Book contents
- The Nile Delta
- The Nile Delta
- Copyright page
- For Mona Abaza
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Call Me by My Names
- 3 The Nile Delta before the Pharaohs
- 4 The Khetem-Border-Posts in the Delta during the New Kingdom
- 5 New Land amongst New Rivers?
- 6 The Mareotis Area
- 7 From Memphis to Alexandria
- 8 Growing with the Empire? From Village to Town
- 9 Mapping the Cult of Christian Saints in the Nile Delta from the Fifth to the Ninth Century CE
- 10 Alexandria
- 11 Imperial Power, Tribal Settlement and Fiscal Revolts in the Early Islamic Delta (Seventh to Ninth Century CE)
- 12 The Nile as Nexus
- 13 Water and Prices
- 14 Water Development in the Medieval Western Delta
- 15 The Nile Delta in European Cartography, 1200–1800
- 16 Just Passing Through?
- 17 Reclaiming the Archive
- 18 Short Commentary on Accounting Documents from a Vanishing Cotton Estate (ʿIzba) in the Nile Delta
- Index
- References
9 - Mapping the Cult of Christian Saints in the Nile Delta from the Fifth to the Ninth Century CE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2024
- The Nile Delta
- The Nile Delta
- Copyright page
- For Mona Abaza
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Call Me by My Names
- 3 The Nile Delta before the Pharaohs
- 4 The Khetem-Border-Posts in the Delta during the New Kingdom
- 5 New Land amongst New Rivers?
- 6 The Mareotis Area
- 7 From Memphis to Alexandria
- 8 Growing with the Empire? From Village to Town
- 9 Mapping the Cult of Christian Saints in the Nile Delta from the Fifth to the Ninth Century CE
- 10 Alexandria
- 11 Imperial Power, Tribal Settlement and Fiscal Revolts in the Early Islamic Delta (Seventh to Ninth Century CE)
- 12 The Nile as Nexus
- 13 Water and Prices
- 14 Water Development in the Medieval Western Delta
- 15 The Nile Delta in European Cartography, 1200–1800
- 16 Just Passing Through?
- 17 Reclaiming the Archive
- 18 Short Commentary on Accounting Documents from a Vanishing Cotton Estate (ʿIzba) in the Nile Delta
- Index
- References
Summary
The public worship of Christian saints started to spread in Egypt in the fifth century CE. This was particularly the case in the Nile Delta, which is characterised by its unique location. This phenomenon is a multi-layered practice that is difficult to explore in full; nonetheless, the object of this chapter is to grasp some of the dynamics behind the growth or decline of a saint’s cult and the overall alteration of Christian saints’ glorification in the Delta between the fifth and ninth centuries. The dynamics in this context suggest that the evolution or decline of saints’ popularity were due to religious, cultural and social practices. A large variety of literary texts were witness to the presence of a saint’s cult and bear information about saints’ veneration in different periods. Selections from these sources are explored in this chapter. Other complex factors to be discussed include the topography and location of cults, the nature of the religious landscape where the veneration started, cultural exchanges and language barriers, socio-economic growth and political and institutional rivalries and shifts.
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- The Nile DeltaHistories from Antiquity to the Modern Period, pp. 298 - 361Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024