Coptic and Greek Texts relating to the Hermopolite Monastery of Apa Apollo

This book edits and analyses sixty-six 6th-9th century Coptic and Greek
texts concerning the 'Monastery of Apa Apollo on the mount of Titkooh'
in the Hermopolite nome of Egypt. None of the texts is securely
provenanced, but most were written by, or to, monks of this monastery
south of el-Ashmunein, the archaeological site of which is known as
'Bawit'. The texts, which belong to more than a dozen manuscript
collections, comprise: agreements, guarantees, and other legal
documents; tax demands and other taxation-related material; orders;
accounts; receipts; and letters. The most important group concerns the
organization of the collection of tithes (<i>aparchê</i>), for which
evidence from Egyptian monasteries is rare. Many texts exhibit formulae
or formats peculiar to this monastery.
The first part of the
book summarizes existing sources for the monastery and the cult of Apa
Apollo and surveys in detail the new textual sources. The author
examines the range of the monastery's economic activities, from tithe
collection, property-ownership, taxation, and the provision of financial
services, as well as more general aspects of day-to-day monastic
administration.
The book concludes with surveys of the
dialectal variants recorded in the texts and of their palaeographic and
orthographic features, together with the prosopographical and
toponomastic information they contain.