DEChriM

Digging deep into the Christianisation of Egypt

During the fourth century, Christianity went from being a prohibited faith group to the official religion of the Roman Empire, a shift which had colossal impacts on Egypt and the Empire as a whole. Researchers in the DEChriM project are investigating the factors behind Egypt’s Christianisation, building on recently uncovered archaeological records, as Professor Victor Ghica explains.

A vast amount of new archaeological material has been uncovered in Egypt over the past two decades or so, which could help scholars learn more about how Christianity spread in the country. As Principal Investigator of the EU-funded DEChriM (Deconstructing Early Christian Metanarratives) project, Professor Victor Ghica is examining material from the fourth century, which was a crucial period in terms of the Christianisation of Egypt. “During the course of the fourth century, Christianity moved very fast from being a banned religion to the status of being the only official religion of the Roman Empire,” he explains. The project team are investigating the emergence of Christianity in this key period, questioning the prevailing narratives and also looking to build a deeper picture on the local level. “We are trying to produce localised micro-histories of Christianity for areas in Egypt where the documentation is strong,” says Professor Ghica.

DEChriM project

This research builds on Professor Ghica’s earlier work in the oases of Egypt’s Western Desert, a vast expanse of land stretching between the Nile Valley and the Libyan border. The highest concentration of sites with Christian material dating from the fourth century is located in the Kharga oasis. As a result of such density, this is the region where the bulk of the team’s research is being conducted, including excavations at four different sites. “Some of our material comes from previous work, while we have also been carrying out excavations at several sites during the course of the project,” he outlines. The importance of Kharga, alongside the neighbouring Dakhla Oasis, rests on the fact that the two – known in late antiquity as Oasis Magna – were largely abandoned at the end of the fourth century and are thus very well preserved. “We excavate these sites basically in the state in which they were abandoned. It’s like a time capsule,” says Professor Ghica. A poignant example is the site of Shams al-Din, one of the sites excavated by the team, which is situated in the south of Kharga. In addition

to being home to a fourth century church, the site also retains a complete settlement area –late antique settlements are rarely uncovered in such a state of completeness.

A wealth of interesting material has been discovered at the oasean sites, with which researchers hope to shed new light on how Christianity developed and spread throughout Egypt. For instance, Professor Ghica and his team have been excavating two monasteries – one in the Kharga Oasis and a second in the oasis of Bahariya – which

have been precisely dated to the mid-fourth century. “These monasteries were built something like 30-40 years after Constantine the Great converted to Christianity, so we’re talking about the very earliest stages of archaeologically documented Christianity. These are extraordinary monuments and they are extremely well preserved,” he outlines. The monastery in Kharga which is being excavated by DEChriM is in close proximity to three additional monastic sites which have likewise been dated to the fourth century, making Kharga home to the oldest – and most numerous – collection of archaeologically attested monasteries in the world.

While the team’s excavations have been concentrated in Kharga, and to a lesser extent Bahariya, their work has not been limited to these areas. Fieldwork has been conducted at a plethora of sites throughout the country, essentially at each of the 80 sites of relevance to fourth century Christianity. This work has included site surveys, photography for the creation of 3D models, and ceramic analysis.

The project team is looking at the emergence of Christianity in the fourth century from a variety of angles, examining how it spread – including the role of the military – how early worship practices looked, how the clergy were organised, and the emergence of monasticism in Kharga, to name but a few topics of interest. Researchers are also investigating different methods of dating archaeological sites. One of the key methods of dating sites currently employed by archaeologists is through assessing the ceramics that are found there, yet the fourth century has long been considered as a sort of dark age in this respect. “Archaeologists have simply not been able to date an archaeological site to the fourth century on the basis of pottery, largely because not much was known about the specific ceramic productions of the period,” explains Professor Ghica. This is an area of great interest in the project. “We’re currently finalising a catalogue of the ceramics in circulation in this period, with the purpose of re-dating archaeological sites based on the pottery that can be found on those sites,” says Professor Ghica.

