Gawdat Gabra and Hany N. Takla
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774163111
- eISBN:
- 9781617970481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774163111.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The Copts gradually neglected the education of their children in literary Coptic. The majority of the scribal works in these centuries were Arabic translations of the original Coptic works. The ...
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The Copts gradually neglected the education of their children in literary Coptic. The majority of the scribal works in these centuries were Arabic translations of the original Coptic works. The inhabitants of Upper Egypt contributed positively to the advancement of Christian knowledge, not only in Upper Egypt, but in Lower Egypt as well as abroad. St. Mena's studio is commended in the excellent role in the conversation and preservation of such deteriorated volumes. It is to be hoped that the same effort can be made in the other dioceses. It is advisable that there be some kind of communication and coordination among all the centers, in Egypt and abroad, to create a comprehensive compilation of the collections from the area, to make it possible to revive the existing tradition in the form of digital copies and through the Internet.Less
The Copts gradually neglected the education of their children in literary Coptic. The majority of the scribal works in these centuries were Arabic translations of the original Coptic works. The inhabitants of Upper Egypt contributed positively to the advancement of Christian knowledge, not only in Upper Egypt, but in Lower Egypt as well as abroad. St. Mena's studio is commended in the excellent role in the conversation and preservation of such deteriorated volumes. It is to be hoped that the same effort can be made in the other dioceses. It is advisable that there be some kind of communication and coordination among all the centers, in Egypt and abroad, to create a comprehensive compilation of the collections from the area, to make it possible to revive the existing tradition in the form of digital copies and through the Internet.
Kurt J. Werthmuller
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774163456
- eISBN:
- 9781617970238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774163456.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and ...
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Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and context of the Christian community of Egypt and its relations with the leadership of the Ayyubid dynasty in the early thirteenth century. The book introduces new scholarship that illuminates the varied relationships between medieval Christians of Egypt and their Muslim neighbors. Demonstrating that the Coptic community was neither passive nor static, the book discusses the active role played by the Copts in the formation and evolution of their own identity within the wider political and societal context of this period. In particular, it examines the boundaries between Copts and the wider Egyptian society in the Ayyubid period in three “in-between spaces”: patriarchal authority, religious conversion, and monasticism.Less
Using the life and writings of Cyril III Ibn Laqlaq, 75th patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, along with a variety of Christian and Muslim chroniclers, this study explores the identity and context of the Christian community of Egypt and its relations with the leadership of the Ayyubid dynasty in the early thirteenth century. The book introduces new scholarship that illuminates the varied relationships between medieval Christians of Egypt and their Muslim neighbors. Demonstrating that the Coptic community was neither passive nor static, the book discusses the active role played by the Copts in the formation and evolution of their own identity within the wider political and societal context of this period. In particular, it examines the boundaries between Copts and the wider Egyptian society in the Ayyubid period in three “in-between spaces”: patriarchal authority, religious conversion, and monasticism.
John Casey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195092950
- eISBN:
- 9780199869732
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195092950.003.0018
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter explores the gap that opened up in the twentieth century between theologians and popular religion. It looks at the confident beliefs about the future life of Mormons; the optimism of the ...
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This chapter explores the gap that opened up in the twentieth century between theologians and popular religion. It looks at the confident beliefs about the future life of Mormons; the optimism of the “American Way of Death” as expressed in the memorial park movement, culminating in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. But it also looks at the Rapture believers, and beliefs of some evangelical Christians about Armageddon, the final triumph of Christianity, and the end of the world. Finally it explores modern Muslim apocalypticists, with their corresponding expectation of the Dajjal (Antichrist) and final triumph of Islam. It ends with the beliefs in the Second Coming and Antichrist of the ancient Coptic Church of Egypt.Less
This chapter explores the gap that opened up in the twentieth century between theologians and popular religion. It looks at the confident beliefs about the future life of Mormons; the optimism of the “American Way of Death” as expressed in the memorial park movement, culminating in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. But it also looks at the Rapture believers, and beliefs of some evangelical Christians about Armageddon, the final triumph of Christianity, and the end of the world. Finally it explores modern Muslim apocalypticists, with their corresponding expectation of the Dajjal (Antichrist) and final triumph of Islam. It ends with the beliefs in the Second Coming and Antichrist of the ancient Coptic Church of Egypt.
