Saints of Dayr al-Naqlun: Fragments of Devotional Life in the Medieval Egyptian Countryside

Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel at al-Naqlun, Fayyum, Egypt. © fayoumegypt.com

Date: Mar 25, 2025 Time: 12:00 PM–1:30 PM Location: Zoom

Lev Weitz, Catholic University of America, uses documentary, archaeological, and art-historical evidence from Dayr al-Naqlun, a monastery in Egypt’s Fayyum Oasis, to explore the distinctive ritual practices of Coptic Christianity in the rural hinterland of the Fatimid Caliphate.

Lev Weitz | Catholic University of America

Arabic and Coptic documents dug up on the edge of the Egyptian desert give unparalleled views into the history of medieval Islamic Egypt’s peasants, villagers, and tribespeople—the majority of the population of any pre-modern society, but often invisible in grand historical narratives. Such documents have typically been used to study social and economic history, but what can they tell us of ritual and devotional life? This talk brings together documentary sources with archaeological and art-historical evidence from Dayr al-Naqlun, a monastery in Egypt’s Fayyum Oasis, to explore the distinctive ritual practices of Coptic Christianity in the rural hinterland of the Fatimid Caliphate.

This lecture will take place live on Zoom, followed by a question and answer period. 

REGISTRATION OPENS FEBRUARY 25, 2025

TIME ZONE CONVERTER

An East of Byzantium lecture. EAST OF BYZANTIUM is a partnership between the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the Mary Jaharis Center that explores the cultures of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine empire in the late antique and medieval periods.