al-Ashmunayn – Coptic Wiki

Al-Ashmunayn (MINYA)

Al-Ashmunayn (MINYA) LATE ANTIQUE hermopolis MAGNA (modern al-Ashmunayn) was an important administrative center in Middle Egypt, with a long history. In pharaonic times, one of the largest temples in honor of Thot, the ibis-headed god, scribe, and vizier of the gods, was built here. The Arabic al-Ashmunayn derives from the Egyptian name of the city. […]

John of Shmoun and Coptic Identity

John of Shmoun and Coptic Identity After the Council of Chalcedon in ad 451 and in particular after the Arab conquest of Egypt in ad 641, the need to demonstrate Coptic self identification became more important than before.[1] Usually, there is the need to stress one’s identity and define or form its features when one […]

Architectural Typology of Historic Coptic Churches from Oxyrhynchos to Dayr al-Ganadla

Architectural Typology of Historic Coptic Churches from Oxyrhynchos to Dayr al-Ganadla The aim of this study is to correct the common notion that the architectural design of the typical Coptic Orthodox church either has a cruciform plan or is in the form of Noah’s Ark, which reflects a lack of awareness and lack of study […]

The Architecture of Coptic Churches

The Architecture of Coptic Churches THE CHRISTIANS OF EGYPT OFTEN FOUND THEMSELVES facing the monumental architecture of the pharaonic past. The grand limestone and colorful granite temple complexes of the ancient gods were still active in the first centuries under the patronage of the Roman emperors; paganism was certainly not overshadowed by the rise of […]

Coptic Sculpture In Stone

COPTIC SCULPTURE IN STONE Figures in the round and especially architectural ornament carved in stone and stucco in Egypt from the fourth to the seventh century. State of Research In comparison with studies on the sculpture of the late classical and early Byzantine periods in other Roman provinces (e.g., Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Asia Minor, […]

Cyriacus

CYRIACUS A Bishop of al-Bahnasa (Oxyrhynchus), assumed author of eight homilies. We have no historical evidence of either the existence of this person or the period in which he lived. On the latter, opinions greatly diverge: G. Graf (1944-1953, Vol. 1, p. 475) thinks that if one accepts what is said by the Ethiopian Book […]

Church Architecture In Egypt

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN EGYPT Only church buildings can be considered as a confessional type of structure—like the cultic buildings of pagans, Jews, and Muslims. Churches are a specifically Christian type of architecture. All other kinds of building—including funerary structures—have no confessional ties and take the same form among Christians as among people of other faiths […]

Christian Subjects In Coptic Art

CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART Whatever its materials and techniques—stone or wood relief sculpture, painted walls or manuscripts, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, or glass—Coptic Christian iconography retained a few rare elements of pharaonic origin and many Greco-Roman elements from Alexandrian tradition. From the fifth century on, these pagan subjects mingled with Christian motifs. The Christian subjects […]

Coptic Ceramics

COPTIC CERAMICS The pottery produced in Egypt from the late Roman to the early Islamic period. There must be no illusion about the term “Coptic ceramics.” The techniques of production were in the tradition of Hellenistic and Roman techniques. Similarly, there is no marked stylistic discontinuity between the products of the Roman period and those […]

Triumphal Arche – Architectural Elements Of Churches

Triumphal Arch A triumphal arch is a freestanding structure in Roman architecture and the arch at the entrance to the apse in church architecture. From the second century A.D., the Romans built arches to commemorate some extraordinary political event or the outstanding achievements of some exalted personage. Such arches frequently stood astride a road and […]