In 831 A.D., parts of the Muslim and Coptic population in Egypt undertook a major uprising against Abbasid domination and against an oppressive caliphal tax regime in the provinces. The rebellion was aggressively put down by the Abbasid governor in most of Egypt with the exception of the region of Bashmūr. Here, in the northern Nile Delta, Copts were to continue to heavily resisting central rule for a long period. The conflict had revolved around temporal and spiritual powers and was the religious-political issue of the time.
Earlier studies devoted to the events have invariably dealt with the onerous Abbasid tax regime as a main reason for the rebellion, which in its aftermath resulted in sizeable conversions to Islam in all of Egypt. In the following, I will focus on another aspect, which is the role of arbitration by the Coptic and Syriac patriarchs, YÅ«sÄb i and Dionysius, in the handling of the conflict. My object of study is the processes of conciliation and the post-conflict outcome (forced migration, deportations and displacements?) as depicted in the Coptic and Syriac narratives of two central historiographical works, the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria on the one hand, and the History of Dionysius of Tell Mahre on the other. 1
1 Coptic and Syriac Historiography: A Note on the Sources
Historical accounts written in Coptic or Syriac contribute important details on the situation of individuals, non-Muslims (dhimmīs) and Muslims alike, under caliphal rule. In contrast to a more dominant Arabic historiography, however Christian sources consist only of a scanty corpus since they were cultivated by monks, deacons and bishops, and were merely ecclesiastically and religiously
1.1 The Coptic Tradition: History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria
The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, which is not known in the âprimitiveâ authorial recension edition but is available in a âvulgateâ version, was transmitted in a considerable number of manuscripts scattered throughout libraries and archives in both Europe and Egypt.
3
The History of the Patriarchs had originally been compiled and translated from Coptic sources into Arabic by the Alexandrian notable MawhÅ«b ibn Manṣūr ibn Mufarrij (c. 1025â1100).
4
Mawhūb had utilised five Coptic historical texts, with the exception of the first one all others are now lost: (1) the so-called History of the Church in Sahidic Coptic, covering the early period from 60 to 451;
5
(2) another chronicle written by an early 8th century writer with the name George the Archdeacon which must have covered the period from 412 to approximately 700; (3) a third chronicle written by a monk called John, from the middle of the 8th century; (4) a fourth chronicle that had been written by another monk called John, during the years 865â866; (5) and finally a fifth chronicle written by Mikhail, bishop of TinnÄ«s, in 1051 or 1058. Alongside these five main Coptic source texts, MawhÅ«b
1.2 The Syriac Tradition: History of Dionysius of Tell Mahre
Syriac historiographical tradition, on the other hand, had produced some vibrant chroniclers such as Jacob of Edessa (684â687/88), Dionysius of Tell Mahre (818â845), Michael i (1166â1199), and the maphrian Bar Ê¿Ebroyo (1264â1286). Dionysius wrote a history of the period between 582 and 842 in two parts: a Church history, which most likely came first; and a World history, making sixteen books in all. His work almost entirely being lost (with the exemption of a single folio page
9
), it can only partly be reconstructed from material common to later chronicles. Extant fragments of his work can be found in the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian.
10
Even more significant is the anonymous Chronicle of 1234, which also contains some of the material known from Michael the Syrian.
11
The Chronicle of 1234 retains the narrative structure of the original but remains the principal source for the History of Dionysius of Tell Mahre.
12
Dionysius tells the story of the uprising in eloquent words, highlighting his social status, his good relationship with the Abbasid caliph, and the wickedness of local governors as well as his role as a mediator.
13
2 The Land of Bashmūr
As has been previously mentioned, a growing body of literature offers accounts of events from non-Arab Islamic perspective. Of particular interest are the social revolts that spread in the early caliphate, namely the Kharijite (âextremistâ) rebellions, the Abbasid revolution, and Alid uprisings. These revolts were prompted by religious and military-political motivations. Under the Umayyads, several rebellions were triggered by heavy taxation incumbent upon dhimmis.
