Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity

345 Pages·2017·40.64 MB·English

by  David Frankfurter

Christianizing Egypt
S Y N C R E T I S M A N D L O C A L W O R L D S
IN LAT E A N T I Q U I T Y
D A V I D F R A N K F U R T E R
CHRISTIANIZING EGYPT
MARTIN CLASSICAL LECTURES
The Martin Classical Lectures are delivered annually at Oberlin College through a
foundation established by his many friends in honor of Charles Beebe Martin, for forty-five
years a teacher of classical literature and classical art at Oberlin.
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Anne Carson, Economy of the Unlost: Reading Simonides ofKeos with Paul Celan
Helene P. Foley, Female Acts in Greek Tragedy
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Michael C. J. Putnam, Poetic Interplay: Catullus and Horace
Julia Haig Gaisser, The Fortunes ofApuleius and the Golden Ass: A Study in Transmission
and Reception
Kenneth J. Reckford, Recognizing Persius
Leslie Kurke, Aesopic Conversations: Popular Tradition, Cultural Dialogue, and the Invention
of Greek Prose
Erich Gruen, Rethinking the Other in Antiquity
Simon Goldhill, Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity: Art, Opera, Fiction, and the
Proclamation of Modernity
Victoria Wohl, Euripides and the Politics of Form
David Frankfurter, Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity
Christianizing Egypt
Syncretism and Local Worlds
in Late Antiquity
David Frankfurter
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Jacket and page vi art: Female figurine in orans position, with accentuated eyes and hair. Holes in
headdress for adding threads. Painted terracotta, H. 14.6 cm. 6th-7th century CE. Probably from
the Faiyum region, Egypt. Collection of the Newark Museum, # 38.161. Gift of Mrs. John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., 1938
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Frankfurter, David, 1961- author.
Title: Christianizing Egypt: syncretism and local worlds in late antiquity / David Frankfurter.
Description: Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017. | Series: Martin classical lectures |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 20170184211 ISBN 9780691176970 (hardcover: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Egypt—Religion—332 B.C.-640 A.D. | Christianity and other religions—
Egyptian. | Syncretism (Religion)—Egypt.
Classification: LCC BL2455 .F725 2017 | DDC 200.932/09015—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/ 2017018421
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Arno Pro
Printed on acid-free paper. 00
Printed in the United States of America
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Abbreviations xix
I Remodeling the Christianization of Egypt 1
I Overture 1
II Historical Setting 3
III The Problem of "Pagan Survivals” 7
IV Syncretism and Purification 15
V Agency Gesture, and Landscape 20
VI Social Sites and Religious Worlds of Syncretism in Late Antique Egypt 24
VII Postscript on Comparison and the Scope of Argument 31
2 Domestic Devotion and Religious Change
Traditions of the Domestic Sphere 34
I Overture 34
II Defining the Domestic Sphere and Its Religious Character in Late Antique Egypt 38
III Christianization and the Imagination of New Boundaries 44
IV The Domestic World as Site of Religious Bricolage 48
V Domestic Ritual, Domestic Agents, and the Syncretic Construction of Christianity 54
A Lamp-lighting 55
B Bread Stamps 55
C Domestic Charms and Their Dramatis Personae 56
D Female Figurines and the Ambiguity of Representation 58
E Amulets, Curses, Saintly Blessings, and Votive Donations 61
VI Agents of the Domestic Sphere: Gender and Creative Independence 64
VII Conclusion 68
CONTENTS
3 Controller of Demons, Dispenser of Blessings
Traditions of the Holy Man as Craftsman of Local Christianity 69
I Introduction: Saints and Syncretism 69
II Implications of Classification: From “Saint” to “Regional Prophet” 74
III Exorcism and the Reordering of Tradition 76
A Reordering Perceptions of Evil 78
B Exorcism and Charisma 80
C Demonology as Preservation 85
IV Holy Men in the Egyptian Landscape 87
A Divination and the Definition of New Centers 87
B Ritual and the Egyptian Environment 90
C Syncretism and the Dispensing of Materials 92
V Conclusion 100
4 A Site of Blessings, Dreams, and Wonders
Traditions of the Saint s Shrine 104
I Introduction 104
II The Saint s Shrine as Social Site 108
III Gestures 111
IV Collective Expressions: Festivals and Their Gestures 114
A Festival Hilarity and Control 114
B Processions 118
C Animal Slaughter and Feasting 120
D Dance 122
V Individual Expressions: Imprecation, Contact, Votive 126
VI Divination 130
VII Possession and the Performance of Spirits and Saindy Power 138
VIII Conclusion 144
5 The Magic of Craft
Traditions of the Workshop and the Construction of Efficacy 145
I Introduction: Art and Efficacy 145
II Workshops in Late Antique Egypt 151
III Examples 160
A Stonecarvers 160
B Potters and Terracotta Artisans 162
C Painters 167
D Textile Weavers 171
E The Mortuary Craft 176
IV Conclusion 181
viii
CONTENTS
6 Scribality and Syncretism
Traditions of Writing and the Book 184
I Introduction 184
II Scribality at the Shrines of the Saints 186
III Monastic Scribes and the Mediation of Christianity 189
A Monastic Libraries and Eclectic Scribes 190
B Monastic Settings of Scribal Mediation 192
IV Scribes and the Magic of Word and Song 197
V The Recollection of Literary Traditions through the Scribal Craft 211
A The Land of Egypt Oracle 212
B Images ofAmente and Its Demons 218
1 The Media ofAmente in Late Antique Egypt 219
2 The Coptic Amente Mythology: Earlier Egyptian
and Jewish Apocalyptic Traditions 222
3 Apocalyptic Interpretation in Egypt and the Integration
of Egyptian Traditions 226
VI Conclusion 228
7 Whispering Spirits, Holy Processions
Traditions of the Egyptian Landscape 233
I Introduction: Religious Landscape and Christianization 233
II Temples and Churches 237
III Habitats and Haunts of Spirits 242
IV Procession and the Perception of Landscape 248
V Inventing and Envisioning a Sacred Landscape 253
VI Conclusion 256
Afierword 257
Bibliography 263
Illustration Credits 309
Index 311
ix