This volume makes available for the first time fifty Coptic legal
documents on a range of subjects from the sixth to eighth
centuries, with an introduction that places them in historical
context.
This volume contains annotated English translations of fifty
selected legal documents originally written in the Coptic language,
dating from the mid-sixth to the mid-eighth centuries. They include
land transfers, sales, wills, property divisions, and
intergenerational disputes. The choice of which language to use in
recording their transactions was meaningful for the
documents’ framers. The introduction sets the texts in their
historical contexts of the changing society of Egypt, first under
Byzantine rule, then under Islamic rule. Since the originals are in
a language not known to most classicists and medievalists, making
the documents available in English should enable them to be read,
studied, and appreciated by a wider audience.
"MacCoull's greatest service is that through this publication she has made these texts available for readers less familiar with the field and its publications, in a language and format that makes them easily accessible." (Petra Sijpesteijn, in: Early Medieval Europe, 2012, n° 20 (4), p. 483-485)
"On ne peut que féliciter l'auteur pour cette anthologie. Ce genre d'ouvrage manque effectivement en papyrologie copte et peut pourtant s'avérer précieux, tant pour les coptisants que pour les spécialistes du droit comparé." (Naïm Vanthieghem, dans: Le Muséon, 127 (2014), fasc. 1-2, p. 234-235)