The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt

'In this fascinating contribution to the emerging field of monastic archaeology, Brooks Hedstrom provides a convincing new reconstruction of the monastic landscape of late antique Egypt. She continues by documenting how expanded excavations in recent years and new theoretical approaches to landscape emerging from critical theory clearly call these old ideas into question. After presenting a model of the overall Egyptian landscape based on these new perspectives from critical theory, the author progressively builds her reconstruction of the Egyptian monastic landscape through analyses of documentary sources, early monastic devotional literature, and the results of recent excavations. This well-written, well-illustrated, theoretically sophisticated, and comprehensively documented volume is destined to become required reading for advanced students and scholars of monastic archaeology in Egypt and beyond.' Choice 'Brooks Hedstrom's reorientation of the study of Egyptian monasticism has much in common with those who have looked to documentary papyri as a crucial counterweight to the elite monastic literary record. She is pleased to acknowledge that common ground. But her sophisticated attention to monastic spaces, both the natural and built environments in which the monks moved, makes this learned study truly unique, and a significant contribution to the field.' Charles Stang, Journal of Early Christian Studies 'Brooks Hedstrom's work is a compelling assessment that displays the diversity of monastic spaces in Egypt and undermines previous pictures that relied on simple narratives, derived from the literary material, of a divide between anchorite and organized monasticism in terms of their built spaces.' Gareth Sears, Medieval Archaeology 'In this fascinating contribution to the emerging field of monastic archaeology, Brooks Hedstrom provides a convincing new reconstruction of the monastic landscape of late antique Egypt. She continues by documenting how expanded excavations in recent years and new theoretical approaches to landscape emerging from critical theory clearly call these old ideas into question. After presenting a model of the overall Egyptian landscape based on these new perspectives from critical theory, the author progressively builds her reconstruction of the Egyptian monastic landscape through analyses of documentary sources, early monastic devotional literature, and the results of recent excavations. This well-written, well-illustrated, theoretically sophisticated, and comprehensively documented volume is destined to become required reading for advanced students and scholars of monastic archaeology in Egypt and beyond.' Choice 'Brooks Hedstrom's reorientation of the study of Egyptian monasticism has much in common with those who have looked to documentary papyri as a crucial counterweight to the elite monastic literary record. She is pleased to acknowledge that common ground. But her sophisticated attention to monastic spaces, both the natural and built environments in which the monks moved, makes this learned study truly unique, and a significant contribution to the field.' Charles Stang, Journal of Early Christian Studies 'Brooks Hedstrom's work is a compelling assessment that displays the diversity of monastic spaces in Egypt and undermines previous pictures that relied on simple narratives, derived from the literary material, of a divide between anchorite and organized monasticism in terms of their built spaces.' Gareth Sears, Medieval Archaeology