ABSTRACT
A turning point in the fortunes of Christianity in Egypt came in the reign of Theodosius (347-395), the first of the Roman emperors to be baptised in the Christian faith. In 379 he branded non-Christians as heathens and took steps that had a more far-reaching effect on his Egyptian province than elsewhere in the still undivided Empire. He expressly forbade all forms of traditional worship on the threat of being charged with treason; he ordered temples closed, he outlawed mummification, and sought out and destroyed pagan writings. Even the Hermetic texts (widely circulated in edited versions between 150 to 300) were targeted. Land used for pagan sacrifice was confiscated by the state; the use of the demotic script was forbidden; and ancient records ‘exorcised’ by painting crosses and the name of Jesus Christ on them. Hermits all over the country came out of hiding. On the Theban necropolis alone, monasteries were built near the cliff face west of the Valley of the Queens, between the tombs of noblemen Nabamun (65) and Hapuseneb (67) on the hillside above the village of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, and beyond the Valley of the Kings.