During the first decades of their rule (i.e. the second half of the 8th century a.d.), the Abbasids, who had periodically supported revolts against the government of Umayyad Cordoba, faced serious problems in Baghdad later in the 9th century a.d. Indeed, they could no longer indulge in operations to destabilise the Umayyads. This internal tension raised doubts about the survival of a centralized Abbasid government. The turning point came under the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-MaʾmÅ«n (ruled 813â833). Well prior to his arrival in Baghdad, al-MaʾmÅ«nâs main concerns had been the suppression of internal rebellion and the reassertion of control over provinces such as Qom, Yemen, Syria and Egypt which continued to rebel. 14 This process turned out to be less than successful.
Ethnic Arab governors ruled Egypt as a province until the middle of the 9th century. These governors were appointed by firstly the Umayyad and later by the Abbasid caliphs.
15
During more than two hundred years of Arab-Islamic rule there was a high turnover of governors whose involvement in Egypt was mostly exploitative by nature. Income was generated from both.
16
Over years, the fiscal burden increased incrementally to reach a breaking point and by the mid-8th century wholesale dissatisfaction with Muslim tax officers increased as evidenced by papyri.
17
The Coptic patriarchs steadily lost authority to administer the affairs of the Church and people. Some accounts clearly depict
The History of the Patriarchs describes Bashmūr as swampy marshes of narrow sandy banks with thickets and reeds. In pharaonic times, the country of the H3w Nbwt extended eastward to Lake Burullus across the Northern Delta. The land was a wet jungle of trees, reeds and papyrus where fishermen, hunters, shepherds and cattle pastoralists lived.
19
Wild boar, antelopes, gazelles, varieties of deer, ibex, countless numbers of birds, fish, crocodiles and hippopotami thrived in this wild environment. Evidence from the Ancient Egyptian Old, Middle and New Kingdom tomb paintings suggest that hunting in the marshes included fowling, fishing and possibly the killing of hippopotami.
20
Textual evidence from the early pharaonic times until the Pharaoh Apries (589â570 b.c.e.) refers to the H3w Nbwt as a ruthless population arriving by sea and settling in the coastal banks of the Delta.
21
During the Greco-Roman period, the H3w Nbwt came to be known as Bukoloi, an aggressive population of herdsmen of cows, and their lands being given the Greek name of Elearchia. To Elearchia corresponds the Coptic Picharôt and the Arabic al-Bashrūd, both denoting a large area of wetland and marshes extending to the east of Rosetta where the Bashmūrites were living in their boats or among the reeds which
3 The Uprising
By 831 a.d., the Copts in the marshlands of BashmÅ«r were the only insurgents. 24 Whilst uprisings spread in BashmÅ«r, the Abbasid caliph al-MaʾmÅ«n had dispatched an army led by the Persian-Muslim leader al-AfshÄ«n to quash the revolts. 25 Later on, he sought the mediation of the Coptic patriarch YÅ«sÄb i and his Syrian counterpart Dionysius of Tell Mahre. 26 In the end, the social revolt had achieved little, and the BashmÅ«rites were heavily defeated. 27 Their villages and churches were burnt and their people crushed. 28
An aftermath of this violent event was the first wave of mass conversions to Islam.
29
In Egypt, conversion to Islam had been a long and complex process,
4 Death, Destruction and Displacement: Abbasid Handling of the Last Bashmūric Rebellion
In their stories, literary choices of both their Coptic and Syriac authors can be spotted. Narrative mediation in the Coptic and Syriac historiographical traditions is introduced as a supplemental approach to more conventional efforts at transforming the conflict: it carries with it a certain perspective and methodology. The first tripartite negotiations are well documented as showing words of peace and destruction. Here, from historiography, it is possible to evaluate the lexicon in which politics and religion have a common history. By considering some of the similarities between the two patriarchs, who emerged as promoters of conciliation we shall see the deployment of this idea as best understood by a conservative response to Muslim intimidation of the Bashmūrites in the Syriac account. The language usage and other elements of the Coptic narrative in the History of the Patriarchs show dialectical variants and a different strategy from the Syriac chronicle.
There is a tendency in the History of the Patriarchs to underline the obedience of the Coptic Churchâs hierarchy to its Muslim rulers.
32
Thus the description of the caliph al-MaʾmÅ«n, the image of a caliphal authority in Johnâs text, serves religious and political purposes.
