After Constantine, issue 4 (2024).

CONTENTS INCLUDE

Unpublished Coptic Ostraca from Cairo Museum 
Sohair S. Ahmed

This paper deals with publishing six potsherds from a private collection kept in the Cairo Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square (Egypt(, which has the same general number of the collection as 18953. I give all inventory numbers here. The Museum sent me their new photos in 2022 according to my request.

Christian Appropriation of the Sinai From Paul to Late Antiquity
Walter D. Ward

Christian appropriation of the Biblical sites of the Sinai Peninsula began as soon as monks first visited the region in the mid-forth century. Monks and pilgrims emphasized their claim to the Sinai by stressing the perceived sins and weaknesses of the Israelites during the Exodus. Chapter 10 of Paul's I Corinthians descries a metaphorical spiritual journey into the Sinai as a way fo Christians to demonstrate their superiority over Jews. Travelers to the Sinai, such as Egeria, the Piacenza pilgrim, and Cosmas Indicopleustes, implicitly or explicitly used I Corinthians as a guide for their journeys. Depictions on the Madaba Map refer to the sinfulness of the Israelites, this justifying Christian superiority. Finally, Jerome's writings claimed that Moses, Mount Sinai, and the Mosaic Law were products of Christ.

The Via Egnatia in Late Antiquity and Beyond: an Analysis of Scholarship on the Route, and Some Suggestions for Future Historical Enquiry
Howard Butcher

For over a thousand years, through Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Era, the Via Egnatia was the major Roman route from Dyrrachium or Apollonia to Constantinople. Despite this, there have been few attempts to produce a complete study of the route, and the existing studies are not as substantial as those published for other significant Roman roads. This paper will demonstrate the shortcoming of recent scholarship on the Via Egnatia and show that numismatic and archaeological evidence, along with textual sources, can help produce an up-to-date and complete study.