Greek papyri - Page 2 of 4

Karanis

KARANIS An ancient Egyptian farming village that was a lively center of Christianity in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. It was north of the Fayyum some 20 miles (30 km) from Arsinoë, the metropolis of Arsinoë Nome. Excavations have supplied only mute evidence of village life, in the form of Coptic textiles and Roman …

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Rederic George Kenyon (1863-1952)

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

FREDERIC GEORGE KENYON (1863-1952) An English scholar and administrator. After his studies in Oxford, he entered the British Museum as an assistant in the Department of Manuscripts. In 1898 he was named assistant keeper of manuscripts, and in 1909, director. He held this post until 1930. He edited Volumes 1 (1893), 2 (1898), and 3 …

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Coptic Legal Sources

Books / By Armia FAYEZ

COPTIC LEGAL SOURCES The sources for Coptic law are legal documents in Greek, Coptic, and Arabic. The reason for this is that several languages were in use in Egypt in this period, as is shown also by the fact that the Egyptian civil lawyers drafted Greek and Coptic documents at the same time, while Copts …

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Coptic Law

History / By Armia FAYEZ

COPTIC LAW By “Coptic law” we understand the particularities of legal practice evidenced in documents written in the Coptic language, from roughly the sixth to the ninth century (Steinwenter, 1955; Schiller, 1932a, 1957, 1971a). The substance of the law is found in the combination of Greek, Coptic, and Arabic documents, but the present treatment rests …

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Saint Ursus Of Solothurn

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

SAINT URSUS OF SOLOTHURN A fourth-century Egyptian who was a member of the THEBAN LEGION martyred in Switzerland under the emperors Maximian and DIOCLETIAN (feast day: 30 September). Foremost among sources specifically naming Ursus are the records left by Saint Eucherius, the fifth-century bishop of Lyons, Passio Agaunensium martyrum and an anonymous Passio sancti Mauritii …

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Bawit

Places / By Arsanious Adel

BAWIT History The town of Bawit is located between Dayrut and Asyut. The site is famous through the excavations carried out there at the beginning of the twentieth century, the results of which were important for the history of Coptic art. From the numerous inscriptions discovered there, it is known that it was dedicated to …

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Archive Of Basilios

Heritage / By Arsanious Adel

ARCHIVE OF BASILIOS The archive of Basilios, pagarch of Aphrodito in the time of Governor Qurrah ibn Sharik (698-722), is the largest and most notable of the collections of the early Arab period. Found at Kom Ishqaw in 1901, the papyri were acquired mainly by the British Museum, though substantial collections are in Paris (the …

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Bashmuric Revolts

History, Groups / By Arsanious Adel

BASHMURIC REVOLTS In the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries Copts revolted a number of times against the Arabic administration in different parts of Egypt and were rapidly crushed. Only in the Bashmuric region (see BASHMUR, AL-) were Copts able to resist for a relatively long period against repeated attacks of the Arabic army by land …

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Al-Bahnasa

Places / By Arsanious Adel

AL-BAHNASA A modern name of the city that was known in Greek as Oxyrhynchus and in Coptic as Pemdje. The city is located on the western edge of the Nile Valley about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Bani Mazar in the province of Minya. Although al-Bahnasa is best known today as the site of …

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Alexander Of Lycopolis

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

ALEXANDER OF LYCOPOLIS A Neoplatonist philosopher (c. A.D. 300). Photius of Constantinople indicates (Contra Manichaeos 1. 11) that he converted to Christianity and became archbishop of Lycopolis. He is known through his De placitis Manichaeorum, which shows him as a coolheaded critic of the teaching being spread in Egypt by Manichaean missionaries in the first …

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