Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T16:56:01.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Byzantine and Umayyad Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2024

Jane L. Rowlandson
Affiliation:
King's College London
Roger S. Bagnall
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York
Dorothy J. Thompson
Affiliation:
Girton College, Cambridge
Jelle Bruning
Affiliation:
Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, The Netherlands
W. Graham Claytor
Affiliation:
Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland
Jennifer Cromwell
Affiliation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Christopher J. Eyre
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
Brian P. Muhs
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Sarah J. Pearce
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Christopher J. Tuplin
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
Get access

Summary

Covering late antique Egypt into the period of Arab rule, this chapter introduces documents and literary texts translated from Greek, Coptic, and Arabic. In the countryside, coloni joined slaves and dependents at work on the great estates of Byzantine Egypt, while in the cities slavery continued as before. Coptic literature from the same period introduces servitude within Christian monasteries. The writings of Shenoute and Gnostic texts regularly employ the vocabulary of slavery in a negative sense. The trade, employment, and emancipation of slaves continued. Conscripted labour is also documented. Children and adults donated to monasteries represent a new form of sacred servitude. With the Arab conquest of Egypt, war and raiding resurface as important sources of slaves. Nubia and the Near East were again key areas for their acquisition, and slaves are illustrated as active in most areas of life and integrated into the religious life of their owners’ households.

Type
Chapter
Information
Slavery and Dependence in Ancient Egypt
Sources in Translation
, pp. 343 - 431
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×