Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 21 (2024): 61-72
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala
University of Córdoba
Youhanna Nessim Youssef
University of Divinity, Australia
An anonymous fragment on Pentapolis
A contribution to the history of Pentapolis in the Islamic period
Introduction
The fragment under study is part of a membrum disiectum of a bifolia containig two different
anonymous texts: a fragment of the Old Testament pseudepigraph known as Daniel et puero
Caleb,
1
i.e. “Daniel and the boy Caleb”, which has been recently edited (fols. 1
r
-2
r
),
2
and a
fragment on Pentapolis (fol. 2
v
). This membrum, which comes from a private collection in
the region of Naqādah, on the west bank of the Nile twenty five km north of Thebes, was
discovered by father Angelos al-Naqādī, who kindly sent us a digitised copy.
The original foliation of the fragment has not survived, although the fragment exhibits
an elegant handwriting corresponding to the Egyptian nasẖī type which shows similarities
with MSS dated between the 14th-15th centuries.
3
The copyist followed the orthographic
rules of written Arabic, although it sometimes leads to consonantal confusion and misuses
resulting from interference or mixed linguistic phenomena from the standard and
colloquial varieties produced by native speakers.
The fragment is significant, since we have scarce information about this province (later
under the Arab administration is mentioned as kūrah) during the Islamic period when Libya
fell administratively under Egypt. These five ten cities of the Roman Cyrenaica (Cyrene,
1
Georg Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. SeT 118, 133, 146, 147, 172 (Vatican City:
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944-53), I, pp. 215-216 (henceforth G. Graf, GCAL); Friedrich
Stegmüller, Repertorium biblicum Medii Aevi: Initia biblica, apocrypha, prologi. 11 vols. (Madrid: Consejo Superior
de Investigaciones Científicas, 1940-1980), I, p. 93 (nº 117,20); Jean-Claude Haelewyck, Clavis
aprocryphorvm Veteris Testamenti. Cvra et Stvdio. CC (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998), p. 212, nº 268. Cf. Albert-
Marie Denis, Introduction aux pseudépigraphiques grecs d’Ancien Testament. SVTP 1 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), pp.
89-90.
2
Youhanna Nessim Youssef and Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala, Daniel and the boy Caleb. Fragment of an Arabic
Pseudepigraph. Study, critical edition and translation. «Aramæo-Arabica et Græca» 9 (Madrid – Salamanca:
Sindéresis – Servicio de Publicaciones Universidad Pontifica de Salamanca, 2023).
3
Cf. Eugène Tisserant, Specimina codicvm orientalivm. TUS 8 (Bonn: A. Marcus et E. Weber, 1914), plate 58;
Agnes Smith Lewis & Margaret Dunlop Gibson, Forty-One Facsimiles of Dated Christian Arabic Manuscripts.
With Text and English Translation. With Introductory Observations on Arabic Calligraphy by the Rev.
David S. Margoliouth. SS XII (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907), plate XXX between pp. 58-
59.
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala – Youhanna Nessim Youssef
62
Ptolemais, Barca, formerly Barqah after the Arab invasions, Teucheirs, and Berenice),
became the separate province of Libya Pentapolis or Libya superior under Dioclecian,
4
and
from the Byzantine period the governos of the Pentapolis were sent from Egypt.
5
Edition and English translation of the fragment
܀
܀
܀
܀܀
ها سا حواو او با
1
܀܀
او
ا ا ا ا܀܀
2
م ا را هرا ا رو ح
3
ٺاو ا زااو لا مو سا ا
4
ر ن را و
6
و را
5
اا
اا وا
7
و
6
ا ا ا ا ه
7
ا لدا
8
ر ما اأ ا يا ا كا ب
9
ا راو را ا ا ك ا ا
10
و او او او ا ن او
11
و ا و ا ه ن ا و
.
ماو
12
8
ك ا
13
9
ساو ا نا ا
14
4
William Horbury, Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), p.
197. Cf. James G. Keenan, ‘Egypt’, in The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume XIV. Late Antiquity: Empire ad
Successors, A.D. 425-600, edited by Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins, and Michael Whitby (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 613-614.
5
Petra M. Sijpesteijn, Shaping a Muslim State: The World of a Mid-Eighth Century Egyptian Official. «Oxford
Studies in Byzantium» (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 16, and n. 8. Cf. Irfan Shahîd,
Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century. «Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection»
(Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2006, repr. 1989), p. 10.
