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4 - The Naqlun Fathers and Their Business Affairs: Private Assets and Activities of the Monks in a Semi-Anchoritic Community in the Late Antique Fayum

from I. - The Monastic Estate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2023

Louise Blanke
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Jennifer Cromwell
Affiliation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
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Summary

Papyrological evidence shows that, in the centuries preceding the Arab conquest of Egypt (fifth to seventh centuries), the monastery at Deir el-Naqlun was home to groups of monks who pursued non-religious activities, possessed private assets, and maintained contact with various ‘worldly’ figures. Among them, we find moneylenders, a creative monk-potter, and a bishop who maintained a network of contacts with officials and elite members. On the other hand, clues as to the overarching organisation of the Naqlun monastery are scant, and the relation of the monks’ individual activity to that of the community as a whole is thus difficult to establish. It is nevertheless clear that managerial structures of an economic character were among the first to emerge within the monastery. Overall, the Naqlun evidence testifies to a model of organisation in which elements of communal life harmoniously combined with a degree of social and economic independence of individual monks.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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