Nabil Matar
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199554157
- eISBN:
- 9780191720437
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554157.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, 18th-century Literature
The authors of the Arabian Nights did not view the Christians as monolithic, undifferentiated, and adversarial villains, as some critics have argued. The single story about the Coptic Egyptian in ...
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The authors of the Arabian Nights did not view the Christians as monolithic, undifferentiated, and adversarial villains, as some critics have argued. The single story about the Coptic Egyptian in China in the 14th-century Syrian manuscript reflected an idyllic and invented past, invoked through the figure of a caliph who ruled an empire never perturbed by external or internal upheavals, diseases, or invading armies. That positive depiction of the Christian changed in the last recension of the Nights (the Bulaq edition). As the stories moved westward from Baghdad to the Byzantine world and to the Franks, the Christians who in the Baghdad or the China of the Syrian manuscript had been as native to the world of Islam as the "nasara" of the Quran became adversarial and alien living in the piratical port of Genoa. Focusing on the stories in the Nights that include Christian figures, this chapter shows the difference in representing Christians of the Arabic East as against Christians of the Byzantine world and the Frankish Mediterranean. In the last case, parallels are drawn with medieval and early modern European captivity narratives.Less
The authors of the Arabian Nights did not view the Christians as monolithic, undifferentiated, and adversarial villains, as some critics have argued. The single story about the Coptic Egyptian in China in the 14th-century Syrian manuscript reflected an idyllic and invented past, invoked through the figure of a caliph who ruled an empire never perturbed by external or internal upheavals, diseases, or invading armies. That positive depiction of the Christian changed in the last recension of the Nights (the Bulaq edition). As the stories moved westward from Baghdad to the Byzantine world and to the Franks, the Christians who in the Baghdad or the China of the Syrian manuscript had been as native to the world of Islam as the "nasara" of the Quran became adversarial and alien living in the piratical port of Genoa. Focusing on the stories in the Nights that include Christian figures, this chapter shows the difference in representing Christians of the Arabic East as against Christians of the Byzantine world and the Frankish Mediterranean. In the last case, parallels are drawn with medieval and early modern European captivity narratives.
Henry Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246953
- eISBN:
- 9780191600463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246955.003.0057
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Discusses missionary activity and the creation of churches outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire during the first centuries of Christianity. The subjects covered include Armenia, Persia, the ...
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Discusses missionary activity and the creation of churches outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire during the first centuries of Christianity. The subjects covered include Armenia, Persia, the Nestorian Church in Syria, the Iberian Church in Georgia, Christianity among the Arabs, the Copts of the Nile valley, and the Church of Ethiopia. All were detached from the doctrines and customs normative in the Greek churches, but not all were Monophysite.Less
Discusses missionary activity and the creation of churches outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire during the first centuries of Christianity. The subjects covered include Armenia, Persia, the Nestorian Church in Syria, the Iberian Church in Georgia, Christianity among the Arabs, the Copts of the Nile valley, and the Church of Ethiopia. All were detached from the doctrines and customs normative in the Greek churches, but not all were Monophysite.
Samir Simaika and Nevine Henein
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789774168239
- eISBN:
- 9781617978265
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774168239.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Marcus Pasha Simaika (1864–1944) was born to a prominent Coptic family on the eve of the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. From a young age he developed a passion ...
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Marcus Pasha Simaika (1864–1944) was born to a prominent Coptic family on the eve of the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. From a young age he developed a passion for Coptic heritage and devoted his life to shedding light on centuries of Christian Egyptian history. His achievement lies in his role as a visionary administrator who used his status to pursue relentlessly his dream of founding a Coptic Museum and preserving endangered monuments. During his lengthy career—first as a civil servant, then as a legislator and member of the Coptic community council—Marcus Simaika maneuvered endlessly between the patriarch and the church hierarchy, the Coptic community council, the British authorities, and the government to bring them together in his fight to save Coptic heritage. This biography draws upon Simaika's unpublished memoirs as well as on other documents and photographs from the Simaika family archive to deepen our understanding of several important themes of modern Egyptian history: the development of Coptic archaeology and heritage studies, Egyptian–British interactions during the colonial and semi-colonial eras, shifting balances in the interaction of clergymen and the lay Coptic community, and the ever-sensitive evolution of relations between Copts and Muslims.Less
Marcus Pasha Simaika (1864–1944) was born to a prominent Coptic family on the eve of the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. From a young age he developed a passion for Coptic heritage and devoted his life to shedding light on centuries of Christian Egyptian history. His achievement lies in his role as a visionary administrator who used his status to pursue relentlessly his dream of founding a Coptic Museum and preserving endangered monuments. During his lengthy career—first as a civil servant, then as a legislator and member of the Coptic community council—Marcus Simaika maneuvered endlessly between the patriarch and the church hierarchy, the Coptic community council, the British authorities, and the government to bring them together in his fight to save Coptic heritage. This biography draws upon Simaika's unpublished memoirs as well as on other documents and photographs from the Simaika family archive to deepen our understanding of several important themes of modern Egyptian history: the development of Coptic archaeology and heritage studies, Egyptian–British interactions during the colonial and semi-colonial eras, shifting balances in the interaction of clergymen and the lay Coptic community, and the ever-sensitive evolution of relations between Copts and Muslims.
