Coptic Period
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The "Coptic period" is an informal designation for Late
Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...
(3rd−4th centuries) and
Byzantine Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, l ...
(4th−7th centuries). This era was defined by the religious shifts in Egyptian culture to Coptic Christianity from
ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of Polytheism, polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with Ancient Egyptian deities, many deities belie ...
, until the
Muslim conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...
in the 7th century. The period began in about the 3rd century and, depending on sources and usage, lasted until around the noticeable decline of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
in Egypt in the 9th century, or to the arrival of
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in the 7th century. Although the term "Coptic period" is utilized in popular discourse, its use in academia is generally avoided due to its imprecise nature, whereas "
Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
" or "
Byzantine Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, l ...
" can be defined on chronological grounds.


Relation with Pharaonic Egypt

Coptic Christian writers during this period sought to discredit some perceived
pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
practices as evil or satanic, and worked to recast those they could in a more positive, Christian light. An example of this is the continued use of ritual mummification in certain monastic contexts. For example, this continued at the monastery complex of Deir el-Bachit in Thebes. While not entirely similar to pagan mummification rituals, the techniques showed a resemblance to those of earlier periods, without most of the lavishness of Pharaonic times. It is important to point out however, that said practices were only tolerated to a point. For example, when peasants began keeping mummies of
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
ed Copts in their houses,
Athanasius of Alexandria Athanasius I of Alexandria ( – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria (as Athanasius ...
chastised them for not acting as good Christians should. Another aspect of cultural links to earlier periods in Egyptian history can be seen through
Coptic art Coptic art is the Christianity, Christian art of the Byzantine empire, Byzantine-Roman Egypt, Greco-Roman Egypt and of Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Christian Churches. Coptic art is best known for its wall-paintings, textiles, illuminated ma ...
. The Coptic period is characterised by the melting together of older Pharaonic and
Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...
styles with contemporary Christian ones. This artistic style very clearly reflects the multicultural nature of Egypt at the time. This phenomenon, the combination of old and new practices, can also be seen in Coptic music which uses the same melodies as earlier
Egyptian music Music has been an integral part of Egyptian culture since antiquity in Egypt. Egyptian music had a significant impact on the development of ancient Greek music, and via the Greeks it was important to early European music well into the Middle Ag ...
did but with the words changed to have a Christian meaning. Cultural carryover like this, most likely was used as a way to gain new converts and make Christian doctrine more palatable to Egyptians.


Relations with the Chalcedonian Christian Church

The Coptic church in Egypt, known as the Church of Alexandria during this period, suffered from persecution and suppression from both the temporal authority of the Eastern Roman Emperors as well as the Chalcedonian Church, which had become the predominant Christian church in the Empire following the Council of Chalcedon of 451 AD. The worst of these persecutions came during the early 600s under Emperor Phocas, leading many Copts to side with the
Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...
, whom the
Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
was at war with at the time. Despite these hardships, the
Coptic Church The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...
not only survived but thrived throughout Egypt, even boasting an ecclesiastical hierarchy and administration equal in size and influence to the mainstream Chalcedonian Church and maintaining strong links with neighboring regions like
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. The situation would improve for the Copts with the
Muslim conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...
. Wanting to seem impartial, the Muslim governors did not favor one church over another and tried to mediate their theological disagreements. This situation favored the Copts, as they no longer had to fear state persecution and could expand their reach more than ever before, with Bishops of the Coptic church even returning to cities such as Cairo and Alexandria from where they had been expelled by the Eastern Roman authorities and church. Coptic Christianity still has many followers in present-day
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
.


References

{{Reflist Coptic history Roman Egypt Byzantine Egypt History of Christianity in Egypt