The Encroaching Desert: Egyptian Hagiography and the Medieval West

This volume presents a series of case studies concerning the use and reuse of Egyptian hagiography in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The first three contributions analyze the use of Egyptian hagiography in the context of late antique Egypt and, in particular, examine to what extent these texts can be used as historical sources for the reconstruction of traditional ("pagan") religion. The other contributions illustrate the different contexts in which Egyptian hagiography was reused in the medieval West. The book is an important contribution to the current debate about the usefulness of Egyptian hagiography as a historical source for late antique Egypt and to the study of the reception of the desert fathers in the medieval West.

Contributors include: Lynda L. Coon, Mathilde van Dijk, Jitse H.F. Dijkstra, David Frankfurter, Conrad Leyser, Peter van Minnen, Claudia Rapp, Bert Roest, Eric L. Saak, Gabriela Signori, and Jacques van der Vliet.