Paul Marshall and Nina Shea
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812264
- eISBN:
- 9780199919383
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812264.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The government uses laws against insulting a heavenly religion or “creating sectarian strife” to repress political dissent and prevent heterodoxy. The reformist Muslim intelligentsia, and the ...
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The government uses laws against insulting a heavenly religion or “creating sectarian strife” to repress political dissent and prevent heterodoxy. The reformist Muslim intelligentsia, and the Christian community and other minorities are particularly repressed. Quranists – a religious reform movement– have been sentenced for “insulting religion due to unorthodox Islamic beliefs and practices,” including arguing against the death penalty for apostasy. The late Muslim reformer Abu-Zayd was declared an apostate by Egypt's highest court, and fled Egypt before his marriage was compulsorily dissolved by the courts. The state-funded Al Azhar University has issued a fatwa against the Baha’is, calling on the state to “annihilate” them, called for the punishment of Muslims who convert to Christianity, and taken the lead in banning books by reformers. Legal and extra-legal charges of insulting Islam can also lead to terrorist or mob attacks. In 2005, reports that a play in a Coptic church in Alexandria had “insulted Islam,” resulting in a 5,000-strong mob attack on eight churches, with four killed and 90 injured. The late Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, was stabbed and partially paralyzed by an extremist who thought his novels insulted Islam.Less
The government uses laws against insulting a heavenly religion or “creating sectarian strife” to repress political dissent and prevent heterodoxy. The reformist Muslim intelligentsia, and the Christian community and other minorities are particularly repressed. Quranists – a religious reform movement– have been sentenced for “insulting religion due to unorthodox Islamic beliefs and practices,” including arguing against the death penalty for apostasy. The late Muslim reformer Abu-Zayd was declared an apostate by Egypt's highest court, and fled Egypt before his marriage was compulsorily dissolved by the courts. The state-funded Al Azhar University has issued a fatwa against the Baha’is, calling on the state to “annihilate” them, called for the punishment of Muslims who convert to Christianity, and taken the lead in banning books by reformers. Legal and extra-legal charges of insulting Islam can also lead to terrorist or mob attacks. In 2005, reports that a play in a Coptic church in Alexandria had “insulted Islam,” resulting in a 5,000-strong mob attack on eight churches, with four killed and 90 injured. The late Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, was stabbed and partially paralyzed by an extremist who thought his novels insulted Islam.
Febe Armanios
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744848
- eISBN:
- 9780199894963
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744848.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book explores Coptic religious life in Ottoman Egypt (1517–1798), focusing closely on manuscripts from Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious discourses, practices, and ...
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This book explores Coptic religious life in Ottoman Egypt (1517–1798), focusing closely on manuscripts from Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious discourses, practices, and rituals as they dealt with various transformations in the first centuries of Ottoman rule. These included the establishment of a new political regime, changes within communal leadership structures (favoring lay leaders over clergy), the economic ascent of the archons (lay elites), and developments in the Copts’ relationship with other religious communities, particularly with Catholics. The book explores how Copts, as a minority living in a dominant Islamic culture, identified themselves and distinguished themselves from other groups by turning to an impressive array of religious traditions. Among these were the reproduction of martyrdom narratives, the visitation of saints’ shrines, the relocation of major festivals to remote destinations, the development of new pilgrimage practices, and the writing of sermons that articulated a Coptic religious ethos in reaction to Catholic missionary discourses. Central to this analysis is the Copts’ relationship to local political rulers, military elites, the Muslim religious establishment, and other non-Muslim communities. The book aims to recognize and document the Coptic experience within the Egyptian context while focusing on new documentary sources and on a historical era that has long been neglected.Less
This book explores Coptic religious life in Ottoman Egypt (1517–1798), focusing closely on manuscripts from Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious discourses, practices, and rituals as they dealt with various transformations in the first centuries of Ottoman rule. These included the establishment of a new political regime, changes within communal leadership structures (favoring lay leaders over clergy), the economic ascent of the archons (lay elites), and developments in the Copts’ relationship with other religious communities, particularly with Catholics. The book explores how Copts, as a minority living in a dominant Islamic culture, identified themselves and distinguished themselves from other groups by turning to an impressive array of religious traditions. Among these were the reproduction of martyrdom narratives, the visitation of saints’ shrines, the relocation of major festivals to remote destinations, the development of new pilgrimage practices, and the writing of sermons that articulated a Coptic religious ethos in reaction to Catholic missionary discourses. Central to this analysis is the Copts’ relationship to local political rulers, military elites, the Muslim religious establishment, and other non-Muslim communities. The book aims to recognize and document the Coptic experience within the Egyptian context while focusing on new documentary sources and on a historical era that has long been neglected.
