Monasteries as Institutional Powers in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt: Evidence from Neglected Coptic Sources

Información del proyecto

MONASPOWER

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 656205

DOI

10.3030/656205

Proyecto cerrado

Fecha de la firma de la CE 13 Marzo 2015

Fecha de inicio 1 Abril 2016

Fecha de finalización 31 Marzo 2018

Financiado con arreglo a

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Coste total

€ 200 194,80

Aportación de la UE

€ 200 194,80

Coordinado por

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Objetivo

Egypt during the Late Antique and Early Islamic periods (broadly the 5th to 8th centuries CE) was a multicultural and multilingual country. Greeks, Egyptians, and, later, Arabs populated the land, speaking Greek, Coptic (the last form of the indigenous Egyptian language), and Arabic. Before the Arabic conquest of 640-642 CE, Christianity was the predominant religion of Egypt, and continued to be so for a while after the conquest, until the 8th and 9th centuries when conversion became more widespread. Centuries of co-existence brought Greeks into contact with Egyptians and vice versa, yet the picture of Late Antique Egypt is a largely Greek one: Greek was the official language of the administration and the majority
of Greek non-literary textual finds from this period are also in Greek. As a result, studies on life and especially the economy have focussed on the evidence written in Greek. This study does not seek to study the complex social, cultural, linguistic, and religious interactions at play in the country during this time. Instead, it will provide a new perspective on the economic landscape of Egypt.

Monasteries had been a significant part of the Egyptian landscape since the beginnings of Christianity in the country. Life inside these institutions was recorded primarily in Coptic. Despite the importance of monasticism and the body of available Coptic texts, their position within the Egyptian administrative and economic framework has largely been ignored, with attention placed instead on the contemporary large Greek estates. The aim of this project is to study the economic position of Coptic monasteries during this timeframe on the basis of the neglected evidence from two sources: the monastery of Apa Thomas at Wadi Sarga and the corpus of non-literary Coptic texts in the collection of the University of Copenhagen.

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

• humanidades › artes › historia del arte

Programa(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PROGRAMA PRINCIPAL
  
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
  

Tema(s)

• MSCA-IF-2014-EF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF)
  

Régimen de financiación

MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panel

Convocatoria de propuestas

H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

Coordinador

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET

• Aportación neta de la UEn: € 200 194,80
• Dirección: NORREGADE 10 ; 1165 KOBENHAVN ; Dinamarca
• Región: Danmark › Hovedstaden › Byen København
• Tipo de actividad: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Coste total: € 200 194,80