BMCR 2009.06.43: Gozzoli on Dijkstra, Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion: A Regional Study of Religious Transformation (298-642 CE). Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 173

J. H. F. Dijkstra, Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion: A
Regional Study of Religious Transformation (298-642 CE). Orientalia
Lovaniensia Analecta, 173.  Leuven:  Peeters, 2008.  Pp. xvii, 466.
ISBN 9789042920316.  EUR 85.00.

Reviewed by Robert B. Gozzoli, University of Siam, Thailand
([email protected])
Word count:  1171 words
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Table of Contents (http://www.peeters-leuven.be/toc/9789042920316.pdf)

The book under analysis here is the revised PhD dissertation of the
author, originally submitted in 2005 at the University of Groningen,
under the title of Religious Encounters on the Southern Egyptian
Frontier in Late Antiquity (p. x).[[1]] For readers such as myself, an
Egyptologist by formation with a small background in Coptic studies,
this book is certainly a welcome contribution for it is a comprehensive
analysis of the religious and social developments at Philae and in the
First Cataract zone. The chronological boundaries are defined by the
withdrawal of Egypt's southern border to Elephantine in 298 AD by
Diocletian and the Arab conquest of Egypt. Within this scope, various
sources are analysed and comprehensively studied in order to give a
picture of how ancient Egyptian religion and the ''new'' religion
merged in daily life. The book is set up by these initial questions:
"What happened to the cults at Philae in the Late Antiquity? And what
was the role played by Christianity on the island? Was Philae an
exceptional case?" (p. 14).

For Philae, one of the few established dates for the fate of ancient
Egyptian religion is 537 CE, as Justinian ordered the closure of the
temples. Dijkstra offers two relevant texts. The first is the petition
written by Diodorus in Antinoopolis on behalf of the councilors of
Omboi against a man nicknamed as the 'Eater of Raw Meat'
(<greek>W)MOFA/GOS</greek>), the so called Blemmyan incident (circa 567
CE). The accused man is blamed for neglecting the taught Christian
doctrine and renewing pagan sanctuaries of Philae with the help of the
Blemmyes.[[2]] The second text is Procopius' Persian Wars, which states
that the temple of Isis was finally closed in 535-537 CE (pp. 11-14),
following Emperor Justinian's order. Dijkstra's sees the two documents
not necessarily contradicting each other, for Procopius is describing
imperial policies while the petition reflects a particular moment of
local history. Dijkstra's main thesis is that the negative picture of a
rising Christianity fighting against the old religion is fundamentally
erroneous, as the ancient Egyptian cults were already dying by
themselves, without external intervention.[[3]]

Setting his book on such terms, Dijkstra structures it in three parts:
Part I is about the developments of Christianity in the First Cataract
region during the fourth century CE; Part II is about the survival of
the ancient Egyptian cults; and the final part is about Christianity in
the region during the sixth century CE.

While the first and second chapters of Part I (pp. 45-119) deal with
published historical sources such as the Appion petition and the
Patermouthis archive, both of which provide a glimpse of the life of
the Christian Community during the fifth century CE, the most
interesting and fundamental part is the summary of archaeological
fieldwork at Elephantine which makes the third chapter (pp. 85-118). As
Swiss-German excavations are still going on the island, the author as
participant is able to supply a first-hand analysis of the various
results and a chronology of the Christian building recovered in the
various excavations. In addition to an analysis of the archaeological
expeditions in the region of the First Cataract, the author argues that
archeology shows a direct re-usage of material coming from the temple
of Khnum in an early Christian church during the early sixth century CE
even though the temple had been already been partially dismantled one
century earlier and the stones used for private buildings.  Recent
scholarship has connected the decline of Egyptian religion to the
reduction of temple incomes during the third century CE. New building
activities could not be completed, and the progressive loss of interest
by the Roman emperors added to the loss of prestige, and decadence then
followed.[[4]] Dijkstra cannot supply any specific information about
the reasons of such decline at Philae.

