1st Edition

Coptic Perspectives on Late Antiquity

By Leslie S.B. MacCoull Copyright 1993
    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    The transitions from Antiquity to the Middle Ages continue to demand explanation; in the case of Egypt there is the added question of why the Coptic language died out following the Arab conquests. In these studies Dr MacCoull draws on the extensive papyrological evidence, in both Coptic and Greek, to explore the Egypt of the 6th-8th centuries, its culture, religion and society. One group of articles focuses on the figure of the lawyer-poet Dioscorus of Aphrodito; in others she examines the adjustments made by Christian Egyptians as they became a minority under Muslim rule, as well as the methodologies of studying this society. Les differents passages de l’Antiquité au Moyen Age nécessitent encore un certain nombre d’explications; dans le cas de l’Egypte, s’ajoute la question de l’extinction de la langue copte à la suite des conquêtes arabes. Au cours de ces études, le Dr MacCoull s’appuie sur l’abondante documentation papyrologique, en langue grecque et copte, afin d’explorer l’Egypte du 6e au 8e siècle, sa culture, sa religion et sa société. Un groupe d’articles se concentre sur le personnage du poète juriste Dioscore d’Aphrodito; d’ailleurs, elle examine la façon dont les Chrétiens égyptiens se sont adaptés alors qu’ils devenaient une minorité sous l’empire des musulmans, ainsi que la méthodologie relative à l’étude de cette société.

    Contents: Introduction; Towards a new understanding of Coptic Egypt; The Coptic archive of Dioscorus of Aphrodito; The imperial chairetismos of Dioscorus of Aphrodito; A Trinitarian formula in Dioscorus of Aphrodito; Monoeidês in Dioscorus of Aphrodito: an addendum; The panegyric on Justin II by Dioscorus of Aphrodito; A Coptic cession of land by Dioscorus of Aphrodito: Alexandria meets Cairo; Further notes on the Greek-Coptic glossary of Dioscorus of Aphrodito; Dioscorus of Aphrodito and John Philoponus; Dioscorus and the dukes: an aspect of Coptic Hellenism in the 6th century; The Coptic papyri from Apollonos Anô; Coptic Egypt during the Persian occupation: the papyrological evidence; Stud. Pal. XV 250ab: a Monophysite trishagion for the Nile flood; Redating the inscription of el-Moallaqa; Coptic alchemy and craft technology in Islamic Egypt: the papyrological evidence; Coptic documentary papyri in the collection of the Society for Coptic Archaeology, Cairo; Patronage and the social order in Coptic Egypt; The Aphrodito murder mystery; The paschal letter of Alexander II, patriarch of Alexandria: a Greek defense of Coptic theology under Arab rule; Notes on the social structure of late antique Aphrodito; Additions to the prosopography of Aphrodito from the Coptic documents; Sinai icon B.49: Egypt and iconoclasm; The Coptic Cambyses narrative reconsidered; Egyptian elements in the Christus Patiens; Three cultures under Arab rule: the fate of Coptic; The strange death of Coptic culture; Approaches to Coptic studies; Coptic sources: a problem in the sociology of knowledge; Towards an appropriate context for the study of late antique Egypt; Index.

    Biography

    Leslie S.B. MacCoull