Religion in Roman Egypt

Assimilation and Resistance

David Frankfurter

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780691070544
  9780691026855
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691214733
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Religion

This exploration of cultural resilience examines the complex fate of classical Egyptian religion during the centuries from the period when Christianity first made its appearance in Egypt to when it became the region's dominant religion (roughly 100 to 600 C.E. Taking into account the full range of witnesses to continuing native piety--from papyri and saints' lives to archaeology and terracotta figurines--and drawing on anthropological studies of folk religion, David Frankfurter argues that the religion of Pharonic Egypt did not die out as early as has been supposed but was instead relegated from political centers to village and home, where it continued a vigorous existence for centuries.


In analyzing the fate of the Egyptian oracle and of the priesthoods, the function of magical texts, and the dynamics of domestic cults, Frankfurter describes how an ancient culture maintained itself while also being transformed through influences such as Hellenism, Roman government, and Christian dominance. Recognizing the special characteristics of Egypt, which differentiated it from the other Mediterranean cultures that were undergoing simultaneous social and political changes, he departs from the traditional "decline of paganism/triumph of Christianity" model most often used to describe the Roman period. By revealing late Egyptian religion in its Egyptian historical context, he moves us away from scenarios of Christian triumph and shows us how long and how energetically pagan worship survived.

INDEX

Abydos, 46–47, 128–30, 144, 166, 190, 278n. 39; Bes oracle at, 18, 26, 128–31, 169–74, 176, 187, 190, 206, 231

Aelian, 67–68

African-American cultures: charismatic leadership of African priests in, 204; domestic religion in, 139, 141–42; processional oracles in, 155–56; ritual ex- pertise in, 214, 236n. 135

African cultures, modern, 8, 29, 34–35, 48, 141–42; Christian and Muslim conversion of, 263n. 78, 275–76, 283–84; priests in, 203–4; prophet movements in, 189–92, 204, 267–68; scribes as ritual experts in, 48, 213

Agathos Daemon, 63, 99, 106, 184

‘Ain Birbiya (Dakhla oasis), 98–99, 113

Aion, 35, 166. See also Mandulis

Akoris, 18, 200

Alexander-Romance, 226, 242

Alexandria and Alexandrians, 9–10, 19, 26, 31, 35, 40, 63, 71, 106, 108, 162–63, 177, 185, 191, 224, 236, 239, 283–84

al-Nadim, Ibn, 217

Amenhotep I, oracle cults of: Deir el- Medina, 98, 152, 185, 190; Deir el- Bahri, 158–59, 175, 238, 245–46

Amenophis, pharaoh, legends of, 242–44, 247

Ammianus Marcellinus, 17–18, 26, 128–29, 170–71

Ammonius of Nitria, 283

amulets, 22, 29, 34, 126, 134, 142, 161, 170, 177, 192, 203, 212–13, 215, 249, ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Overture: The Armor of Horus
• One: Scope and Method
• Two: Religion and Temples
• Three: The Local Scope of Religious Belief
• Four: Mutations of the Egyptian Oracle
• Five: Priest to Magician: Evolving Modes of Religious Authority
• Six: The Scriptorium as Crucible of Religious Change
• Seven: Idiom, Ideology, and Iconoclasm: A Prolegomenon to the Conversion of Egypt
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author