Coptic Perspectives on Late Antiquity

The transitions from Antiquity to the Middle Ages continue to demand explanation; in the case of Egypt there is the added question of why the Coptic language died out following the Arab conquests. In these studies Dr MacCoull draws on the extensive papyrological evidence, in both Coptic and Greek, to explore the Egypt of the 6th-8th centuries, its culture, religion and society. One group of articles focuses on the figure of the lawyer-poet Dioscorus of Aphrodito; in others she examines the adjustments made by Christian Egyptians as they became a minority under Muslim rule, as well as the methodologies of studying this society. Les differents passages de lAntiquit au Moyen Age ncessitent encore un certain nombre dexplications; dans le cas de lEgypte, sajoute la question de lextinction de la langue copte la suite des conqutes arabes. Au cours de ces tudes, le Dr MacCoull sappuie sur labondante documentation papyrologique, en langue grecque et copte, afin dexplorer lEgypte du 6e au 8e sicle, sa culture, sa religion et sa socit. Un groupe darticles se concentre sur le personnage du pote juriste Dioscore dAphrodito; dailleurs, elle examine la faon dont les Chrtiens gyptiens se sont adapts alors quils devenaient une minorit sous lempire des musulmans, ainsi que la mthodologie relative ltude de cette socit.