Spread of Christianity

The material uncovered is undergoing rigorous analysis, with the DEChriM researchers hoping to better understand how and why Christianity spread throughout Egypt in the fourth century. “We are trying to essentially dissect this process,” says Professor Ghica. The sources suggest that Christianity was effectively transmitted from person to person, with no evidence of forceful evangelisation, as has often been thought. “It was a progressive transmission from individual to individual at the lowest levels of society, I believe,” says Professor Ghica. “This was a bottom-up process to a large extent, as Christianity had already infiltrated the lowest strata of society in the third century. We know that Christianity

Christian architecture, based on the first-hand data we’ve gathered.”

A further major output from the project’s work is the 4CARE database, which brings together data on the 80 sites in Egypt related to fourth century Christianity and over 1,700 artefacts associated with them. An enormous amount of work has gone into compiling this, with researchers working through thousands of publications to make the database as comprehensive as possible. Each site is accompanied by a description, an overview of the archaeological research conducted, photographs, plans, and photogrammetric models, while most objects are also accompanied by photos, in addition to descriptions and full bibliographies. This database provides a rich source of

“We excavate these sites basically in the state in which they were abandoned. It’s like a time capsule. The main excavations we do are at the Kharga oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert.”

was present in tiny villages in remote areas. However, we also know of key figures who converted to Christianity in the first and second centuries, so it wasn’t exclusively a bottom-up process.”

There are also several other strands of research in the project, including the development of a large collection of 3D models of Christian structures and, in some cases, entire sites, as well as architectural reconstructions of some structures, the latter intended to give the public a sense of these sites as they were in the fourth century. It takes a lot of time to produce these models, with thousands of photos required to create a single one. “It sometimes takes days for computers to process all of that, then the post-processing is also very time-consuming,” says Professor Ghica. There is wide variation in Christian architecture in Egypt, yet Professor Ghica has also observed some common features. “There is evidence of incredible creativity, while these monuments were still built along a certain number of common lines,” he outlines. “We are proposing a new model of the development of early

information for the wider research community; the fourth century Christian corpus of Egypt has never previously been so accessible. There are plans to conduct additional excavation seasons during the course of DEChriM, but work will certainly not cease with the completion of the project. “We are excavating the earliest dated church in Egypt, located in the south of the Kharga Oasis, about which much remains to be learned,” says Ghica. The team’s efforts are uncovering huge volumes of data, a large amount of which is being studied during the course of DEChriM, but the extent of the oasean record – and that of Egypt more broadly – will necessitate many more years of research.

DEChriM

A Platform for the Study of Early Egyptian Christianity

Project Objectives

DEChriM focuses on the material culture of fourth-century Christianity in Egypt, with the aim of re-examining the development of the religion in this key geo-chronological setting. Based in Oslo, the project brings together specialists in archaeology, papyrology, epigraphy, history of religions, ceramic studies, digital humanities, 3D architectural reconstructions, topography and photogrammetry.

Project Funding

DEChriM has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 819368 ERC-2018-COG).

Project Partners

https://4care-skos.mf.no/team/

Contact Details

Project Coordinator, Victor Ghica

Professor of Antiquity and Early Christian Studies

Gydas vei 4

N-0302 Oslo

Postboks 5144 Majorstuen

T: (+47) 22 59 05 77

E: Victor.Ghica@mf.no

W: https://4care-skos.mf.no

Victor Ghica is an archaeologist and specialist of ancient middle eastern languages. Over the last two decades, he has been leading numerous archaeological missions throughout Egypt and in Croatia. He is currently Professor of Antiquity and Early Christian Studies at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society.

Victor Ghica

Monastic chapel inside the monastery of Dayr Mustafa Kashif (Kharga Oasis); 2022 excavation season (© V. Ghica).

Hermitage GQA6 of the laura of Ganub Qasr al-‘Aguz (Bahriyya Oasis); 2020 excavation season (© V. Ghica).

Dipinti on a wall of the hermitage GQA6 at Ganub Qasr al-‘Aguz; 2020 excavation season (© V. Ghica).

Photogrammetric model of Dayr Mustafa Kashif (© M. Abdelaziz, V. Ghica).

Excavations at the hermitage GQA6 at Ganub Qasr al-‘Aguz; 2020 excavation season (© V. Ghica).