The historical contribution of the episcopal lists transmitted by the History of the Episcopate of Alexandria

One of the greatest contributions of the History of the Episcopate of Alexandria – preserved in Gәʿәz and partially in Latin, but originally written in Greek – to the knowledge of Egyptian Christianity is a series of three lists of episcopal appointments that occurred in the second half of the third and the first years of the fourth century ad in the dioceses of Egypt, including two Libyas, Superior and Inferior. They include about 130 new names of bishops and the earliest attestation of dozens of dioceses whose formation and establishment were believed to be at least half a century later. The first part of the contribution discusses the function of the lists within the text in which they are recorded, identifying their link to its general ideology and comparing them with other documents. Although they are interesting in themselves as a result of archival activity performed in the chancery of the bishopric of Alexandria, they have also the double function of legitimising the episcopate of Alexandria within the vast region of Egypt and Libya and promoting its role on the Christian scene of the Eastern Roman Empire. The second part of the article is devoted specifically to the text of the lists and provides an analysis of their form and discusses the spelling of the toponyms. The third part contextualises the episcopal sees within the already acquired knowledge by comparing the data of the lists with contemporary historiography and documentary papyri and offering some proposals for identification of particularly difficult toponyms. The lists prove to be extremely useful and irreplaceable for the study of Christianity in Egypt by confirming what we have already known and by opening new perspectives on the chronology of the general expansion of ecclesiastical structures and the ‘Christianisation’ of certain regions. An appendix provides the list of episcopal sees and bishops recorded in the work.