Angie Heo
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520297975
- eISBN:
- 9780520970120
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520297975.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
From the Arab uprisings in 2011 to ISIS's rise in 2014, Egypt's Copts have been at the center of anxious rhetoric surrounding the politics of Christian-Muslim coexistence in the Middle East. Despite ...
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From the Arab uprisings in 2011 to ISIS's rise in 2014, Egypt's Copts have been at the center of anxious rhetoric surrounding the politics of Christian-Muslim coexistence in the Middle East. Despite the unprecedented levels of violence they have suffered in recent years, the current predicament of Copts signals more durable structures of church and state authoritarianism that challenge the ahistorical kernel of persecution politics and Islamophobia. This book examines the political lives of saints to specify the role that religion has played in the making of national unity and sectarian conflict in Egypt since the 1952 coup. Based on years of fieldwork throughout Egypt, it argues that the public imaginary of saints—the Virgin, martyrs (ancient and contemporary), miracle-workers—has served as a key site of mediating social relations between Christians and Muslims. An ethnographic study, it journeys to the images and shrines where miracles, martyrs, and mysteries have shaped the lived terms of national unity, majority-minority inequality, and sectarian tension on the ground. It further delves into the material aesthetics of Orthodox Christianity to grasp how saintly imaginings broker ties of sacrifice across faiths, reconfigure sacred territory in times of war, and present threats to public order and national security. Above all, it draws attention to the ways in which an authoritarian politics of sainthood shores up Christian-Muslim unity in the aftermath of war, revolution, and coup. In doing so, this book directly counters recurrent and prevalent invocations of Christianity's impending extinction in the Arab Muslim world.Less
From the Arab uprisings in 2011 to ISIS's rise in 2014, Egypt's Copts have been at the center of anxious rhetoric surrounding the politics of Christian-Muslim coexistence in the Middle East. Despite the unprecedented levels of violence they have suffered in recent years, the current predicament of Copts signals more durable structures of church and state authoritarianism that challenge the ahistorical kernel of persecution politics and Islamophobia. This book examines the political lives of saints to specify the role that religion has played in the making of national unity and sectarian conflict in Egypt since the 1952 coup. Based on years of fieldwork throughout Egypt, it argues that the public imaginary of saints—the Virgin, martyrs (ancient and contemporary), miracle-workers—has served as a key site of mediating social relations between Christians and Muslims. An ethnographic study, it journeys to the images and shrines where miracles, martyrs, and mysteries have shaped the lived terms of national unity, majority-minority inequality, and sectarian tension on the ground. It further delves into the material aesthetics of Orthodox Christianity to grasp how saintly imaginings broker ties of sacrifice across faiths, reconfigure sacred territory in times of war, and present threats to public order and national security. Above all, it draws attention to the ways in which an authoritarian politics of sainthood shores up Christian-Muslim unity in the aftermath of war, revolution, and coup. In doing so, this book directly counters recurrent and prevalent invocations of Christianity's impending extinction in the Arab Muslim world.
Christina Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474417068
- eISBN:
- 9781474476737
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474417068.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Religion has played a major role in the Arabic novel since its inception. From the first forays into realism in the early decades of the twentieth century to the technically sophisticated and ...
