Coptic literature

It also includes texts believed to have been composed in Coptic, but which are preserved only in translation (mainly in Arabic and Ethiopic).

[4] The Morgan Collection comprises 58 volumes discovered in 1910 in the library of the Monastery of Saint Michael in the Fayyum.

The local library collection consists of some 5000 volumes, a few fragments of which have been acquired by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

[10] The earliest stage of experimentation with the Egyptian language in the Greek alphabet is often called Pre-Old Coptic or Graeco-Egyptian.

[1] These texts lack the consistent script style and borrowed Greek vocabulary of later Coptic literature, which is entirely Christian or para-Christian (i.e., Gnostic and Manichaean).

[10] The production of pagan magical texts written in Egyptian in Greek letters continued into the period of Coptic literature proper.

The high proportion of borrowed Greek vocabular in early Coptic texts, however, makes their practical utility as translations questionable.

According to the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, the 3rd-century writer Hierakas wrote works of biblical exegesis and psalmody in Greek and Coptic.

[2][17] These letters demonstrate Anthony's familiarity with the controversies engulfing the contemporary church, including that over Arianism.

Within a few decades they began translating their texts into Coptic, some from the Aramaic originals and sometimes from Greek intermediaries.

The Manichaean manuscripts all date from the 4th and 5th centuries and all were found at Medinet Madi, although they were most likely produced at Lycopolis, since they were written in the Lycopolitan dialect.

[24] They are also influenced by concept of Tagewählerei [de] (lucky and unlucky days) in the ancient Egyptian calendar.

The Gospel of the Saviour is an example of an apocryphal text composed in Coptic after the Council of Chalcedon (451).

Notably absent are works by two of the most outstanding early Egyptian Christian writers, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, although the Berlin Coptic Book of anonymous treatises shows traces of Clementine thought.

Cyril's theologically weighty Scholia de incarnatione unigeniti was translated, but not his writings against Nestorianism.

The surviving fragments concern Alexander among the Elamites, his rescue from the abyss in Gedrosia, his meeting the Brahmans and his poisoning.

[36] The writings of Pachomius the Great and his milieu form a distinctive body of work that was early translated into Greek.

[37][38] Pachomius' rules for communal monastic living, inspired in part by his Roman military background, were a major influence on European monasticism.

[2][37][38] Horsiesi also wrote a book, known as the Liber Orsiesii, in which the Pachomian style attains its most literary form.

[37] Two later and anonymous texts belong to the Pachomian tradition, the Apocalypse of Kiarur and the Visit of Horsiesi (which may have been originally written in Greek).

[37] A biography of Pachomius, originally written in Coptic, survives in a later Bohairic version and in translations in Greek, Latin and Arabic.

[38] The monk Shenoute (died 465), head of the White Monastery, was "perhaps the most prolific writer" in the Coptic language.

[40] They were, however, highly revered there, since the manuscript tradition reveals very few variants, indicating that they were treated almost on par with the Bible.

[41] His influence on Coptic literature may extend beyond his own writings, if his monastery was also the site of many translations of Greek works, as Tito Orlandi has argued.

Many of the texts probably date to the period of Coptic literary creativity in the 6th century (often associated with Patriarch Damian of Alexandria).

[4] Important writers from the latter half of the 5th century include Paul of Tamma, Paphnute, Makarius of Tkow and Patriarch Timothy II of Alexandria.

[50] Coptic seems to have been in decline as a literary language by the early 9th century, since few original works later than that can be attributed to a named author.

[51] A major movement to translate Coptic works into Arabic began around 1000 or shortly before and lasted into the 13th century.

The rules of Pachomius contain a quotation from the "Negative Confession" in the Book of the Dead and possible allusions to the Teaching of Ani and the Instructions of Amenemope.

This may not reflect familiarity with ancient literature or even readership, but may be "a pale memory" picked up during Pachomius' education in "Egyptian letters".