Coptic Codex Page with Hebrews and Corinthians

Byzantine, Medieval
900 - 1200

in. (cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Byzantine - Culture, style, and period of the Christian states of the eastern Mediterranean during the rule of the Byzantine Empire (330 - 1453 CE). Byzantine art and culture was carried throughout much of the Christian world, and lasted into the 16th century in eastern Europe. The style is characterized by imperial and religious subject matter, and a movement away from the original Greek naturalistic forms to favor ritualistic stylization, intended to suggest the spiritual. For the culture and style of the Italian and western Mediterranean Christian world roughly from the third to the mid-ninth century CE, use "Early Christian."
• codices - Ancient manuscripts generally taking the form of the modern book: bound leaves of paper or parchment with information inscribed on both faces, attached at a center fold. For books that are printed rather than inscribed, before 1501, use 'incunabula.'
• Coptic - Oriental Orthodox Christian religion of predominantly Muslim Egypt. Egyptians before the Arab conquest of the 7th century identified themselves and their language as Aigyptios in Greek (Westernized as Copt) and later when Egyptian Muslims stopped calling themselves Aigyptioi, the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority. Since the 5th century these Christians have been Monophysites, meaning that they acknowledge only one nature in Christ. Apart from the Monophysite question, the Coptic and the Eastern Orthodox churches agree regarding doctrine. Services are almost entirely conducted in Arabic and the service books, using the liturgies attributed to St. Mark, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus, are written in Coptic (the Bohairic dialect of Alexandria), with the Arabic text in parallel columns. After the 1890s the church devised a democratic system of government, led by the patriarch who lives in Cairo. Outside of Egypt, there are a few Coptic Orthodox churches in the Holy Land and a Coptic bishopric in Khartoum, Sudan. The Ethiopian, Armenian, and Syrian Jacobite churches are in communion with the Coptic Orthodox Church. There is an impressive body of Coptic religious art and the church is known for its vital system of schools. There are over three million Copts and, although a minority, are well represented in Egyptian professional life. Copts have suffered and continue to suffer occasional persecution. With reference specifically to the Early Medieval period in Egypt, use "Coptic (period)."
• Medieval - Refers to the period beginning in the Christianized Roman Empire in the fifth century and lasting until the Renaissance, which began in the 13th to the 15th century CE, depending upon which country is being discussed. The variety of styles that developed during the Medieval period are generally characterized by an evolution of the Greco-Roman tradition to incorporate Christian themes, the energetic spirit of the Celtic and Germanic peoples, and the thriving new towns populated by free men.