Scribal networks, taxation and the role of coptic in Marwanid Egypt

Cromwell, Jennifer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0228-1371 (2022) Scribal networks, taxation and the role of coptic in Marwanid Egypt. In: Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean World: From Constantinople to Baghdad, 500-1000 CE. Cambridge University Press, pp. 353-378. ISBN 9781009170017

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Abstract

After the Arab conquest of 639–42 CE Egypt became part of the burgeoning Islamic empire. Over the course of the seventh and eighth centuries a series of measures was introduced by the new rulers. They established a dīwān in Egypt’s new capital, Fusṭāṭ, a postal service, a system of corvées targeted toward equipping the navy and providing labor for major construction projects, and a new religious poll tax payable by all adult non-Muslim men. This period is characterized by increasing Arabization (the use of Arabic) and Islamization (the appointment of Muslim officials throughout the country, replacing local officials).1 The wealth of the surviving textual sources from Egypt – in Arabic (the language of the new rulers), Greek (the administrative and legal language of the previous regime, as well as that of a considerable number of the population), and Coptic (the indigenous language) – is unrivaled and allows us to examine language use in the country after the conquest in a way that is not possible for other provinces in the empire.