The Demise of Christian Oxyrhynchus
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epilogue THE DEMISE OF CHRISTIAN OXYRHYNCHUS One of the peculiar features of the Oxyrhynchus papyri is that while they present a basically continuous picture of the city from the late rst cen- tury bce through the end of the sixth century ce, in the seventh century they abruptly disappear. To be more speci c on this point, there are almost no dated papyri from the city after the middle of the seventh century ce.1 This break in the papyrological record is so sudden and abrupt that it gives the impression the city efectively disappeared about this time; it is not until the ninth century when Arabic papyri start to appear that the city begins to really re-emerge in the papyrological record.2 This phenomenon is all the more curious when one considers that in nearby Hermopolis, a city in many respects similar to Oxyrhynchus, there is no such papyrological fracture and the city is documented continuously throughout this period.3 Unfortunately, the last dated letters from the rst half of the seventh cen- tury shed no light on this matter, neither do they give any indication the city was in decline or in any imminent danger. Though one letter does contain an indirect reference to the Persian occupation of Egypt between 618ce and 628ce,4 there is no indication the city was deserted or besieged during this 1 Into the eighth century there is evidence that some of the villages of the Oxyrhynchite that are attested in previous centuries were still inhabited: P.Lugd.Bat. XXV 80 (VII–VIII) Tax List Arranged by Village; Geofrey Khan, Bills, Letters and Deeds: Arabic Papyri of the 7th to 11th Centuries (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), Text no. 2 (pp. 26–27). See also Gonis, “Some Oxyrhynchite Villages in the Eighth Century”. 2 Despite the break in the papyri there is evidence that during the early Muslim period, at least until the beginning of Mameluke rule (1215–1517), Oxyrhynchus remained a signi cant town noted for its textile production. See Bagnall and Rathbone, Egypt from Alexander to the Early Christians, 159. 3 As it currently stands the last dated document (Greek/Coptic) from Hermopolis is P.Strasb. V 397 (2 Jun 834 or 835). Only the rst few lines of this document survive. 4 P.Iand. II 22 (early VII). In this letter a man who identi es himself as “Serenus son of Isaiah” writes to his unnamed master to request that he come to him so that he can receive the cargo he is bearing as he is currently being detained by the Persians (l. 4, ὅτι εἰς τὰς χεῖρας τῶν Περσῶν εἰµι). On the Persian conquest and occupation of Egypt see L.S.B. MacCoull, “Coptic Egypt During the Persian Occupation,” Studi Classici e Orientali 36 (1986): 307–313; Alfred J. Butler, The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion (2nd. Ed. Rev. P.M. Fraser) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), xlvi–xlix, 69–92. 296 epilogue conquest. Likewise, when Muslim armies entered Egypt in 639ce, subduing Alexandria by 642ce, there is still evidence that Oxyrhynchus continued to be inhabited.5 A later Arabic epic, The Conquest of Bahnasa, a legendary history of Bah- nasa (Oxyrhynchus) by a certain Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mu"izz, reports that a Muslim army conquered the city.6 More particularly, it relates that during the reign of a certain al-Botloûs, a ruler of Bahnasa, the city ˙ was assaulted and overthrown by a Muslim army.7 While the conquest of Bahnasa given in this epic is periodically invoked to help explain the almost complete dearth of papyri after the middle of the seventh century,8 the theory may be problematic as the account of the conquest given in this narrative implies that it took place sometime in the latter half of the ninth century, almost two hundred years after the papyri dry up.9 While the chronology given in the epic is suspect, due to the generally legendary 5 At present, the last dated document that contains a reference to the city of Oxyrhyn- chus is SB VI 8987 (Sale for Part of a House) from 644/45ce. One other text that contains a reference to the “Oxyrhynchite nome” and may date as late as 2 Aug 681 is P.Mich. XV 748 (Receipt for the Price of Wine), although given the ambiguity of the indiction reference it could also date to 2 Aug 651 or 666. See also Gonis, “Notes on Oxyrhynchus Papyri III,” 198– 199. 6 It would appear this history was written sometime in the later part of the Fatimid period (ca. 1150ce), when the earliest manuscript of this narrative dates. See Fehérvári, “Introduction,” 7–8. The lone translation of this work is in French and was done by Galtier, Foutouh Al Bahnasâ. 7 I have only consulted the French translation of The Conquest of Bahnasa. Of the reign of al-Botloûs and the overthrow of Bahnasa it reports, “Après lui régna al-Botloûs sous le règne duquel˙ la ville fut prise par les Musulmans.” See Galtier, Foutouh Al Bahnasâ˙ , 34, cf. 207. 8 Coles, “Oxyrhynchus: A City and Its Texts,” 14, who raises the possibility that Oxyrhyn- chus may have revolted against their new Muslim overlords in 644/45ce when Alexandria briey revolted. 9 Though many of the “kings” of Bahnasa mentioned in this chronicle are otherwise unknown, this chronicle does make reference to the Umayyad governor of Egypt #Abd al- #Azîz (p. 28) who ruled at the end of the seventh century. It then goes on to report that after his rule there were four additional kings of Bahnasa (Toumanos, Rikamanous, Qaidarus and al-Botlous) who had a combined rule of roughly 180 years before the city was eventually overthrown˙ (pp. 29–34). Therefore, according to this chronology the conquest of the city occurred sometime in the mid to late ninth century ca. 865ce. However, elsewhere there is some confusion in the chronicle as it gives the impression that the total duration of all the “kings” of Oxyrhynchus, prior to its conquest, was somewhere near six hundred or seven hundred years starting from the reign of a certain Qantâriôs who ruled simultaneously with Augustus and Herod of Judea: “La naissance de Jésus eut lieu quarante-deux ans après qu’Agoustous (Aguste) fut monté sur le trône et dans la cinquante-deuxième année du règne des Askanides. Le trône appartenait alors à Qaisar roi de Roum, at Hidrous (Hérode) était alors le grand gouverneur pour Qaisar et Qantâriôs était alors à Bahnasâ.” (pp. 15– 16)..