alids.

In the 12th/13th century the geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote of Qift's commerce with India and its surrounding orchards.

[2][8] Remains of three temple groups surrounded by an enclosure wall were located during the excavations of W. M. Flinders Petrie in 1893–1894, and later, by Raymond Weill and Adolphe Joseph Reinach in 1910–1911.

[10][11] The second pylon still carries the dedication text of Nero, and the cartouche of Caligula appears on the north end of this structure.

The remains of this chapel of Osiris, erected by Amasis II of the 26th Dynasty, also were found near the northern temple.

[12][13] Scenes on the facade of the temple show the deified king Ptolemy I Soter leaving a palace, while other items such as a triad and a stela date to the time of Ramesses II.

[12] At the site of the later middle temple built during the Ptolemaic kingdom, blocks of an earlier structure by Senusret I and a gate of Thutmose III, with additions probably made by Osorkon II of the 22nd Dynasty, were found.

This later middle temple was built during the Ptolemaic kingdom by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, with minor additions by members of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty of Rome, Caligula, Claudius, and Trajan.

These stelae date to the Sixth and Seventh dynasties, with copies of royal decrees from the pharaohs concerning the temple and its personnel.

A chapel of Ptolemaic dynasty pharaoh Cleopatra VII and her son, Ptolemy XV Caesarion, has been found at the site as well.

[12] The Romans also continued the religious traditions of Ancient Egypt, adopting some completely, and drawing parallels (similar to the Greek rulers) for others.

Northeast of Qift, at the modern village of El-Qala, the Roman emperor Claudius also built a small temple and dedicated it to Min, Isis, and Horus.

[12] The Christian city was still important enough to become a bishopric, suffragan of Ptolemais in the Late Roman province Thebais Secunda.

The diocese was nominally restored as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric, initially under the name Coptos, which was changed in 1925 to Coptus.