6
Over the hundred, in Hindi numerals, has been written in red ٨٧٤.
7
About the end of the hundred and the beginning of the unit, also in Hindi numerals, it has been written in
red ٥٧٢.
8
A later hand has overwritten in red more recently .
9
The second hand, again in red, has overwritten a tāʼ marbūṭah instead of tāʼ maftūḥah.
An Anonymous Fragment on Pentapolis
63
ا
10
ا دواو سا دوا ا
15
جاوز و
11
16
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God to whom is the
glory for ever Amen!
Explanation and a blessing paper from the inhabitant cell, mentioned, includes the
guarding the Holy Sunday and not to work in it and avoiding when supplications and
various and on the verso of the paper what took place in the date of year 874 of the
divine martyrs (= 1158AD) or the corresponding year 573 of the Arabian Hijra
(=1177AD) in the reign of al-Nāsir Abū l-Malik al-‘Ādil al-Kāmil during the
chiefship of Anbā Mark who was before Anbā Yūʼānnis ibn Abī Ghālib, the
patriarch of the great city Alexandria and the countries of Egypt, and the Western
Pentapolis, Ethiopia, Nubia, Africa and Nicaea Pentapolis was inhabited at his time
and it was destroyed only after his death. The patriarchal seat remained vacant
without patriarch for more than twenty years, so the bishops of the western
countries did as well as the priests and [deacons?] and nobody remained except the
children of the priests and the children of the deacons without consecration [or
marriage].
Linguistic description of the fragment
The linguistic register of the fragment belongs to the so-called ‘Middle Arabic’ or ‘Mixed
Arabic’,
12
i.e. a register in which the author wishes to emulate Classical Arabic, but the text
experienced interferences from vernacular Arabic in the form of pseudo-corrections that
make it a middle or mixed register.
13
At the orthographic level
14
we must note that the Christian basmallāh and the formula of
divine oneness that follows are framed by decorative signs in black and red ink. The copyist
uses a full stop (.) for dividing sentences and brown ink for the diacritics, and both the
symbol ˇ and an oblique line above some consonants with a decorative function.
10
Ms. .
11
This last sentence has been overwritten in blue by a third hand.
12
See the contributions included in Moyen Arabe et variétés mixtes de l’arabe à travers l’histoire. Actes du Premier
Colloque International (Louvain-la-Neuve, 10-14 mai 2004), ed. Jérôme Lentin et Jaques Grand’Henry. PIOL 58
(Louvain-la-Neuve: Institute orientaliste de Louvain, 2008), and Middle Arabic and Mixed Arabic: Diachrony
and Synchrony, Liesbeth Zack & Arie Schippers. SSLL 64 (Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2012).
13
Cf. Joshua Blau, A Grammar of Christian Arabic. Based Mainly on South-Palestinian Texts from the First Millenium.
CSCO 267, 276, 279, S 27-29. 3 fasc. (Leuven: Corpus SCO, 1966-67). See Kees Versteegh, The Arabic
Language (New York: Columbia University Press), pp. 123-125; K. Versteegh, ‘Breaking the Rules without
Wanting to: Hypercorrection in Middle Arabic Texts’, in Investigating Arabic: Current Parameters in Analysis
and Learning, ed. by Alaa Elgibali (Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2005), pp. 3-18.
14
On some common features of Christian Arabic copyist, see Bernhard Levin, Die griechich-arabische
Evangelien-übersetzung. Vat. Borg. Ar. 95 und Ber. orient. Oct. 1108 (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1938), pp.
12-16.
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala – Youhanna Nessim Youssef
64
The writing is clear and and corresponds to a careful copyist, although exhibits some
typical characteristics of Christian Arabic manuscripts, like the use of scriptio defectiva in
ا < ا (l. 6; cf. scriptio plena in ها, l.1).
15
One one occasion, tāʼ marbūṭah is replaced by
tāʼ maftūḥah: رو < رو (l. 3) < (l. 7). Frequently, the two dots of both tāʼ
maftūḥah and qāf are often written vertically in the initial, medial and final position of the
word (cf. ls. 3,4,5,6,7,9,12,14,15). The tāʼ marbūṭah does not have its dots (cf. ls.
3,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15),
16
and shaddah is always omitted (lis. 3,9,10,11,12,13,14).
