Bohairic Coptic and Arabic liturgical texts and a list of the Patriarchs of Alexandria.. Este artículo no está disponible.Bohairic Coptic and Arabic liturgical texts and a list of the Patriarchs of Alexandria.

8vo (116 x 84 mm). Bohairic Coptic and Arabic manuscript on paper. 3 hand-painted decorations. Fragments of gathering strings, otherwise unbound. Stored in a cardboard archival portfolio. A cross-cultural Arabic-Coptic fragment, containing parts of a pontifical and a seemingly unique list of the Patriarchs of Alexandria in the miaphysite tradition. Produced at a point when Coptic had ceased to be a daily spoken language but remained essential for liturgical use, these leaves also explain Coptic liturgical terminology and the alphabet. Together, they are a handsome testimony to the bilingual existence of medieval Egypt's Christian community. - The fragment begins with prayers and hymns in Coptic, followed by an Arabic explanation of Coptic terms involved in the divine service. The next two texts, one in Coptic and another in Arabic, explain the hierarchy of the Egyptian Church and presents the Coptic alphabet, with a key in Arabic. The final text lists the first 109 patriarchs of Alexandria in the miaphysite tradition: although it largely belongs to the tradition described by Bouriant, it contains variants rendering this version unique. - There are three decorative miniatures in red, green and brown ink, one depicting two turbaned figures fighting on horseback, with swords raised over their heads. This may reflect the political turbulence of later fourteenth-century Mamluk Egypt, which saw increased strife as the Burji dynasty replaced the Bahri in 1377-82 CE. - Egypt's Christian community is one of the most ancient in the world: the Patriarchs of Alexandria, alongside those of Constantinople and Jerusalem, and the Pope in Rome, were recognised as one of the most significant ecclesiastical leaders of late antiquity. The descendant of the ancient Egyptian language, Coptic came to be written with a modified version of the Greek alphabet and served as the language of the liturgy as well as the writings of many significant early Christian saints such as Anthony the Abbot. The Islamic conquest of Egypt in 641-642 CE led to the increasing use of Arabic in all areas of life. Coptic had largely ceased to be a productive literary language by the eleventh century CE, but may have been spoken in some communities as late as the seventeenth century, and remains the liturgical language of Coptic Christians to this day. - A handsome testimony to the interwoven linguistic and cultural strands of medieval Egypt. - Largley marginal staining, soiling and some thumbing, a few small losses of text, but overall legible and clear. - 1) Sam Fogg 8415. 2) European private collection. - U. Bouriant, "Fragments memphitiques", in: Receuil de Travaux relatifs a la philology et a l’archeologie egyptiennes et assyriennes VII (Paris, 1886), pp. 82-94. W. E. Crum, Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the Collection of the John Rylands Library (Manchester, 1909), 208 (MS 432). W. E. Crum, Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1905), 43 (MS 155) and 370b (MS 890). Athanasius Kircher, Lingua aegyptiaca restituta (Rome, 1643). Barbara Watterson, Coptic Egypt (Edinburgh, 1988).…