CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM EGYPT AND NUBIA 6 (2018) Alain Delattre Université Libre de Bruxelles, Jitse Dijkstra University of Ottawa, and Jacques van der Vliet Leiden University/Radboud University Nijmegen Abstract. — Sixth installment of an annual overview of published inscriptions in Greek and Coptic from Christian Egypt and Nubia. The sixth issue of our epigraphical bulletin is devoted to inscriptions published in 2018, to which are added one left-over item from 2015 (70) and some items from 2017 (3, 29, 56, 57–68, 69) that came too late to our attention to be included in the previous bulletin. 1. Egypt and Nubia. Christian epigraphy. J. van der Vliet, “Epigra- phy,” in K.J. Torjesen and G. Gabra (eds.), Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia (2018), available online at http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/singleitem/ collection/cce/id/2161. Short survey of the discipline, with useful biblio- graphical references that provide a starting point for further research. 2. Egypt and Nubia. Christian epigraphy. J. van der Vliet, The Chris- tian Epigraphy of Egypt and Nubia (London 2018) presents 31 studies con- tributed by a major specialist in the field over almost two decades (1998– 2015). The volume collects a large number of studies published in a wide variety of places; four studies have been translated from French, and several photos of monuments have been replaced by new ones (e.g. Figs. 19.1 and 2), although they are not printed on glossy paper, which means that they are not always as sharp as one would like them to be. Eleven studies are co-authored, showing the collaborative spirit of the author. The book is carefully edited by four of his doctoral students, principally R. Dekker. The book gives a well-rounded idea of Van der Vliet’s methodology, which often combines a text edition with placing the text in its wider con- text, whether physical or cultural (a good example is study no. 19, “‘In Year One of King Zachari,’” first published in 2003 with J. Dijkstra, which besides offering a re-edition of a tenth-century dipinto from the so-called “monastery of St. Simeon” at Aswan also places it within its historical Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 56 (2019) 305-324. © American Society of Papyrologists/Peeters. doi: 10.2143/BASP.56.0.3286665 306 ALAIN DELATTRE, JITSE DIJKSTRA, AND JACQUES VAN DER VLIET context). Collectively, these studies highlight Van der Vliet’s approach to the study of Christian inscriptions from Egypt and Nubia, as first set out in his keynote lecture on Christian epigraphy at the 8th International Congress of Coptic Studies in 2004 (study no. 1, “The Christian Epigra- phy of Egypt and Nubia,” first published in French in 2006), in which he pleaded for the integration of languages (that is, to break through the linguistic divide between Greek and Coptic and include other relevant languages as well, such as Syriac and Arabic), sources (that is, to not stare ourselves blind on inscriptions on stone but also include inscriptions on other media and other sources in the analysis), and sites (that is, to place the monument in its spatial setting). The study is conveniently placed at the beginning of the book and functions appropriately as an introduction to the detailed studies that follow (as it has been a blueprint for the current epigraphical bulletin, see CIEN 1, p. 199). The author’s approach has laid the foundation for the birth of a new (sub)discipline within epigraphy, the Christian epigraphy of Egypt and Nubia, and this volume will no doubt serve as an essential reference tool for it in years to come. 3. Egypt. Database of Christian inscriptions. P.C. Dilley, “The Inscrip- tions of Late Antique Egypt (ILAE) Database: Digitizing Textual Culture,” in D. Brakke, S.J. Davis, and S. Emmel (eds.), From Gnostics to Monas- tics: Studies in Coptic and Early Christianity in Honor of Bentley Layton (Leuven 2017) 245–256, announces a project to digitize all Greek and Coptic inscriptions from Egypt (taken here to go as far south as Kalabsha) between the third and eighth centuries. He sketches the background to the project and the need for a database as a complement to the Database of Medieval Nubian Texts (http://www.dbmnt.uw.edu.pl/). A useful over- view of digital epigraphy and an explanation of how inscriptions are put in XML markup follow, as well as remarks on the potential uses of the database, including connecting it to other Coptic databases and Trismeg- istos (www.trismegistos.org). It is clear that a database as envisaged by the author would greatly facilitate research into Christian epigraphy and would be a crucial next step in the development of the discipline. We sincerely hope, therefore, that the database will be available online soon. 4. Egypt. Bilingual Greek-Coptic inscriptions. J.