17
Short vowels
18
are not used throughout the text except for decorative function. The alif
maqṣūrā (ى)
19
is written like yāʼ (ي) in (l. 13) and ا (l. 2), probably by pronouncing
these terms not like ʻalā and ilā, but as ʻalē, and ilē respectively.
As for the consonantal system,
20
contrary to Classical Arabic, in which the phoneme /ʼ/
is stable in all the positions, the fragment exhibits in this case the interference of Neo-
Arabic which has it only in initial position, even when it has lost, early on, its independent
phonemic function in this position.
21
In the fragment lack of /ʼ/ is generalized, except in
the name أ (Yuwāʼnis, l. 9). Another consonantal peculiarity is the shift /t/ < /ṯ/:
22
< and < (ls. 5-6 respectively, as in the dialectal registers /ṯ/ has lost its
interdental fricative realisation and is spelled like a dental implosive.
From the syntactic point of view, it is worth highlighting the lack of concordance in
ا ا < ّا ا (l. 6, “of the divine martyrs”).
At the lexical level, the following terms must be noted: ّ (“cell”, l. 3), a loanword
from Greek κελλίον (κέλλα) through Syriac ,
23
ءا (pl. “martyrs”, l. 7), sg. , an
Arabic loanword with semantic influence of Syriac ܕ,
24
baṭriyark (ls. 9,10), a calque of
Greek πατριάρχης through Syriac (and baṭriyarkiyyah, l. 13),
25
anbā (l. 9), the name
15
J. Blau, GCA, I, pp. 77-81; Simon Hopkins, Studies in the Grammar of Early Arabic. Based upon Papyri datable
to Before A.H. 300/A.D. 912 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), 10-14 § 10; J. Blau, A Handbook of
Early Middle Arabic (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Press, 2002), p. 32 § 14.
16
J. Blau, GCA, pp. 115-121 §§ 24.1-24.4; S. Hopkins, Studies, pp. 44-48 § 47; B. Knutsson, Judicum, pp.
109-112.
17
J. Blau, GCA, I, pp. 122-125 §§ 26.1-26.3.2; S. Hopkins, Studies, p. 49 §§ 48.
18
J. Blau, GCA, pp. 61-65 §§ 3-5; S. Hopkins, Studies, pp. 2-8 §§ 2-6.
19
J. Blau, GCA, I, pp. 81-83 §§ 10.1-10.3; S. Hopkins, Studies, pp. 14-16 §§ 12; B. Knutsson, Judicum, pp. 58-
59.
20
For the consonantal system, cf. J. Cantineau, Études, pp. 27-88; J. Blau, GCA, I, pp. 83-121 §§ 11-24.4; S;
B. Knutsson, Judicum, pp. 59-112.
21
J. Blau, GCA, I, pp. 83-89 §§ 11-11.3.61; S. Hopkins, Studies, pp. 19-33 §§ 19-28; B. Knutsson, Judicum, pp.
59-78. See also J. Blau, ‘Das Frühe Neuarabisch in mittelarabischen Texten’, in Grundriss der Arabischen
Philologie. I. Sprachwissenschaft, ed. Wolfdietrich Fischer (Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert, 1982), pp. 100-101.
22
J. Blau, GCA, I, p. 106, § 12.4; 107-108 § 15.2.
23
Georg Graf, Verzeichnis arabischer kirchlicher Termini. «Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium» 147
Subsidia 8 (Leuven: Imprimerie orientaliste L. Durbecq, 1954), p. 92.
24
Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʼān, Texts and Studies of the Qurʼān 3, Foreword by
Gerhard Böwering and Jane Dammen MacAuliffe (Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2007), p. 18 ; cf. G. Graf,
Verzeichnis, p. 68.
25
G. Graf, Verzeichnis, p. 25.
An Anonymous Fragment on Pentapolis
65
of the Coptic religious authority, which is a calque of Coptic ⲁⲃⲃⲁ (ⲁⲃⲃⲁⲥ),
26
(“seat”,
l. 13) comes from Syriac (cf. Syr. ܪ and Jewish Aramaic איסרוכ),
27
س (pl.
“priests”, ls. 14,15), sg. comes from Syriac ,
28
ا (pl. “bishops”, l. 14), sg. ا
is a loanword of Syriac ܐ (vars. ܐ, ܣܐ < Gr. ἐπίσκοπος),
29
and
(pl. “deacons”, l. 15), sg. سّ, a loanword of Syriac .