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Religion has played a major role in the Arabic novel since its inception. From the first forays into realism in the early decades of the twentieth century to the technically sophisticated and experimental works of the late 1960s to the present, the Arabic novel has consistently engaged with religious themes and issues. This book is an original, in-depth study of the intricate and enduring relationship between religion and the Arabic novel in Egypt. Part One addresses questions of form and ideology and explores the role of religion in the Arabic novel as it came of age. It examines religion in a selection of early works in the context of nation formation, modernity and secularism, and develops a concept of religion as the ‘other’, with all the tension and ambivalence that this implies. Part Two explores religious themes and subjects in the Arabic novel from the late 1960s onwards. Through close readings of representative texts, it analyses intertextual dialogues with religion (chapter 5) Sufi dimensions (chapter 6), the Coptic theme (chapter 7) and feminist literary engagements with Islam and Christianity (chapter 8) in the Arabic novel. The essential question underpinning the study is why and how is the Arabic novel, as a modern form which eschews faith and dogma, so heavily involved with religion and what does this reveal about religious, secular and novelistic discourse?Less
Religion has played a major role in the Arabic novel since its inception. From the first forays into realism in the early decades of the twentieth century to the technically sophisticated and experimental works of the late 1960s to the present, the Arabic novel has consistently engaged with religious themes and issues. This book is an original, in-depth study of the intricate and enduring relationship between religion and the Arabic novel in Egypt. Part One addresses questions of form and ideology and explores the role of religion in the Arabic novel as it came of age. It examines religion in a selection of early works in the context of nation formation, modernity and secularism, and develops a concept of religion as the ‘other’, with all the tension and ambivalence that this implies. Part Two explores religious themes and subjects in the Arabic novel from the late 1960s onwards. Through close readings of representative texts, it analyses intertextual dialogues with religion (chapter 5) Sufi dimensions (chapter 6), the Coptic theme (chapter 7) and feminist literary engagements with Islam and Christianity (chapter 8) in the Arabic novel. The essential question underpinning the study is why and how is the Arabic novel, as a modern form which eschews faith and dogma, so heavily involved with religion and what does this reveal about religious, secular and novelistic discourse?
Magdi Guirguis
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789774161032
- eISBN:
- 9781617971037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774161032.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter looks at how a real and tangible shift occurred in the middle of the seventeenth century in the leadership of the community, away from the Coptic popes and toward distinguished notables.
This chapter looks at how a real and tangible shift occurred in the middle of the seventeenth century in the leadership of the community, away from the Coptic popes and toward distinguished notables.
Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226540887
- eISBN:
- 9780226553405
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226553405.003.0004
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cartography
This chapter examines the evolving representation of the Nile, a dominant feature of all Islamic world maps. The map of the Nile in the Book of Curiosities bear close resemblance to the map of the ...
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This chapter examines the evolving representation of the Nile, a dominant feature of all Islamic world maps. The map of the Nile in the Book of Curiosities bear close resemblance to the map of the Nile by al-Khwarazmi, included in the oldest extant set of Islamic maps. This map furnishes further proof that our author was using a prototype associated with a Late Antique map maintaining elements of mathematical geography. The depictions of the Nile in the Book of Curiosities also introduce two revolutionary ideas about the origins of the Nile. One is the visual representation of a western tributary of the Nile that originates in sand dunes in West Africa. The second novel feature is a mountain near the Equator. The mountain’s melting snow is said to be the source of the Nile floods, an explanation that is as close as medieval scholars ever got to the true reason for the Nile’s annual cycle. Through extensive re-working by the North African geographer Idrisi a century later, these two novel elements would become a permanent feature of later cartographic representations of the Nile.Less
This chapter examines the evolving representation of the Nile, a dominant feature of all Islamic world maps. The map of the Nile in the Book of Curiosities bear close resemblance to the map of the Nile by al-Khwarazmi, included in the oldest extant set of Islamic maps. This map furnishes further proof that our author was using a prototype associated with a Late Antique map maintaining elements of mathematical geography. The depictions of the Nile in the Book of Curiosities also introduce two revolutionary ideas about the origins of the Nile. One is the visual representation of a western tributary of the Nile that originates in sand dunes in West Africa. The second novel feature is a mountain near the Equator. The mountain’s melting snow is said to be the source of the Nile floods, an explanation that is as close as medieval scholars ever got to the true reason for the Nile’s annual cycle. Through extensive re-working by the North African geographer Idrisi a century later, these two novel elements would become a permanent feature of later cartographic representations of the Nile.
Mark N. Swanson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774160936
- eISBN:
- 9781617970498
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774160936.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The compilation of a patriarchal history in Arabic appears to be part of a larger enterprise in the late eleventh century. This began to provide the Copts with a working library of Arabic-language ...
