Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt: An Archaeological Reconstruction

Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom's book offers a new history of Egyptian monastic archaeology, tracing how scholars identified spaces as monastic and how this impacted perceptions of monasticism. She provides an ecohistory of Egypt's tripartite landscape and analyzes late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history to illustrate the stark differences between idealized and urbanized monastic landscapes.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 454 pages
Publication date: 11 November 2021
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom presents a fresh perspective on the field of Egyptian monastic archaeology. This groundbreaking work is the first in English to explore the process by which scholars recognized specific spaces or sites as monastic within the Egyptian landscape, and how these identifications shaped perceptions of monasticism.

Brooks Hedstrom then delves into an ecohistory of Egypt's tripartite landscape, aiming to reorient our understanding of the physical landscape. By examining late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history, she sheds light on the distinct differences between the idealized monastic landscape and the urbanized reality that emerged through Christian monastic settlements.

Through a comprehensive analysis of archaeological evidence, including Christian monastic settlements, Brooks Hedstrom illustrates the stark contrasts between the envisioned and actual monastic landscapes. By drawing upon critical theories in landscape studies, materiality, and phenomenology, she examines both non-monastic and monastic settlements to identify the unique characteristics that define monastic settlements. This groundbreaking study offers a new and insightful history of monasticism in Egypt.

Weight: 850g
Dimension: 177 x 255 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781316614082
Edition number: New ed