Egypt in a Christian empire
Although Egypt is mentioned many times in the New Testament, the beginnings of Christianity there are largely obscure. The earliest evidence of Egyptian Christianity is found in biblical texts, written on papyrus, dated as early as the 2nd century AD.
More evidence for Christianity in Egypt is this manuscript, known as the Codex Sinaiticus, meaning ‘The book from Sinai’. Written on parchment in Greek, it contains the earliest surviving complete version of the New Testament. It is also the most complete version of many of the books of the Greek version of Hebrew scripture – also used as the Christian Old Testament. Shown here is text from Luke 3:23–28, giving the genealogy of Jesus, through Abraham.
In the early centuries of Christianity, the Roman authorities viewed this new religion with suspicion. While Judaism had a long history, Romans saw Christianity as a difficult, occasionally criminal sect. Because of their reluctance to sacrifice to the gods who protected the empire, Christians were seen as a threat and were periodically persecuted.
This began to change in the 4th century. In AD 311 the Roman emperor Galerius legalised Christianity and in AD 313 the emperor Constantine restored the rights and property of Christians. Soon after, Christianity became the privileged religion of the imperial household and wealthy and influential people throughout the empire adopted the new religion. This culminated in the emperor Theodosius I making Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire in AD 380.
As members of the elite adopted Christianity, the Church became well funded through donations and gifts. Christians began to build churches, saints’ shrines and monasteries, redefining the sacred landscape of Egypt. Some buildings were newly constructed, others were built on earlier sacred sites. Some occupied earlier temple complexes or shrines, others were built of reused stone. This image is a drawing of the White Monastery. The church walls of the White Monastery imitate the profile of ancient Egyptian temples, and were partially built of limestone blocks from a temple at nearby Atripe.
In AD 330, Constantine established a new imperial capital, Constantinople – also known as Byzantium or the ‘New Rome’. The grain and resources of Egypt flowed to the new capital, and its public spaces were decorated with ancient Egyptian monuments just as those of Rome had been in previous centuries. When the Roman Empire split into eastern and western sections, Egypt remained part of the Eastern Empire (also later known as the Byzantine Empire).
As Christianity became the main religion of the Byzantine Empire people continued to receive a classical education and to use imagery associated with traditional beliefs. The increasingly organised structure of Christian worship did not fundamentally alter the old mechanics of private ‘magical’ practice. Instead names, powers and narratives from the Bible replaced those from earlier Egyptian and classical mythology. This pair of curtains shows both Christian and classical imagery, and they may have been used as door curtains in a Christian building.
By the mid-first millennium AD, most people in Egypt abandoned the gods and goddesses of their ancestors and adopted Christianity. Although Islam was to replace Christianity as Egypt’s majority religion, today Christians make up around 10% of the country’s population.
Learn more about this fascinating period of history in our exhibition Egypt: faith after the pharaohs (29 October 2015 – 7 February 2016).
The Codex Sinaiticus. St Catherine’s Monastery, Egypt, 4th century AD. On loan from the British Library.
Gold coin of Constantine, Turkey, minted in Antioch, AD 335.
Drawing of the White Monastery, entitled Déir beyâdh le Couvent Blanc by Dominique Vivant Denon, 1802
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