In Part II (pp. 125-218), the importance of Philae as religious centre
for the populations south of the Egyptian border is discussed. Though
Egyptian religion was already failing in the third century CE,[[5]]
pharaonic religion at Philae continued well into the fifth century. The
festival of Isis at Philae, attested until the beginnings of the fifth
century CE, had completely disappeared by the middle of the sixth
century and one can note the decline of the Demotic and Greek
inscriptions present in the temple itself: only a few of "First
prophets of Isis" are known from inscriptions dated around 456/457 CE,
as well as a hierogrammateus. This scarcity of personnel reveals a
progressive decline of the ancient Egyptian cult during the period
under examination, as only the priests write the inscriptions. Though
Frankfurter was able to see the Egyptian priests transformed into
magicians and sorcerers. Dijkstra is not able to track the fate of
those Egyptian priests at Philae.[[6]] He titles the conclusion of the
chapter: "The Last Priests of Philae -- a Mystery?" (pp. 214-18), and
he is correct when he says that assimilation can be considered as quite
probable.

Part III (pp. 221-337) deals with the role of Philae as a centre for
evangelization to the southern territories. The Life of Aaron,
Procopius' Persian Wars and John of Ephesus' Church History are
analyzed for their trustfulness as historical sources about Philae and
its religious transformation. Dijkstra challenges the normal view of
the Life of Aaron as an historical source since it has many traits in
common with early Egyptian hagiography and the Imitatio Christi: the
major point of the Lives of the Saints is to build a relation between
author and reader, quite far from a trustworthy historical
account.[[7]] Dijkstra raises similar questions for Procopius' and John
of Ephesus' accounts of Justinian's and Theodora's missions to the
Noubades. Both missions have been connected in scholarly literature to
the closure of the temples at Philae as proof of an increased hostility
toward the South. Dijkstra objects to such interpretation and sees them
as nothing more than casual circumstance, mostly due to the fact that
the imperial army was there.

The book is an importance research tool for anyone studying Early
Christianity in Egypt. When the author deals with hagiography, he
addresses the most recent work by Frankfurter and Van Millen.[[8]] The
picture of a slow assimilation of Philae into the Christian world is
not conflicting with the most recent scholarly literature and well
agrees with what is known from other parts of Egypt. As for 537 CE
being a fundamental date for the end of paganism in Egypt, Dijkstra has
made a convincing argument to dismiss such date: there is no definite
break between Isis and Christ at Philae, but the former flows into the
other without significant conflicts. The various arguments coherently
point and answer the initial questions, though only time and research
will say how much this new horizon will last.

Very pleasantly, the book is not overburdened by technicalities, it
tries to keep everything under clear headings and it is a pleasure to
read. The typos are few and do not mar the legibility of the text, and
the references are up to date.[[9]]


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Notes:


1.   The original PhD version can be retrieved at
http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/theology/2005/j.h.f.dijkstra/thesis.pdf
(http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/theology/2005/j.h.f.dijkstra/thesis.pdf).

2.   As already remarked by R. Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity,
(Princeton, 1993), 146-147, Blemmyes were certainly by then the last
remaining bastion of Egyptian religion.

3.   See also J. G. Keenan, "Evidence for the Byzantine Army in the
Syene Papyri", BASP 27 (1990), 139-150 and MacCoull, "Christianity at
Syene/Elephantine/Philae", BASP 27 (1990), 151-162.

4.   Bagnall, Egypt, 269, D. Frankfurter Religion in Roman Egypt.
Assimilation and Resistance, (Princeton, 1998), 199-200

5.   Bagnall, Egypt, 262.

6.   Frankfurter Religion, 202-217.

7.   See already U. Gotter, "Thekla gegen Apollon: Ueberlegungen zur
Transformation regionaler Sakraltopographie in der Spaetantike", Klio,
85 (2003), 189-211.

8.   D. Frankfurter, "Hagiography and the Reconstruction of Local
Religion in Late Antique Egypt: Memories, Inventions and Landscapes",
in J.H.F. Dijkstra, M. van Dijk (eds.), The Encroaching Desert.
Egyptian Hagiography and the Medieval East, (Leiden, 2006), 13-37 and
P. van Minnen, "'Saving History? Egyptian Hagiography in Its Space and
Time", in Ibidem, 57-91.

9.   Still from my Egyptological background, I give some further
references about corn mummies, and the Dodecaschoinos in the Ptolemaic
Period. For the corn mummies, see M. C. Centrone, ''Corn-Mummies.
Amulets of Life'', in K. Szpakowska (ed), Through a Glass Darkly.
Magic, Dreams and Prophecy in Ancient Egypt, (Swansea, 2006), pp.
33-46. For the Dodecaschoinos, R.B. Gozzoli, The Writing of History in
Ancient  Egypt during the First Millennium BC (ca. 1070-180 BC). Trends
and Perspectives, (London, 2006), pp. 252-58.