International Copto-Arabic Historiography Project (ICAHP)

CIOL

 

The Arabic text of the “History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria” is characterized by a complex textual transmission.  Preserved in two recensions, it is considered a historiographical tradition rather than a coherent work, since many authors were involved in its composition: the first part of the corpus consists in a translation of earlier Coptic sources, while the second part was written directly in Arabic from the 11th century onwards. Despite the obvious relevance of the so-called “primitive” recension, which is the more ancient and closer to the Coptic sources than the later, more widely read “Vulgate” version, the former is still not available in a critical edition. The aim of the current project, then, is to provide, for the first time, a critical edition of a significant part of this text (Lives 17 to 26), based on the primitive recension and accompanied by its English translation, with linguistic and historiographical commentaries. This study, begun in October 2009, is carried out in the framework of an international project for the edition of the entire corpus (hence the name ICAHP), co-ordinated at the Centre d’études orientales – Institut orientaliste de Louvain (CIOL), one of the research centres of the Institut des civilisations, arts et lettres (INCAL) of the Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium..
The project implies several approaches. First, the philological and linguistic approach concerns the critical edition itself. This will be done by adapting the traditional edition methods to new technology. This new edition remains the most fundamental aspect of the project: with its translation, it will be an indispensable tool for numerous research domains (philology and linguistics, history, science of religions, archaeology, etc.).
In the context of the edition, but simultaneously at an analytical level, particular attention will also be paid to the question of the linguistic phenomenon of  “Middle Arabic”. The main other aspect of the analysis will be historiographical and will address the contents of the text, which narrates various kinds of events within the biographical framework (ecclesiastical, political and social history), by comparing it with other contemporary historiographical sources.
    For the various parts of the edition and connnected studies, the text has been divided into a sequence of parts that correspond to the successive series of Lives of patriarchs and hence to specific periods of time. Several of these contributions are prepared as doctoral dissertations. Thus far, the following series have been assigned:

Prefaces and other preliminary texts J. den Heijer
Life 1 : Life of St. Mark. M. Makhoul (PhD thesis)
Martyrium of St. Mark.  
Lives 2-11 brief biographical notes (Annianus, Abilius, Cerdo, Primus, Justus, Eumenius, Marcianus, Celadio, Agrippinus and Julian), covering the years 68 – 188. M. Makhoul (PhD thesis)
Vie 12 : Demetrius I (d. 230). & J. den Heijer
Life 13 : Heracles (d. 246). M. Makhoul (PhD thesis)
Life 14 : Dionysius (d. 246).  
Life 15 : Maximus (d. 282).
Life 16 : Theonas (d. 300).
Life 17 : Peter I (d. 310). P. Pilette (PhD thesis)
Short Lives 18 (Achillas, d. 311) and 19 (Alexander I, patr. 312-328),
Life 20 : Athanasius I (328 - 373).
Short Lives 21 (Peter II), 22 (Timothy I) and 23 (Theophilus), covering the years 373 - 412.
Life 24 : Cyril I (412 - 444).
Short Lives 25 and 26, Dioscorus I and Timothy II Aelurus (444-477).
Short Lives 27 – 31 (Peter III, Athanasius II, John I, John II, Dioscorus II : 477 – 518). P. Pilette
Life 32 : Timothy III (518 – 536).  
Life 33 : Theodosius I (536 – 567).
Life 34 : Peter IV (567 – 576).
Life 35 : Damian (576 – 605).
Life 36 : Anastasius (605 – 616).
Life 37 : Andronicus (616 – 623). R. Hammad & J. den Heijer
Life 38 : Benjamin I (623 – 662) – containing an Arabic version of the Coptic Consecration of the Sanctuary of Benjamin.
Life 39 : Agatho (662 – 680).  
Life 40 : John III of Samannūd (680 – 689).  
Life 41 : Isaac (690 – 692).  
Life 42 : Simon I (692 – 700).  
Redactional note (no 2) by Mawhūb b. Manṣūr b. Mufarriǧ.  
Life 43 : Alexander II (704 – 729).  
Short Lives 44 and 45 (Cosmas and Theodosius, 729 – 742).  
Life 46, by far the longest Life of the HP: Khael I (743 – 747),  
Life 47 : Menas I (767 – 776).  
Life 48 : John IV (777 – 799).  
Life 49 : Mark II (799 – 819).  
Life 50 : Jacob (819 – 830), followed by the very short Life 51 (Simon II, 830).  
Life 52 : Joseph (831 – 849).  
Life 53 : Khael II (849 – 851)  
Life 54 : Cosmas II (851 – 858). M. Makhoul (PhD thesis)
Life 55 : Shenoute I (859 – 880).
Life 56 (Khael III, 849 – 851)
Short Lives 57 (Gabriel I, 910 - 920), 58 (Cosmas III, 920 - 932), 59 (Macarius I, 932 - 952) and 60 (Theophanes, 952 – 956).  
Life 61 : Menas II (956 – 974).  
Life 62 : Abraham (975 – 978), known as Ibn Zurʻa, including the Muqaṭṭam miracle . M. Makhoul (PhD thesis)
Life 63 : Philotheus (979 – 1003). N. Hamdi (PhD thesis)
Life 64 : Zacharias (1004 – 1032).
Life 65 : Shenoute II (1032 – 1046).  
Life 66 : Christodoulos (1047 – 1077). J. den Heijer
Life 67 : Cyril II (1077 – 1092).
Life 68 : Michael IV (1092 – 1102). M. Swanson & J. Zaborowski
Life 69 : Macarius II (1102 – 1128).
Life 70 : Gabriel II, Ibn Turayk (1131 – 1145).
Life 71 : Michael V, Ibn Diništirī (1145 – 1146).
Life 72 : John V (1147 – 1166).
Life 73 : Mark III, Ibn Zurʻa (1166 – 1189).
Life 74 : John VI (1189 – 1216).