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The compilation of a patriarchal history in Arabic appears to be part of a larger enterprise in the late eleventh century. This began to provide the Copts with a working library of Arabic-language ecclesiastical resources in canon law and theology as well as church history. At the same time, one must understand that Satan is ever on the loose, stirring up trouble for the Christian community from the outside as well as from within. Other officials who had contributed to the persecution of the Church likewise came to unpleasant ends. Mawhub's case for the sainthood of Patriarch Christodoulos seems a bit forced and tempered by his knowledge of a not-entirely-successful patriarchate.Less
The compilation of a patriarchal history in Arabic appears to be part of a larger enterprise in the late eleventh century. This began to provide the Copts with a working library of Arabic-language ecclesiastical resources in canon law and theology as well as church history. At the same time, one must understand that Satan is ever on the loose, stirring up trouble for the Christian community from the outside as well as from within. Other officials who had contributed to the persecution of the Church likewise came to unpleasant ends. Mawhub's case for the sainthood of Patriarch Christodoulos seems a bit forced and tempered by his knowledge of a not-entirely-successful patriarchate.
Stephen J. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774248306
- eISBN:
- 9781617970436
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774248306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the ...
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The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the 3rd century ad. This three-volume study of the popes of Egypt covers the history of the Alexandrian patriarchate from its origins to the present-day leadership of Pope Shenouda III. The first volume analyzes the development of the Egyptian papacy from its origins to the rise of Islam. How did the papal office in Egypt evolve as a social and religious institution during the first six and a half centuries ad? How do the developments in the Alexandrian patriarchate reflect larger developments in the Egyptian church as a whole—in its structures of authority and lines of communication, as well as in its social and religious practices? In addressing such questions, the book examines a wide range of evidence—letters, sermons, theological treatises, and church histories, as well as art, artifacts, and archaeological remains—to discover what the patriarchs did as leaders, how their leadership was represented in public discourses, and how those representations definitively shaped Egyptian Christian identity in late antiquity.Less
The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the 3rd century ad. This three-volume study of the popes of Egypt covers the history of the Alexandrian patriarchate from its origins to the present-day leadership of Pope Shenouda III. The first volume analyzes the development of the Egyptian papacy from its origins to the rise of Islam. How did the papal office in Egypt evolve as a social and religious institution during the first six and a half centuries ad? How do the developments in the Alexandrian patriarchate reflect larger developments in the Egyptian church as a whole—in its structures of authority and lines of communication, as well as in its social and religious practices? In addressing such questions, the book examines a wide range of evidence—letters, sermons, theological treatises, and church histories, as well as art, artifacts, and archaeological remains—to discover what the patriarchs did as leaders, how their leadership was represented in public discourses, and how those representations definitively shaped Egyptian Christian identity in late antiquity.
Yaacov Lev
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474459235
- eISBN:
- 9781474480789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474459235.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
The chapter examines the notion that personal rather than territorial law prevailed in medieval Islam and discusses the tension between communal autonomy and governmental interference. The meaning ...
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The chapter examines the notion that personal rather than territorial law prevailed in medieval Islam and discusses the tension between communal autonomy and governmental interference. The meaning and the limits of the so-called ‘dhimmi judicial autonomy’ are also discussed.Less
The chapter examines the notion that personal rather than territorial law prevailed in medieval Islam and discusses the tension between communal autonomy and governmental interference. The meaning and the limits of the so-called ‘dhimmi judicial autonomy’ are also discussed.
Gawdat Gabra and Hany N. Takla
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774163111
- eISBN:
- 9781617970481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774163111.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Athanasius bishop of the protected city of Qus was the compiler of the rite of the concoction of Myron in 1374. In 1374 he took an active part in the concoction of the Myron, giving a detailed ...
