It was an excellent seminar. In the four hours Dr Cromwell was able to paint a vivid portrait of many aspects of Coptic life on the west bank of Luxor.
It is remarkable the extent to which the Coptic monks and settlers occupied Pharaonic temples and tombs on the west bank of Luxor. Perhaps even more remarkable is the extent to which so much evidence of this Coptic world was eliminated by excavators interested in the underlying Pharaonic levels. Dr Crowell talked about this remarkable landscape, the surviving evidence (both archaeological and textual), the clues to secular life in the village of Jeme (which occupied Medinet Habu) and the the practise of donating children to one monastery in particular.
It was, needless to say, a day very well spent!
Thanks very much to Jenny Cromwell for checking over my notes and picking up a couple of errors.
