Text

E-book Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis : Beyond Light and Darkness

---

Penilaian

---

Papyrus letters seem to convey close and personal information, directly from the mouth (or the pen) of an ancient author. Piene’s letter to his mother Maria accentuates a vivid sense of proximity and similarity. A boy, traveling far away from his mother, expresses his affection for her in a most elegant manner. How different is he from you and me?Intimate as it may feel, this passage may also surprise us, generating feelings of cultural distance and alienation. For modern readers, Piene’s words feel over the top: too explicit and affectionate. This affectionate tone is but one indica-tion of the cultural distance between past and present. The passage derives from a fourth- century Coptic letter, written on papyrus and found in a recently excavated desert village in the Dakhleh Oasis – a world very different from our own. It reminds us that what we expect to read, after sixteen hundred years, is not the same as what Piene’s mother expected to hear from him.2 Instead of offering direct insight into his emotions, the message is mediated by the rules and customs of ancient letter writing. The presence (or absence) of a scribe has to be taken into account, as do the epistolary conventions of the era, and the question of his mother’s literacy. If she was illiterate, as were most women of her time, she may have asked a relative or neighbor to read her son’s letter to her. So much for an intimate letter between mother and son.As one reads further in Piene’s letter, the religiously marked language stands out. Who is he praying to when he addresses the “Father, the God of Truth”? Coptic letters from the same period – of which there are only a few – use simi-lar polite wishes and prayer formulas, but not these specific words. In fact, the “Father, the God of Truth” is only once referred to in fourth- century letters out-side the oasis. The phrase is, however, common in Manichaean cosmological and liturgical texts. Along with other indicators, it places Piene and his mother in a Manichaean context. Piene’s father, Makarios, addresses his wife and her family as “the children of the living race.”3 Again, this is an uncommon phrase with parallels in Manichaean literature. Why was invoking a Manichaean transempirical entity known from a long and complex cosmological narrative that originated in third- century Mesopotamia relevant in the Egyptian desert? How much of this tradition can we safely assume was present in the author’s context? Should we consider these Manichaean phrases as casual or strate-gic references to a deeply felt religious identity? If so, how did this religious group identity affect the lives of Piene and his brother? Did they play with the neighbors’ children? Did their mother attend birthday parties in the village, or is it more probable that they secluded themselves within a semiclosed reli-gious group?

---

Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

-

No. Panggil

299 BRA r

Penerbit

London : BRILL., 2022

Deskripsi Fisik

426 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9789004510296

Klasifikasi

299

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

-

Subjek

Other Religion

Info Detail Spesifik

-

Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

-

Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

Komentar

---

Anda harus masuk sebelum memberikan komentar