33
Equally, the rhetoric of al-Maʾmūn
5 Consequences: Forced Migration, Deportation, and Enslavement
The Syriac chronicle History of Dionysius of Tell Mahre has some similarities with its Coptic counterpart in depicting the Syriac patriarchâs good relations with the Abbasid caliph al-MaʾmÅ«n. The Syriac author Dionysiusâ style and narrative are authoritative. This can be explained by the fact that the Syriac writer had not been captivated by the rebellion, providing him with the freedom to develop an assertive discourse. Information about events, the psychology and conditions of the BashmÅ«rite community is encoded in Dionysiusâ diction and is enriched by its associations with a form of verbalisation and a mode of expression.
No doubt, Dionysius did strive for vividness in his narrative. He initiates the reader into a dynamic story by using the first-person plural âWeâ, because he was a member of a group himself and thus a direct witness and participant. This is in contrast to John ii, the Coptic author who tells the story of the patriarch YÅ«sÄb i and the BashmÅ«rites. Meanwhile the BashmÅ«ric episode in Dionysius account is slightly different.
35
The story contains additional information, for example, how the Abbasid army seized a Coptic woman and tried to
6 Conclusion
In 1940, Rudolf Abramowski provided a first analysis of the Syriac chronicle History of Dionysius of Tell Mahre. Half a century later, in 1987, Witold Witakowski presented another historiographical study of Dionysiusâ history by sketching the origins of the genre he pursued. He analysed the authorâs historiographical organisation: short chronicle scheme, chronologically arranged date lemmata, with material from sources of non-chronicle character. In 1993, eventually, Andrew Palmer advanced a new interpretation of Syriac historiography and contributed to a rehabilitation of Dionysius as a trustworthy historical source. 38 The episode of BashmÅ«r, however, goes unmentioned in any of these three studies. The historiographical tradition of the last revolt of BashmÅ«r, as reflected in the accounts of John ii and Dionysius respectively, is meant to emphasize the strategic role that the church had in the early Islamic state. Christian leaders appealed historiography as a means for hewing out their own destiny.
The rebellion of Bashmūr represents a singular and tragic moment in the memory of Egypt. The Bashmūrite natural propensity for rebellion against any ruling elite, as is highlighted earlier in this chapter, is a prominent theme. Their implication as inveterate troublemakers is acknowledged in the Coptic narrative. The Syriac source, in contrast, highlights that the Bashmūrites dared to stir, and not to fight against the rulers; only as a supplicant for the fiscal burden, they approached the Muslim administrators begging for conciliation. The Abbasids for their mass deportation took drastic measures. Viewing in its entirety the tale of the Bashmūric woe in the Coptic and in the Syriac narratives becomes an interesting case study, irrespectively of the incomplete account of
An intertwining sequence of events in the last BashmÅ«ric rebellion provides us with a view of CopticâMuslim relations in early Islamic Egypt, which prominently features society with sectarian fiscal politics. This steered Egypt to social fragmentation, financial ruin and revolts which may have prompted the displacement and enslavement of the population of BashmÅ«r. Because of this particular pressure, the response of YÅ«sÄb i, the Coptic patriarch, contrasted sharply with the efforts of Dionysius to mediate the escalation of the situation. The BashmÅ«rites cast their actions as a defence of Coptic Christians from the vehicle of Arabisation and Islamisation. The discourse around âpeaceâ, which is not directly explicit in YÅ«sÄbâs vocabulary, shaped the development of a chronic resistance whereas the Syriac patriarch Dionysius had made claim to this language. YÅ«sÄb exhorts from destruction while Dionysius, as one of the three actors, is at the heart of the story of peace and war.
Recent developments in the Middle East have generated a renewed concern for conciliation and stability. The last rebellion of Bashmūr, its possible solutions of peace and reconciliation, and ultimately its consequences associated with displacements in 9th century Egypt may serve a standard of comparison. Indeed, current uprisings in the Middle East are echoed in Medieval Islam. The 9th century a.d. marks a turning point in the history of revolts with more resonance today.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Brooks, E.W. (ed. and transl.), Historia Ecclesiastica Zachariae Rhetori Vulgo Adscripta, Part ii (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 84/Syr 39 T; 88/Syr 42 v), Paris 1921â24.
Chabot, J.-B. , Chronicon ad annum Christi 1234 pertinens. Vol. 2, Paris 1917.
