Philology - Page 2 of 4

Al As‘Ad Abu Al-Faraj Hibat Allah Ibn Al-‘Assal

AL AS‘AD ABU AL-FARAJ HIBAT ALLAH IBN AL-‘ASSAL One of three brothers, members of the same family generally known as AWLAD AL-‘ASSAL, who lived in the thirteenth century, all being notable writers on religious subjects, jurisdiction, canon law, theology, philosophy, and Coptic philology. Al-As‘ad’s full name is Abu al-Faraj Hibat-Allah ibn Abi al-Fadl As‘ad ibn …

Al As‘Ad Abu Al-Faraj Hibat Allah Ibn Al-‘Assal Read More »

Georges Legrain (1865-1917)

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

GEORGES LEGRAIN (1865-1917) A French Egyptologist. At first he studied art and architecture in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme, Auguste Choisy, Léon Heuzey, and Edmond Pottier, and Egyptian archaeology and philology under Paul Pierret and Eugène Révillout at the Louvre. He went to work for the Institut français d’Archéologie orientale in Cairo in 1892. Although he …

Georges Legrain (1865-1917) Read More »

Coptic Literature

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

COPTIC LITERATURE National literatures are defined not only by the language in which they are written but also by ethnic and cultural affinities that bind their authors. That is why we may distinguish an American literature in English from British literature or a Latin-American literature in Spanish from Spanish literature. The literature in the Coptic …

Coptic Literature Read More »

Awlad Al-‘Assal

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

AWLAD AL-‘ASSAL This Coptic family came originally from the village of Sadamant in the province of Bani Suef in Middle Egypt at an unknown date and settled in Cairo, where its members rose to wealth and high station at the court of the Ayyubid dynasty (A.H. 565-648/A.D. 1169-1250). They owned a residence in the capital …

Awlad Al-‘Assal Read More »

Decius

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

DECIUS A Roman emperor (full name, Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius) from the autumn of 249 to late June 251. Born about 200 at Sirmium in Pannonia, he became an important senator and married into the Roman noble house of the Herennii. In 248, when the Goths were exerting intense pressure on the Danube frontier …

Decius Read More »

Diocletian

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

DIOCLETIAN A Roman emperor (full name, Valerius Diocletianus; also called Diocles) from 20 November 284 to May 305. He was born in 245 of humble parents in the province of Dalmatia. He enlisted in the army and gained administrative experience in minor posts in Gaul under Aurelian (270-275), and in 282 became governor of Moesia …

Diocletian Read More »

Griffith, Francis Llewellyn

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

GRIFFITH, FRANCIS LLEWELLYN (1862-1934) A British Egyptologist. As longtime professor of Egyptology at Oxford University, he was a pioneer in the study of medieval Nubian archaeology and philology. Between 1910 and 1912 he directed the excavation of several churches and other Christian archaeological remains at Faras in Lower Nubia. At Faras and at ‘Abd al-Qadir …

Griffith, Francis Llewellyn Read More »

Grohmann, Adolf (1887-1977)

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

GROHMANN, ADOLF (1887-1977) An Austrian Semitic scholar and philologist. In Vienna, he studied Semitic philology and Egyptology. He took instruction in old South Arabic and Arabic papyrology from D. H. von Müller and J. von Karabacek. After his habilitation at Vienna in 1915, he became an editor of the texts in the Erzherzog Rainer Collection. …

Grohmann, Adolf (1887-1977) Read More »

Greek Language

History / By Armia FAYEZ

GREEK LANGUAGE Between Greeks and Egyptians, contacts of essentially commercial nature are attested for the Mycenaean period (c. 1580-1100 B.C.) and the ninth-eighth century B.C. Unambiguous evidence for Greek presence in Egypt is available from the seventh century B.C. on. Psammetichos I (664-610 B.C.) gave the Ionian and Carian mercenaries (the “bronze men” of Herodotus …

Greek Language Read More »

Piankoff, Alexandre

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

PIANKOFF, ALEXANDRE (1897-1966) An Egyptologist of Russian origin. He studied Egyptian philology under A. Erman and K. H. Sethe (1920) and continued his classical studies at the Sorbonne (1927). He became attached to the Byzantine Institute as a specialist in Arabic and Coptic (1928-1939). Later, he lived in Cairo, where he worked for the Institut …

Piankoff, Alexandre Read More »