IFAO

In this paper, we will present the latest results of the excavations conducted in Buto (2016-2018) by the French Mission, in the frame of the collaboration with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Cairo (DAIK), holder of the concession, showing evidence of a large storage building of the Early Roman period on the top of the kom A (sector P18), a very rare kind of economic structure in the Delta in Graeco-Roman times. Some contributions, based on the different sources provided in this sector, and in relation with the food economy (macro-remains of cereals, wine and oil and maybe fish, amphoras and an ostracon mentioning the transport system), present the current state of the research in this area, in some pluridisciplinary approachs, integrating the textual economical references, and, in the light of this case, suggesting the role of Egypt in the Roman economy.

This paper examines the function, chronology, and gender issues of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom oyster shells, taking MMA 23.2.76a as a case-study. It presents a critical analysis for the early publication on the function and the gender of the owner, of this oyster shell and many others, based on a close investigation of this object. Furthermore, it investigates the archaeological context in which these oyster shells were found, presenting some unpublished materials from Sheikh Farag, collaborating with the published material from Lisht and Esna. It shows the relationships the oyster shells entertain with other objects of Late Middle Kingdom, e.g. shabtis and ivory tusks, and the absence of the wooden models, typical early Middle Kingdom objects.

The excavations of the Madamud (Louqsor) mission on the forecourt of the Montou temple, already cleared by Bisson de la Roque between 1929 and 1931 were carried out in 2017-2018. He discovered a ceramic production area and an enclosure wall called the "9m wall". At ­present, a substantial new supply of archaeological data enables us to go back to the question of ­dating the stratigraphic relationships of these different structures. Thus, the 9m wall can now be ­associated with the restoration of the temple carried out during the reign of Thutmes III, which was to serve as the entrance pylon to the temenos. Its erection marked the discontinuation of the ceramic production district located southwest of the Middle Kingdom temple, which was in operation during the 17th and early 18th dynasties. However, the 9m wall was in operation until the Ptolemaic period, and later was levelled in the Augustan period.

The topic of this article is the study of a statue belonging to an official from the Middle Kingdom called Renseneb, which was seized by the Egyptian authorities in 2015 in Damiette among more than one thousand artefacts. It came from some clandestine excavations on the site of Abydos. The owner of the statue, who holds the titles ḫtmtj bjty (treasurer of Lower Egypt) and jmy-r gs pr (director of domain) is supposed to be the same as the owner of a statue discovered in 1998 at Kerma and of a stela kept in the museum of Berlin (ÄGM 32/66). The study of the second title enables Renseneb to be seen as a member of the local administration who was in charge of the management of a royal domain attached to the mâhât-chapel of Mentuhotep II in Abydos.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.