Introduction

Copts are Egyptian Christians. The word derives from the ancient Hikaptah (‘house of the ka or spirit of Ptah, the temple of one of the great gods of ancient Egypt) via the Greek ‘Aigyptios’ and the Arabic ‘Qibt’ to the English ‘Copt’. The Arabs called Egypt ‘dar al-Qibt’ (home of the Copts). In modern usage the term ‘Coptic’ refers to Egyptian Christianity (the Coptic Orthodox Church), the liturgy associated with that Church, and the art forms adopted by it. The Coptic language is the ancient Egyptian vernacular written in the Greek alphabet, with the addition of seven extra characters derived from demotic, the last stage of hieroglyphics. After Greek, it was the principal language of ‘late antique Egypt’, and it continued to be used until the thirteenth century – later probably – when it was eclipsed by Arabic.