IFAO

The miracle tale of the Moving Muqaṭṭam mountain has been circulating among the Coptic community for a thousand years. Nowadays, members of the Coptic Church still refers to it as an example of victory of the Christian faith over Islam. This narrative, even if it bears some fixed structural features, went through numerous variations throughout times. On the basis of its first attestation in the Coptic‑Arabic text of the History of the Patriachs of Alexandria, it was later further developped, mainly under an apologetic angle. Finally, it included the episode of the Caliph al‑Muʿizz—founder of Cairo in the 10th century—converting to christianity. In the 20th century, this was subject to considerable debate in the press. From the 1970’s onwards, a young preacher revigorated the famous narrative by founding a huge place of worship at the Muqaṭṭam, commemorating the miracle. This paper, which is the result of a collective work by a historian and two philologists, intends to offer a collaborative approach, where the history of texts is combined with the analysis of contemporary practices. This research shows that, even if numerous traditions have very old roots, they are always reinveted, depending on successive contexts in which they take place.

After a brief presentation of Egyptian Catholic journals and newspapers of the twentieth century that can serve as sources, this article presents the most remarkable and most original of them: Ḥaqlunā (1949‑1970). It was initiated by the lawyer Pierre Cassab (Buṭrus Kassāb, 1913‑1986) to serve the Association of Catholic Youth of Egypt, founded in 1947. Giving news of the Catholic Church in the world, Ḥaqlunā was heralding the necessary role of the laity in the associations and in the Church. Valuable source for the reception of the Second Vatican Council (1962‑1965) in Egypt, the review was first animated by “Syrians of Egypt” of Greek-Catholic rite, like Pierre Cassab, or Maronite, like Michel Farah (Mīšīl Faraḥ). It is particularly attentive to the life of the Eastern Churches and the affirmation of Coptic Catholics as the National Church of Egypt. Towards the Coptic Orthodox, Ḥaqlunā, in an ecumenical spirit, supports the Renewal begun under Cyril VI. As for Islam, while faithfully supporting the conciliar orientations manifested in Nostra Aetate, Ḥaqlunā alludes to the concerns of Egyptian Catholics in the face of the Islamization of the Nasserian state. The feminine question finally, initially almost absent, becomes important in the 1960s.

Dans une société égyptienne ottomane très cosmopolite, un individu est défini par son statut social et son métier, puis par ses convictions religieuses. L’élite copte du xviiie siècle, suivant un usage aussi bien chrétien que musulman, met à profit l’essor économique de la province pour redistribuer une partie des fortunes acquises au profit de l’Église et de leurs coreligionnaires.

In a very cosmopolitan Egyptian Ottoman society, an individual is defined by his social status and profession, and then by his religious beliefs. The Coptic elite of the 18th century, following both Christian and Muslim usage, takes advantage of the province’s important economic development to redistribute the acquired wealth for the benefit of the Church and their coreligionists.

This article is an attempt to place the history of the Copts into a broader context, that of Ottoman history and shows that Coptic history is closely linked to Egyptian history. Based on two sharia court cases, we can explain not only the period of transformation in Coptic history but also the history of Egypt at the end of the 16th century, which completed at the middle of 17th century. On the other hand, the article shows how the sources of the courts can be supplemented with Coptic sources, and that to better understand the 17th century, it would be necessary to use both of these sources. The two court cases studied here are only comprehensible when Coptic sources are taken into consideration.

This article is inscribed in the field of graffitology and it presents the study of a corpus which still largely unknown. Collected by the Japanese mission in Sinai (Dir. M. Kawatoko) between 2001 and 2005, the Christian Arab graffiti present in large numbers in the south of the peninsula, had never delivered their contents. The study of these sources, from the point of view of forms, onomastics and paleography, as well as historical and epigraphic contextualization, shed a light on the history of Eastern Christianity in the region. The exploitation of the data makes it possible to outline the profile of these Christian pilgrims converging on Mount Sinai and informs about the frequentation of the roads at the Abbasid and Fatimid times.

Cet article présente un dossier inédit de documents concernant les chrétiens de Damas à la fin du ixe siècle. Conservés au moyen de leur copie dans deux manuscrits tous deux datables approximativement du xe-xie siècle, ces neuf documents rédigés en arabe ont été produits à l’occasion d’un conflit au sein de l’Église melkite de Syrie en 277/890‑891. Il ressort de l’analyse que David, évêque métropolitain de Damas, a lui-même réuni ces documents à charge contre son adversaire Siméon, patriarche d’Antioche. La plainte de David de Damas aux deux autres patriarches, Élie de Jérusalem et Michel ­d’Alexandrie, contre Siméon d’Antioche, est éditée et traduite en français en annexe de l’article.

This paper presents an unpublished dossier of documents related to the Christians of Damascus in the late 9th century. Preserved through their copy in two manuscripts ­datable to the 10th or 11th century, these nine documents written in Arabic were issued on the ­occasion of a conflict that happened among the Melkite Church in Syria in 277/890‑891. The ­documents prove to have been gathered by David the metropolitan bishop of Damascus, against his adversary Simeon the patriarch of Antioch. The complaint of David of Damascus against Simeon of Antioch, addressed to the two other patriarchs, Elias of Jerusalem and Michael of Alexandria, is edited and translated into French as an appendix to this article.