Chabot, J.-B. , Chronique de Michel le Syrien, Patriarche Jacobite dâAntioche (1166â1199). Ãditée pour la première fois et traduite en français, tome iii, Paris 1905 (repr. Bruxelles 1963).
Evetts, B.T.A. (ed. and transl.), History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria. Part iv: Mennas i to Joseph (849) (Patrologia Orientalis, x, fasc. 5), Paris, 1910, pp. 473â665.
Guest, R. (ed.), The Governors and Judges of Egypt (E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Series, 19), Leiden 1912.
MaqrÄ«zÄ«, TaqÄ« al-dÄ«n AbÅ« al-Ê¿AbbÄs al-, KitÄb al-MawÄÊ¿iẠwa-li-Ê¿tibÄr fÄ« dhikr al-khiá¹aá¹ wa-l-ÄthÄr, ed. A.F. Sayyid , 5 vols., London 2002â2005.
Moosa, M. , The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great). A Universal History from the Creation, Teaneck NJ 2014.
Palmer, A. , The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles (Translated Texts for Historians, 15), Liverpool 1993.
Secondary Literature
Abou El Fadl, K. , Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law, Cambridge 2001.
Abramowski, R. , Dionysius von Tellmahre, jakobitischer Patriarch von 818â845. Zur Geschichte der Kirche unter dem Islam (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 25.2), Leipzig 1940.
Becker, C.H. , Beiträge zur Geschichte Ãgyptens unter dem Islam. Zweites Heft, Strasbourg 1903.
Brett, M. , âPopulation and Conversion to Islam in Egypt in the Medieval Periodâ, in U. Vermeulen /J. van Steenbergen (eds.), Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras. iv: Proceedings of the 9th and 10th International Colloquium organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 2000 and May 2001, Leuven 2005, pp. 1â32.
Bulliet, R.W. , Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period. An Essay in Quantitative History, Cambridge MA 1979.
Butzer, K.W. , Art. âDeltaâ, in: W. Helck /E. Otto (eds.), Lexikon der Ãgyptologie, vol. 1, Wiesbaden 1975, pp. 1043â1052.
Carrez-Maratray, J.Y. , Paralia. Recherches sur la côte du Delta égyptien dâaprès la documentation grecque et latine (viième s. av. / viième s. apr. J.C.). Ãtymologie et Toponymie liées au littoral, unpubl. Ph.D. diss., François Rabelais University Tours 2005.
Cooper, J.P. , The Medieval Nile. Route, Navigation, and Landscape in Islamic Egypt, Cairo 2014.
Crum, W.E.A. , Coptic Dictionary, Oxford 1939.
Crum, W.E.A. /Crawford, J.L.L. , Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the Collection of the John Rylands Library, Manchester 1909.
Davies, N. de G. , The Tomb of Rekh-mi-râ at Thebes, New York 1943, pl. lxxxii.
Debié, M. , Lâécriture de lâhistoire en syriaque: transmissions interculturelles et constructions identitaires entre hellénisme et Islam (Late Antique History and Religion, 12), Leuven 2015.
Décobert, C. , âSur lâarabisation et lâislamisation de lâÃgypte médiévaleâ, in: idem (ed.), Itinéraires dâÃgypte: Mélanges offerts au père Maurice Martin, S.J. , Cairo 1992, pp. 273â300.
Dennet, D. , Conversion and the Poll-Tax in Early Islam, Cambridge MA 1950.
Den Heijer, J. , Art. âHistory of the Patriarchs of Alexandriaâ, in: A.S. Atiya (ed.), The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 4, New York 1991, pp. 1238â1242.
Den Heijer, J. , Mawhub ibn Maná¹£ur ibn MufarriÄ et lâhistoriographie copto-arabe: étude sur la composition de lâHistoire des Patriarches dâAlexandrie (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Subsidia, 83), Leuven 1989.
Den Heijer, J. , âLâHistoire des Patriarches dâAlexandrie, recension primitive et Vulgateâ, Bulletin de la Société dâArchéologie Copte 2 (1985), pp. 1â29.
Dussaud, R. , Review of J. Vercoutter , âLes Haou-Neboutâ, Syria 27 (1950), pp. 175â177.
