Christianity and Polytheism in Late Antique Egypt

This course explores the subject of polytheism in late Roman Egypt and the role that Christianity played in shaping a new religious, social, and cultural environment between the third century CE and the advent of Islam in the seventh century. The goal is to gain an understanding of the process by which the new religion spread in a deeply Hellenized part of the Mediterranean world such as Egypt. Indeed, its inhabitants had not only largely adopted the Greek language, but were deeply imbued with Greco-Roman culture and lifestyle, at the same time remaining attached to their traditional religious heritage.

The seminar will touch upon issues of religious and cultural resistance, imperial involvement, official propaganda, proselytism, and syncretic manifestations of devotional practice. Attention will also be paid to the variety of forms in which Christianity (and modes of Christian life) developed in Egypt, revealing a complex but deeply fascinating world of ideas and beliefs. The religious topography of pre-Christian Egypt, in which temples were prime visual landmarks, will be examined and compared with the dramatic
changes brought about, both to the built and the natural environment, by the appearance and dissemination of Christian places of cult and monastic life.

Course Attributes: AS HUM; AS LCD; FA HUM; AR HUM; EN H

Christianity and Polytheism in Late Antique Egypt

CLASSICS 121

Section 01