Introduction
1-The Coptic art is that art which is related to Christian Egypt , the objects of art illustrate the life in Egypt in an era of dying paganism and nascent Christianity .
2-The new religion of Christianity has left its work on every aspect of Egyptians life.
3- The Christian Egyptians were called “ Copts “ which word is the population of Egypt of the ancient Pharaonic name for Egypt transformed by the Greeks into Aegyptus and over centuries reduced by the Arabs to Copt .
4- They played an important role in the history of Christianity as a whole.
Their greatest contribution was the development of monasticism which spread throughout the world and endures today.
5- The Coptic church practices the Egyptian form of Christianity which is reflected in its liturgy and religious literature.
6- Between the early 4th to the mid 7th century of our era , Egypt experienced its greatest cultural and artistic flowering since pharaonic times .
7- Sculptures were polychrome architectural relieves on stone and wood in tombs , houses , churches and monasteries .
8 - Also , special Christian architecture was applied to churches , funerary buildings and monastic establishments .
Where are you Coptic Language?
The Coptic language descends from the language of the ancient Egyptians in its last phase .
Three forms of writing has been developed to write the ancient Egyptian language :
(1) The hieroglyphs : they are sacred signs carved on the walls of temples tombs .
(2) The hieratic : the writing of the priests
It was used in writing all official scripts in the final stage of its development .
It became limited to religious scripts only .
(3) The demotic :
The writing of people popular script it was used by the people in their daily lives and replaced the hieratic script .
Later it became difficult to understand it as some of the characters lost their phonetic value .
The word Copt derives from the Arabic pronunciation “ Egypt “ which was formed from the Greek word “ Aigytios = Egypt “ .
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| Hieroglyphics |
Aigytios
The Arabs used this word to designate the inhabitants of the country , this word served later to designate their language .
( Copt )
1- The word “ Copt “ comes directly from the Arabic “ Qubt “ which in its turn comes from the Greek “ Aiguptios “ meaning Egyptian .
2- The most important difference is that while all Copts are Egyptians , not all Egyptians are Copts .
3- The Muslim conquerors of Egypt called the local inhabitants by their Greek name .
4- The Muslim Arabs used the word “ Copt “ to refer to Egyptians as a whole .
5- The Arabic name for Egypt is Misr .
Monasticism
1- The Pre-Christian communities who withdrew from society to pursue a contemplative life or to reject this world .
Christian Monks , there were certain factors that contributed to the growth of monasticism .
Persecution of Christians in the 3rd century and chronic problems of debt caused by excessive taxation which forced farmers to abandon their land .
2- When Christianity was illegal even after the state persecution of Christians have ceased . There continued to be men and women who felt the need to express their love of god through suffering .
3- The traditional father of monasticism is Anthony who came from a village near Bani- Sweif he decided as a young man to adopt a life of semi seclusion and withdrew in to the eastern desert where his reputation for saintliness grew and attracted followers .
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