I INTRODUCTION 1

1 GENERAL REMARKS 1

2 STATE OF RESEARCH AND PERSPECTIVES 3

3 OBJECTIVES 9

4 METHODOLOGY 11

5 TERMINOLOGY 13

6 EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS 17

II CHRISTIAN BURIAL PLACES 19

1 GENERAL REMARKS 19

2 LOWER EGYPTIAN BURIAL PLACES 25

2.1 Alexandria 25 2.2 Western Delta 28 Marea (Hawariya) 28 Taposiris Magna (Abusir) 30 Burg al-Arab 30 2.3 Abu Mina 31 2.4 Eastern Delta 34 Tall al-Yahudiya (Suez) 34 2.5 The Memphite region 34 Giza 34 Dayr al-Nahiya 35 Abusir 35 2.6 Saqqara 35

3 MIDDLE EGYPTIAN BURIAL PLACES 43

3.1 Eastern borderland oftheFaiyum area 43 Aphroditopolis (Atfih) 43 Maydum 43 Lahun 44 Madinat Ghurab 44 Haraga 44 3.2 The Faiyum area 45 3.3 Herakleopolis Magna to Oxyrhynchos 50 Herakleopolis Magna (Ahnasiya al-Madina) 50 Mudil 51 Qarara 51 Kom al-Ahmar (Sharuna) 52 Oxyrhynchos(Bahnasa) 53 3.4 Akoris to Speos Artemidos 55 Akoris/Tenis (Tihna al-Gabal) 55 Hawarta 56 Zawiyat al-Amwat/Zawiyat al-Maitin/Zawiyat Sultan 56 Gabal al-Tair (al-Bahari)/Hash al-Wadi 56 Speos Artemidos 57 3.5 Antinoupolis/Antinoe (Shaykh-Ibada) 57

Bibliografische Informationen digitalisiert durch http://d-nb.info/101513548X 3.6 Southern Antinoite area to Dayr Abu Hinnis 61 Upper Ansina 61 Dayr Abu Fana/Dayr al-Solban 61 Dayr Abu Hinnis 62 3.7 Hermoupolis Magna to the Valley of Hamid 63 Hermoupolis Magna (Ashmunayn) 63 Dayr Nazlat Tuna 64 Tynis (Tuna al-Gabal) 64 Dayr al-Barsha 65 Mair 65 Valley of Hamid 66 3.8 Bawit 66 3.9 Gabal Abu Foda to Wadi Sarga 70 Cabal Abu Foda 70 Dayr al-Muharraqa 70 Manqabad 70 Lykopolis (Asyut) 71 Dayr al-Azam 71 Contra Lykopolis/Dayr Bosra (Bisra) 72 Dayr al-Muttin 72 Dayr Durunka 72 Qawiel 72 Dayr/Gabal Rifa 72 Dayr al-Zawiya 73 Dayr al-Bala'yza 74 Dayr al-Ganadla 74 Wadi Sarga 75

4 UPPER EGYPTIAN BURIAL PLACES 76

4.1 Matmar 76 4.2 Mostagedda and Badari 79 4.3 Hammamiya and Antaeopolis (Qaw al-Kebir) 79 4.4 Panopolis/Chemmis (Akhmim) 87 4.5 Athribis (Wannina) to Madamud 89 Athribis (Wannina) 89 Dayral-Khadad 89 Red Monastery (Sohag) 90 Nagal-Dayr 90 Abydos (Umm al-Qaab) 90 Coptos (Qift) 91 Naqada 92 Dayr al-Malak Mikha'il (Girga) 92 Dayr al-Malak Mikha'il (Nag al-Dayr) 92 (Nag al-) Madamud 93 4.6 Thebes 93 4.6.1 Eastern Thebes 93 4.6.2 Western Thebes 94 Djeme (Madinat Habu) 94 Valley of the Queens 96 Qurnat Mar'i 96 Shaykh Abd al-Qurna 96 Monastery of Epiphanius 97 Monastery of Cyriacus 97 Dayr al-Madina 98 Dayr al-Bahari 99 Dayr al-Bakhit 99 4.7 The Hermonthite area 99 Hermonthis (Armant) 99 Hagir Armant ("The quarry of Armant") 102 Dayr al-Misaykra 103 Tuphium (Tod) 103 4.8 The Latopolite (Esna) region 103 Dayr al-Fakhuri (Monastery of Mathew the Poor) 103 Latopolis (Esna) 104 The hermitages of Esna 104 Dayr al-Shuhada' (Convent of Ammonius and the 3600 Martyrs) 105 4.9 Apollonopolis Magna (Edfu) 107 4.10 Dayr Anba Hadra (The convent of ApaHatre) 110