30
The form of the
proper name أ (l. 9) is an adaptation of Coptic ⲓⲱϩⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ (< Gr. Ἰωάννης),
31
cf. the
Andalusi form ّا from Latin Iohannes.
32
Commentary of the fragment
One of the most intriguing features of the fragment is that the date does not correspond
between the ‘Martyrs Era’
33
and the Hijrah calendar either. It should be year 894 of the
Martyrs or 553 of the Hijrah. The Hijrah date seems to be more accurate, since Mark III
ibn Zurʻah was the 73rd patriarch of Alexandria between the years 1167 and 1189.
34
A
significant question is the reference to kings such as Mark III ibn Zur‘ah, who was
contemporary of Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, and John VI ibn Abī Ghālib (1189-1216), 74th
patriarch of Alexandria,
35
who was contemporary to the sultanates of al-‘Ādil down to that
of al-Kāmil. The events of the consecration of these two prelates are narrated by both the
pseudo-Yūsāb of Fuwwah,
36
and by the author of the History of the Patriarchs.
37
However
both of them did not make any hint about Pentapolis.
This happened almost constantly, since the situation in Egypt was really dramatic at that
time. The fall of the Nile and the failure in agricultural products led to famine. On its part,
26
G. Graf, Verzeichnis, p. 14.
27
A. Jeffery, Foreign Vocabulary, p. 249.
28
Alfonse Mingana, ‘Syriac Influence on the Style of the Kurʼān’, Bulletin of the Johns Rylands Library II/1
(1927), p. 28; G. Graf, Verzeichnis, p. 90.
29
R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus. Collegerunt S.M. Quatremere et al., Oxford, 1879, 1901 (repr.
Hildesheim – New York, 1981), I, col. 342; cf. G. Graf, Verzeichnis, p. 8.
30
G. Graf, Verzeichnis, p. 67.
31
Fort he spelling of consonant hori, see Ludwig Stern, Koptische Grammatik (Leipzig: T.O. Weigel, 1880), pp.
19-20 § 22; Alexis Mallon, Grammaire copte (Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, 2001, 5th ed.), p. 11; cf. William H.
Worrell, ‘The Pronunciation of Coptic’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 50 (1930), p. 146.
32
J.P. Monferrer-Sala, ‘‘Confirm your Scriptures with Torah in Hebrew and the Gospel in Latin’. On the
biblical quotations contained in Tathlīth al-Waḥdāniyyah’, forthcoming.
33
For the ‘Martyrs Era’, see Aaltje Hidding, The Era of the Martyrs: Remebering the Great Persecution in Late
Antique Egypt. «Millennium-Studien» 87 (Berlin – Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2020).
34
Mark N. Swanson, The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt, 641-1517. «The Popes of Egypt» 2 (Cairo – New
York : The American University in Cairo Press, 2010), pp. 67, 69, 71, 77-78, 80, 121; cf. Subhi Y. Labib,
‘Mark III, Saint’, CE V, cols. 1534b-1536b.
35
M. N. Swanson, Coptic Papacy, pp. 61, 78, 83, 85 ; cf. Subhi Y. Labib, ‘John VI’, CE IV, cols. 1341a-1342b.
36
Nabīh Kāmil Dāʼūd and Samūʼīl al-Suryānī, Taʼrīkh al-ābāʼ al-baṭārikah li-l-anbā Yūsāb usquf Fuwwah (Cairo,
1989), pp. 158-161. For this autor, see Samuel Moawad, ‘Zur originaltãt der Yūsāb von Fūwah
zugeschriebenen Patriarchengeschichte’, Le Muséon 119 (2006), pp. 255-277.
37
A. Khater and O. H.E. Burmester, History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church known as the History of the
Holy Church. Volume III part II, Mark III = John VI. «Textes et documents» 12 (Cairo: Société de
l’Archéologie Copte, 1970), pp. 99-111 (Arabic), 166-168 (Eng. trans.).
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala – Youhanna Nessim Youssef
66
crusader inroads took their toll. Yet it should be remembered that all this was of a
temporary nature and bound to disappear. However, the wave of persecution of the Copts
inaugurated by Ṣāliḥ Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, and strengthen during the patriarchate of Mark III,
gradually began to subside in John VI’s days, and the Copts were relieved from past
pressures and humiliating treatments, and they began to recover and pursue their activities
undisturbed.
