This book situates discussions of Christian monasticism in Egypt and Palestine within the socio-economic world of the long Late Antiquity, from the golden age of monasticism into and well beyond the Arab conquest (fifth to tenth century). Its thirteen chapters present new research into the rich corpus of textual sources and archaeological remains and move beyond traditional studies that have treated monastic communities as religious entities in physical seclusion from society. The volume brings together scholars working across traditional boundaries of subject and geography and explores a diverse range of topics from the production of food and wine to networks of scribes, patronage, and monastic visitation. As such, it paints a vivid picture of busy monastic lives dependent on and led in tandem with the non-monastic world.

Produces a new picture of monastic economies in Egypt and Palestine using current research and crossing traditional disciplinary divides.

About the Author
LOUISE BLANKE is Lecturer in Late Antique Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. She has authored An Archaeology of Egyptian Monasticism: Settlement, Economy, and Daily Life at the White Monastery Federation (2019) and has directed archaeological projects and participated in fieldwork at sites in Egypt, Denmark, Jordan, and Qatar. JENNIFER CROMWELL is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research interests lie in the study of village and monastic life in late antique and early Islamic Egypt. She is the author of Recording Village Life: A Coptic Scribe in Early Islamic Egypt (2017).


Book Information
ISBN 9781009278973
Author Louise Blanke
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 890g
Dimensions(mm) 250mm * 177mm * 27mm