Author: Elisabeth R. O'Connell
Publisher:
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 956
ISBN-13:
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The characterization of Egyptian monasticism as a desert movement arises primarily from the success of certain fourth century literary texts circulated outside of Egypt. Yet recent historical research has demonstrated a whole range of choices for ascetic dwelling in late antique Egypt, where men and women might practice their discipline in households in cities and towns, in abandoned villages, in the outer or inner desert. Archaeological (including papyrological, epigraphical and representational) sources evidence another widely practiced option, which has been surprisingly under-recognized by historians of early Christianity: the reuse of monumental funerary architecture for habitation. In this context, it is crucial to recognize that both Greek oros and Coptic toou can mean not only “mountain” and “desert,” but also “cemetery” and “monastery.” Thus, textual sources can easily mislead historians unaware of the archaeological context of a given “desert” monastery. Using a combination of archaeological sources together with literary texts transmitted through the manuscript tradition, I explore the practical and ideological motivations for monastic occupation of monumental funerary architecture in one geographically circumscribed region--Western Thebes. As the necropolis of ancient Egypt's great southern capital, Western Thebes provides an unparalleled corpus of archaeological material evidencing the establishment of churches, saints' shrines, monasteries and hermitages in adapted pharaonic tombs and mortuary temples. The contents of excavated Greek and Coptic documentary (e.g., legal texts, letters, magical/medical texts) and literary papyri (e.g., saints' Lives) allow multiple points of access to both the physical description and conceptual construction of the ancient Necropolis in Late Antiquity. Texts transmitted through the manuscript tradition record the Lives of saints said to have occupied the region and vividly depict ancient tombs (and their mummified inhabitants). My analysis demonstrates that perceptions might not always be fixed. In texts, the representation of the ancient Necropolis and its ascetic occupants might differ depending on subject, audience, occasion and circumstance. Nevertheless, even in the most “everyday” texts, authors recognized the Necropolis as a place apart from the mundane world; and, I argue, reusing the funerary monuments of the past conferred authority and status upon its Christian residents.