Foss, C. , âEgypt under MuÊ¿Äwiyaâ, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 72 (2009), pp. 1â23; 259â278.
Frantz-Murphy, G. , âThe Economics of State Formation in Early Islamic Egyptâ, in: P.M. Sijpesteijn /L. Sundelin /S. Torallas Tovar /A. Zomeño (eds.), From al-Andalus to Khurasan. Documents from the Medieval Muslim World, Leiden/Boston 2007, pp. 101â114.
Frantz-Murphy, G. , Arabic Agricultural Leases and Tax Receipts from Egypt, 148â427 ah/765â1035 ad: Arabic Texts, Vienna 2001.
Frantz-Murphy, G. , âConversion in Early Islamic Egypt: The Economic Factorâ, in: Y. Ragib (ed.), Documents de lâIslam médiéval, Cairo 1991, pp. 11â17.
Gabra, G. , âThe Revolts of the Bashmuric Copts in the Eighth and Ninth Centuriesâ, Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft 36 (2003), pp. 111â119.
Hogarth, D.G. , âThree Delta Nomesâ, Journal of Hellenistic Studies 24 (1904), pp. 1â19.
Kasser, R. , âKATâASPE ASPE. Constellations dâidiomes coptes plus ou moins bien connus et scientifiquement reçus, aperçus, pressentis, enregistrés en une terminologie jugée utile, scintillant dans le firmament égyptien à lâaube de notre troisième millénaireâ, in: L. Painchaud /P.-H. Poirier (eds.), Coptica, Gnostica, Manichaica: Mélanges offerts à Wolf-Peter Funk, Québec 2006.
Kasser, R. , âProlégomènes à un essai de classification systématique des dialectes et subdialectes coptes selon les critères de la phonétique, iii, Systèmes orthographiques et catégories dialectalesâ, Le Muséon 94 (1981), pp. 91â152.
Kasser, R. , âLâidiome de Bashmourâ, Bulletin de lâInstitut Français dâArchéologie Orientale 75 (1975), pp. 401â427.
Kasser, R. /Shisha-Halevy, A. , Art. âDialect G (or Bashmuric or Mansuric)â, in The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, pp. 74â75.
Kennedy, H. , âEgypt as a Province in the Islamic Caliphate, 641â868â, in: C. Petry (ed.), The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 2: Islamic Egypt, 640â1517, Cambridge 1998, pp. 62â85.
Lapidus, I. , âThe Conversion of Egyptâ, Israel Oriental Studies 2 (1972), pp. 248â262.
Lev, Y. , âCoptic Rebellions and the Islamization of Medieval Egypt (8thâ10th century): Medieval and Modern Perceptionsâ, Jerusalem Studies of Arabic and Islam 39 (2002), pp. 303â344.
Maspero, J. /Wiet, G. , Matériaux pour servir à la géographie de lâÃgypte (Mémoires publiés par les membres de lâInstitut français dâarchéologie Orientale du Caire, 36), Cairo 1919.
Megally, M. , Art. âBashmuric Revoltsâ, in A. Suryal Atiya (ed.), The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 2, New York 1991, pp. 349â351.
Mikhail, M.S.A. , From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt. Religion, Identity and Politics after the Arab Conquest, London 2014.
Montet, P. , Les scènes de la vie privée dans les tombeaux égyptiens de lâAncien Empire, Paris 1924.
Pillette, P. , âLâHistoire des Patriarches dâAlexandrie: Une nouvelle évaluation de la configuration du texte en recensionsâ, Le Muséon 126/3â4 (2013), pp. 419â450.
Quatremère, Ã. , Recherches critiques et historiques sur la langue et la littérature de lâEgypte, Paris 1808.
Reinfandt, L. , âArabic Papyrology and Early Islamic Egyptâ, Journal of Juristic Papyrology 43 (2014), pp. 209â239.
Reinfandt, L. , âAdministrative Papyri from the Abbasid Court in Samarra (ad 836â892): A First Reportâ, in P. Schubert (ed.), Actes du 26e Congrès international de papyrologie. Genève, 16â21 août 2010, (Recherches et Rencontres 30). Genève: Librairie Droz S.A., 2012, pp. 639â645.
