Coptic period

[3] Although the term "Coptic period" is utilized in popular discourse, its use in academia is generally avoided due to its imprecise nature, whereas "Late Antiquity" or "Byzantine Egypt" can be defined on chronological grounds.

[5] While not entirely similar to pagan mummification rituals, the techniques showed a resemblance to those of earlier periods, without most of the lavishness of Pharaonic times.

For example, when peasants began keeping mummies of martyred Copts in their houses, Athanasius of Alexandria chastised them for not acting as good Christians should.

The Coptic period is characterised by the melting together of older Pharaonic and Greco-Roman styles with contemporary Christian ones.

The worst of these persecutions came during the early 600s under Emperor Phocas, leading many Copts to side with the Persians,[10] whom the Eastern Roman Empire was at war with at the time.