Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt

This volume deals with the origins and rise of Christian pilgrimage cults in late-antique Egypt. Part One covers the major theoretical issues in the study of Coptic pilgrimage, such as sacred landscape and shrines’ catchment areas, while Part Two examines native Egyptian and Egyptian Jewish pilgrimage practices. Part Three investigates six major shrines, from Philae’s diverse non-Christian devotees to the great pilgrim centre of Abu Mina and a Thecla shrine on its route. The fourth part of the book looks at such diverse pilgrims’ rites as oracles, chant and stational liturgy. Part Five brings in Athanasius’s and an anonymous hagiographer’s perspectives on pilgrimage in Egypt.