Department of Ancient History - Coptic Studies at MQ

Staff

Coptic Studies at Macquarie Univeristy is taught within the Department of Ancient History. There are two members of staff on the teaching team, Drs Malcolm Choat and Victor Ghica. Professor Heike Behlmer is currently teaching at the University of Göttingen in Germany.

ancient-staff malcolmchoat Dr Malcolm Choat

B.A. (Hons) UQ, PhD Macquarie
Senior Lecturer, Coptic Studies

Dr Malcolm Choat is a lecturer in the Department of Ancient History, Division of Humanities. He studied Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland (1989-1993), before undertaking doctoral studies at Macquarie (1994-2000). Subsequently, he taught and researched in the School of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney (2000-2002), before holding a Macquarie University Research Fellowship (2003-2006). He now teaches at Macquarie in Ptolemaic Egypt, Early Christianity, and Coptic Studies.

His fields of research are, broadly, Graeco-Roman Egypt and the interaction of Classical (Greek and Roman) and Egyptian cultures from Alexander the Great to the Arab conquest (332 BCE - 642 CE), and early Christianity, particularly from a papyrological perspective. He has particular focuses on rise of the Coptic language and script in the 3rd-5th centuries, especially early Coptic documents on papyrus, and the development of monasticism. Among his current research projects are.

  • Language, Script, and Acculturation in Graeco-Roman Egypt: An umbrella research program, lead by Drs Malcolm Choat and Trevor Evans, uniting projects (including those listed here) focusing on cultural interaction of the classical and Egyptian worlds in the Graeco-Roman period.
  • Religious authority and linguistic change in late antique Egypt: non-elite perspectives on the rise of monasticism in contemporary documents: ARC-funded project dealing with the rise of monasticism, seen from the point of view of the Christian Laity, and especially though contemporary documents on papyrus in Greek and Coptic.
  • Communication Networks in Late Byzantine and Early Islamic monastic communities: a collaborative project with Dr Heike Behlmer (Macquarie University), analysing the letters on ostraca sent between monasteries in the Theban region, especially the monastery of Epiphanius, monastery of Severus (Sheikh Abd el-Qurna) and the Deir el-Bakhit and satellite monastic cells in tombs in the Dra' Abu el-Naga
  • The Archive of Apa Johannes: A re-edition one of the most extensive bilingual (Greek and Coptic) monastic archives on papyrus in from fourth century CE Egypt.
  • Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt: a project to analyse the papyrus texts documenting Christianity in Egypt before the victory of Constantine (324), a collaborative project within the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, to be published by Cambridge University Press.
  • P.Macquarie Copt.: An edition of the Coptic papyri in Macquarie University's Museum of Ancient Cultures, with Iain Gardner, Studies in Religion, University of Sydney.

Selected Publications

Books: Authored

Belief and Cult in fourth-century Papyri (Brepols, Turnhout: 2006).

Book Chapters

  • 'Echo and Quotation of the New Testament in Papyrus Letters to the End of the Fourth Century', New Testament Manuscripts and Their World, ed. T.J. Kraus and T. Nicklas (Brill, Leiden, 2006) 267-292. (by invitation)
  • 'The Unidentified Text in the Freer Minor Prophets Codex', The Freer Biblical Manuscripts: Fresh Studies of the Greek Biblical Manuscripts Housed in the Freer Gallery, ed. L. Hurtado (Atlanta, Society for Biblical Literature Publications, 2006) 87-121 (by invitation)
  • 'Language and Culture in Late Antique Egypt', Blackwell's Companion to Late Antiquity, ed. P. Rousseau (Blackwells, Oxford, forthcoming 2007). (by invitation)
  • 'Early Coptic Epistolography', The Multilingual Experience: Egypt from the Ptolemies to the 'Abbasids, ed. A. Papaconstantinou (American University of Cairo Press, forthcoming 2007). (by invitation)
  • 'Monastic property ownership in the early period', The Administration of Monastic Estates in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt. In memory of Sarah Clackson, edd. A. Boudhors, J. Clackson & P. Sijpesteijn, forthcoming. (by invitation)

Articles

  • (with I. Gardner) 'P. Lond. Copt. I 1123: Another Letter to Apa Johannes?', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 156 (2006) 157-164.
  • 'Thomas the "wanderer" in a Coptic List of the Apostles', Orientalia 74 (2005) 83-85.
  • (with A.Nobbs) 'Monotheistic Formulae of Belief in Second - Fourth century AD Greek Papyri', Journal of Greco-Roman Judaism and Christianity 2(2001-2005) 36-51.
  • (with R.S. Bagnall & I Gardner), 'O.Douch I 40', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 147 (2004) 205-207.
  • (with I. Gardner), 'O.Douch I 49', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 143 (2003) 143-146.
  • 'The Development and use of Terms for 'monk' in Late Antique Egypt', Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 45(2002) 5-23.
  • 'Papnouthios in SB I 2266: New man or new patron?', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 133(2000) 157-162.
  • (with I. Gardner and A. Nobbs), 'P.Harr. 107: Is this another Greek Manichaean letter', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 131 (2000) 118-124.
  • 'The Public and Private Worlds of Theophanes of Hermopolis Magna', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, forthcoming.