Reinfandt, L. /Vanthieghem, N. , âLes archives fiscales de MÄ«nÄ, fils de DamarqÅ«ra, un contribuable copte du ixe siècleâ, in J.L. Fournet /A. Papaconstantinou (eds.), Mélanges Jean Gascou. Textes et études papyrologiques (P.Gascou) (Travaux et mémoires, 20/1), Paris 2016, pp. 52â58.
Sijpesteijn, P.M. , âThe Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Beginning of Muslim Ruleâ, in R.S. Bagnall (ed.), Egypt in the Byzantine world, 300â700, Cambridge 2009, pp. 437â459.
Sijpesteijn, P.M. , âLandholding patterns in early Islamic Egyptâ, Journal of Agrarian Change 9 (2009), pp. 120â133.
Sijpesteijn, P.M. , âProfit Following Responsibility. A Leaf from the Records of a Third/Ninth Century Tax-Collecting Agentâ, The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 31 (2001), pp. 91â132.
Swanson, M.N. , The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt, 641â1517, Cairo/New York 2010.
Tagher, J. , Christians in Muslim Egypt. An Historical Study of the Relations between Copts and Muslims from 640 to 1922 (Arbeiten zum spätantiken und koptischen Ãgypten, 10), Altenberg 1998.
Timm, S. , Das christlich-koptische Ãgypten in arabischer Zeit. Vol. 1: A-C (Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B, 41/1), Wiesbaden 1984.
Trombley, F.R. , âThe Documentary Background to the History of the Patriarchs of ps.-SawÄ«rus ibn al âMuqaffaÊ¿ ca. 750â969 c.eâ., in: P.M. Sijpesteijn /L. Sundelin /S. Torallas Tovar /A. Zomeño (eds.), From al-Andalus to Khurasan. Documents from the Medieval Muslim World, Leiden/Boston 2007, pp. 131â152.
Vercoutter, J. , âLes Haou-Neboutâ, Bulletin de lâInstitut Français dâArcéologie Orientale 46 (1947); 48 (1948).
Weltecke, D. , âA Renaissance in Historiography? Patriarch Michael, The Anonymous Chronicle ad 1234 and Bar Ê¿Ebroyoâ, in H. Teule (ed.), The Syriac Renaissance, Leuven 2010, pp. 95â111.
Weltecke, D. , Die âBeschreibung der Zeitenâ von Mor Michael dem GroÃen (1126â1199). Eine Studie zu ihrem historischen und historiographiegeschichtlichen Kontext (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 594, Subs. 110), Leuven 2003.
Wissa, M. , âYusab of Alexandria, Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, Al-Maâmun of Baghdad, the Bashmurites and the Narrative of the Last Rebellion in Ê¿Abbasid Egypt. Re-considering Coptic and Syriac Historiographyâ. in P. Buzi /A. Camplani /F. Contardi (eds.), Coptic Society, Literature and Religion from Late Antiquity to Modern Times. Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies, Rome, September 17thâ22th, 2012 (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 247), Leuven 2016, pp. 1045â1062.
Witakowski, W. , The Syriac Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-MahrÄ. A Study in the History of Historiography (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Semitica Upsaliensia, 9), Uppsala 1987.
This article is part of a broader research, see M. Wissa, The Last Revolt of Bashmur, 831â832 a.d .: Event, Narrative, and Transformation in the Medieval Delta (in preparation). I owe a debt of gratitude to Sebastian Brock (Oxford) and Dorothea Weltecke (Frankfurt am Main) for their feedback on the Syriac sources.
Debié, Lâécriture de lâhistoire, p. 147 supports this evidence: âLes sources chrétiennes donnent ainsi une image âde terrainâ des relations entre le pouvoir central et celui des provinces".
The first part of the primitive recension of the History of the Patriarchs was identified by C. Brockelmann and has been edited separately by Ch. Seybold in 1912. The second and third parts were identified by Den Heijer, âLâHistoire des Patriarches dâAlexandrie". On a new conceptualisation of the transmission and the dichotomy between a primitive edition and a âvulgateâ version, see Pillette, âLâHistoire des Patriarches dâAlexandrie".
Den Heijer, Mawhub ibn Maná¹£ur; idem, âHistory of the Patriarchs of Alexandriaâ. The Arabic text produced by MawhÅ«b using the earlier versions is arranged in a series of sixty five Coptic patriarchsâ biographies.
