Various types of monasteries appear in the papyrological documentation, from small, local shrines only mentioned once to influential institutions that are still active today. Based on the unrivalled evidence from Aphrodito, the best documented village of Late Antiquity, this chapter defines in detail the role that monasteries played as landowners in the rural economy. It also traces how their situations evolved over the two centuries around the Islamic conquest, highlighting a multiplicity of scenarios that invites us to nuance our views of their economic power.

Papyrological evidence shows that, in the centuries preceding the Arab conquest of Egypt (fifth to seventh centuries), the monastery at Deir el-Naqlun was home to groups of monks who pursued non-religious activities, possessed private assets, and maintained contact with various ‘worldly’ figures. Among them, we find moneylenders, a creative monk-potter, and a bishop who maintained a network of contacts with officials and elite members. On the other hand, clues as to the overarching organisation of the Naqlun monastery are scant, and the relation of the monks’ individual activity to that of the community as a whole is thus difficult to establish. It is nevertheless clear that managerial structures of an economic character were among the first to emerge within the monastery. Overall, the Naqlun evidence testifies to a model of organisation in which elements of communal life harmoniously combined with a degree of social and economic independence of individual monks.

Fuel is one of the key daily commodities needed for heating, cooking, and also industries. It comes in different forms, such as wood/charcoal, plants, and plant wastes. However, above all, animal dung was the most common fuel in the ancient world, including Egypt. So far, an in-depth exploration of dung fuel in Egypt has been lacking. Coptic monastic texts do refer to brethren tasked with sourcing dung that may have been intended for fuel use. Archaeological evidence of actual dung discs has been recovered from the monastic settlements of Deir Anba Hadra, John the Little, and Kom el-Nana. The same sites have also revealed archaeobotanical material that also attests to the production and/or use of animal dung fuel. This chapter discusses methodological concerns in identifying the archaeological evidence of dung fuel, and reviews the history of animal dung fuel in Egypt, focusing on its production and use in Egyptian monasteries.

This chapter looks at the theme of travel in an early monastic setting and its impact on everyday monastic life. Surviving documentation acts as a witness for the economic activities of fourth- and fifth-century monks in Egypt and their roles as participants in the social and economic activities of the period. As we now know, fourth- and fifth-century monasticism was a phenomenon that expressed itself as vigorously within the towns and villages of Egypt as it did in the barren regions that bordered the fertile lands that lie alongside the length of the River Nile. Monks may have ideologically renounced the world, but they also had familial, economic, and social ties that required their attention. This necessitated travel both within and beyond the borders of Egypt. By examining the documentation that survives for a variety of monastic journeys, we can gain a deeper insight into the world of monasticism in its earliest phase.

This article deals with different modes of monastic economic agency: the mobilisation of internal means and forces of production to supply its inhabitants with staple food, and the activation of spiritual capital to supply inhabitants and visitors with spiritual goods, such as the forgiveness of sins. These practices are exemplified by recent findings of an ongoing project at Deir Anba Hadra. After an overview of the monastery and its role in the first cataract region, two sections deal with the two kinds of economy attested here. One section focuses on archaeological evidence for food production, such as mills and ovens, in the workshop area of the monastery. The role of food production intra muros for mere subsistence versus a local market is discussed here. Another section is dedicated to secondary inscriptions left on the walls of the monastery by inhabitants and visitors and their potential role in the monastic economy.

Monastic communities needed wine for individual consumption, as well as for liturgical purposes and payments in kind. Next to grain, wine was the most common commodity transported from different villages to monasteries, as we learn from invoices from Bawit, Wadi Sarga, and Edfu. It is therefore widely assumed that monasteries, especially the more affluent ones, owned vineyards. Following a brief overview of the purposes wine served in monasteries, this chapter presents and reassesses the evidence for monastic vineyard ownership and considers other options available to monks seeking to procure wine for their needs.

In the late 1970s, the American artist, Stanley Roseman, undertook a project entitled The Monastic Life, during which he visited sixty monasteries located throughout Europe. He participated in their daily life and ‘made drawings of monks and nuns at prayer, work, and study. He drew them at the communal worship in church and in meditation in the quietude of their cells.’1 Roseman’s 1979 chalk on paper drawing of Benedictine monks at the Abbaye de Solesmes in France depicts two men with shaven heads who are dressed in long hooded robes. They are bent forward with their faces anchored towards the ground. Their eyes are closed, and their hands are carefully placed on their thighs. The men stand alone: they are the focus of the artist’s composition; they exist in isolation from their background; they are still, serene, frozen in perpetual worship and detached from their contemporary world. This is the essence of monastic life – the ideal – but it is not the full story.

Egypt has an abundance of well-preserved monastic settlements. The mudbrick structures provide ample evidence for examining domestic spaces associated with the daily household activities of food preparation through the acts of cooking, frying, and baking. While monastic literature presents a portrait of food scarcity in monastic communities, the archaeological evidence of kitchens and cooking spaces creates a more dynamic story of how monks interacted with ingredients, prepared meals, and considered the economy of space in designing areas for food preparation. The monastic movement required new habitations and ones in new locations to be set apart from the traditional and biological households. The importance of consumption habits within the family setting played a role in reinforcing one’s identity in a monastery or in a non-monastic family. The numerous examples of preserved monastic kitchens offer substantial evidence for a robust analysis that combines the theoretical models of household archaeology and spatial configuration to consider how monastic builders addressed the specific needs for food production within a homosocial community. The advent of new monastic settlements in late antique Egypt provides a unique opportunity to observe the evolution of cooking within an archaeological context.

The St Michael Collection (dating from 823 to 914) from the Fayum Oasis is the earliest extant group of painted Coptic manuscripts and is impressive because it has remained together as a cohesive whole. The manuscripts reveal aspects of monastic book production ranging from acquisition of materials to the practices of scribes and painters, as well as aspects of book culture, from the dedication of books to sharing them across a regional network of monasteries. The study of this unique collection allows the cost of these manuscripts to be estimated, using inferences about the materials, time, and effort required to produce them. The results of this analysis enhance our understanding of the relationships among patrons, books, monasteries, and scribes in the ninth and tenth centuries in the Fayum Oasis. Ultimately, this chapter argues that, within the context of the Egyptian monastic economy, the production of these books was not expensive. Yet, the cost of books in the medieval period was still perceived to be high.

This chapter examines the economic pattern of the monastery built around the Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo in the Roman province of Arabia (modern Jordan). After a topographical introduction of the site’s landscape and its physical environment, the agricultural production strategies of the monastic complex are taken into consideration. On one hand, particular attention is paid to the production facilities found in the monastery, such as wine presses and ovens for the preparation of bread, and on the other hand to the traces of agricultural tillage, the management of water resources, and religious and lay patronage. The analysis of seeds and palaeobotanical remains found in the latest archaeological excavations allow us to reflect on the possible diet of the monks and, consequently, on the crops grown in the monastic fields of the Nebo region.