Papers in Published Conference Proceedings

  • 'Fourth Century Monasticism in the Papyri', Akten des 23. Internationalen Papyrologenkongresses, Wien, 22.-28. Juli 2001, ed. B. Palme (Papyrologica Vindobonensia 1; Wien: ÖAW Verlag 2007), 95-101.
  • 'Philological and historical approaches to the search for the 'third type' of Egyptian monk', Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies. Leiden, August 27 - September 2, 2000, edd. M. Immerzeel and J. van der Vliet (Louvain 2004) II, 856-865.
  • (with I. Gardner), 'Towards a palaeography of fourth century documentary Coptic', Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies. Leiden, August 27 - September 2, 2000, edd. M. Immerzeel and J. van der Vliet (Louvain 2004) , I, 501-509.
  • 'The Archive of Apa Johannes: Notes on a proposed New edition', Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Papyrologists, Helsinki 2004 (Comm.Hum.Litt. Vol. 122, in press, forthcoming 2007), 175-183.
  • 'Epistolary Formulae in Early Coptic Letters', Actes du huitième congrès international d'Études coptes, edd. N. Bosson and A. Boud'hors (Leuven: Peeters, 2007), 667-677.

Contact Details:

Telephone: +61 2 9850 7561
Fax: +61 2 9850 8240
Office: W6A 504
Email: mchoat@hmn.mq.edu.au

ancient-staff victor-ghica Dr Victor Ghica

BTh Hons, BA (Arabic and Islamic Studies), MA (Ancient Near Eastern Studies), MRS, DRS (Paris), ThD (Quebec-City)
Lecturer, Coptic Studies

Dr Victor Ghica studied Coptology, Egyptology, Arabic and Islamic Studies, History of Religions and Theology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (1999-2005), Laval University (2000-2005), the Pontifical Biblical Institute (1996-1999), the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (1997-1999) and Bucharest University (1992-1996). Between 2000-2003 he worked at the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo. Subsequently, he researched and taught at the Institute of Ancient Studies of Laval University (2003-2005). In 2005 he became scientific member of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology where he implemented and lead a research program concerning the development of Christianity in the Western Desert of Egypt. Dr Victor Ghica joined Macquarie University in late 2009. He teaches now Coptic Studies.

His main fields of research are Coptic Papyrology and Epigraphy, Coptic Syntax, Early Christian, Gnostic and Manichaean Literatures, History of Christianity in the Western and Eastern Deserts of Egypt, Egyptian monasticism, Coptic Arabic Literature, Coptic, Syriac and Byzantine Patristics.

Among his current research projects are:

  • The edition of the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NH 6,1).
  • The edition of the Coptic and Christian Arabic graffiti of the Western Desert.
  • The edition of the Coptic ostraca of Douch (Kharga Oasis).
  • The excavation of the monastic settlement of Ganub Qasr al-Aguz (Bahriyya Oasis).
  • The survey of the Christian hermitages of the Wadi Araba.

Contact Details:

Telephone: +61 2 9850 6800
Fax: +61 2 9850 8240
Office: W6A 541
Email: victor.ghica@mq.edu.au

coptic hbeh Dr Heike Behlmer

M.A. Göttingen, PhD Göttingen, D.Phil. (Habilitation) Göttingen
Professor of Egyptology and Coptology, University of Göttingen

Dr Heike Behlmer studied Egyptology, Coptic Studies and the Ancient Near East at Göttingen University. Her dissertation, published in 1996, edited, translated and analysed a sermon by the abbot Shenoute, the foremost writer in Coptic, from a papyrus manuscript preserved in the Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy. From 1995 to 2004 she was Assistant Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Göttingen University, in 2003/2004 Visiting Professor of Coptic Studies at Munich University. She joined Macquarie University in late 2004 to develop the new online M.A. programme in Coptic Studies, and is currently teaching at the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Her fields of research are Egyptian Monasticism, Coptic Literature, Gender Studies and the History of Scholarship in Egyptology and Coptic Studies in the 19th century. Among her current and recently completed research projects are:

  • The edition of a collection of works on the monastic life by the abbot Shenoute as part of an international project for a complete new edition of Shenoute's Works (General Editor: Stephen Emmel, University of Münster, Germany)
  • The edition of documentary Coptic texts on ostraca (and papyrus) dating to the 6th to 8th centuries CE from the Theban region in Upper Egypt excavated by archaeological expeditions from various European universities
  • Communication Networks in Late Byzantine and Early Islamic monastic communities: a collaborative project with Dr Malcolm Choat (Macquarie University), analysing the letters on ostraca sent between monasteries in the Theban region, especially the monastery of Epiphanius, monastery of Severus (Sheikh Abd el-Qurna) and the Deir el-Bakhit and satellite monastic cells in tombs in the Dra' Abu el-Naga
  • Studies on the development of Coptic Studies in the 19th century on the basis of archival material in the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts in Göttingen University Library
  • Studies on women and gender in Late Antique, Byzantine and Early Islamic Egypt on the basis of the Coptic sources

Contact Details:

Email: heike.behlmer@mq.edu.au