Back to the British Museum today to catch the Egypt: Faith after the Pharaohs exhibition before it closes (7th February). The exhibition follows the country's journey over twelve centuries as Jews, Christians and Muslims transformed the land. From Roman times when there was worship of many gods we see how the religions that followed came to worship only one God.
This is a fascinating exhibition with some rare and precious manuscripts, in some cases only fragments remain. It was interesting to see how the religions mixed and shared art and script to the point where it seems Jews read the Qu'ran and a Christian incense holder was decorated with 'non Christian' artwork. (There is a short introductory audio visual film near the beginning of the exhibition which sets the tone of the whole exhibition)
Firstly there are representations of Roman gods - Horus and Isis (to name just two). Romans worshipped household gods. Each family would have had different ones. Of course Roman Emperors wished to be seen as gods and worshipped as gods, which of course was something Christians would not do. Before Constantine Christians were persecuted (Jews tolerated), but once Christianity was accepted as the state religion things changed. Some Christians, however, became unhappy with the way the state took over the religion. I am sure that is why some left to live as hermits (desert fathers and mothers). They wanted to get back to what the faith was about without all the paraphernalia coming with its popularity and all the trappings it brought. (I think that still goes on today!)
In one of the glass cases is a fragment of the original Nicene Creed of 325AD when a big conference was held to decide Christian doctrine in the light of certain sects believing different things. See here for more information on the Nicene Creed.
I learned another interesting fact - Jews will not throw away anything containing the name of God on it so synagogues have a place where all the old papers are stored or buried. Most of these items are lost but there was one synagogue in Egypt where they were all kept in a room - fragments, odd pages and documents as part of a genizah.
There were also finds on communal rubbish tips, parts of children's books etc. Some parchments were also used twice, the first writings scraped off and then written over or indeed painted over (a bit like painters re-using old canvases).
I am always amazed at the Islamic art. It is so beautiful. Muslims were far advanced with their skills. They knew about medicine, maths, they translated scripts from other languages and in fact a lot of Muslim designers/artists worked for Christians because they were the best at what they did. Muslims also believed that if they could decipher hieroglyphics they would be able to discover the alchemy of turning base metals into gold! Speaking of spells, I was interested to see parchments with spells written on them, some with Christian artwork (Jesus on the cross) all mixed up together with other images. Some of these spells were left with bodies of the dead asking for things in the afterlife. There was one spell which was buried with two figures entwined. It seems that though some people followed a particular religion the 'old religion' was still hanging in there, much as some old African religions are mixed with Christianity today!
All three religions rubbed along quite nicely in the past (pity we don't today). Islam, far from stopping Jews and Christian from practicing their religion, left them alone. They did, however, impose a tax on them.
There were some exquisite pieces of fabric from the Christian and Islamic era including some children's tunics.
This was a very interesting and informative exhibition well worth viewing. My description cannot do it justice.
This is a fascinating exhibition with some rare and precious manuscripts, in some cases only fragments remain. It was interesting to see how the religions mixed and shared art and script to the point where it seems Jews read the Qu'ran and a Christian incense holder was decorated with 'non Christian' artwork. (There is a short introductory audio visual film near the beginning of the exhibition which sets the tone of the whole exhibition)
Firstly there are representations of Roman gods - Horus and Isis (to name just two). Romans worshipped household gods. Each family would have had different ones. Of course Roman Emperors wished to be seen as gods and worshipped as gods, which of course was something Christians would not do. Before Constantine Christians were persecuted (Jews tolerated), but once Christianity was accepted as the state religion things changed. Some Christians, however, became unhappy with the way the state took over the religion. I am sure that is why some left to live as hermits (desert fathers and mothers). They wanted to get back to what the faith was about without all the paraphernalia coming with its popularity and all the trappings it brought. (I think that still goes on today!)
In one of the glass cases is a fragment of the original Nicene Creed of 325AD when a big conference was held to decide Christian doctrine in the light of certain sects believing different things. See here for more information on the Nicene Creed.
I learned another interesting fact - Jews will not throw away anything containing the name of God on it so synagogues have a place where all the old papers are stored or buried. Most of these items are lost but there was one synagogue in Egypt where they were all kept in a room - fragments, odd pages and documents as part of a genizah.
There were also finds on communal rubbish tips, parts of children's books etc. Some parchments were also used twice, the first writings scraped off and then written over or indeed painted over (a bit like painters re-using old canvases).
I am always amazed at the Islamic art. It is so beautiful. Muslims were far advanced with their skills. They knew about medicine, maths, they translated scripts from other languages and in fact a lot of Muslim designers/artists worked for Christians because they were the best at what they did. Muslims also believed that if they could decipher hieroglyphics they would be able to discover the alchemy of turning base metals into gold! Speaking of spells, I was interested to see parchments with spells written on them, some with Christian artwork (Jesus on the cross) all mixed up together with other images. Some of these spells were left with bodies of the dead asking for things in the afterlife. There was one spell which was buried with two figures entwined. It seems that though some people followed a particular religion the 'old religion' was still hanging in there, much as some old African religions are mixed with Christianity today!
All three religions rubbed along quite nicely in the past (pity we don't today). Islam, far from stopping Jews and Christian from practicing their religion, left them alone. They did, however, impose a tax on them.
There were some exquisite pieces of fabric from the Christian and Islamic era including some children's tunics.
This was a very interesting and informative exhibition well worth viewing. My description cannot do it justice.
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