38
Under this situation, Pentapolis
39
was considered as part of the diocese of Egypt,
40
since
the first century with Anianus (68-85), the first successor of Saint Mark. He was ordained
sheferd of the flock, while Mark went to Rome, Aquileia, and the Pentapolis. From this
date onwards the relationship between Alexandria and Pentapolis started.
41
Another
patriarch in playing a significative role in Pentapolis was Abiblius, the third patriarch of the
See of St Mark (85-98),
42
whose feast day is 1st Tuesday. These suffragan bishops and
priests from Egypt and the Pentapolis converged upon Alexandria, where they took
counsel with the orthodox laity and, having cast lots, unanimously selected Abilius for his
chastity and knowledge of Christ.
43
In the third century CE, Dionysios the Great (247-264)
44
fought against Sabellius’
heresy, which was spread through the Pentapolis.
45
He wrote a letter to Basilides, bishop of
the Pentapolis, answering his questions about the duration of Lent and the physical
conditions necessary for the reception of the Eucharist.
46
In this context, in the Coptic Difnar of 10 Abīb the following information can be read:
47
ا ما
ا ا ا
ا ا سرد
ن
The 10
th
of the
month of Abīb, was
martyred Saint
Theodore, the fifth
bishop of
Pentapolis
38
On the treatment of Copts under Arab administration, see Anastasia M. Ivanova, ‘Traits of positive and
negative discrimination of the Copts in medieval Egypt as described by the “History of the Patriarchs of
Alexandria”, Scrinium 16 (2020), pp. 214-232.
39
For an overview of the history of Pentapolis, see Heinz Heinen, ‘Pentapolis’, CE VI, cols. 1933b-1935a.
40
Cf. Charles Josef Hefele, A History of the Christian Councils (Frankfurt: Anatiposi Verlag, 2023, repr. of
1872), pp. 390-391.
41
Aziz Suryal Atiya, ‘Anianus’, CE I, cols. 133b-134a.
42
Cf. Basil T.A. Evetts, ‘History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria. I. Saint Mark to
Theonas (300). Arabic text edited, translated and annotated’, in Patrologia Orientalis, edited by R. Graffin
and F. Nau (Paris: Firmin Didot et C
ie
, 1904), I, pp. 149-150.
43
A. S. Atiya, ‘Abilius, Saint’, CE I, col. 8b.
44
A. S. Atiya, ‘Dionysius the Great’, CE III, cols. 909a-912a.
45
Henry Chadwick, The early Church. «The Penguin History of the Church» 1 (London: Penguin Books, 1993,
revised ed.), pp. 113-114, 138.
46
Karl Gerlach, The Antenicene Pascha: A Rhetorical History. «Liturgia Condenda» 7 (Leuven: Peeters, 1998),