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Athanasius bishop of the protected city of Qus was the compiler of the rite of the concoction of Myron in 1374. In 1374 he took an active part in the concoction of the Myron, giving a detailed description and full text; his name does not appear frequently in the text, as he left all the Sahidic readings to his colleague Gabriel, bishop of al-Marg, who was also a learned man. The condition of Copts at that time was not good. Many plagues took place in the fourteenth century, especially in the years 1347–49, 1374–75, and 1379–81, which contributed to the decrease of the population, especially in the villages and the monasteries. Historical sources mention the story of a crippled old Coptic woman who saved some of the treasured relics of her church by ceding all her possessions to the marauding Crusaders and thereby deflecting them from pillaging her Coptic church.Less
Athanasius bishop of the protected city of Qus was the compiler of the rite of the concoction of Myron in 1374. In 1374 he took an active part in the concoction of the Myron, giving a detailed description and full text; his name does not appear frequently in the text, as he left all the Sahidic readings to his colleague Gabriel, bishop of al-Marg, who was also a learned man. The condition of Copts at that time was not good. Many plagues took place in the fourteenth century, especially in the years 1347–49, 1374–75, and 1379–81, which contributed to the decrease of the population, especially in the villages and the monasteries. Historical sources mention the story of a crippled old Coptic woman who saved some of the treasured relics of her church by ceding all her possessions to the marauding Crusaders and thereby deflecting them from pillaging her Coptic church.
Magdi Guirguis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789774161520
- eISBN:
- 9781617971013
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774161520.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter explores the local context of the Armenian community in Egypt in relation to Armenian communities elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian community in Egypt enjoyed considerable ...
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This chapter explores the local context of the Armenian community in Egypt in relation to Armenian communities elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian community in Egypt enjoyed considerable autonomy in managing its own affairs, independent of the Armenian Church. Contrary to common assumptions, the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul, who was nominally in charge of all Orthodox churches within the Ottoman Empire, does not seem to have had any significant influence over the Armenian community in Egypt. In addition to its relative autonomy from the Armenian Church, the Armenian Egyptian community was well integrated with Egyptian Copts in both religious and social affairs. Thus, for example, despite the clear iconoclastic stance of the Armenian Church, Armenians did paint icons in Egypt—albeit only for Coptic churches. The Armenian community in Aleppo, on the other hand, did not engage in icon-painting; they specialized in other crafts such as sculpture and frescoes.Less
This chapter explores the local context of the Armenian community in Egypt in relation to Armenian communities elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian community in Egypt enjoyed considerable autonomy in managing its own affairs, independent of the Armenian Church. Contrary to common assumptions, the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul, who was nominally in charge of all Orthodox churches within the Ottoman Empire, does not seem to have had any significant influence over the Armenian community in Egypt. In addition to its relative autonomy from the Armenian Church, the Armenian Egyptian community was well integrated with Egyptian Copts in both religious and social affairs. Thus, for example, despite the clear iconoclastic stance of the Armenian Church, Armenians did paint icons in Egypt—albeit only for Coptic churches. The Armenian community in Aleppo, on the other hand, did not engage in icon-painting; they specialized in other crafts such as sculpture and frescoes.
Mary Youssef
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474415415
- eISBN:
- 9781474449755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474415415.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Foregrounding the histories and experiences of ethno-religious minorities, the Copts’ in fifth-century Egypt in Azazeel and the Jews’ in the twentieth century in Akhir yahud al-iskandariyya, both ...
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Foregrounding the histories and experiences of ethno-religious minorities, the Copts’ in fifth-century Egypt in Azazeel and the Jews’ in the twentieth century in Akhir yahud al-iskandariyya, both novels simultaneously challenge conventional cultural and historical narratives of Egypt and highlight these groups’ global particularities. This beyond-the-nation literary reflection situates these groups within a larger, all-too-familiar, and fallible humanity and underlines the interplay between empire, nation-state, religion, and power. Examining these intricacies, this chapter pays attention to how both novels speak to rising exclusionary nationalisms and puritanical isolationism on the basis of religion—whether practiced in historical imperial or modern nationalist contexts.
Set in Alexandria, which is celebrated as a cosmopolitan center, the novels disclose the city’s historical instabilities by mirroring the tumult lives of its fictional inhabitants. The characters’ uncertainties, global vagrancy, and subversion of established bodies of knowledge are connected to Rebecca Walkowitz’s conceptualization of a critical strand of cosmopolitanism.Less
Foregrounding the histories and experiences of ethno-religious minorities, the Copts’ in fifth-century Egypt in Azazeel and the Jews’ in the twentieth century in Akhir yahud al-iskandariyya, both novels simultaneously challenge conventional cultural and historical narratives of Egypt and highlight these groups’ global particularities. This beyond-the-nation literary reflection situates these groups within a larger, all-too-familiar, and fallible humanity and underlines the interplay between empire, nation-state, religion, and power. Examining these intricacies, this chapter pays attention to how both novels speak to rising exclusionary nationalisms and puritanical isolationism on the basis of religion—whether practiced in historical imperial or modern nationalist contexts.
