alter-kacker

Leave a Comment / Jewish Words / By Youssef Matta

alter-kacker n. Yiddish (AHL-ter COCK-er) A vulgar expression, literally meaning “old shitter”; equivalent to the English expression “old fart.” Used to describe a fussy, crotchety old man, or sometimes a dirty old man. Sometimes abbreviated as “A.K.” Old-fashioned usage. noun Eisenberg, J., Scolnic, E., & Jewish Publication Society. (2001). The JPS dictionary of Jewish words. …

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Coptic art in the Coptic museum

Leave a Comment / Culture, Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

Coptic art in the Coptic museum Coptic art began to emerge in Egypt around 300 A.D. In form, style, and content it was quite different from the art of Pharaonic Egypt. How’ did this come about? Broadly speaking, there were two causes. The first is that indigenous Egyptian art had been in contact with the …

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The Role of the Female Elder in Shenoute’s White Monastery

Leave a Comment / History / By Armia FAYEZ

The Role of the Female Elder in Shenoute’s White Monastery[1] THE WHITE MONASTERY in the fourth and fifth centuries consisted of different communities, or congregations. They were separated physically but united under one set of monastic rules and one main monastic leader, at least during the tenure of its third head, Shenoute. One of these …

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The Fate of the White Monastery Library

Leave a Comment / Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

The Fate of the White Monastery Library THE LIBRARY OF the White Monastery, founded during the fourth century by Apa Pegol, an uncle of Shenoute, went through an outstanding period in the centuries that followed its creation. During the fourteenth century, however, the Arab occupation and the Mamluk attacks sounded the death knell for this …

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Monks and Scholars in the Panopolite Nome: The Epigraphic Evidence

Leave a Comment / Heritage, History / By Armia FAYEZ

Monks and Scholars in the Panopolite Nome: The Epigraphic Evidence DURING THE CONFERENCE “Perspectives on Panopolis,” which took place in Leyden in 1998, Lucia Criscuolo discussed the evidence of the Greek inscriptions, including Christian ones, from the Panopolite nome, the present-day Sohag-Akhmim area. Already in the beginning of her paper, she observed that it would …

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Biblical Manuscripts of the Monastery of St. Shenoute the Archimandrite

Leave a Comment / Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

Biblical Manuscripts of the Monastery of St. Shenoute the Archimandrite THIS CHAPTER WILL deal primarily with the survey of the published biblical manuscripts that came from the library of the Monastery of St. Shenoute. In addition to the history and the state of research on the subject, I will include brief comments on the extent …

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The Triconch Sanctuaries of Sohag

Leave a Comment / Places / By Armia FAYEZ

The Triconch Sanctuaries of Sohag “Le probleme de I’abside treflee, de son origine, de son developpement, I’histoire enfin de ce type de structure, a ete dans ces dernieres annees 1’argument de bien de travaux; mais, malgre cela, je crois que l’etude peut donner encore quelque resultat si on voudra profiter d’une documentation bien precise et …

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John of Shmoun and Coptic Identity

Leave a Comment / Eminent, Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

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 …

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Akhmim as a Source of Textiles

Leave a Comment / Heritage, History / By Armia FAYEZ

Akhmim as a Source of Textiles History of Textile Production in Akhmim According to the historian Strabo (Geography XVII, 41) Akhmim/Panopolis was a well-known production center of linen fabrics from pharaonic times. Up to now there is little literary evidence of textile manufacture in the town throughout the first millennium, the period to which most …

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Al-Shaykh Sa’id Revisited: A Reassessment of the Spatial Layout of a Monastic Community

Leave a Comment / History / By Armia FAYEZ

Al-Shaykh Sa’id Revisited: A Reassessment of the Spatial Layout of a Monastic Community Al-Shaykh Sa‘id (Middle Egypt) covers the southern part of the archaeological concession area of the Dayr al-Barsha Project (Research Group Egyptology, KU Leuven),[1] directed by Harco Willems.[2] The site is named after the nearby tomb of a local saint. An ensemble of …

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