pp. 199-203. Cf. Andrew Carriker, The Library of Eusebius of Caesarea. «Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae»
67 (Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2003), p. 205.
47
Ms. 357 Coptic Museum, fols. 22-23.
An Anonymous Fragment on Pentapolis
67
ⲯⲁⲗⲓ
ⲏⲭⲟⲥ
ⲁⲇⲁⲙ
مادا ح
Psali tune Adam
ⲁⲓⲛⲁⲟⲩⲱⲛ
ϩ
ⲣⲱⲓ⳾
ⲁⲛⲟⲕ
ⲡⲓⲣⲉϥⲉⲣⲛⲟⲃⲓ⳾ ⲟⲩⲟϩ
ⲧⲁⲗⲉⲡⲱⲣⲟⲥ⳾ ⲉⲥⲁϫⲓ
ⲉⲡⲉⲕⲧⲁⲓⲟ
ا او ا ا
ا او ي
I will open my
mouth, me, the poor,
sinner to talk about
your honour
ⲱ
ⲡⲓⲙⲁⲛⲉⲥⲱⲟⲩ⳾
ⲛⲧⲉ
ⲡⲓⲓⲟ
ϩ
ⲉⲑⲟⲩⲁⲃ⳾ ⲧⲉ ⲡ⳾ ⲁⲃⲃⲁ
ⲑⲉⲟⲇⲱⲣⲟⲥ
يا اا ا
ا ا ا
سرد
O shepherd of the
holy flock of Jesus
Christ Abba
Theodore
ⲡⲓⲉⲡⲓⲥⲕⲟⲡⲟⲥ⳾
ϯ
ⲃⲁⲕⲓ⳾
ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲡⲓⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲟⲥ⳾ ⲟⲩⲟϩ
ⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲟⲥ
ن ا ا
لاو او
The
bishop
of the
Pentapolis, the
martyr and apostle
ⲁⲥ
ϣ
ⲱⲡⲓ
ϧ
ⲉⲛ
ⲡⲓⲥⲏⲟⲩ⳾
ⲧⲉ
ⲡⲓⲇⲓⲱⲅⲙⲟⲥ⳾ ⲧⲉ ⲡⲓⲟⲩⲣⲟ
ⲉⲧϩⲱⲟⲩ⳾ ⲇⲓⲟⲕⲗⲉⲧⲓⲁⲛⲟⲥ*
نز ن
هرا يا دا
يدا ا
سدد
*
It happened at the
time of the
persecution of the evil
king Diocletian
ⲁ
ϥ
ⲟⲩⲱⲣⲡ
ⲟⲩⲕⲱⲙⲓⲥ⳾
ϧ
ⲉⲛ
ⲥⲁⲥⲁ ⲛⲓⲃⲉⲛ⳾ ⲉⲉⲣⲃⲁⲥⲁⲛⲓⲍⲓⲛ⳾
ⲛⲓⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓⲁⲛⲟⲥ
ا بو را
ب
ىرا
He sent a
comte
everywhere to
tortures the Christians
ⲁ
ϥ
ⲟⲩⲱⲣⲡ
ⲟⲩ
ϩ
ⲩⲅⲉⲙⲱⲙ⳾
ⲉⲛⲓⲥⲁ ⲧⲉ ⲫⲣⲓⲕⲓⲁ⳾ ⲟⲩⲁⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ
ⲡⲉ⳾ ⲉⲡⲉϥⲣⲁⲛ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲧⲟⲥ
ا ا ذ ر
او ا
He sent a
governor
in
the districts of
Africa a lawless
whose name is
Pilate
ⲁⲩⲉⲣⲇⲓⲁⲃⲉⲗⲓⲛ⳾
ⲡⲁⲓⲙⲁⲕⲁⲣⲓⲟⲥ⳾
ϫⲉ ⲑⲟϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲥⲁϧ⳾
ⲛⲓⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓⲁⲛⲟⲥ
ا ا
ا ا ا
They
reproved
this
blessed man: “He is
the master of the
Christians
ⲁ
ϥ
ⲓⲛⲓ
ⲙⲟ
ϥ
⳾
ϫ
ⲉ
ⲡⲓϩⲩⲅⲉⲙⲱⲛ⳾ ⲁϥⲟⲩⲁϩⲥⲁⲛⲓ
ⲛⲁϥ⳾ ⲉϣⲱⲧ ⲛⲓⲓⲇⲱⲗⲟⲛ
نا هاو ا ه
نو
The governor
brought him and
ordered him to
sacrifice for the idols
ⲡⲉ
ϫ
ⲉ
ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ⳾
ϫ
ⲉ
ⲛⲁⲉ
ϩ
ⲟⲟⲩ
ⲛⲓⲃⲉⲛ⳾ ϯⲛⲁⲛⲓ ⲉϩⲣⲏⲓ⳾
ϩⲁⲛϣⲟⲩϣⲱⲟⲩϣⲓ ⲡ
ا ا ل
او كا م
ا ب
The
saint
said: “All
my days I offer
sacrifices to the
Lord
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala – Youhanna Nessim Youssef
68
ⲡⲉ
ϫ
ⲉ
ⲡⲓⲇⲟⲩⲝ
ⲛⲁ
ϥ
⳾
ϫ
ⲉ
ⲛⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲛⲟⲛ⳾ ϩⲁⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲛ
ⲛⲉ⳾ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲑⲟⲕ
بوا ل
*
نا و
ا ا
ا
The
dux
48
said to
him: “our gods are
not gods according to
your saying?”