 

Recent publications linked to ICAHP:

  • J. den Heijer, « Les Patriarches coptes d’origine syrienne », in R.[Y.] Ebied & H. Teule , eds, Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage in Honour of Father Prof. Dr. Samir Khalil Samir S.I. at the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday, Leuven – Paris – Dudley, 2004, p. 45-63.
  • J. den Heijer, « La rébellion de l’émir Al-Awḥad (477/1084)  : étude comparative des sources historiques » in J.-Y. Empereur & Chr. Décobert , ed., Alexandrie Médiévale 3 (Études Alexandrines, 16), Le Caire, 2008, p. 171-181.
  • J. den Heijer, « Remarques sur le langage de quelques textes copto-arabes médiévaux », in J. Grand’Henry & J. Lentin, eds, Actes du premier colloque international sur le moyen arabe et les variétés mixtes de l’arabe, Louvain-la-Neuve, mai 2004, Louvain-la-Neuve, 2008, p. 109-119.
  • J. den Heijer, « Wādī al-Naṭrūn and the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria », in M.A.S. Mikhail & M. Moussa, eds, Christianity and Monasticism in Wadi al-Natrun. Essays from the 2002 International Symposium of the Saint Mark Foundation and the Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society, Cairo – New York, 2009, p. 24-42 (= den Heijer 2003, nouvelle impression).
  • J. den Heijer  & P. Pilette, « Murqus Simaika (1864 – 1944) et l’historiographie copto-arabe : à propos du  manuscrit Musée Copte, Hist. 1 », in P. Buzi & A. Camplani, eds, Christianity in Egypt: literary production and intellectual trends in late antiquity. Studies in honor of Tito Orlandi (Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 125), Rome, 2011, p. 227-250..
  • J. den Heijer & P. Pilette, « Transmission et diffusion de l’historiographie copto-arabe : nouvelles remarques sur les recensions primitive et vulgate de l’Histoire des Patriarches d’Alexandrie », in J.P. Monferrer Sala & S. Torallas Tovar, eds, Cultures in Contact. Transfer of  Knowledge in the Mediterranean Context. Selected Papers, Córdoba, 2013, p. 93-140.