Is there evidence of Alexandrian Culture influencing the first century Christians? – a question explored through Christian connections to the practice of mummification. Craig L. Hall B.Ec (UNE), M.A. (Alphacrucis) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Research Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney. 9th October 2015 ii Declaration of Authorship I, Craig L. Hall, hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment is made in the acknowledgments. Date: 9th October 2015 iii Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One ..............................................................................................................................5 Why should Alexandria be a focus? ..................................................................................5 Christianity in the Roman Empire ......................................................................................8 Roman influence in the New Testament Corpus .............................................................9 Christians as Roman subjects – Disciplinary Methodology ........................................ 10 Hellenistic Egypt and the Ptolemies ............................................................................... 12 Alexandrian influence in first century Christians ........................................................... 15 Jews at Elephantine Egypt .............................................................................................. 16 Disciplinary Methodology and Lacuna ........................................................................... 18 Contextual Conclusions .................................................................................................... 21 Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................... 26 A Discussion of Method .................................................................................................... 26 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 26 Historical Method ............................................................................................................... 26 The Judge Method ............................................................................................................ 27 Ancient History in history - historical method ................................................................ 28 Social Scientific Method ................................................................................................... 31 Heterogeneous Methodology of ‘realia’ ......................................................................... 32 Methodological Conclusions ............................................................................................ 34 Chapter Three ........................................................................................................................ 35 Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 35 Chapter Four .......................................................................................................................... 48 Origins of Christianity in Egypt in Context ..................................................................... 48 Persistent Egyptian burial customs – mummification .................................................. 53 A Self-Identity Question .................................................................................................... 58 Mummification in Graeco-Roman Egypt ........................................................................ 66 Chapter Five ........................................................................................................................... 70 The Geographical spread of the Egyptian Method ...................................................... 70 Mummification in the Pacific ........................................................................................ 70 iv Mummification in Ephesus ........................................................................................... 70 Mummification in Rome ................................................................................................ 72 Chapter Six ............................................................................................................................. 74 Christians and Egyptian Mummification......................................................................... 74 Christians, Mummification, and Mummy Labels ........................................................... 81 Resurrection as an attractant .......................................................................................... 88 Conclusion - Mummification as a Christian marker ..................................................... 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 93 Ancient Sources & Papyri .................................................................................................. 114 Internet .................................................................................................................................. 115 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................... 116 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................... 116 Appendix 3……………………………………………………………………………...…..117 v Is there evidence of Alexandrian Culture influencing the First century Christians? – a question explored through Christian connections to the practice of mummification. Abstract This thesis research seeks to explore early Christianity in Egypt, particularly first century, by answering the question: Is there evidence of Alexandrian culture influencing the First century Christians? – and whether this may be a marker for early Christians in Egypt. Rather than seeking evidence conventionally via specificity of the term χριστιανοì or other nomina sacra in papyri, made difficult by the lack of first century examples, this thesis therefore takes the approach of looking for evidence of Alexandrian culture in Christian practice or texts. Do the Christians say they encountered and converted people from Alexandria, and is there other evidence of Egypto-Alexandrian culture meeting Christian culture? Due to Graeco-Roman culture being explicable from outside Alexandrian Egypt, this discussion focuses on the specificity of unique residual Egyptian culture persistent in the Alexandrian sphere – such as the process of mummification evident in first century Egypt and early Christian burial methods as a potential marker for both syncretistic practice and early Christian activity in Egypt in the first century. vi Abbreviations Ar Aristophanes Athanasius vita Ant Athanasius Vita Antoni Aug De Res Mort Augustine De Resurrectione Mortuorum Dio Cassius Hist. Rom Dio Cassius Historiae Romanae Diodorus Siculus Lib Hist Diodorus Siculus Library History Diog L De Vit Philos Diogenes Laertius De Vita Philos Ecc Hist Eusebius Ecclesiastical History Hdt Hist Herodotus The Histories Hp Off Hippocrates, De officina medici P.Grenf Papyrus Grenfell P.Eirene Papyrus Eirene P.Petaus Papyrus Petaus Philo Emb Gaius Philo The Embassy to Gaius Philo Flacc Philo Flaccus Plb Polybius Histories PSI Publicazioni della Società Italiana (Papiri greci e latini) SB Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten SB Kopt Koptisches Sammelbuch Sept Septuagint Simon., Anth Simonedes T.Mom.Louvre Tiquettes de momies du Musée du Louvre (Tablets) X. Eph Xenophon of Ephesus Ephesiaca Biblical Acts Acts of the Apostles (Book of Acts) 1 Cor 1 Corinthians (First Letter to Corinthians) 1 Pet 1 Peter (First Letter of Peter) Gal Galatians Gen Genesis Neh Nehemiah (Book of Nehemiah) NIV New International Version vii NKJV New King James Version NT New Testament OT Old Testament Rom Romans 2 Kgs 2 Kings (Second book of Kings) viii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Macquarie University for its Research Masters program and the Department of Ancient History and Faculty of Arts members who have assisted and supported me in this work. In particular many thanks to my supervisor Associate Professor Paul McKechnie for his availability, conversation, thoroughness and generosity. Also I am indebted to Emeritus Professor Edwin A. Judge for his time, encouragement and many discussions on the first century – his openness is greatly appreciated.