ⲁ
ϥ
ⲉⲣⲃⲁⲥⲁⲛⲓⲍⲓⲛ⳾
ⲡⲁⲓⲉⲡⲓⲥⲕⲟⲡⲟⲥ⳾ ⲉϩⲟⲟⲩ⳾
ϧⲉⲛ ⲃⲁⲥⲁⲛⲟⲥ ⲛⲓⲃⲉⲛ
ا ا ب
را با
He
tortured
this
bishop for forty days
with all tortures
ⲡ
ϧ
ⲁⲉ
ⲇⲉ
ⲟⲛ⳾
ⲁⲩⲱⲗⲓ
ⲧⲉϥⲁⲫⲉ⳾ ⲁϥⲉⲣⲫⲟⲣⲓⲛ
ⲡⲓⲭⲗⲟⲙ⳾ ⲧⲉ
ϯⲙⲉⲧⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲟⲥ
ار
ً
ااو
ةدا ا
By the end, hi
s
head was severed
and he wore the
crown of martyrdom
Ϩ
ⲓⲧⲉⲛ
ⲛⲓⲉⲩⲭⲏ
..
با ا تا
with the prayers of
this father
Another martyr in the same persecution is called Apa Nob the confessor, who was exiled
to Pentapolis and returned back after the peace of Constantine.
49
Few years after the
persecutions, the Pentapolis in the time of Alexander I, the patriarch of Alexandria (312-
326) and the council of Nicaea, there was the Arian team which mainly consisted of
Secundus, Zephyrius, Theonas, and Dathes, all from Libya and the Pentapolis.
50
Alexander, who also took part in the Council of Nicaea (325), stated the following
about the authority of the bishop of Alexandria over the Pentapolis:
“Let the ancient custom prevail that was in vogue in Egypt and Libya and the
Pentapolis, to allow the bishop of Alexandria to have authority over all these parts,
since this is also the treatment usually accorded to the bishop of Rome” (canon
VI).
51
We also know that the successor of Alexander, Athanasius transferred the bishop Siderius
from his see in the villages of Palaebisca and Hydrax on the fringe of the Libyan desert to
the metropolitan see of the Pentapolis.
52
In early fifth century, we know that Synesius the
48
The military command rested with the dux, attested in 308/309 at the head of both Egypt and the
provinces of Libya Inferior and Libya Superior, that is, Pentapolis, cf. T.D. Barnes, The New Empire of
Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1982), p. 211; the dux Pentapoleos is also attested
in 472 Codex Iustinianus XII.59.10.
49
René -Georges Coquin, ‘Nob, Apa’ CE VI, cols. 1796b-1797a.
50
H. Chadwick, Selected Writings. Edited and introduced by William G. Rusch (Grand Rapids, Michigan :
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017), pp. 84-86; Jay Bregman, Synesius of Cyrene, Philosopher-
Bishop. «Transformation of the Classical Heritage » 2 (Berkeley – Los Angeles, CA: University of
California Press, 1982), p. 172; A. S. Atiya, ‘Alexander’, CE I, cols. 81a-85a.
51
Petro Bilaniuk Pope in the Coptic Church, CE VI, cols. 1998b-2000b.
52
Emile Maher, ‘Ishaq, Bishop, Translation of’, CE II, cols. 398a-399b. Cf. Roderic L. Mullen, The Expansion
of Christianity: A Gazetteer of Its First Three Centuries. «Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae» 69 (Leiden –
Boston: Brill, 2004), p. 297; Peter Norton, Episcopal Elections, 250-600: Hierarchy and Popular Will in Late
Antiquity. «Oxford Classical Monographs» (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 166.
An Anonymous Fragment on Pentapolis
69
bishop of Ptolemais who was born in the Pentapolis became bishop of his home under
Theophilus.
53
In the middle of the fifth century, we learned that the bishop who accompanied
Dioscorus to the council of Chalcedon is Theopistus who was a bishop of Pentapolis.
54
And in the late fifth century, in the year 482, the Henoticon of the emperor Zeno
55
was
addressed to the bishops, clergy, monks and laity throughout Alexandria and Egypt and
Libya and Pentapolis.
56
The persecution of the Emperor Heraclius
57
for those who rejected the council of
Chalcedon made the people flee to the Pentapolis, but then they returned after the Arab
conquest.
58
The conquest, under ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ, was the last of the rapid series of
victories in the years 13-19 AH/635-640 AD that had led the Arabs to overthrow the
weakened Byzantine provinces of the Near East.
59
The conquest of Egypt
60
marked the
virtual end of a rapid period of expansion, since after the swift conquest of the Pentapolis,
the victorious Arab forces were compelled to mark time in the western parts of North
Africa.
61
After the Arab conquest, perhaps due to conversions,
62
the economy of Pentapolis
was prosperous, the bishop Theodorus of Pentapolis purchased fifteen hundred knidia of
wine from the Tabennesiote monastery of Pouinkoris (Hermopolitan).
