Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Egyptian women’s religious expressions in papyrus letters (Bagnall and Cribiore, 2006) were divided into five categories: None, no god(s) mentioned; Pray, containing “Pray” without gods; Gods, for Greek Gods; Sarapis/local Gods/προσκυνήµα for letters containing prayers in which obeisance before a God is expressed in the Egyptian reverential manner, a προσκυνήµα; Θεός/Κύριος/Χριστός letters to the Christian God. The None category is prevalent during the early 300 BC to 100 AD period followed by an increase in, and then stable, formulaic/religious expressions. The Pray category peaked in the second and third centuries AD, and the Gods category, referring to pagan Gods, showed a steady and significant decline from the first to the fourth century AD inverse to the rise in prevalence of letters in the Θεός/Κύριος/Χριστός category. The shift to monotheism with Christianity is rendered in graphic form, and permits an appreciation of feminine popular sentiment on religion and its Gods in Egypt.
Source: Journal of Religion in Africa
Authors: Luigi M. De Luca, Laura Armey
Institutions: Catholic University of America, Naval Postgraduate School
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4382282149