-L. Fournet, “Les documents bilingues gréco-coptes dans l’Égypte byzantine: essai de typol- ogie,” in M. Lafkioui and V. Brugnatelli (eds.), Written Sources about Africa and Their Study (Milan 2018) 59–83. Important discussion of Greek- Coptic bilingualism in the papyri, which also has relevance for contemporary CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM EGYPT AND NUBIA 6 (2018) 307 inscriptions and adduces four epigraphical examples. The first two concern rare cases where complete versions are given in both languages (pp. 62– 65): a bilingual funerary inscription of the Isaurian Papias from Deir Abu Hennes, in which the Coptic text is slightly longer by adding an invocation of the Trinity (Fournet provides the text for both, including three correc- tions to the Greek version edited by Lefebvre, Recueil 222, in anticipation of the re-edition by A. Delattre) and two nearly identical inscriptions of the priest Paulos from the temple of Hathor at Deir el-Medina, although they use different techniques, the one painted and the other incised, and are not in the same spot, so strictly speaking do not constitute a bilingual inscription (C. Heurtel, Les inscriptions coptes et grecques du temple d’Hathor à Deir al-Médîna [Cairo 2004] 5 [no. 3: Greek], who provides the text of the three previous editions of which Fournet prefers the one of J. Maspero, with some slight corrections, and 17–18 [no. 22: Coptic], with one minor correction). The other two are cases where both lan- guages are combined within a text (Fournet calls these “mixed texts”). The third inscription (pp. 72–73), a funerary stela from Aswan (Lefebvre, Recueil 563), is an example of a text that starts off in Greek but contin- ues (at l. 9, with a new sentence) in Coptic (“extra-sentential code switch- ing”). According to the author, the Greek part is derived from the liturgy of St. James and was therefore written in Greek, while the Coptic follows the more standard formulae of funerary epigraphy. The fourth inscription (p. 80), a funerary stela from Luxor (SB Kopt. 1.735), is adduced as an example of Coptic texts starting with an invocation of God in Greek. The author concludes that the insertion of Greek, the language of prestige and legitimacy, into Coptic documents was far more common than the reverse. 5–10. Egypt. Inscriptions on wooden objects. J. Auber de Lapierre and A. Jeudy, Catalogue général du Musée copte du Caire: Objets en bois, vol. 1 (Cairo 2018). First volume of the catalogue of wooden objects in the Coptic Museum at Cairo. 86 objects are described in the catalogue; among them 6 bear inscriptions in Greek or Coptic (for a short description, see the section “L’épigraphie,” p. 16), some of which are published for the first time (indicated by “ed. princ.” before the authors in the entries below). 5. Coptic Museum, inv. 12821. Auber de Lapierre and Jeudy, pp. 26– 27 (no. 2). Polychrome sculpture representing the Archangel Gabriel from Bawit (first half of the seventh century). For a general study, see M.-H. Rutschowscaya, “Gabriel et Michel, les deux archanges à Baouit,” in A. Boud’hors and C. Louis (eds.), Études coptes XII. Quatorzième 308 ALAIN DELATTRE, JITSE DIJKSTRA, AND JACQUES VAN DER VLIET journée d’études (Paris 2013) 215–221. The object was discovered in April 2009 during excavations at the site. This wooden board is a console intended to frame a niche located on the east wall of Room 7 in Build- ing 1, with the console (inv. 12816; cat. no. 1) representing the Archangel Michael on the other side. The two objects seem to have been carved from the same tree by two different artists: a master and a student. The latter is said to have painted his name on the side of the console representing Gabriel: Βίκτωρ/ⲃⲓⲕⲧⲱⲣ painted in red ochre. The image of the inscrip- tion is printed upside down (p. 26, Fig. c). 6. Coptic Museum, inv. 753. Auber de Lapierre and Jeudy, pp. 34–37 (no. 6). Door lintel from the church of the Virgin Mary in Cairo (el- Mu’allaqa), which bears four lines of Greek text of a liturgically-inspired invocation of Christ. The date is given at the end: 7 May 735. The text, which has been published many times, is reproduced here as edited by J.-L. Fournet, “L’inscription grecque de l’église Al-Mu’allaqa. Quelques corrections,” BIFAO 93 (1993) 237–244, whose translation is also repro- duced in the catalogue. In the Greek text, some corrections are needed: l. 2, εἷ → εἶ; πληρὴς → πλήρης; γή → γῆ; l. 3, δοξῆς → δόξης; l. 4, Ἐπικουρος γένου → Ἐπίκουρος γενοῦ. 7–8. Coptic Museum, inv. 923 and 928. Auber de Lapierre and Jeudy, pp. 70–73 (nos. 13 and 14). Screen panels with ivory inlay from the church of St.