Josephine Byrne

Coptic Cross at the Temple of Isis at Philae

The Coptic Church, rooted in these early conversions, became a unique expression of Christianity, blending ancient Egyptian culture with the new faith.

The Temple of Philae, dedicated to the goddess Isis, was one of the last strongholds of Ancient Egyptian religion. Even as temples elsewhere fell silent, Philae remained an active centre of pagan worship well into the 5th century A.D., long after the Roman Empire had converted to Christianity.

To sanctify the temple and symbolically assert the triumph of Christianity, Coptic crosses were carved into the walls and over the reliefs. In many places, the faces of the old gods, especially Isis and Horus, were deliberately chiselled away, a practice known as defacement, to mark the end of their veneration.

Rather than demolish the temple, the early Egyptian Christians reimagined it as a Christian space. These crosses stand today as striking testimony to Egypt’s spiritual evolution, a place where the legacy of the pharaohs gave way to the Cross, and where ancient stone bore witness to a new chapter in faith.

"They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." Psalm 22:16–18

The Magdalene at the Sepulchre, c.1805, William Blake

Detail from the illustration from the 28th page of the book Queen Summer; Or, The Tourney of the Lily & the Rose (1891), by Walter Crane, accompanied by the verses:

Roses and Lilies

Henri Fantin-Latour, 1888

𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞

𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨 𝐓𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐨

𝟏𝟓𝟗𝟖-𝟏𝟔𝟎𝟐

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

British, 1828-1882