63
The last known Metropolitan of Pentapolis is Cyriacus Metropolitan of Pentapolis
actually dwelling in Scetis and known as Severus occurs in a list dated 1508 AD in the time
of John al-Miṣrī (1484-1524AD).
64
It seems that this was an honorific title, as it is
mentioned in the document that this metropolitan was in the monastery and even he
53
A. S. Atiya, ‘Synesius (c. 370-c. 414)’, CE VII, col. 2192b.
54
Tito Orlandi, ‘Theopistus of Alexandria’, CE VII, cols. 2254a-2254b.
55
On Zeno’s Henoticon, see Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Council of Chalcedon (451) to
Gregory the Great (590-604). Translated by Pauline Allen and John Cawte (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987),
II/1, pp. 247 fol.
56
W. H. C. Frend, ‘Henoticon’, CE IV, cols. 1217a-1219a.
57
On the figure of the emperor Heraclius, see Walter E. Kaegi, Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2003).
58
Cf. Jacques van der Vliet, ‘The Copts: ‘Modern Sons of the Pharaohs?’’, in Religious Origin of Nations?: The
Christian Communities of the Middle East. Edited by Bas ter Haar Romeny (Leiden: Brill, 2010), pp. 286-289.
For the contacts between Egyptians and Arabs before the conquest of Egypt, see Janneke de Jong,
‘Arabia, Arabs, and “Arabic” in Greek Documents from Egypt’, in New Frontiers of Arabic Papyrology: Arabic and
Multilingual Texts from Early Islam. Edited by Sobhi Bouderbala, Sylvie Denoix and Matt Malczyckl (Leiden
– Boston: Brill, 2017), pp. 3-27.
59
Fort he seventh-century Islamic conquests in North Africa, see W. E. Kaegi, Muslim Expansion and
Byzantine Collapse in North Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 69-91.
60
For the conquest of Egypt is still valid Alfred J. Butler’s classic The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the last Thirty
Years of the Roman Dominion (Oxford – New York: Clarendon Press – Henry Frowde, 1902).
61
P. M. Fraser, ‘Arab Conquest of Egypt’, CE I cols. 183b-189b.
62
Hamilton A.R. Gibb and Harold Bowen, Islamic Society and the West: A Study of the Impacto f Western
Civilization on Moslem Culture in The Near East. I. Islamic Society in the Eighteenth Century. Part II. 2 vols.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957), I/2, p. 229.
63
Jean Gascou, ‘Monasteries, Economic Activities of’, CE V. cols. 1639a-1645b.
64
J. Muyser, ‘Contribution à l’étude des listes épiscopales de l’Église Copte’, Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie
Copte 10 (1944), pp. 115-176, esp. p. 63.
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala – Youhanna Nessim Youssef
70
changed his name. It was in the days of the late Shenouda III that the name of Pentapolis
reappeared in the ordination of the bishop of Damanhur.
65
As we can see, the History of Pentapolis contains many lacunae. We have many
documents for the first centuries up to the Arab conquest, after this date we do not have
enough data. Hence our document is of particular relevance as it attests that the decline of
this diocese was the consequence of the ordination of bishops during the period before
the consecration o Cyril III, which lasted for nearly twenty years. The last bishops have
honorific titles of bishops of Pentapolis, but they never ministered there.
65
R.-G. Coquin, ‘Damanhur’, CE III, cols. 686a-687b.
An Anonymous Fragment on Pentapolis
71
Appendix: Fragment photo
Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala – Youhanna Nessim Youssef
72
Abstract:
The scarcity of data
on
Pentapolis during the Islamic period
contrasts, albeit with gaps, with the
information we currently have for earlier
periods. With the edition, translation and
study of this brief Coptic-Arabic
fragment, we intend to contribute with
the provision of data with which to
gradually fill in the lack of information
we have about Pentapolis and its history..
Keywords: Pentapolis; islamic period;
Copto-Arabic; history; Christianity
Resumen:
La escasez de datos sobre
Pentapolis en época islámica contrasta,
aunque con lagunas, con la información
de que disponemos en la actualidad para
etapas anteriores. Con la edición,
traducción y estudio de este breve
fragmento copto-árabe pretendemos
contribuir al suministro de datos con el
que paliar esa ausencia de información
que tenemos sobre Pentapolis y su
historia.
Palabras clave: Pentapolis; periodo
islámico; copto-árabe; cristianismo
