Faras: translation
Modern Arabic name for a site in Nubia, Greek name Pachoras, south of Abu Simbel in modern Sudan. The earliest remains appear to date to the Meroitic Period, as blocks of Thutmose III found here are now known to have been reused from Buhen. The most extensive period of occupation dates to the Coptic Period and includes several churches and a cathedral with frescoes. The site was briefly excavated in 1905 by an expedition from the University of Pennsylvania, from 1910–1913 by Francis L. Griffith for the University of Oxford, from 1960–1962 by the Sudan Antiquities Service, and from 1961–1964 by a Polish expedition that discovered the cathedral and much inscriptional evidence. The area was flooded in 1964 by Lake Nasser, the lake formed by the waters of the Aswan High Dam. The frescoes were rescued and divided between the National Museums in Khartoum and Warsaw.
Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier