In honor of beloved Virgil—
“O degli altri poeti onore e lume …”
—Dante, Inferno
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support
of the Classical Literature Endowment Fund of the
University of California Press Foundation, which was
established by a major gift from Joan Palevsky.
Shenoute of Atripe and
the Uses of Poverty
TRANSFORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE
Peter Brown, General Editor
1 Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity, by Sabine G. MacCormack
2 Synesius of Cyrene: Philosopher-Bishop, by Jay Alan Bregman
3 Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity, by Kenneth G. Holum
4 John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century, by Robert L. Wilken
5 Biography in Late Antiquity: The Quest for the Holy Man, by Patricia Cox
6 Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt, by Philip Rousseau
7 Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, by A.P. Kazhdan and Ann Wharton Epstein
8 Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul, by Raymond Van Dam
9 Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition, by Robert Lamberton
10 Procopius and the Sixth Century, by Averil Cameron
11 Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity, by Robert A. Kaster
12 Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East, A.D. 180–275, by Kenneth Harl
13 Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, introduced and translated by Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Ashbrook Harvey
14 Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection, by Carole Straw
15 “Apex Omnium”: Religion in the “Res gestae” of Ammianus, by R.L. Rike
16 Dioscorus of Aphrodito: His Work and His World, by Leslie S.B. MacCoull
17 On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity, by Michele Renee Salzman
18 Asceticism and Society in Crisis: John of Ephesus and “The Lives of the Eastern Saints,” by Susan Ashbrook Harvey
19 Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, by Alan Cameron and Jacqueline Long, with a contribution by Lee Sherry
20 Basil of Caesarea, by Philip Rousseau
21 In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini, introduction, translation, and historical commentary by C.E.V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers
22 Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital, by Neil B. McLynn
23 Public Disputation, Power, and Social Order in Late Antiquity, by Richard Lim
24 The Making of a Heretic: Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist Controversy, by Virginia Burrus
25 Symeon the Holy Fool: Leontius’s “Life” and the Late Antique City, by Derek Krueger
26 The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine, by Sabine MacCormack
27 Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems, by Dennis E. Trout
28 The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran, by Elizabeth Key Fowden
29 The Private Orations of Themistius, translated, annotated, and introduced by Robert J. Penella
30 The Memory of the Eyes: Pilgrims to Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity, by Georgia Frank
31 Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity, edited by Tomas Hägg and Philip Rousseau
32 Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium, by Glenn Peers
33 Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity, by Daniel Caner
34 Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D., by Noel Lenski
35 Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages, by Bonnie Effros
36 Qusayr ‘Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria, by Garth Fowden
37 Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition, by Claudia Rapp
38 Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity, by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony
39 There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire, by Michael Gaddis
40 The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq, by Joel Thomas Walker
41 City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, by Edward J. Watts
42 Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination, by Susan Ashbrook Harvey
43 Man and the Word: The Orations of Himerius, edited by Robert J. Penella
44 The Matter of the Gods, by Clifford Ando
45 The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran, by Matthew P. Canepa
46 Riot in Alexandria: Tradition and Group Dynamics in Late Antique Pagan and Christian Communities, by Edward J. Watts
47 Peasant and Empire in Christian North Africa, by Leslie Dossey
48 Theodoret’s People: Social Networks and Religious Conflict in Late Roman Syria, by Adam M. Schor
49 Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome, by Susanna Elm
50 Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty: Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt, by Ariel G. López
51 Doctrine and Power: Theological Controversy and Christian Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, by Carlos R. Galvão-Sobrinho
Shenoute of Atripe and
the Uses of Poverty
Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and
Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt
Ariel G. López
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
López, Ariel G.
Shenoute of Atripe and the uses of poverty : rural patronage, religious conflict and monasticism