Byzantine Egypt - Page 3 of 3

Greek Language In Christian Nubia

GREEK LANGUAGE IN CHRISTIAN NUBIA Of the territory in which the three Christian Nubian kingdoms emerged in the sixth century, only the Dodekaschoenus had a tradition of the use of the Greek language, the most eloquent remains being the proskynemata left by soldiers of the Roman imperial army garrisoned in this frontier zone (e.g., Preisigke, …

Greek Language In Christian Nubia Read More »

Persecutions

History / By Armia FAYEZ

PERSECUTIONS The persecution of Christians in Egypt has to be considered in connection with the religious policy and the ruler cult of the Roman emperors. Right from the start the Christians, being the followers of what was largely perceived as a Jewish sectarian executed by order of a Roman government representative, looked suspicious to both …

Persecutions Read More »

Pagarch (Greek, Pagarchos Or Pagarches)

Culture / By Armia FAYEZ

PAGARCH (Greek, pagarchos or pagarches) A word of obscure origin because of the comparative lack of papyri from the fifth century. G. Rouillard (1928) dates it to 460/470, while W. Liebeschuetz (1973) connects the rise of the pagarch with the reforms of Emperor Anastasius I (491-518), whose aim was to revive civic institutions. By the …

Pagarch (Greek, Pagarchos Or Pagarches) Read More »

Monastery Of The Metanoia

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

MONASTERY OF THE METANOIA The Alexandrian Monastery of the Metanoia (Penitence), also called the Monastery of Canopus or of the Tabennesiotes, played a prominent role in the religious history and the administrative life of Byzantine Egypt. One can merely catch a glimpse of this, for sources contain obscurities and contradictions. Origins No archaeological traces of …

Monastery Of The Metanoia Read More »

Economic Activities Of Monasteries

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF MONASTERIES Despite schisms, persecutions, occasional devastation by the barbarians, and the Persian and Arab conquests in 619 and 641, respectively, the history of the Egyptian monasteries from the fourth to the eighth centuries constitutes a whole. The period was one of expansion and material prosperity. Various categories of sources—literary, papyrological, and archaeological—indicate …

Economic Activities Of Monasteries Read More »

Epigraphy

Culture / By Youssef Matta

EPIGRAPHY Definition and time span Epigraphy is the study of INSCRIPTIONS, texts that are destined for long-term visual display in public space, more rarely in the private sphere. As a discipline, it sits in between archaeology and philology. Coptic epigraphy is taken here in a broad sense to comprise the study of Christian inscriptions from …

Epigraphy Read More »