5 THE SINAI PENINSULA 114

6 THE OASES 116

6.1 Kharga - Oasis Magna 116 6.2 Dakhla 118

7 SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS 120

7.1 Christian burial practice 120 7.2 Christian tomb structure 121 7.2.1 Grave types 121 Grave pattern "A" 122 Grave pattern "B" 125 7.2.2 Wealth and prestige 127 7.3 Funerary stelae 132 Original context 132 Positioning and orientation 133 Dating 135

III CHRISTIAN FUNERARY INSCRIPTIONS 137

1 GENERAL REMARKS 137

2 DATING 143

2.1 Indictions 143 2.2 Era of Diocletian/Era of the Martyrs 144

3 CHRISTIAN FUNERARY INSCRIPTIONS IN GREEK 146

3.1 Textual formulas 146 3.1.1 Acclamations and Christian symbols 146 "One is God!", "One is God, who helps!" 146 "Jesus Christ is victor!" 146 XMr 147 3.1.2 Commemorative and dedication formulas 147 "Stela of blessed NN" 148 "Memorial of NN" 148 Other 148 3.1.3 Appeal and salutation formulas 149 "Do not grieve!" 149 Other 150 "Be of good cheer!" 150 3.1.4 Prayer formulas 151 "Remember!" 151 "Give rest!" 152 "Help and give rest/have mercy!", "have mercy and give rest!" 156 Summary - prayer formulas 156 3.1.5 Death formulas 161 "Fell asleep" 161 "Ended life" 162 3.2 Structure 162 3.2.1 Alexandria 162 3.2.2 The Faiyum area 163 3.2.3 Akoris (Tihna al-Gabal) 164 3.2.4 Antinoupolis (Shaykh Ibada) 164 3.2.5 Panopolis/Chemmis (Akhmim) 165 3.2.6 The Hermonthite area 165 3.2.7 The Latopolite area and Apollonopolis Magna 166 3.3 Summary of the results 166 3.3.1 Textual formulas 166 Acclamations 167 Appeal and salutation formulas 167 Prayer formulas 167 Death formulas 168 Commemorative formulas 168 3.3.2 Structure 169

4 CHRISTIAN FUNERARY INSCRIPTIONS IN COPTIC 173

4.1 Textual formulas 173 4.1.1 Acclamations, invocations and liturgical formulas 173 4.1.2 Commemorative and dedication formulas 174 "Day of remembrance of NN" 174 Other 174 4.1.3 Appeal, salutation and wish formulas 175 4.1.4 Prayer formulas 178 Prayers to God (and saints) to have mercy on the soul of the deceased 178 Prayers to God to give rest to the soul of the deceased 181 Prayers to God to make the deceased worthy to hear His voice calling 185 Litanies 187 Summary - prayer formulas 193 4.1.5 Death formulas 196 "To go to rest" 196 "To lay the body down"/"To depose the body" 196 "To come forth from the body", "to complete one's days" 197 Other 197 4.2 Structure 198 4.2.1 Abu Mina 198 4.2.2 The Faiyum area and Haraga 199 4.2.3 Antinoupolis 202 4.2.4 Manqabad 202 4.2.5 Bawit to Badari 203 4.2.6 Antaeopolis (Qaw) 205 4.2.7 Abydos and environs 206 4.2.8 The Hermonthite area 207 4.2.9 The Latopolite area 207 4.2.10 Dayr Anba Hadra 208 4.3 Summary of the results 209 4.3.1 Textual formulas 209 Acclamations 209 Appeal, salutation and wish formulas 209 Prayer formulas 210 Death formulas 210 Commemorative formulas 211 4.3.2 Structure 211

IV CONCLUSIONS 217

1 FUNERARY CULTURE 217

2 TOMB STRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE 219

3 FUNERARY STELAE 221

3.1 Geographic and chronological diffusion 221 3.2 Architectural and functional use 222 3.3 Materials, ownership and production costs 223 3.4 Funerary inscriptions 225 3.4.1 Content and dating 225 3.4.2 Geographic and chronological features 227 3.4.3 Greek funerary inscriptions 232 3.4.4 Coptic funerary inscriptions 234 3.4.5 Similarities and differences 235 3.4.6 Sources 239 3.5 Socio-cultural environment 240

APPENDIX 243

Tables 243 A Christian funerary inscriptions in Greek [III.3] 243 B Christian funerary inscriptions in Coptic [II1.4] 282 C Overview of supraregional, regional and local textual formulas 327 D Concordance between Greek and Coptic textual formulas 330 E Register of absolute dated Christian funerary inscriptions in Greek 336 F Register of absolute dated funerary inscriptions in Coptic 337 G Geographic distribution of the Greek and Coptic funerary stelae from Egypt 340

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 349

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 405

PLATES 409