hiw, a city in Upper Egypt, located on the west bank of the Nile some 4 miles (about 6.5 km) southeast of Nag Hammadi. In Greek the city was known as Upper Diospolis or Diospolis Mikra. In Coptic sources the city is called Hou or Ho.
Hiw was a bishopric before 325, as evidenced by frequent mention in the life of pachomius of an unnamed bishop of Diospolis (Zoega, 1810, pp. 71, 75).
Al-maqrizi wrote that in his day (the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries) there was a church of the Virgin and a church of abu mina in Hiw (1845, p. 141). The Abu Mina church later became a monastery (see dayr mar mina [Hiw-Nag Hammadi]).