The Rise of Coptic

Egyptian versus Greek in Late Antiquity

Jean-Luc Fournet

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780691230238, 9780691198347
• eBook ISBN: 9780691201733
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Egyptian Ancient History
• Index: History

Coptic emerged as the written form of the Egyptian language in the third century, when Greek was still the official language in Egypt. By the time of the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641, Coptic had almost achieved official status, but only after an unusually prolonged period of stagnation. Jean-Luc Fournet traces this complex history, showing how the rise of Coptic took place amid profound cultural, religious, and political changes in late antiquity.

For some three hundred years after its introduction into the written culture of Egypt, Coptic was limited to biblical translation and private and monastic correspondence, while Greek retained its monopoly on administrative, legal, and literary writing. This changed during the sixth century, when Coptic began to penetrate domains that were once closed to it, such as literature, liturgy, regulated transactions between individuals, and communications between the state and its subjects. Fournet examines the reasons for Coptic's late development as a competing language—which was unlike what happened with other vernacular languages in Near Eastern Greek-speaking societies—and explains why Coptic eventually succeeded in being recognized with Greek as an official language.

Incisively written and rich with insights, The Rise of Coptic draws on a wealth of archival evidence to shed new light on the role of monasticism in the growing use of Coptic before the Arab conquest.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Images
• Preface
• Chapter 1: An Egyptian Exception?
• Chapter 2: Why Was Greek Preferred to Coptic?
• Chapter 3: The Rise of Legal Coptic and the Byzantine State
• Chapter 4: The Role of the Church and Monasticism in the Growth of Legal Coptic
• Appendix 1: Coptic Endorsements in Greek Legal Texts
• Appendix 2: Five Samples of Fourth-Century Coptic Letters
• Appendix 3: The First Legal Documents in Coptic before the Arab Conquest
• Bibliography
• General Index
• Index of Ancient Sources