Networks of the Theban desert: social, economic and religious interactions in late Byzantine and early Islamic Thebes

This thesis examines the range of interactions which bound the Egyptian town of Jeme (Medinet Habu), and the nearby monasteries of the Theban necropolis, to each other and to other, more distant communities in the seventh and eighth centuries CE. In doing so, it also seeks to assess the importance of this west Theban community in the exchange networks that covered Egypt as a whole, and the Hermonthite and Koptite nomes in particular. An examination of the range of interactions which bound the Egyptian town of Jeme (Medinet Habu), and the nearby monasteries of the Theban necropolis, to each other and to more distant communities in the seventh and eighth centuries CE, with an emphasis on the importance of this west Theban community in the exchange networks that covered Egypt as a whole, and the Hermonthite and Koptite nomes in particular. The communities of western Thebes, and especially the town of Jeme, are ideal for this study since large amounts of documentary evidence in Coptic survive from multiple sites within well-defined chronological limits. While Jeme is the main focus, this thesis also concentrates on three of the many contemporary monastic communities in the area: the monastery of Apa Phoibammon, the monastery of Epiphanius, and the solitary monk Frange. These three communities are ideal since they have the largest bodies of documentary evidence attesting them, which makes network studies more viable, and since they are of different sizes and natures (monastery, laura, hermitage), making them a representative sample of the range ofcommunities present on the Theban mountain. Where relevant, material from other sites, in 2particular the monastery of Apa Paul, is also taken into consideration. The relationship between Jeme and the larger monastic communities of western Thebes was close and interdependent, and it is argued that the presence of Jeme allowed the monasteries to flourish, and that their success in turn increased Jeme’s own status. These close knit communities then formed a regional hub which, while not a site of the same importance as the nome capitals, was still of significant economic and religious importance to the communities of the Hermonthite and Koptite nomes. An understanding of the nature of the west Theban communities and how they fitted in to broader exchange networks not only demonstrates the symbiotic relationship between monastic and secular communities, but provides the groundwork for future sociological studies of the region, whose discussions can now be framed in the light of the regional importance of western Thebes.