Set in Alexandria, which is celebrated as a cosmopolitan center, the novels disclose the city’s historical instabilities by mirroring the tumult lives of its fictional inhabitants. The characters’ uncertainties, global vagrancy, and subversion of established bodies of knowledge are connected to Rebecca Walkowitz’s conceptualization of a critical strand of cosmopolitanism.
Mariz Tadros
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9789774165917
- eISBN:
- 9781617975479
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774165917.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
In the light of the escalation of sectarian tensions during and after Mubarak’s reign, the predicament of the Arab world’s largest religious minority, the Copts, has come to the forefront. This book ...
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In the light of the escalation of sectarian tensions during and after Mubarak’s reign, the predicament of the Arab world’s largest religious minority, the Copts, has come to the forefront. This book poses such questions as why there has been a mass exodus of Copts from Egypt, and how this relates to other religious minorities in the Arab region; why it is that sectarian violence increased during and after the 2011 Revolution, which epitomized the highest degree of national unity since 1919; and how the new configuration of power has influenced the extent to which a vision of a political order is being based on the principles of inclusive democracy. The book examines the relations among the state, the Church, Coptic citizenry, and political and civil society against the backdrop of the increasing diversification of actors, the change of political leadership in the country, protest and mobilization within Coptic communities, and the transformations occurring in the region. An informative historical background is provided, and new fieldwork and statistical data inform a thoughtful exploration of what it takes to build an inclusive democracy in post-Mubarak Egypt.Less
In the light of the escalation of sectarian tensions during and after Mubarak’s reign, the predicament of the Arab world’s largest religious minority, the Copts, has come to the forefront. This book poses such questions as why there has been a mass exodus of Copts from Egypt, and how this relates to other religious minorities in the Arab region; why it is that sectarian violence increased during and after the 2011 Revolution, which epitomized the highest degree of national unity since 1919; and how the new configuration of power has influenced the extent to which a vision of a political order is being based on the principles of inclusive democracy. The book examines the relations among the state, the Church, Coptic citizenry, and political and civil society against the backdrop of the increasing diversification of actors, the change of political leadership in the country, protest and mobilization within Coptic communities, and the transformations occurring in the region. An informative historical background is provided, and new fieldwork and statistical data inform a thoughtful exploration of what it takes to build an inclusive democracy in post-Mubarak Egypt.
Marilyn Booth and Gorman Anthony (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748670123
- eISBN:
- 9781474405973
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748670123.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
Thirteen chapters on fin-de-siecle Egypt tackle an important but relatively neglected decade in its history, as the editors’ introduction argues through an assessment of previous scholarship. ...
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Thirteen chapters on fin-de-siecle Egypt tackle an important but relatively neglected decade in its history, as the editors’ introduction argues through an assessment of previous scholarship. Chapters consider the overarching impact of a British colonial administration through policies and practices such as statistics-gathering and infrastructure building as well as attempts to control prostitution. Institutions and ideologies of modernity and reform are represented in chapters on education, fiction-writing, history writing and its translation, the press as a vehicle of historical consciousness, and political memoirs of a rising class of professionals. How Egyptians drew from and critiqued European institutions is a concern of several chapters, as well as concerns with gender issues, minority rights and the role of historic minorities such as Jews. Egypt’s heterogeneous population is also seen through chapters on its Greek community, Coptic activism and reform, anarchism, and the different agendas of local actors in the country’s far west. Together these scholarly studies show the decade as one of enormous though often quiet intellectual, political and institutional activity.Less
Thirteen chapters on fin-de-siecle Egypt tackle an important but relatively neglected decade in its history, as the editors’ introduction argues through an assessment of previous scholarship. Chapters consider the overarching impact of a British colonial administration through policies and practices such as statistics-gathering and infrastructure building as well as attempts to control prostitution. Institutions and ideologies of modernity and reform are represented in chapters on education, fiction-writing, history writing and its translation, the press as a vehicle of historical consciousness, and political memoirs of a rising class of professionals. How Egyptians drew from and critiqued European institutions is a concern of several chapters, as well as concerns with gender issues, minority rights and the role of historic minorities such as Jews. Egypt’s heterogeneous population is also seen through chapters on its Greek community, Coptic activism and reform, anarchism, and the different agendas of local actors in the country’s far west. Together these scholarly studies show the decade as one of enormous though often quiet intellectual, political and institutional activity.