The first part of this History of the Church relies on Eusebius of Caesareaâs Greek Historia Ecclesiastica. The second part is an original composition produced entirely in a Coptic milieu and attributed to an unknown author called Menas who may have had been a monk at the monastery of Saint Shenoute in Sohag.
An outline of MawhÅ«bâs additional sources is given in Heijer, Mawhub ibn Maná¹£ur, pp. 3â7; 117â156.
While evidence for authorâs name is not decisive, it has become standard in den Heijer, Mawhub ibn Maná¹£ur to refer to this author as âJohn iiâ. Swanson, Coptic Papacy, p. 27, on the other hand, chose to call him âJohn the Writerâ.
Evetts, History of the Patriarchs.
Vatican, bav, vat. Syr. 144.
The fragments are published in Brooks, Historia Ecclesiastica.
Cf. Chabot, Chronicon, pp. 16â20 (the pagination of the Syriac text is given in the margins of the translation).
For a critical analysis of the chronicles of Michael the Syrian, the anonymous Chronicle of 1234, and Bar Ê¿Ebroyo see Weltecke, âA Renaissance in Historiographyâ. For Dionysiusâ history and reconstitution see Palmer, Seventh Century, pp. 85â221. Abramowski, Dionysius von Tellmahre, pp. 130â144 has edited and translated these fragments. See also Witakowski, Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius, passim.
This is discussed at length in Wissa, âYusab of Alexandriaâ. See also Debié, Lâécriture de lâhistoire, 2015, pp. 148â149. About the story of the uprising see Debié, Lâécriture de lâhistoire, p. 148. The Syriac narrative of the BashmÅ«ric revolt in 9th century Egypt is to be found in the Chronicle of 1234, pp. 266â267; Michael the Syrian xii, 16, pp. 522â524; Michael the Syrian xii, 17, p. 527.
Rebellions in the early Abbasid period are discussed in Abou El Fadl, Rebellion and Violence, pp. 76; 85â87. See also Kennedy, âEgypt as a Provinceâ, pp. 79â83.
For the beginnings of Umayyad rule, see Foss, âEgypt under MuÊ¿Äwiya".
Frantz-Murphy, Arabic Agricultural Leases; idem, âEconomics of State Formation"; Sijpesteijn, âThe Arab Conquestâ; idem, âProfit Following Responsibilityâ; idem, âLandholding Patternsâ, especially p. 130 n. 49 for the Muslim tax officers.
For a discussion of the value of the Arabic documentary material for research on Coptic and Arab Egypt, see among other authors Reinfandt, âArabic Papyrologyâ. See also Reinfandt, âAdministrative Papyriâ.
For a Coptic account of this see Evetts, History of the Patriarchs, p. 486. Documentary sources for the practice of collecting taxes under Muslim rule are discussed in Trombley, âDocumentary Backgroundâ. An example for Abbasid taxation practice is recorded in the seven Arabic tax receipts of a Christian tax payer from MadÄ«nat al-FayyÅ«m in the late 9th century A.D.; see Reinfandt/Vanthieghem, âArchives fiscalesâ.
Butzer, âDeltaâ.
For the Old Kingdom, see Montet, Scènes de la vie privée. As for the Middle and New Kingdoms, depictions of hunting and fishing in the marshes of the Delta are recurrent themes in the Middle and Upper Egyptâs necropoleis. For the New Kingdom Theban tombs of Menna, Nakht and Rekhmira see Davies, Tomb of Rekh-mi-râ, pl. lxxxii.
For a more detailed insight into the H3w Nbwt see Wissa, âYusab of Alexandriaâ. An example in Coptic for the ancient Egyptian word H3w in the term H3w Nbwt, meaning ânear byâ, comes from the Coptic manuscripts in the John Rylands collection, which Crum also translated in his Coptic Dictionary as âbeyondâ; see Crum, Coptic Dictionary, p. 735 and, for the Coptic manuscripts, Crum/Crawford, Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts, p. 48. On the term Nbwt, which was non-ethnic, cf. Dussaud, âLes Haou-Neboutâ, 175â177; Vercoutter, âLes Haou-Nebout".