When Western Syriac literature designates the Christian Arabs (ṭayyōyē krisṭyōnē), it is ­often through a ternary expression, the « Tanūkōyē, ʿAqūlōyē and Ṭūʿōyē », in variable order. These people (ʿammē) played a very significant role during the second civil war (60‑72/680-692) within the Syriac Orthodox Church, as it is starting to consider the Muslim alterity. At this ­specific time, a homonym bishopric is attested, especially under Georges’ authority (d. 105/724), one of the main intellectuals of this time. These populations seem to have lived in « the Occident » (then forming the ǧund of Qinnasrīn) and in the post-Roman Upper Mesopotamia (the Ǧazīra) during the Umayyad period. The Tanūḫ (Tanūkōyē) are defined as an Iraqi community partially settled in northern Syria, but the period of this migration, traditionally dated to the proto-Byzantine era, is still indeterminate. The two other words are less clear: the ʿAqūlōyē are related to the people of al‑Kūfa (the expression is almost certainly post‑Hiǧra) while the Ṭūʿōyē would correspond to ancient groups from the same area. Our hypothesis is that the moving of these Iraqi ʿammē, designated by this ternary standardized ethnonym (they are not tribes in the sense of arabic nasab) to the Syrian space results from a transfer policy under Muʿāwiya (d. 60/680). It is most likely in this context that they might have been affiliated to the episcopal miaphysit nomenclature, at a time where it was possible to participate in the Believers’ movement while including one’s self in the Antiochene Church.

Entre 1888 et 1920, le site de Gourob, à l’entrée sud du Fayoum, a fait l’objet de quatre campagnes de fouilles, ainsi que d’actions plus ponctuelles, qui ont permis de mettre au jour les principales composantes du Nouvel Empire, à savoir une ville, un « harem », des lieux d’artisanat, des nécropoles, ainsi qu’un « fort ». Le Gurob Harem Palace Project (mission anglo-danoise) a ensuite repris le travail sur le site jusqu’en 2015.

Depuis 2016, Gourob est un chantier de l’Ifao et les résultats de la campagne 2017 sont ici présentés. L’une des principales nouvelles problématiques développées dans ce cadre est celle de la présence d’un port dans l’Antiquité, bien attesté dans la documentation textuelle. C’est en ce sens que des prospections géophysiques et géoarchéologiques ont été menées à l’est du site, avec des résultats particulièrement engageants. L’étude archéologique s’est quant à elle concentrée sur la zone au nord-est du palais-harem, qui n’avait pas fait l’objet de fouilles depuis 1920, et principalement sur un bâtiment appelé « fort » par les anciens fouilleurs, datant selon eux de la Première Période intermédiaire. Les sondages effectués dans les parties nord et est de cette structure ont permis de formuler des hypothèses préliminaires quant à sa fonction, sa datation et son lien avec la rampe qui coupe son flanc est. Ces observations demanderont à être vérifiées lors des prochaines saisons.

Between 1888 and 1920, the site of Gurob, located at the south entrance of the Fayum area, was the subject of four campaigns of archaeological excavations, as well as some more specific actions. This led to the discovery of the main New Kingdom component, i.e. the town, a “harim,” an industrial area, several necropolises and a “fort.” The Gurob Harem Palace Project (British-Danish team) then carried out work between 2005 and 2015.

Since 2016, Gurob is an IFAO fieldwork and the results of the campaign 2017 are presented herein. One of the main new issues developed within this framework is the presence of a harbor during Antiquity, well attested in the textual documentation. Geophysical and geoarchaeological surveys have been led in this sense along the eastern edge of the site, with particularly promising results. The archaeological study focused on the area north-east of the harim-palace, which has not been excavated since 1920, and mainly on a building called “fort” by the former excavators, who dated it back to the First Intermediate Period. The trench dug in the northern and eastern sectors of this structure allowed a preliminary hypothesis to be presented concerning its function, its dating and its link with the ramp cutting through its eastern side. These observations prompt verification during the next seasons.

L’Académie hiératique, fondée en 2015, entend former annuellement de jeunes chercheurs à l’édition des textes hiératiques. Elle s’appuie sur le fonds des ostraca littéraires de Deir el-Medina conservés à l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale (Ifao) du Caire, dans lequel des pièces inédites sont sélectionnées en vue de leur étude et de leur publication par les étudiants. Chaque année, un thème spécifique est choisi, qui devient le fil conducteur du travail conduit durant l’atelier de formation. Ce volume rassemble les contributions des 6 participants de la première académie hiératique, qui s’est tenue à l’Ifao du 27 septembre au 1er octobre 2015. Centré autour du titre Ṯȝy-ḫw, « flabellifère », il permet d’aborder les rapports entre Deir el-Medina et les autres centres de production de textes hiératiques littéraires de la rive gauche de Thèbes au Nouvel Empire. Ces contributions sont introduites par les articles de Chr. Barbotin, d’A. Dorn et de St. Polis, experts invités pour encadrer les élèves lors cette première session de l’académie. Ils y livrent les résultats de leurs travaux sur des documents hiératiques inédits utilisés comme support méthodologique durant la formation.

The Académie hiératique, created in 2015, was set up to train young researchers in the publication of hieratic texts. Based on the literary ostraca fund of Deir el-Medina kept at the IFAO (Institut français d’archéologie orientale), in Cairo, some unpublished texts of which were selected to be studied and published by the students. Each year a specific theme is chosen which becomes the connecting thread of work to be carried out by this workshop. This volume assembles the contributions of the 6 participants of the first Académie hiératique held at the IFAO from September 27th to October 1st, 2015. Keeping in view the title Ṯȝy-ḫw (« fan bearer »), it allows an approach of relationships between Deir el-Medina and the other centres on the left bank of Thebes in the New Kingdom where literary texts were produced and found. The introduction to these contributions combines articles by Chr. Barbotin, A. Dorn and St. Polis, who were all three invited as experts to coach the students during the first session of the Academy. These contributions present the results of their work on the unpublished hieratic documents used as a methological support throughout the training.