Historia monachorum in Aegypto explained

The Historia monachorum in Aegypto, also called the Lives of the Desert Fathers,^[1] is a combination travelogue and hagiography from the late 4th century AD. It recounts the travels of a band of seven Palestinian monks on a pilgrimage through Egypt between September 394 and January 395. They travelled from south to north, stopping in monasteries and meeting hermits and holy men. The Historia is in essence a collection of stories about these men and their miracles.

The Historia is anonymous. It was originally written in Greek. Its original title is Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἡ κατ’ Αἴγυπτον τῶν μοναχῶν ἱστορία, which translates "Inquiry about the Monks of Egypt". It was early translated into Latin by Rufinus of Aquileia, who also added material of his own. It is best known by the Latin title of Rufinus' edition, which is often misleadingly translated "History of the Monks of Egypt", but the work is not historiography. It was one of the most popular hagiographical texts throughout the Middle Ages. Four distinct translations into Syriac are known, as are translations into Georgian, Slavonic, Armenian and Arabic. A Coptic translation is known only from fragments. There are critical editions of both the Greek and Latin texts.^[2]

The Greek Historia has a prologue, epilogue and 26 chapters:

1. John of Lycopolis
2. Or of Nitria
3. Ammon
4. Bes
5. Oxyrhynchus
6. Theon
7. Elias
8. Apollo of Hermopolis
9. Ammonas of Egypt
10. Copres and Patermuthius
11. Sourous
12. Helle
13. Apelles John
14. Paphnutius
15. Pitirim of Porphyry
16. Eulogius
17. Isidore
18. Sarapion of Egypt
19. Apollonius
20. Dioscorus and Nitria
21. Macarius of Egypt
22. Amun
23. Macarius of Alexandria
24. Paul the Simple
25. Piammonas
26. John

Bibliography

• Book: Cain, Andrew . The Greek Historia monachorum in Aegypto: Monastic Hagiography in the Late Fourth Century . Oxford University Press . Oxford . 2016.
• Book: Andrew . Cain . Rufinus of Aquileia. Inquiry About the Monks in Egypt . The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 139 . The Catholic University of America Press . 2019 . Washington, DC.
• Book: André-Jean . André-Jean Festugière . Festugière . Historia monachorum in Aegypto: Édition critique du texte grec et traduction annotée . Brussels . 1971.
• Encyclopedia: 1991 . Historia Monachorum in Aegypto . . Macmillan Publishers . New York . Guillaumont . Antoine . Aziz Suryal Atiya . Aziz Suryal Atiya . 7 . cols. 1237b–1238b.
  • Book: Norman . Russell . The Lives of the Desert Fathers: The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto . Cistercian Publications . Kalamazoo . 1981.
• Book: Eva . Schulz-Flügel . Tyrannius Rufinus. Historia monachorum sive De vita sanctorum patrum . 1990 . Berlin . DeGruyter . 10.1515/9783110886313. 978-3-11-012040-0 .
• Book: Ward, Benedicta . Benedicta Ward . Introduction . The Lives of the Desert Fathers: The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto . Cistercian Publications . Kalamazoo . 1981.

Notes and References

1. This is the title of the English translation of .
2. and, respectively.