Hogarth, âThree Delta Nomesâ, p. 13, s.v. Picharôt = Elearchia; Carrez-Maratray, Paralia with a detailed study of the toponym of Elearchia; Maspero/Wiet, Matériaux, s.v. al-Bachrud and its Coptic equivalent Picharôt. On the Arabic toponym of al-BashrÅ«d cf. Cooper, Medieval Nile; Timm, Das christlich-koptische Ãgypten, s.v. Bashrud. For the marshy nature of the terrain and the bellicose nature of its herdsmen-inhabitants, see Tagher, Christians in Muslim Egypt, p. 81; Gabra, âRevolts of the Bashmuric Coptsâ, p. 114. In view of the alphabetic nature of Dialect G, âBashmÅ«ricâ or âManṣūricâ, which reflects a reduced version of the Coptic alphabet with remarkable absence of the majority of the Coptic uncials, it is highly likely that these BashmÅ«rites were exposed to both Coptic and Greek cultural and linguistic influences. See Kasser, âLâidiome de Bashmour"; idem, âProlégomènesâ, pp. 102â103; Kasser/Shisha-Halevy, âDialect Gâ. See also Kasser, âKATâASPE ASPEâ, p. 41.
âBashmuric Revoltsâ, p. 350: âThe Bashmuric region was the only part of Egypt where the Arabic authorities could not apply their policy of settling Arabic tribes among the native population to prevent revoltsâ.
The 9th century Egyptian Muslim historian al-KindÄ« in his KitÄb al-WulÄt wa-kitÄb al-quá¸Ät mentions the Arab and Coptic rebellion of JumÄdÄ I 216/June-July 831; see Guest, Governors and Judges of Egypt, pp. 189â192. On this rebellion see also Mikhail, From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt, pp. 75â76; Gabra, âRevolts of the Bashmuric Copts"; Megally, âBashmuric Revolts"; Quatremère, Recherches critiques.
Evetts, History of the Patriarchs, pp. 487â488.
Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, pp. 76â77.
Al-KindÄ« in his 9th century KitÄb al-WulÄt wa-kitÄb al-quá¸Ät claims that âal-MaâmÅ«n went to BashrÅ«d and ordered AfshÄ«n to execute captured Copts and to sell children and women into slavery. He left a long trail of blood behind him, leaving the country after 49 daysâ; cf. Guest, Governors and Judges of Egypt, pp. 189â192.
Evetts, History of the Patriarchs, p. 494.
On the Islamisation of Egypt see Lapidus, âConversion of Egyptâ, pp. 257 and 260; Mikhail, From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt, pp. 68â70; Décobert, âSur lâarabisation"; Bulliet, Conversion; Becker, Beiträge zur Geschichte Ãgyptens, pp. 81â148; Dennet, Conversion, pp. 85â88 and 115; Frantz-Murphy, âConversionâ. On conversion specifically during the Abbasid period see Brett, âPopulation and Conversionâ; Lev, âCoptic Rebellionsâ.
Together with the Syriac and Armenian churches, the Coptic Church was viewed as a non-Chalcedonian Miaphysite (sometimes wrongly mistakenly referred to as Monophysite) church.
Swanson, Coptic Papacy, p. 38.
Evetts, History of the Patriarchs, pp. 487â506.
Evetts, History of the Patriarchs, p. 488: âWhen the father patriarch, Abba Joseph, learnt that al-MaʾmÅ«n had arrived, and in his company the patriarch of Antioch, he gathered the bishops together and journeyed to Fusá¹Äá¹âMiá¹£r, to salute the caliph according to the respect which is due to princesâ. Swanson, Coptic Papacy, p. 10 explains that the encounter and verbal exchanges between the Coptic Patriarch (as the church authority) and the caliph (here as the supreme civil authority) later became part of the story of the Egyptian church.
Evetts, History of the Patriarchs, pp. 488â489; 494.
In Dionysiusâ account Faá¸l ordered Dionysius to go with YÅ«sÄb to the BashmÅ«rites.
Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, pp. 76â78.
Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, pp. 82â84.
Abramowski, Dionysius von Tellmahre; Witakowski, Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius; Palmer, Seventh Century. The question of intertextuality, the reliability of the information, and the problems of copying are thoroughly discussed in Weltecke, Beschreibung der Zeiten; Debié, Lâécriture de lâhistoire.